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Eighteen-year-old Winifred Dingfelder was a senior in high school, due to graduate
in six months. She went to Chicago over the Christmas
holiday to visit a distant relative and friend,
fifty-four-year-old Mary Howard. On Wednesday December 30
Mary took Winifred and her fourteen-year-old son, Roy, to an
afternoon matinee at the city's newest playhouse, the Iroquois
Theater. A talented vocalist, Winifred would have been
delighted with the music, costumes and large cast. There
had been nothing like it in her tiny hometown in Michigan,
without a theater yet in 1903. Mary was from the same
village but had lived in Chicago since around 1874 and probably
enjoyed showing off the big city of Chicago. Even for
regular Chicago theater goers, the extravagant Mr. Bluebeard
in the opulent theater seemed a little magical, especially to
the hundreds of children in the audience. That day,
however, when a fire broke out on stage, it spread unchecked to
the auditorium. Within minutes, nearly six hundred people
were killed, including Winifred and Mary.
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First trip to the big city
Winifred E. Dingfelder (1885–1903) traveled by train
from her home in Jonesville, Michigan, to visit the
Howard family and see Chicago for the first time.
Jonesville is a small town on the southern Michigan
border with around 1,300 residents in 1903.
Ten childbirths, one grandchild
Fifty-four-year-old Mary Elizabeth Gaige Howard had
been widowed for five years. She lived with five of
her sons, aged fourteen to twenty-six. Mary had
given birth to ten children, of which six were still
living in 1903. Her oldest, Charles, had married and
in 1901 produced the only grandchild Mary would
know. The child's name was Grace. Another daughter
was born in 1912.
Mary may have had some matchmaking in mind for the
visit. She had five unmarried sons, and Winifred was
one of four unmarried Dingfelder girls.
Whatever hopes and dreams Mary and Winifred had, by
3:50 pm that afternoon, they came to an end. Fred
Dingfelder identified his daughter's body at
Jordan's mortuary, and Frank Howard identified his
mother's body. Nothing was reported about Roy's
escape or the party's seating location. Both women
suffered slight face burns and died of suffocation.
It was reported that Winifred's clothing was not
charred.
Thirty hours later, the bodies of both women were in
Jonesville awaiting funeral arrangements and burial
at the Sunset View cemetery.
Dingfelder family
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Iroquois Theater victim Winnifred Elizabeth
Dingfelder (1885–1903). Named after her aunt
Winifred Clark (1863–1945).*
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Winifred's father Frederick Dingfelder
(1854–1923), son of Frederick and Barbara
Dingfelder with three sisters. Worked as a
supervisor for Tiffany Carriage Works. Was on
the Jonesville school board.
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Winifred's mother, Alice Overton Clark
Dingfelder (1857–1946) daughter of Henry and
Lois Clark. She was widowed by 1940 and lived
with her daughter Zaidee and her husband in
Kansas City, MO. Member of DAR.
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Winifred's three sisters:
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Zaidee Louise Dingfelder (1883–1981) graduated from the University of Michigan, married William Thomas Moffat, had two
children, became a school teacher.
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Marjorie Alice Dingfelder (1887–1988) married Ralph Monroe Powers and had six children.
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Gladys Clark Dingfelder (1891–1973) graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1913 and married Mark Oscar Ward.
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Howard family
Some of the Howard boys were born in Jonesville, some in Chicago. It seems the family moved to Chicago around 1874.
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Iroquois Theater victim Mary Elizabeth Gaige
Howard (1848–1903). She was the daughter of
Isaac Clark Gaige(1820–1878) and his first wife,
Rebecca Taylor Gaige (1829–1851).
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Iroquois Theater survivor fourteen-year-old Roy
B. Howard (1889–1952), He was fourteen years old
when his mother died.
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Frederick Witter Howard (1945–1898) was Mary's
late husband with whom she had nine children
besides Roy, including:
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Charles Fredrick Howard (1874–1944) married
Mabel Haminet, had two daughters. Harry W.
Howard (c1877–1924) In 1910, he lived with
his brother Frank and his wife Jessie and
worked as an electrical engineer. Died while
a hospital patient, never married.
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George Howard (1881–?) bookkeeper
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Frank Lewellyn Howard (1882–1942) Married
Jessie Clarkson Logan (1884–1970) and had
two sons. He worked for Commonwealth Edison
his entire life. He relocated to Boulder,
CO, in retirement.
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Ernest W. Howard (1886–1960) was seventeen
years old when his mother died. He married a
Jonesville girl, Loraine Burnett, and worked
as an electrical engineer.
In the years after the fire
A $10,000 liability suit was filed on behalf of Winifred's estate.
By 1920 Fred and Alice Dingfelder moved to Los
Angeles, where Fred worked for an auto manufacturer.
He and Alice were eventually buried alongside
Winifred in Jonesville.
Roy Howard graduated from Calumet High school,
married Cora E. Rodlam (1893–1965), had four
children, and became an insurance salesman. He spent
his adult life in Jonesville.
All of the remaining Dingfelder girls married.
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Discrepancies and addendum
Some 1903 newspapers listed
Mary Howard as a victim twice, as Mary Howard and as
Mrs. Fred Howard. Roy was listed as a fatality
found at Rolston's Funeral Home.
* Winifred Dingfelder's
mother, Alice Clark Dingfelder, was the sister of
Winifred Clark Gaige, who was married to Charles
Clark Gaige (1853–1916), who was the son of Isaac
Clark Gaige (1820–1878), who was also the father of
Mary Gaige Howard, making Mary Gaige Howard the
sister-in-law of Winfred Dingfelder's aunt Winifred
Clark Gaige. Eye crossing.
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