OIL CITY FLOOD OF 1892

"The Girl Martyr of Oil City"

OIL CITY FLOOD OF 1892
Willoughbys-Hoopers-Wilsons-Bullards-Halls: Myrtle Estella Hawks (our cousin), daughter of your gggGF, John Hawks (Union Civil War Veteran), is known as "The Girl Martyr of Oil City".

Myrtle was only 14 years old. Her selfless acts for others on that tragic June 5th day back in 1892, in the small town of Oil City, PA exemplifies her Christianity in action without contemplation. I believe the word is "faith". A must read for all the family. I would dare say the writer of this story was in tears as it was put to pen. Myrtle Estella sang the hymn, "Nearer My God to Thee" in her final hours. To put the power of this hymn in perspective, twenty years later, this hymn was played on the deck of the Titanic by its crew in its final hours.

THE HUNTINGTON INDEPENDENT (Journal of Southern Indiana)

The Titusville Disaster
Myrtle Estella Hawks, The Girl Martyr of Oil City

In the terrible disaster which befell Oil City , June 5, 1892, many valuable lives were lost .........

Amongst those who lost their lives was Myrtle Estella Hawks, a young girl of fourteen summers, half a women...

Realizing that her short young life was ending, she made several feeble efforts to sing a few words of a favorite Hymn; but the sound refused to come from her burnt lips, and only an occasional word escaped them. The humble believer wished to pour out her soul to song to Heaven until the very last; no doubt she then felt what no power could reveal, something the soul saw which eyes could not.

The child seemed like one sent from the better land -- a being which the world had not soiled with its touch. In her lovely blue eyes there was an expression not of earth; the reflection as if an angel's sprit dwelt in them. From where do such expressions come from ? Not from earth, but somewhere else. They are glimpses of that other world of which we have been taught.

How like a dream of the imagination this fair young creature's life passed away. So young, so brave, so strong. Hers was the material of which martyrs are made, and her extraordinary patience in her intense suffering showed that she would have endured the fire of ---?----for her faith.

When her home was no longer tenantable, from the height of the water, she stood near it, upon the sidewalk , amidst the whirling torrent, with other unfortunates, waiting to be rescued. She stood patiently until a boat load after boat load went off, never complaining, but bidding each with a kind good byes they left her. At last all were gone but her mother another woman and herself, and as the boat was leaving before the one in which she was finally taken, they had room for the unselfish girl and begged her to get in, but throwing her arms tenderly around her mother's neck she insisted on remaining with her. This was before the current of fire swept over the water, by which she was fatally burnt.

When the boat in which she might have been saved had gone, she saw only before her the necessity of death. People upon shore held their breath in terror, horrified at the prospect of their impending doom. When, Lo! a sound , sweet as the dying swan's, was heard floating out above the noise of the angry waters. It was the words of the beautiful hymn " Nearer, My God to Thee, Nearer to Thee." The heroic girl nearly submerged, stood there singing clearly with angelic sweetness that beautiful hymn. She was always a fine singer, but her voice never sounded sweeter, or her words more distinctly as she sang amidst the flood. When the explosion took place she was badly burned, but not a murmur or complaint was heard from her tortured lips. But she prayed earnestly that she might be saved; she had no fear of death, it had no terror for her, but she had a longing to be on shore long enough to bid her loved ones farewell.

She was in the flood three hours after the explosion, before she was taken, so perilous had the work of rescue,. When removed from the water with her Mother she was driven to the house of a friend. She bore her suffering without complaint and remained conscious until the last.

Her Mother, wishing to encourage her, said: "I think in forty-eight hours, dear, you and I will be at rest."

"Oh no Momma ! God is merciful, he will take us sooner." Many of her sorrowing young friends went to bid her a tender good-bye. She said to the: Girls, pray that God will take me soon." Then added "All of you be ready when the bridegroom cometh."

A friend asked her "if she had answer to prayer?"

"Oh yes!" she replied, turning her now blind eyes toward him, "when I was in the water and death was coming close, I prayed to be spared long enough to meet some of my friends and take leave of them. I had hardly ceased when a hand was laid upon my shoulder and I was lifted into the boat. This was in answer to my prayer".

She was brought to the shore at 3 o'clock in the afternoon; her sun set at noon the next day. When she felt the messenger of death drawing nearer and nearer, she turned to her Mother, who had been placed upon the bed beside her, she said: "I am going Mamma; you come too!"

Mr. and Mrs. Hawks and their daughter Myrtle were all three the victims of this terrible disaster. Mrs. William Monks, of Oil City, another daughter, was saved uninjured. (Myrtle and her parents lived with the Monks family dww)

Myrtle was buried in Oil City Cemetery, in a beautifully shaded spot; a place where the violets and daises will blossom amidst the grass that covers her remains, and the birds will build their nests in the branches of the trees overhead, and sing softly to the dreamer beneath the sod: for no sleeper there ever imprisoned a sweeter spirit.

Contributed by: Dean Willoughby
Contributed by: Joyce Grill Neidich