William James Hennessey

Fourteen year old William James Hennessey, nicknamed Willie, was thought to be missing until his body was located.  Willie attended the Forestville school in Chicago.

Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998
Name William Hennessey
Sex Male
Age 14
Birth Year (Estimated) 1889
Address 4411 Calumet Avenue
Marital Status Single
Race White
Event Type Death
Event Date 30 Dec 1903
Event Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
Event Place (Original) Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States
Cemetery Mt Olivet
Entry Number 28962

Donald, John Earl and Willie were the sons of William Henry Hennessy (1863–1923) and Annie McEnery Hennessy (1865–1949).  William had immigrated to America from Ireland with his parents as a youngster in 1868, becoming a naturalized US citizen in 1883, and Annie/Anna was a native of New Hampshire.  They married in 1887 in Hyde Park.

In 1903 the Hennessy's lived at 4411 Calumet Ave in Chicago.  William Hennessy worked in sales for the Jefferson Theatre Program printing company.  That meant he worked with Chicago theater managers every day.  Based on their homes, William was a good provider which meant that to support his wife and two remaining sons, he had to continue working, like all the other fathers of Iroquois Theater fire victims, but for William Hennessy that meant selling and writing orders while listening to discussions about the fire at work from co-workers and theater manager customers, all with conflicting opinions about the fire, some sympathetic to the owners, some condemning, some critical of the audience for not having calmly filed from the theater.  Then he went home to share the grief with his wife and sons, helping son John with the pain of his severe injuries and learning how to function with one hand, and finding time to assuage the survivor guilt of his youngest son, Donald, who not only survived but did so without grievous injury.

In 1905 the Hennessey's brought $10,000 liability suits on behalf of William and Earl.  In 1909 the family received two $750 settlements (around $20,000 each in 2018 dollars) from Fuller Construction, the company who built the Iroquois Theater, for John Earl's injuries and Willie's death, making them among a handful of about fifty families who received some compensation.