hmtl5 Blanche Mae Elam b. 9 Mar 1897 Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky d. 27 Jun 1941 Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky: Hedges Genealogy

Blanche Mae Elam

Female 1897 - 1941  (44 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Blanche Mae Elam 
    Born 9 Mar 1897  Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3
    Gender Female 
    Died 27 Jun 1941  Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 4
    Buried Brown Cemetery, Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Person ID I1149  Hedges
    Last Modified 6 Oct 2023 

    Family John Warren Gilkison,   b. 29 Oct 1890, Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 29 Jun 1941, Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 50 years) 
    Married 1 Aug 1912  Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Last Modified 18 Feb 2018 
    Family ID F660  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 9 Mar 1897 - Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 1 Aug 1912 - Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 27 Jun 1941 - Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBuried - - Brown Cemetery, Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Two Tots Burned to Death In Fire Near Morehead
      Family Trapped In Two-Story Frame House
      Four Other Persons Suffer Serious Injuries In Blaze
      Morehead, Ky., June 27 (Special) – Two small children were burned to death and four other persons, suffering from serious burns and injuries were being rushed to Lexington hospital early this morning as a result of a fire which trapped a family in a two-story frame house at midnight Friday at Bluestone, Ky., eight miles from Morehead.
      The dead were Glennis Wayne Gilkison, 5, and Mary Louis Montz, 2.
      Seriously injured were John Gilkison, 50; his wife, Blanche, 44; Recleu Gilkison, a son and father of Glennis Wayne, and Fred c. Gilkison, a son.
      Mrs. Roxy Montz, mother of Mary Lou, who was said to have been in a Lexington hospital for two months, knew nothing of the disaster.
      The blaze, which was though to have been caused by a discarded lighted cigarette, started in the kitchen of the home, shortly after Fred Gilkison returned from a hunting trip.
      Escape for the family was cut off when the fire, spreading quickly, swept into a stairway which led into the kitchen.
      Members of the family after several unsuccessful attempts to make an exit through the kitchen, were forced to leap from the second-story windows. Already severely burned, witnesses said that those who escaped the flaming structure suffered additional injuries when they leaped to safety.
      Repeated efforts by members of the family to rescue the two small children were unsuccessful as flames swept the upstairs bedroom in which they were sleeping.
      Scores of residents of the tiny village who were attracted to the scene of the fire attempted to aid in the rescue, but were driven back by the intense heat.
      The Lexington Herald, Lexington, Kentucky. Saturday, 28 June 1941, page 1.
      [4]
    • Three Burned To Death In Fire
      Three Others Critically Injured Near Morefield, Kentucky.
      Morehead, Ky., June 30 – Three persons, two of them children, died and three others were critically burned today when fire destroyed their home at Bluestone.
      The dead: Blanche Gilkison, 46, and her grandchildren, Glennis, 5, and Mary Lou Gilkison, 2.
      John Gilkison, 50, husband of Blanche, and their two sons, Fred, 16, and Receau, 26, father of the children who perished, suffered critical burns.
      The family was trapped on the second floor when flames, which started in the kitchen below, blocked their escape down a stairway.
      Sidney Daily News, Sidney, Ohio. Monday, 30 June 1951, page 3.
      [4]
    • Trapped in Home, Five Die in Fire
      Morehead, Ky. – (INS) – Five persons, including two children, died Saturday when fire destroyed their home at near-by Bluestone.
      The dead: John Gilkison, 50 years old, his wife, Blanche, 46; their grandchildren Glennis, 5, and Mary Lou Gilkison, 2; and the children’s father, Receau Gilkison.
      Fred Gilkison, 16 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Gilkison, two of the victims, was seriously burned.
      The family was trapped on the second floor when flames, which stared in the kitchen below, blocked their escape from a stairway. Police investigated the cause of the blaze.
      Palladium-Item, Richmond, Indiana. Sunday, 29 June 1941.
      [4]
    • MHR note: According to Clara Gilkison, Blanche jumped from a window of their burning house and died as a result.
      [1]
    • LKH note:
      John and his wife Blanche died the same day as a result of the house fire. Also dead as result of the fire was one of their sons, "Runcie" and his six-year old son Glennie; and also Mary, the three-year old daughter of their daughter Roxie.
      [5]

  • Sources 
    1. [S2] Mary Hedges Reiner.

    2. [S24] Kentucky death records, 1852-1953.

    3. [S6] Find a Grave.

    4. [S87] Newspaper article.

    5. [S82] LKH.