Flames of Chelsea ~ 1908

By Laura Thibodeau Jones

The Year is 1908, Chelsea Massachusetts, Palm Sunday, April 12, the fire bells rang...a split second in time was all it took for my great grandparents, August and Christina Reekast and their eight children...August Jr, Nettie, Annie, John, Lillian, Lena, Ida and Teddy to lose everything.

A Massive fire ripped through the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts, the flames, so intense, the glow was seen one hundred twenty miles away off the coast line of Maine. This monster was reported to have taken the lives of eighty-seven and left approximately eighteen thousand homeless. From that moment on, life as the Reekast family~and all the citizens of Chelsea, would never be the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496933577

Laura Thibodeau Jones

Laura Thibodeau Jones, author of Generations: 1891-1940 Living on the Islands of Boston Harbor, continues her family’s journey, documenting the tragic event that forced them to live on the Islands of Boston Harbor for decades.

Book preview

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2014 Laura Thibodeau Jones. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 8/26/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3356-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3357-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014914999

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

14485.png

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1   Chelsea Massachusetts ~ Time Line

Chapter 2   Before the Fire

Chapter 3   April Showers

Chapter 4   Reports of Fire and Panic in the Streets

Chapter 5   Homeless ~ but Not alone

Chapter 6   Militia Called

Chapter 7   Days that followed

This book is in honor of my Great Grandparents, August and Christina Reekast, my Grandmother, Ida Reekast Knoll and her seven siblings. Also, all the citizens of Chelsea, Massachusetts that endured heartache from this monster who ripped their lives apart…and for those poor souls, who lost their lives.

Special thanks to Aaron Schmidt, of the Boston Public Library, for bringing the images to my attention and for all your help.

To the unknown photographer, who’s images fill most of the pages of this book…

Thank you for your photo history.

To