Edna CRAPO

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1900, Living with parents in Grant, Buffalo Co., Nebraska
• Census: 1910, Living with parents in Arlington, Van Buren Co., Michigan

Notes:

Name:
The Hartford Day Spring, March 9, 1938

Burns In Stove Blast Fatal To Edna Balfour

Sad Rites Held Saturday For Hartford Fire Victim, Mother of Five Children

Friends and neighbors gathered in deep sympathy Saturday afternoon at the funeral rites held at the Zuver & Calvin chapel for Mrs. Edna Balfour, 44, victim of a fire tragedy at the family home on Beeny Road early last Wednesday morning.

The Rev. A. E. Murphy, pastor of the Federated church of which Mrs. Balfour was an active member, conducted the services and burial was in Arlington Hill cemetery at Bangor, the family having formerly been residents of that community. Mrs. Grace Gearing sang, with Mrs. Leatha Combes as accompanist. Casket bearers were C. E. Rittase, E. W. Ewald, Dan Lightner and Lee Harley, members of the Hartford township board of which the husband of the deceased, Township Treasurer Leland S. Balfour, is also a member, together with Arthur Dowd, Bruce M. Boyers, Warren Clark and Edward Bonning.

The death of Mrs. Balfour occurred at Mercy hospital, Benton Harbor, early Wednesday evening, nine hours after she was fatally burned in a stove blast. Use of kerosene that had been used to wash out the crankcase of a car to kindle a fire in a heating stove resulted in the tragedy.

Mr. Balfour was starting the fire. As he poured the oil on kindling that had already been ignited the can of oil blazed in his hands. His first impulse was to carry the flaming can out of doors, but that became impossible and he hurled it through a door into the kitchen where Mrs. Balfour was preparing breakfast. She was trapped in the small room which instantly became a mass of flames.

Before hurling the can, Mr. Balfour shouted to others in the house to flee. Their daughter and a girl friend, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Darlington, who was staying with her, ran from the house. Believing that his wife had followed them, Mr. Balfour himself ran out of doors only to learn that his wife was still in the kitchen.

Rushing back into the inferno he found her lying on the floor, overcome by the flames, and carried her out of the house. He was severely burned about the face, hands and arms in the rescue. Mrs. Balfour suffered burns that nearly covered her body, while her clothing was partly consumed by the flames.

She was rushed to the Benton Harbor hospital by Dr. Evan Garrett. The physicians immediately despaired her life. The shock of the extensive burns, they feared, would prove fatal, and it di within a few hours, although every effort was made to ease her suffering and save her life.

Mrs. Balfour told physicians at the hospital that had she not waited in the kitchen to pump a pail of water with which to fight the fire she would not have been burned. It was then that she was trapped by the flames, she said.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Crapo, Mrs. Balfour was born in Amherst Nebr., on May 9, 1893, but had long been a resident of Bangor and Hartford. She was an able assistant during the three years her husband has served as township treasurer. Outside of her home her major interest was in the work of the Federated church, where she was a member of the Loyal Daughters class, teacher of the intermediate class of girls in the church school, and chairman of the Dorcas circle of the Woman's Council.

Besides her husband, she is survived by five children, Kenneth C., Marshall E., Leland S., Jr., Hildreth A., and Wendell Herbert, all of Hartford. She also leaves three sisters, Miss Edith Crapo, of Kalamazoo, Mrs. Laura Hunt of Lawrence and Mrs. Mabel Morehead of Bangor, and other relatives.

The Balfour home, known as the Patrick Carney place just west of the village limits, was damaged before Hartford firemen cold extinguish the blaze. The flames had been partially checked by a small fire extinguisher before the department arrived, but the kitchen in which Mrs. Balfour was trapped was badly scorched, doors charred and other repairs made necessary.

Family/Spouse: Leland Stanford BALFOUR. Leland was born in 1890 in Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan; died on 14 Mar 1950 in Benton Harbor, Berrien Co., Michigan; was buried in Arlington Hill Cemetery, Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1850, Living with parents in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan
• Census: 1860, Living with parents in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan
• Census: 1870, Living in Rapids, Linn Co., Iowa
• Census: 1880, Living in Arlington, Van Buren Co., Michigana
• Census: 1900, Living in Grant, Buffalo Co., Nebraska
• Census: 1910, Living in Arlington, Van Buren Co., Michigana
• Census: 1920, Living in Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan

Franklin married Rosanna WILLIAMS. Rosanna was born on 14 Dec 1851 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; died on 7 Apr 1926 in Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan ; was buried in Arlington Hill Cemetery, Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Daughter of Johnson Williams and Elizabeth Felgar
• Census: 1870, Living with husband in Rapids, Linn Co., Iowa
• Census: 1880, Living with husband in Arlington, Van Buren Co., Michigan
• Census: 1900, Living with husband in Grant, Buffalo Co., Nebraska
• Census: 1910, Living with husband in Arlington, Van Buren Co., Michigan
• Census: 1920, Living with husband in Bangor, Van Buren Co., Michigan