Two Shocking Stories

One hundred and twenty-nine years ago today, on April 22, 1897, a disturbing story appeared in the Decatur County [Iowa] Journal:

 

A sad case of destitution and affliction came to our notice Tuesday. Mrs. R.H. [Reuben Holcomb] Ewing, accompanied by a family of four children ranging in age from a babe [Theresa Edith], a few months old, to a 10-year-old girl, arrived on the D.M. & K.C. [Des Moines & Kansas City Railroad] noon train from Thayer, Union County, [Iowa,] near which place the husband and father had been struck by lightning and killed Friday. The mother and children were on their way to the home of the dead man’s brother, A.J. [Abner Johnson] Ewing, seven miles southeast of town, from whence, after spending the winter, the whole family had started overland a few days ago for Pottawattamie County.

      Near Thayer a severe rainstorm overtook them and they, with another family, were compelled to seek shelter in a house nearby. About 2 o’clock in the morning lightning struck the house. Mr. Ewing received a portion of the shock. His clothing was literally torn into shreds and his body burned from head to foot. He was rendered unconscious, but regained his consciousness and lived about twenty-four hours. The oldest Ewing girl [Viola] was burned badly on the top of one foot and leg, the stocking being split as though severed with a knife. The younger members of the other family were also severely injured. The most remarkable part of the whole occurrence, however, was the fact that two of the younger children [4yo William Harvey and 3yo Eva Sarah] were lying close to their father and escaped the slightest injury.

      The family was cared for at the Park House until Wednesday, when the dead man’s brother came in and took them to his home.

 

The father who died, 46-year-old Reuben Holcomb Ewing, was our 3rd cousin 4x removed on the Cross/Niles branch of the family tree. He was born in Vinton County, Ohio, in 1851—the fifth of ten children born to Andrew & Taphena Niles (Holcomb) Ewing, our 2nd cousins 5x removed.

 

Of the 25,000+ individuals on the tree I’ve been building, Reuben Ewing was the first family member I found who had died from a lightning strike. Five minutes later, I uncovered a second . . . his father Andrew!

 

Twelve years earlier, in July 1885, 76-year-old Andrew Ewing was hit by a thunderbolt in Wayne County, Iowa, 45 miles southeast of where his son would be one day be killed. Should I inform Ripley’s Believe It or Not?

 

Reuben’s wife, Olive Eva (Fowler) Ewing, and his four children recovered from the disaster. In January 1901 she married a widower with seven children, and together they had an additional four children. Olive died in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 29, 1929, at the age of 63. This photo shows her with two of her daughters (unidentified).

 

All four Ewing children—Viola, William, Eva, and Theresa—would live until the 1960s. Viola, who had been struck by the same bolt that killed her father, lived to the age of 78.