In the last two posts, I told you about the series of disasters that befell the Paak (Peek/Paake/Pake) family. As I started researching for more information, I came across a worse and more horrific family disaster. And this one happened to my very own great-great-grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn, Mrs. Richard DeKorn (born Aaltje Peek in the Netherlands), on May 26 1891.
Alice Paak DeKorn
If you remember the post with the pretty shawl, that was her shawl. She’s the one with the 3 Peek sisters; Alice was the prettiest one. Poor George was her brother. She was also the mother of my great-grandmother Cora DeKorn Zuidweg.
Read it and weep:
At the time this happened, Alice’s children were 18 (Jennie), 16 (Cora), and 10 (Joseph). For the next week, the local newspaper provides updates about Alice’s condition, which seems to be improving. Alice did live another 17 years after the accident.
The “comfortable house” she lived in is said to be at Burdick and Balch. That would be this house, built by her husband Richard DeKorn who stands in front:
Richard DeKorn’s home at the corner of Burdick and Balch, Kalamazoo, Michigan
I would like to know more about “Dutch Pete’s,” where the oil stove was purchased. What happened in those days with an accident like this? Would there have been an investigation to see if there was a culprit responsible for the stove or if it was human error that caused the fire in the first place?
Notice how Alice was being a hero, trying to help out the neighbors so that they didn’t lose their house and belongings and so that they were safe. I always had a good feeling about her.
Finding this accident in the newspaper archives did shake me up somewhat. After all, she looks like such a sweet lady, and I can only imagine how horrifically painful her injuries must have been–and what a frightening experience.
Strangely, my favorite contemporary children’s book (and one I taught several times) is Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. At the beginning of the book, the book’s protagonist Billie Jo loses her mother by an accident which is very similar. I remember that Hesse said in an interview that she found the accident in a newspaper article and put it in her book. There are differences as in the book the cause seems to be an accident where the family confused kerosene with water, and in this newspaper account it seems to hint at a defective oil stove. I imagine there were far too many of these kinds of accidents in those days.
Alice’s terrible accident must have left her family very shaken up. I’m sure it made an impact on her children’s lives.
The Family Kalamazoo 
That’s quite a story — most of it painful but with a few good things woven in, such as Alice’s heroism and the fact that she lived 17 more years. It’s amazing, even, that she survived with such terrible burns. She must have had a strong constitution and ability to fight off infection.
The house looks like a DeKorn building with those stripes.
The writing in the article is visceral, even intrusive by today’s newspaper standards. On the other hand, it’s good for Alice’s descendants to have those details.
I agree–the risk of infection must have been terrible!
The writing style in these old articles is really something. It’s enjoyable to read at this distance because you get a very subjective opinion from the reporter or editor! For instance, in that one article about George, the paper calls him a “worthy man.” That’s really making a judgment call!
What a hero! Is this a pattern in your family?
Something similar that happened to me… a couple of days before my first wedding in 1988, I was deep frying toasted ravioli on my stove. Only I went off to answer the phone with the oil heating up, too dumb to realize you couldn’t walk away from hot oil. The oil catches on fire and I ran out the door with the burning pan. AT that time, my 4 year old runs underneath me and knocks the pan out of my hand… flames BOUNCED OFF her long blonde hair but did NOT catch fire. THANK GOD. She knocked the pan o flames all over me and it DID catch me and my hand and arm on fire. I had third degree burns and my hand and arm is still scarred up. I still got married and had MANY pictures taken of my bandaged right hand. Yuk. The thing I remember most besides my baby almost burning, was the skin dripping… like in your article. VERY painful. I’m amazed she lived so long ago without the aid of modern medicine.
Oh my goodness! You are so so so lucky that your daughter’s hair didn’t catch fire, but that is awful that that happened to you! Dripping skin. You put that more vividly than even the paper did, I think! A lot of time has gone by since 1988, but I can imagine that is something it’s hard to get over! Can I ask if your skin healed ok? As to Alice, I can’t imagine how she survived that accident in those days before antibiotics, not to mention the kind of pain killers we have today.
Alice was a super hero to have done that for her neighbor and SURVIVED for as long as she did. I’m positive she had much wrong with her related to the burns after this happened though. Poor thing. Hopefully they kept her pain under control!
Yes many years have passed since 88. I healed okay although there are still scares. It hurt for a year after but they didn’t have to do a skin graft. THAT was good. I remember having to go back to work right away and being in so much pain from having to use my hand that I’d stop to cry. There were a WHOLE lot of antibiotics, including a round of IV antibiotics. Lots of ointment too. YUK. But I do it a million times over to keep it from burning my daughter! Wow. I think it was a miracle that she didn’t catch on fire!
