Ahnentafel

I, even I, couldn’t handle bringing you my intended story this week. Suffice it to say it involves children and rabies. Those of you who know my penchant for morbid stories and true crime may be surprised by this turn of events. We’ll call it a Mother’s Day miracle. Instead, I have a cheerful story about a fire for you.

The fire itself did not take place on 12 May, but the brief newspaper article describing the event did appear exactly 113 years ago today, in the Sisseton (South Dakota) Weekly Herald. According to the article, a kerosene stove “caused considerable trouble” when it “blazed up” suddenly. This happened at the home of W. D. (Wellington David) Wilson, my great-great-grandfather. At that time, he had been living in Sisseton for 16 years; he was born in Louisville, New York, and had lived in Iowa and Nebraska before his 1895 move to South Dakota. You can read his obituary here if you want more details on the non-conflagration aspects of his life.

The article regarding the fire goes on to state that “Mrs. Wilson” showed “rare presence of mind” by throwing the kerosene heater outside, where the fire burned out. Her hands were burned painfully but she was not seriously injured, and their home escaped damage as well. This “Mrs. Wilson” is not my great-great-grandmother Lucinda Blanche (Davis) Wilson, who died in 1894 at age 35, but W. D.’s second wife, Bessie (Olson) Wilson, whom he married about the time he moved to Sisseton. At the time of the fire she would have been about 39, with 4 children of her own.

I was trying to envision what the kerosene stove in question might have been like and found a 1911 advertisement for a Perfection Smokeless Oil Heater. The ad copy describes the marvels of the warmth provided by the Perfection Heater and even touts its portability (though it also says it weighs 125 pounds) and how it is “easily carried from room to room.” Or, apparently, easily chucked outside when it tries to burn down your house.