When I started my genealogy journey, I knew very little more than my great grandfather's name. I found out that he was one of thirteen children.
Searching on newspapers I found an article with a title that matches the title of this post.
Around 1:30 am a fire broke out in the upper floor of the farmhouse they were living in. At the time (1924) my great who was the oldest surviving child was 14. A man walking by going home from work noticed and ran over to the house frantically knocking on the window.
My great-great grandfather James opened the window, and the room was filled with smoke. James and the man (George) broke the window and James handed out his wife and seven children from ranging in age from 14 years to 14months. They had all been sleeping in the same room as one of the children was sick.
The roof collapsed as they got out and the home was a total loss.
I think about this often because if that man had not been walking by that day, I have no doubt that they would not have survived. The amount of people in my family that were born only because this man was coming home from work and decided to help.
I had been working at a hardware store after reading this and was helping a customer. The name was the same as the person's name in the newspaper clipping. Of course, I started to word vomit, and I told him and his wife the story. They were both grinning from ear to ear. The man was his great grandfather. I told them that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. Then his wife said something about her husband that made me smile.
"He's a volunteer firefighter."