The Real-Life Infant Behind Oz's Dorothy

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The brave farmgirl who was carried to Oz by a Kansas tornado may have been born in the heartbreaking death of an infant in Illinois.

Five-month-old Dorothy Gage died in 1898 as her uncle was writing "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The tragedy inspired L. Frank Baum to name his heroine Dorothy Gale and make her the ideal girl his family imagined the real Dorothy could have become, historian Sally Roesch Wagner believes.

"If someone dies in your family, the immediate use of that name is done in a very careful and respectful way," Wagner said. "It becomes a name with a lot of import, a lot of emotional meaning."

Wagner has known about the real Dorothy for years, ever since the girl's sister mentioned her during a discussion of family history. But it was only during a recent trip to Illinois that Wagner was able to find Dorothy's timeworn tombstone in the north-central Illinois city of Bloomington.

Records at Evergreen Cemetery led Wagner to a tiny gray stone, its letters reduced to illegible grooves. The director of the McLean County Historical Society, Greg Koos, suggested an old genealogy trick: Spread shaving cream on the stone and then wipe away the excess to reveal the letters.

"I brought the squeegee down and there was `Dorothy.' It took on life then," Wagner said. "She really was buried in Bloomington. There really was a Dorothy."

Dorothy was the niece of Baum's wife, Maud Gage Baum.

When the sickly child died, Maud Gage Baum traveled from Chicago to Bloomington for the funeral. She had always wanted a daughter of her own, and the funeral upset her so much that she needed medical attention, Wagner said.

Baum dedicated "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to his wife when it was published in 1900. Wagner believes the character of Dorothy was a gift to his wife.

"He gave Maud her Dorothy in an immortal way," said Wagner, who was in Illinois as a scholar-in-residence at Lincoln's New Salem state historical site and is writing a biography of Mrs. Baum's mother, an activist for women's rights.

Baum biographer Michael Patrick Hearn said he is convinced the infant's death led Baum to use the name in his Oz stories.

"She was too important to the family," he said. "I think her death certainly gave (Baum) the name, and I think he modeled Dorothy on his nieces."

Baum wrote 14 Oz books, and the series continued with other authors after his death. The books inspired several films, most famously the 1939 musical version with Judy Garland.

Koos, the McLean County historian, would like to replace Dorothy's weathered tombstone.