Oh, what a long and painful recovery you had! I can imagine that there would be scars. I’m looking for a photo of Alice afterward to see how she healed. Thank you for calling her a super hero. You are pretty brave yourself!
I haven’t been on here for a while so I haven’t seen if you found a picture of Alice yet? If you did find one can you link me? But thanks for saying I’m brave 🙂 It’s easy to say that NOW but at the time, I’m pretty sure I was a whiny baby. lol
I’m sure you were entitled to be a whiny baby!!! and that you weren’t really. Yes, I did find a pic of her. It’s on my new post: https://thefamilykalamazoo.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/the-virtual-cemetery/.
Thank you! Beautiful pic!
When “Who Do You Think You Are?” was on, one of the people profiled had an ancestor die because of an oil fire. I can’t remember who it was. I remember it took many days for the person to die. Completely horrible.
I never saw that episode! I would love to see it. You don’t remember which episode, do you? I can see from how the newspaper kept printing updates on Alice’s condition that people probably expected her to die from the accident, but luckily the tide turned in her favor!
I think it might have been Rosie O’Donnell’s ep.
I think I saw part or all of that episode. How could I forget that?! Of course, I didn’t know about Alice then!
You should be so proud of this woman in your family who was brave enough to risk her own life for her neighbors! Amazing…I’m stunned at the information you’ve unearthed. Good work.
I’m so proud of her! Then I was wondering who took care of her when she was healing and couldn’t use her hands, but am thinking it was a blessing to have two teen-aged daughters at home. Thank you, Sheila. It’s kind of amazing the information out there once we figure out ways to tap into it.
Your Grandmother Alice was a true heroine. I can understand you being so upset. Not only have you gotten to know her through the photos and old records, but you have tangible objects that she owned like the shawl. So many impressions build up and give a good sense of who she was.
EmilyAnn, thank you so much. Yes, that is exactly how I feel!
What a terrible accident! Burning oil and fat are so dangerous. I almost never deep fat fry anything–both for health reasons and because I’m afraid of a possible fire.
I’ve always been cautious, but mainly because of when my kids were little and then I’ve always had pets. But thinking of those old stoves and the thickly gathered long skirts and gathered long sleeves–makes me shudder.
Such a terrible accident but so fortunate the cistern was near by and she had the presence of mind to jump in. A most courageous and calmy sensible woman it seems to me. She has very beautiful eyes…
So kind of you for the compliments to Alice. I agree that she sounds so brave! And I’m glad the cistern was there with enough water in it for her to extinguish the fire. My mother said something the other day about how they didn’t know to stop, drop and roll in those days, so I tried to research which is better for this type of fire: stop drop and roll or submerging in water. Both methods are recommended by different sites, and there is enough info on the web that makes me think that stop drop and roll was thought up as a way to teach children and because in many cases there isn’t a tank, well, or body of water to submerge oneself in. I think the water was a really smart thing to do.
What a find! And a nice write-up on your part. THIS is the type of historical narrative that tells of a legacy (strength of character, heroism, bravery). It’s so much more meaningful than just knowing an ancestor’s name and dates of birth and death.
Hi Michael, I was astonished, then shocked, then thrilled to find this information in the old newspapers! The more I learn about my ancestors, the more interesting they are to me. I love your blog, by the way.
[…] great-great-grandmother Alice Paak (the brave woman who survived a horrific near-tragedy that I wrote about last spring) gave her middle child Cora a gift for Christmas 1907. Perhaps she […]
This was a horrible accident, Luanne! I am so proud of your distant family member, though, being quite a heroine! I am also so happy that she lived another 17 years after this episode of bravery! I am not sure if I would have done such a drastic thing, I am afraid of fire, would have just scurried everyone out the door and left it to burn, or maybe using a little bit of thought, thrown a blanket on the stove,to get the fire to possibly die out by smothering it. I am not sure it would have worked, though! Awesome story, sorry I never wrote a comment before on this interesting saga of your family! Hugs, Robin
Wow, what a story! But all too common back then. We have a wood stove for heat and it’s easy to see how one wrong move could lead to disaster.
Yes, so true. I was so surprised that in this case, although the newspaper was monitoring her all week and thinking she would die, that she went on to live so much longer and to know her first grandchild.
Finding such an intense story about a relative is such a gift.
Yes, I felt that way!
[…] who ran into a burning home to help the family next door and sustained serious burns. Read about it here. She is the face of my chapbook Kin […]
What a horrific accident. The kerosene stoves were notoriously dangerous.
Yes, just awful. I have always been afraid of stuff like that and wonder if it’s encoded in my genes!