The Mystery of Maria Jane Dukelow

[Published March 29, 2011] [Updated March 30, 2011]

There has always been somewhat of a puzzle over the exact number of children born to our ancestral grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth Ducklow / Dukelow.  The number has appeared to 13 by accounts of from many different sources.  But there has be a bit of lingering doubt if this number should be 14 due to a mysterious baptismal record for a baby named Maria Jane Dukelow -- whose parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Dukelow.  This record of baptism is from St. Paul’s Episcopal church, the same church were Thomas and Elizabeth and family were very active members. Despite the name being linked to Thomas and Elizabeth, this record seemed spurious, as no other references to Maria Jane have been discovered.  It also puts the child count beyond 13 which conflicts with other reliable information on the children of the family.   The name Maria Jane Dukelow is only known to be documented by this one church record. It has been tempting to disregard the record, but the source is so authoritative that to do so would be a compromise of research integrity. So this one record of Thomas and Elizabeth's Maria Jane has remained a mystery.

 

Left: Elizabeth Ducklow Hanson and John Hanson. Circa 1922.  Picture from the Ruth Sandmann Photo Collection. Elizabeth is about age 66 here.

Examining the records again today, I think I have unknotted the issue.  

The ninth child of Thomas and Elizabeth Ducklow was Elizabeth Ducklow born on October 10, 1856. This Elizabeth grew into adulthood and went on to marry John Hanson.  Together, John and Elizabeth farmed and raised their family of eight children near Poskin in Barron County, Wisconsin.  It seems very straightforward to concluded that the Elizabeth Ducklow Hanson was named after her mother, Elizabeth Nicholson Ducklow. This reasoning is logical and traditional, but now appears to be not quite accurate. I believe that Elizabeth Ducklow Hanson was originally named Maria Jane Ducklow.

Why would her name change? How did Maria Jane become to be known as Elizabeth?

Maria Jane had a slightly older sister named Elizabeth.  About four months after Maria Jane’s birth, older sister Elizabeth died in February of 1857. Elizabeth was about 18 months old.  In the grief of losing a loved baby, the family decided to rename four-month old Maria Jane to honor baby Elizabeth.  Naming a new baby after a sibling who died as an infant was quite common during this period.  In fact Thomas and Elizabeth had done this once before when infant son George died and they named their next son George (see footnote).  No doubt the short gap in age (maybe 14 months) between the first Elizabeth and re-named Maria Jane blurred the line of identity of the two infants and eased the grieving process. So Maria Jane became Elizabeth. What seems to be unique about this case is that is s a re-naming of a several-weeks-old baby after its sibling died in contrast to the naming a new-born.

While there is not absolute proof that this name change occurred, the known facts support the argument well.  Here are five reasons why I believe this to be true:

(1) There is a baptism record for a Maria Jane Dukelow born to Thomas and Elizabeth Dukelow (not Ducklow – see footnote) recorded in the St. Paul Episcopal church records.

(2) Beyond this one baptism record, there is no further mention of a Maria Jane in other known records for Thomas and Elizabeth’s family, including a Federal Census taken in 1860.

(3) No baptism record can be located for the second baby Elizabeth born to Thomas and Elizabeth.  However all of Thomas and Elizabeth's other children that were born in Wisconsin have baptism records at St. Pauls, including the first baby Elizabeth baptized 11 November 1855.

(4) The baptism date of Maria Jane is Nov 9, 1856.  Second baby Elizabeth's birthday is October 10^th 1856, a one-month period typical of the time elapse between a birth and baptism.

(5) The obituary for Thomas Ducklow (Sr.) states that he and Elizabeth had 13 children. Accounting for Maria Jane would require 14 children.  By recognizing the Maria Jane and second baby Elizabeth are the same person restores the count to 13.

You may wonder that when Thomas and Elizabeth changed Maria Jane's name to Elizabeth did they have to change Maria Jane’s birth certificate?  The short answer is no.  Recall that Wisconsin became a state in 1848 and had very a limited government regulation in 1856.  It was not until 1907 that the state required births to be registered. So in this case there was no birth certificate to be concerned with.  The lack of red tape meant there was no real barrier to renaming a child, especially a child that was only four months old.  It was simply a matter of calling the baby a new name.  The church may have frowned a bit on this, but no doubt there are many other examples of children being baptized with one name, but called by something completely different in day-to-day life.

So with this explanation, the mystery of the name Maria Jane Dukelow / Ducklow is solved. Elizabeth Ducklow Hanson was actually, at least according to St. Paul's church’s records, Maria Jane Ducklow Hanson.

 ❧

Footnotes:

(1) Elizabeth’s older brother, George was the second George of the family.  Infant George was born September 1849 and died October 14, 1850.  The next child born to Thomas and Elizabeth was also named George.  He was born 10 August 1851.

(2) As documented elsewhere in this blog, the spelling of the surname Ducklow took several forms, especially before the 1860s.  Dukelow was a common spelling, and was used by several of Thomas’ half-brothers. It is possible that another Thomas Dukelow lived in the Ashippun area and had a child named Maria Jane and attended church at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.  While possible, it seems unlikely. 

(3) Of all the records viewed, Elizabeth Ducklow Hanson name never appears with a middle name.  A possible future discovery of her middle name of being Maria or Jane or Maria Jane would certainly add  credibility to this story.


(4) In a bit of ironic near miss of overlapping names, my wife's name is Jane Marie Ducklow.

❧