Blanche Mae Elam
1897 - 1941 (44 years)
Generation: 1
1. Blanche Mae Elam was born on 9 Mar 1897 in Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky; died on 27 Jun 1941 in Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky; was buried in Brown Cemetery, Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky. 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.
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.
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.
MHR note: According to Clara Gilkison, Blanche jumped from a window of their burning house and died as a result.
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.
Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67114259/blanche-gilkisonBlanche married John Warren Gilkison on 1 Aug 1912 in Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky. John (son of Pembroke Rousseau "Rous" Gilkison and Mary Parthena "Cena" Razor) was born on 29 Oct 1890 in Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky; died on 29 Jun 1941 in Bluestone, Rowan County, Kentucky; was buried in Brown Cemetery, Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]