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Twenty-two-year-old Oregon native, Elizabeth
"Lizzie" Hart (b.1881), had left her parents and
siblings in Portland, Oregon in 1901 to pursue an education
and career in Chicago while living
with her older brother, Charles S. Hart.
Charles had graduated from Northwestern's dental
school and was building a practice in Evanston, a
Chicago suburb. By 1903 they were joined by their younger sister, Caroline,
nicknamed Carrie.
Charles took his role of big brother seriously. In July, 1903
Chicago and Portland newspapers carried a story of
Carrie having eloped with one of his
former fellow dental classmates, Ambrose
Fisher,* because she grew impatient
waiting for her brother's approval of their
romance. While Charles and Lizzie Hart were
visiting their parents in Oregon, Carrie and Ambrose
went to Holland, Michigan and married.
In January, 1904 a newspaper reporter interviewing the youngest Hart
daughter, eighteen year old Jennie, reported her
speculation that Lizzie might
have been engaged at the time of her death.
According to Jennie Lizzie had for
a time been courted by a wealthy man twice her age. When
Charles objected, Lizzie broke off the relationship.
By 1903 Lizzie was working
as a stenographer and bookkeeper in an insurance
office, earning $65 per month. She lived
with her brother, Charles, his wife, Lila Morton
Hart, her sister, Carrie Hart Fisher and Carrie's
husband, Ambrose Fisher, at 805 Dempster Street in Evanston.
From Jennie we learn what
Elizabeth received as Christmas gifts five days
before her death:
a diamond brooch, gold bracelet,
hand-painted powder box,
hand-painted glove box and fur boa.
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On December 30, 1903 Lizzie and a friend, possibly named
Mattie Martin, attended an afternoon matinee of
Mr. Bluebeard at Chicago's newest playhouse, the
Iroquois Theater. Relatives knew they were seated in
the second floor balcony so either the tickets were
purchased in advance or someone in Lizzie's party
survived to provide information to her family.
Elizabeth's body was identified by Charles. In an interview with a
Portland newspaper Jenny said Lizzie and Charles
were such dear companions that people who did not
know better mistook them for
sweethearts.
Lizzie's funeral was held the Saturday after the fire with services
conducted by Congregational minister, Dr. J. F. Loba.
Elizabeth was reportedly buried at Rosehill cemetery in
Chicago. Nancy Hart Liebe, the oldest
Hart daughter, traveled to Chicago for the funeral.
Charles, Lizzie, Jennie and Carrie were four of six
children born to European immigrants, woodworker Edward and Jane
McAllister Hart of Portland, Oregon. Edward was born in England, Jane
in Scotland. According to Jennie, Lizzie had planned
another visit to Oregon during the 1905 Lewis and Clark
exposition.
In the years after the fire
Charles and his wife had a daughter; Carrie and Ambrose had a son.
Charles bought a fruit farm in Texas but Chicago
remained he and Lila's home until late in their lives when
they moved to Wisconsin.
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There might be
a connection between this family of Thompsons and
the Harts.
Besides the Oregon connection (two Thompson
relatives were traveling in Portland at the time of the fire),
there is Clarence Davis. Clarence was a
seventeen year old black houseman, thought by his
mother to be employed by a A. J. Thompson who also let an apartment in
Evanston at the Hart family's address, 805 Dempster.
Clarence's name is not included in inquest records
but did appear on newspaper victim lists and his
mother, Dora Shacklett, traveled to Chicago to learn
of his condition and/or claim the body. I
found her in the 1910 census, however, reporting only
one child, still living, so Clarence
probably survived the Iroquois Theater yet
there remains the possibility that he at one
time worked for Thompson and lived at the
same address as the Harts.
I did not find evidence that Thompson lived at the Dempster st. address in 1903, however.
The three story building was comprised of several ground
floor store fronts and apartments on the second and
third floor. 1903 city directories reveal that the ground level
storefronts were occupied by the Westricher Grocery,
French Laundry, North Shore Creamery and the
Leffingwell Drug Store. Upstairs apartments
were occupied by the Harts, Harry and Madge Mark, and Jessie Peterson. Chicago
city directories in 1903 rarely included more than one primary name per address so
Thompson could have shared an apartment with any or none of these families.
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