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The afternoon of
December 30, 1903 Joseph J. Weber of Janesville, Wisconsin went to
a Mr. Bluebeard matinee performance with his grandfather and
aunt.
Their trio was spared when a fire broke out on stage, killing
nearly six hundred people.*
Joseph's aunt lost a
necklace and Joseph was miss reported as dead for a brief time,
but they were uninjured. That suggests they were seated on
the first floor, site of very few fatalities.
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Joseph's parents were Joseph
Weber (1865–1942) and Cunegunda Schmitt Weber
(1855–1942). His grandparents in Chicago were
sixty-one-year-old German immigrant Johann Joseph Weber (1842–1916)
and his wife, Suzanna Schlitz (1847–1930). His widowed aunt
was thirty-two-year-old Carolina Weber Moosman (1871–1951)
In Janesville, Joseph Weber
co-owned a clothing manufacturing company,
Janesville Clothing, operating in the former Parker
Pen building at 1719 S. Main St. The company
specialized in shirts and overalls.
Carolina, nicknamed Nina
and Carrie,
was the widow of Joseph Moosman / Mussman.
Moosman was a butcher who died from injuries
incurred when run over by a carriage.
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In the years after the fire
Joseph joined his father's
company as an adult, and married Mayme Hannigan
(1887–1967), with whom he had one child.
Janesville Clothing with
its fifty employees moved to 15,000 sq. ft. of newly
remodeled facilities in the old buckle factory.
Fifteen sewing machines were added, floors were
replaced with hardwoods. Sewing was done
on the third floor, fabrics were stored on the
second floor and the first floor was dedicated to
shipping.
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