An Anthology of Fire Narratives

The first page of Julia Lemos's fire narrative	This anthology of eyewitness recollections of the great conflagration is drawn from the Chicago Historical Society's collections. While some have been reproduced before in published collections (including two prepared by the Historical Society itself), most have not. They were selected to offer a range of experiences, outlooks, and styles of expression, with a special emphasis on accounts by those who experienced the fire as children. The narratives are listed here in alphabetical order by author. As available, some brief biographical information and the date of composition are included. The texts have been lightly edited for clarity, though in most instances the original syntax, spelling, and punctuation have been maintained.
Fannie Belle Becker, later Fanny Dement, who was ten at the time of the fire, wrote "My Experience of the Chicago Fire" almost exactly two years later. (770 words)
Joel Bigelow's letter to his family is dated October 10, 1871. It includes his own map of the burnt district, which can be seen in the A Visual Record Gallery. (1279 words)
Bessie Bradwell (later Helmer) was the daughter of James B. Bradwell, County Judge, and Myra Colby Bradwell, who was founder and editor of the Chicago Legal News, whose subscription book thirteen-year-old Bessie saved from the flames. The Bradwells lived in the South Division. She sent her memoir to the Chicago Historical Society on the fifty-fifth anniversary of the fire, in 1926. (1357 words)
Clarence Augustus Burley was a young man at the time of the fire, living with his family in the heart of the North Division's Old Settler neighborhood. He later served as President of the Chicago Historical Society. This excerpt is from "The Clarence Augustus Burley Family Record." (2340 words)
A.S. Chapman, another Northsider, wrote his "Boy's Recollections of the Chicago Fire" in 1910. (1455 words)

O.W. Clapp, who lived south of the fire, tells of his important role in the first relief efforts. This is taken from a presentation Clapp made to the Borrowed Time Club of Oak Park in 1914. (1773 words)

William Gallagher was a student at the Chicago Theological Seminary. His letter to his sister in Boston, which is dated October 17, runs forty pages in manuscript. (6229 words)

John J. Healy's account is part of his longer essay, "A Bit of the Old North Side." His family was one of those that built a shelter house after they were burned out. He was then about eight years old. (558 words)

Mrs. Alfred Hebard came from a pioneering family. She was a cousin of the oldest of the Old Settlers, Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, who had arrived in Chicago in 1818 as a fur buyer for John Jacob Astor and who was living in the North Division at the time of the fire. After her marriage in 1837, Mrs. Hebard and her husband settled even further west, in Iowa. They were passing through Chicago on October 8, 1871. Her recollection was written in 1880. (1494 words)

Anna E. (Tyng) Higginson wrote this letter to Mrs. Mark Skinner on November 10, 1871. Mrs. Higginson was the wife of George M. Higginson, who had been an important figure in the Chicago real estate business for almost three decades. After the conflagration, he was very active in behalf of the Chicago Historical Society as a collector of fire narratives. (1830 words)

Justin [Butterfield?] sent this letter, including his drawing of his family fleeing, to his "chum" Philip Prescott on October 19, 1871. (252 words)

Mary Kehoe's memoir, written to her granddaughter in 1942, is one of the few working-class fire narratives in the Society's collections. She was sixteen in 1871. (1298 words)

Julia Lemos was living in the North Division with her elderly parents and her five children when the fire broke out. "My Experiences of the Fire of 1871 in Chicago" was the verbal counterpart of her oil painting of the fire, which is in the A Visual Record Gallery. (3438 words)

Fanny Boggs Lester was eleven when Chicago burned, and she recorded her memories in a letter written seventy-five years later. (312 words)

Eben Matthews, a bookkeeper with grain brokers Jones and Raymond, lived in the South Division. (2068 words)

James W. Milner wrote his letter describing the fire on October 14, 1871. (653 words)

The narrative of Jennie E. Otis, later Mrs. Charles C. Counselman, is taken from "Reminiscences of the Chicago Fire and Some of My Girlhood Days," which she presented to the Woman's Club. (1263 words)

Ada Rumsey was one of the ten children of former mayor Julian Rumsey and his wife Martha Turner Rumsey, and one of the six still living in the Huron Street home that was lost in the conflagration. She later married Treat Campbell. Her memoir was prepared in 1924. (2653 words)

Francis William Test's letter to his mother is from October 13, 1871. (2474 words)

Cassius Milton Wicker, who lived in the South Division and worked for the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, wrote to his family in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont, on October 15. (3035 words)

William A. Wieboldt was thirteen years old when he wrote this letter to his parents in Germany. He later went on to found the Wieboldt's department stores. The letter is dated October 30, 1871. This version is translated from the original German. (415 words)