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Pictured Minnie Schaffner and the Forestville Elementary School
at 45th and St. Lawrence in Chicago where she taught.
On December 30, 1903 in Chicago at an afternoon matinee performance of
Klaw & Erlanger'sMr. Bluebeard Christmas pantomime a
fire broke out on stage that quickly spread to the auditorium.
nearly six hundred people were killed and hundreds more injured,
making it the worst theater fire in America's history.
Among the victims were
over forty Chicago public school teachers, including Minnie H. Schaffner
(b. c1869*). She was a teacher at Forestville Elementary School. It was reported that
she attended the matinee with two friends and that one of them survived but their
identity is unknown. Four students at Forestville were also among the
Iroquois Theater victims:
Leon Frady,
Willie Hennessy,
Erna and Ernest Reiss.
Minnie lived with her large family at 578 45th Place in Chicago. She was the oldest child of Moses (c1830–1888) and
Fannie Gaseph (Joseph) Schaffner (1841–1927), both from Germany, who married in NYC in 1867 after they came to America.†
Moses passed away 15 years before Minnie's death so it was fortunate for Fannie that she had children to help her through
the loss of her oldest daughter.
Minnie and her siblings were born in Ohio, except Morris who was born after the family moved to Chicago.
By 1900 Fannie and
her children were living at 31 Walnut St., including
Nettie's husband and infant child, and a nephew,
Nathan Schaffner, son of Isaac Schaffner, who worked
as an insurance clerk. There were four earners in
the household and they had two servants.
By 1910 Fannie lived with her son Morris and they
had moved to Prairie Ave and by 1920 she lived with
her daughter Hannah and her husband, George Soulman.
Minnie's siblings:
Morris / Maurice J. Schaffner (b. 1877), cigar salesman
Abraham J. Schaffner (b. 1871) in 1898 married Pauline Soulman (b. 1872)
Hannah J. Schaffner (1881–1964) married George Soulman (b. c1880, Michigan), a soap salesman,
in 1906 and they had a son named Harvey D. Soulman (b. 1907) who in 1930 worked as a hotel clerk, and a daughter named Bessie (b. 1908).
Nettie Schaffner (b.1876) married Abe Soulman (1860–1920), a traveling salesman.
They had a daughter named Mildred (1900–1943) and another named Minnette (1904–1963).
Harvey N. Schaffner (1883–1897) - not sure this is one of Minnie's siblings, am wondering if Middle name is Nathan and this is Isaac's son.
Discrepancies and addendum
* Minnie Schaffner graduated from high school in 1888 and according to
the 1880 census she was born in 1869 so the age reported in 1903 era
newspapers, twenty-five, was incorrect.
† Moses Schaffner was one of eleven or more
children. He immigrated with his brother, Isaac
Schaffner (1832–1914, married to Henrietta Hecht b.
1869, who had a son named Nathan who lived with
Fannie for a time after Moses' death) in their mid
20s. Moses and Isaac stayed with their sister and
brother in law, Nathan and Harriet Becker in Ohio,
when they first arrived in the U.S. Have read on the
web that Moses and Isaac Schaffner were related to
the Schaffner's in the Hart-Schaffner-Marx clothier
family but I am not sure how.
Bloomington Illinois
mother and daughter Iroquois Theater victims
Iroquois Memorial
Association
Margaret Buehrmann and
Annie Jones and Warner Saville
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqnocompanions
Story 1207
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
