Garrison, Amanda

Item

Title: Garrison, Amanda
Gender: Female
Biography: In the wee hours of 10 January 1871, a fire broke out in the Percival Hotel (Walton, Ky.). The cisterns and wells in town were nearly dry, and volunteers had to haul water from a pond just outside of town. The fire was intense, and the hotel was completely destroyed. Ira Percival's young son, Orville, a young girl named Christina Ransler who was living with the family, and a domestic servant named Amanda Garrison all died in the fire.; The victims of the fire are buried in the Percival family cemetery on Walton-Nicholson Road, including Amanda Garrison, who is listed as “coloured” on her tombstone. African-Americans were generally buried in separate cemeteries at that time. It is believed that their badly burned bodies were impossible to distinguish, leading to all three victims being buried together.
Member: Garrison family
Birth date: circa 1840
Place of birth: Kentucky
Death date: 10 Jan 1871
Place of death: Percival Hotel (Walton, Ky.)
Death and burial information: Percival Cemetery (Boone County, Ky.)
Occupation(s): Domestic servant
Employed by: Percival Hotel (Walton, Ky.)
Bibliographic citation(s): "Shocking Calamity at Walton, Ky.-A Hotel and Store Burned-Three Persons Perish in the Flames". The Cincinnati Gazette. January 12, 1871; "Shocking Calamity at Walton, Ky.". New York Times on January 15, 1871; 'Pioneers From the East: the Percival Family in Boone County' by Melinda Sartwell [PDF]
Source(s): Ninth Census of the United States, 1870

Item sets: AA--Persons--Kentucky--Boone County--D-J