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Sad Day in McGonigle Home

Some family stories do not get handed down to the next generation for good reasons because they are either too sad or gruesome.  This is one of those stories that we suspect affected our McGonigle ancestors greatly, and a story you probably never heard told.  George Fair and his wife, Harriet, were next door neighbors and good friends of Frank and Catherine McGonigle.  In 1904 their daughter, Gwendolen Fair, died in the McGonigle home.

           

In the photograph above Catherine McGonigle and her daughters stand in front of their Belvidere, Illinois, home. This home was built in Belvidere’s old “Irish Patch”, and our ancestors lived near other relatives.  It is in this home where young Gwendolen died and which is described in the following news article.  This article mentions Catherine’s grandchild, Helen Tuttle, whose mother was Mary (nee McGonigle) Tuttle.

 

SAD DEATH OF A CHILD
Belvidere Daily Republican
June 22, 1904; page 1 (funeral held on June24)

Gwendolen, the little 5-year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Fair, died Tuesday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank McGonigle, 302 Gilman street, from choking as the result of a bronchial attack under circumstances of the extremest sadness.

The little one was frail of body and not a strong child, and for several days past had been suffering from a slight attack of bronchitis.  During Tuesday she was seen twice by Dr. Swift and by evening she had recovered to such an extent as to be in a cheerful mood and apparently not in the slightest danger.

Miss Eva Jardine, a niece of Mr. Fair, is one of this year's graduates of the North Side High School, and Mr. and Mrs. Fair were desirous of attending the commencement exercises held last night at the opera house.  Dr. Swift thought they might with safety and propriety do so, provided the child was left in the care of a person familiar with her condition and one whom she would trust.  The Fairs live next door to Mrs. McGonigle, who has a grandchild, Helen, aged about four years, and the two Fair children, Gwendolen and Rena, aged about four, and Helen, constantly played together, first in one home and then the other and there is the closest intimacy between the two families.

Mrs. McGonigle accordingly readily consented to assume the care of the children while the parents went to the commencement exercises.

The two other children played about the rooms during the evening while Gwendolen sat in a chair watching them.  At one time they were given bread and butter, a piece being handed to Gwendolen, but though she tasted the food she ate practically none of it.  Miss Carrie McGonigle arrived home about 9:40 o'clock and she relates what happened thereafter as follows:

"When I arrived home I found Gwendolen sitting quietly in a chair watching the other children.  Helen had grown tired and I proceeded to put her to bed.  Hardly had I come down stairs, it being then about 10:45 o'clock, when I noticed the child cough and I asked her if she did not want a drink of water.  She replied, 'No, I could not swallow it,' and the next moment she coughed more heavily.  Mother, noting a rattling of the child's lungs, took her up in her arms to help her, when she gasped and in another moment was dead.  When mother took the child I sprang for the phone to call Dr. Swift, but all was over long before he could arrive.  I then called up the opera house, but could not get the parents of the child.  They had left about the same time and in about thirty minutes reached our house."

Dr. Swift gives the following statement of the case:

"The child had what I considered a slight attack of bronchitis.  I had seen her but twice and that was during the day.  At one time she had a similar coughing spell and swallowed the phlegm she raised.  I am of the opinion that she was seized with such an attack and was too weak to raise the phlegm, or else attempted to swallow it when it was drawn into the wind-pipe and strangled her.  It was but three minutes from the beginning of the attack until she was dead.  It is one of those fatal accidents which cannot always be foreseen and guarded against, and it becomes the more pathetic only because of the circumstances under  which it occurred."

When the parents' reached the McGonigle home their grief was pitiful to behold.  The child was beautiful and of a very sweet and lovable disposition and the parents idolized her.  They are disconsolate because of their absence at the tragic moment, and in this they will have the sympathy of the whole community. Their grief will be all the harder to bear for it, and yet in all the circumstances there is nothing in which they should reproach themselves.  The death falls only less heavily upon Mrs. McGonigal and her daughter.  They were greatly attached to the child and her death at their home was a great shock.  While they did everything possible during the few moments before death came, yet they are almost prostrated over the occurance.

The child was 5 years old last January.

The father, George Fair, is employed at the condensing factory, of which his brother-in-law, W.H. Shearman is superintendent.  His brother, John Fair, is the well known cement walk builder and he has taken a prominent interest in the question of the paving of the city streets.

The funeral was held Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the home.

George Acton Fair

                         

 

Death Claims George A. Fair
Belvidere Daily Republican
Belvidere, Illinois; August 18, 1952; page 6

 

George A. Fair, 78, Wild Rose, Wis., a former resident of Belvidere died at noon Saturday at the Wild Rose hospital, following a three month illness.  He had been a resident of Wild Rose for seven years.

Born in Ontario Canada, December 16, 1873, he was the son of George and Mary Fair.  He was educated in Canada and for 50 years was a Belvidere resident.  His first wife was Harriett Nourse, whom he married in this city May 26, 1898.  After her death, he was married to Anna Bradley here, April 13, 1942.  Fair was a member of the Lincoln Protective Association.

Survivors include his second wife, two daughters, Mrs. Eric Lind, Belvidere, and Mrs. Gilbert Larsen, Waupaca, Wis.; three sons, George, Jr., Lockport, Donald, Dayton, O. and Russell, Buffalo, N.Y.; one brother, John, Belvidere, and one sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Sherman, Kenmore, N.Y.  There are 21 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren surviving.

Fair was preceded in death by his first wife, three brothers and two sisters.

Funeral services will be held at the Atkins-Johnson funeral home Wednesday at 2 p.m. with Rev. Edwin M. Oliver officiating.  Burial will be in Belvidere cemetery.

A prayer service will be held in Wild Rose, Wis., Monday after which the body will be brought to Belvidere.  Friends may call at the funeral home after Tuesday noon.

 

Harriet Diana Nourse Fair                                

Mrs. George Fair Dies in Wisconsin
Belvidere Daily Republican
Belvidere, Illinois; November 26, 1920; Page 1

Mrs. George Fair died Wednesday morning at 1 o'clock in Waupaca, Wis., at the age of 44 years.  The funeral services were held today and the burial was to be in Waupaca.

Mrs. Fair was a sufferer for a long time with asthma and complications and a home had been maintained by Mr. and Mrs. Fair in Waupaca as well as in Belvidere that Mrs. Fair might obtain relief from her affliction, Mr. Fair making frequent visits to the Wisconsin home.

There survive besides the husband six children, and a sister, Mrs. John Benger of this city.  Many friends will deeply regret the demise of Mrs. Fair.