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The five Iroquois Theater fire fatalities in the
Merriam, Duvall, Rankin and Guthrie party spanned
three generations and comprised many relationships.
The sole survivor was Hattie Guthrie.
The fatalities:
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Sixty-year-old widow, Fannie Sophronia Guthrie Merriam (b.1843).
(Name spelled as Merian in inquest records.)
Fannie was a resident of Chicago, living at 498 Fullerton.
She might have been the organizer of her family's Mr. Bluebeard
party, as a special treat for Sarah and Caroline, the young daughters of her
late husband's nieces
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Forty-five-year-old Elizabeth M. Kitchen Merriam Duvall (b.1858) was
the niece of Fannie's late husband. Her body
was found at Rolston's Funeral Home and
identified by her dentist,
Dr. Harry. J. Combs.
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Ten-year-old Sarah Merriam Duvall (b.1893, Columbus, OH) was Elizabeth'
Duvall's daughter. Her body was found at Gavins Funeral
Home and identified by A J. Pinkerton Jr. and J.
W. Pinkerton.
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Thirty-eight-year-old Martha Tupper Merriam Rankin (b.1865, Ohio) was
the niece of Fannie's late husband. Her body was found at
Rolston's Funeral Home and identified by A J. Pinkerton Jr. and J. W.
Pinkerton.
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Eleven-year-old Caroline "Louise" Rankin (b.1892, Ohio)
was Martha Rankin's
daughter. Her body was found at Gavins
Funeral Home and identified by A J. Pinkerton
Jr. and J. W. Pinkerton.
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The body of Fannie E. Guthrie Merriam
widow of Civil War veteran Henry Howard Merriam
(1841–1899), was identified by Dr. Hequembourg, a
prominent Chicago surgeon — or by W. C. Ziegler.
Conflicting information. Fannie attended Mt. Holyoke
College in Massachusetts in 1864, the same year she
was married. Henry also attended Holyoke in 1860.
Fannie was a "take charge" lady, involved in
numerous Episcopal church groups and women's clubs
(see clipping below). She was known for her
organizational and lecturing skills. She may have
been the one who organized her family's trip to the
Iroquois matinee. She lived at 498 Fullerton in
Chicago.
Fannie's niece, Elizabeth Kitchen M. Merriam Duvall,
was born to George D. and Sarah Kitchen Merriam.
George was the brother of Fannie's late husband,
Henry. Elizabeth was married to Charles Stewart
Duvall, and Sarah Duvall was their only
child.
A relative of Fannie's, Hattie Guthrie, was in the
party and survived.
Fannie's other niece,
Martha Tupper Merriam Rankin, another
daughter of the late George D. Merriam, lived in
Zanesville, Ohio, with her husband, Edward K. Rankin
(1865–1941) and daughter, Caroline Louise Rankin.
Edward Rankin worked as a farmer. Two
years after his wife's death, he married Mary Vogt;
they did not have children.
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Fannie's parents were Mary Sophronia Metcalf and Columbus
Bierce Guthrie. Fannie was the only child from that marriage. Her
father remarried to Jane Morton, and Fannie gained
six stepbrothers and sisters. Her father was a
doctor, teacher, and pharmaceutical salesman who
made and lost a fortune in cotton after the Civil
War. Later in life, he worked in the US Treasury
Dept. The family lived in Erie, PA, Brooklyn, and
Orange, NJ, which is where Fannie and Henry were
married in October of 1864.
All five Iroquois victims in the party were buried at the
Woodlawn Cemetery in Zanesville, Ohio.
Additional information hope to learn:
Did Fannie & Henry moved to Chicago before his death
or after? How did Fannie come to be in Chicago?
In 1909 the Fuller Construction company that built
the Iroquois Theater settled with thirty-five claimants,
including two who were reportedly named Ellen B. Du
Vol and Ellis J. Du Vol. There were no fatalities by
that name, no mention of them in the 1903–4
newspapers. The similarity between DuVol and DuVall
is such that I suspect they're connected with this
theater party, but who were they?
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