April 9, 1910: Edgar Shaner's Life and Legacy a Series of Losses

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

April 9, 1910: Edgar Shaner, orphaned by the fiery deaths of his father and oldest brother at the Carver’s bakery fire in 1902 and his mother and remaining two brothers in the Opera House fire, has died of pneumonia at the Pottstown Hospital. He was 17 years old. He lived with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Miller, in Bechtelsville after the death of his mother, and sometime later, he was married.

Five months after Edgar died, his wife gave birth to their daughter Kathryn. Little Kathryn, the daughter Edgar never got to see, died at the age of five during a flu outbreak in the area. Father and daughter are buried in the Fairview Cemetery with the rest of his family.

Edgar had been injured in the Opera House holocaust, and it is possible that his lungs were damaged as a result of the fire.

More News from Boyertown

• Boyertown Offers an Interactive Heritage Day Mystery Building a Better Boyertown invites citizen detectives to solve a mystery while learning history.
• May 15, 1917: Carl A. Spatz Promoted to Captain with Praise for Daringness Carl A. Spaatz receives promotion from Pershing with praise for his daring spirit.