|
Three years before the fire Frances had not yet
married and they lived with their mother and
stepfather, Samuel A. Shaw (b. 1845, New York), at
437 W. 38th St. in Chicago, along with eleven other
borders. Frances may be buried at Waldheim Cemetery
in Chicago.
In the round photo, the girl
on the left looks older to me than the one on the
right, making me wonder if newspaper reversed order
in the caption.
Frances wore a ring inscribed "Tony to Frances" from
her husband, Anton J. Kercher Jr. (1874–1961), a
Chicago fireman who later became a captain. There is
a photo somewhere on the web that I hope to find of
him riding Truck 14 in 1916. (Hint hint hint,
someone has a pic of Anton.)
None of the news stories of 1903 mentioned that Frances
had an infant son but George Anton Kercher was born
in 1902 (d. 1990). He lived with his grandmother,
Anna Shaw, as a young child but by age seventeen was living
with his father, stepmother and stepsister (see info
about Anton Jr's second marriage below). By 1930 son
George Anton Kercher had married Olivia Bell and his
grandmother Anna Shaw lived with them. At the time
of his father's death in 1961 George was living in
Clayton, Missouri.
Something happened to Anna's marriage to Samuel
Shaw. Though still married, in 1910 she and seven year
old George were boarders with an altogether
different family but I cannot find evidence that
Samuel died.
Francis' husband Anton was the oldest son of Anton
J. Kercher (1848–1938, Germany, interment at Oak
Woods) and Anna Maria Mertle (1853–1905, Oakwoods).
(In 1906 his father remarried, to Anna Jacobs (or
Anna Brownmueller) (b.1849*)). Anton Jr's siblings
were John (named after Anton Sr's brother, John
Kercher, a physician, and a very colorful
character'†) George (b. 1883, Chicago, a city
inspector) and a sister named Anna Sophia b. 1879
(who may not have survived childhood). Anton Sr
immigrated to America from Germany in 1871, becoming
a naturalized citizen in 1882, and in 1878 opened a
Turkish bathhouse where he was the primary masseuse.
It was a family business for many years but Anton
Jr. chose firefighting instead. (Others of Anton
Jr's siblings may have included: Veronica Kercher b.
1871 in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, twins Frank and
William Kercher b. Jul 25, 1881 in Chicago, Victoria
(b. 1861, Munich–1936, married to William Fischer),
and Wiliam Kercher b.1881 in Chicago.)
After his wife's death at the Iroquois, Anton Jr
moved back home with his parents (or maybe he and
Frances had lived with them), and by 1909 Anton was
a lieutenant in the fire department, working in
engine company Eight and living at 2965 Cottage Grove.
By 1926 he was a captain, waiting with Lt. Thomas O'brien and
eleven other fire fighters for the September
completion of their new Hook and Ladder no.
twenty-four fire house. It was to be a $25,000 two-story brick
structure with a dormitory and dining room on the
second floor, erected at the sight of company's
headquarters at 104th Vincennes. While waiting, Kercher and
his men worked out of 93rd and Howard Streets.
|
|
In 1914, at age forty,
Anton remarried. He and his wife, thirty-three
year old Josephine V. Schiller (1881–1975) would have one
child, a daughter named Dorathea Mae Kercher,
(1919–2004).
Anton and Josephine lived at 8929
Racine in Dec, 1943 when daughter Dorathea Mae left
Brainerd and began training as a WAAC at Fort Des
Moines, Iowa with her friend of the same first name,
Dorothea Lucile Sullivan. Dorathea had graduated
from Calumet High School where she was active in the
theater, and worked at The Fair Store prior to
enlisting. By 1945 she was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant and was stationed at Camp Ellis in IL.
Anton had retired from the Chicago Fire Department
by the time of his death in 1961. His funeral was
held at the Brady Funeral home and mass at St. Kilian's
church with interment at St. Mary's
cemetery. He was a director of the Retired firemen's
Association and a member of the Leo Council in the
Knights of Columbus. While a young man in 1897 he
represented the Chicago Fire Department with 4
others in an athletic competition held in New York
City.
In 1909 John and Anton Kercher sold a lot at the
southeast corner of 18th and Indiana Ave to David
and Mark Levy for $15,000. The site was formerly
occupied by the Kercher family's Turkish bathhouse
that operated at 324 Wabash in 1910.
Frances' ring was found in a pile of hundreds of
other rings by Mrs. George Bollinger. It was tagged
as belonging to body No. xx at Rolston's, which is
how Frances' body was identified. Don't know what the relationship
was between Bollinger
The Ray school lost two
students to the Iroquois Theater fire — Bessie
Boice and Taylor Dryden,
and another teacher — Daisy Livingston.
In 1914 the Ray school students and staff were moved a block away to the Ray
school's present structure on South Kimbark Avenue (the former Hyde Park High School
structure). Ray's original structure on 57th and Monroe was sold and in the
1940s torn down to make Bixler Park.
|
|
Discrepancies and addendum
* Discrepancy alert: Anton Sr
seems to have married two women named Anna, so unsnarling their info will
take some time (any help will be
appreciated). One was born in Munich and the other
in Wisconsin. Anna #2 and Anton Sr. lived alone at
the end of his life, renting a home at 853 Barry
Avenue while Anton still operated the bath house,
and at the time of his death they were living at
3154 N. Clark St. There were a bunch of Kercher's in
Wisconsin, with an Anton and an Anna. Though the
same age, George Anton Kercher of Chicago was
probably not the same person as the Anton Kercher of
Wisconsin because in 1924 the 22 year old Wisconsin
Kercher broke out of jail where he was being held
awaiting trial, accused of attacking two girls.
† Dr. John Kercher shot a constable in 1903 but
retained his medical license. The constable came to
repossess an x-ray machine. Kercher resisted and was
arrested. Attorney friends and the AMA came to his
aid and poof, it went away. John was an avid auto
racer (in a Jeffery Six) and organizer of Chicago
Automobile Club races in Chicago. In June of 1914
John lost control of his car and crashed into a
surrey on West Jackson Blvd, severely injuring
Thomas Markos, his wife and two children. The
Kercher Bath bowling teams did well, however. Dr.
Kercher came out strongly against prohibition.
|
