Margaret (Maggie) McCutcheon Dewey

When I first started doing the McCutcheon research I began by getting birth records from the Catholic Churches in Clinton, Iowa. I had a lady search for all the children born to William McCutcheon and Margaret McAuliffe. She sent me the names of 4 children: Mary born 1867, William born 1872, Margaret born 1874 and Alice born 1877. In addition, we had always known that there was also a child named Rose.

I was puzzled by the name Margaret, so I started asking family members who Margaret was and nobody knew. I started to thinking maybe Rose was named Margaret when she was born. So, I gave Rose that birth date and put her in between William and Alice. I have a copy of the 1880 census that has William (father), Margaret (mother), Mary (daughter) age 13, William (son) age 8, Maggie (daughter) age 6 and Alice (daughter) age 2.

I started collecting obituaries and I noticed in Margaret’s (William’s wife) that she was preceded in death by two children - a daughter Margaret Deevey, and a son William. By this time I knew that Rose and Margaret could not be the same person because I had Rose’s obituary and she died after her mother and not before. I started asking questions again thinking there may have been a Margaret or maybe, Margaret and Rose were twins. Well, everybody said the same thing - that there was only Mary, William, Rose and Alice. So, I set it a side until one day when I was at the library and I found a marriage record for a Maggie McCutcheon age 17 years and a L.E. Dewey age 24. Consent to get married was given by a William McCutcheon and a Thomas Carter. At this point I just thought maybe it was another husband for Rose, but than I remembered the obituary for Margaret, that said she was preceded in death by a Margaret Deveey or maybe it should have been Dewey. I knew that the William McCutcheon and Thomas Carter were our people because Mary had married a Thomas Carter. I kept trying to find more information on this Maggie McCutcheon.

One day I came across an obituary for a Maggie Dewey, so I read it and she had died at the home of her parents Mr. and Mrs. Wm. McCutcheon on Second Avenue (our William and Margaret lived on Second Avenue) after giving birth to a baby, the baby also died the same day. She was married in 1891 and died in 1892. The real puzzle again was that she was born the same year as Rose. I asked myself how, can this be!!!

Again, I put her aside thinking she is not our relative, until I received my information on William’s Civil War Days. In this packet of information he listed his children: Mary born 1867, William born 1872, Alice born 1877 and Rose born 1881. Rose born 1881! (that was something new) I put that in my system and then I realized that there was a big opening between William 1872 and Alice 1877. I thought now Margaret 1874 fits. Also in this packet of information Margaret’s brother James McAuliffe had written a letter telling how his sister has always been married to William McCutcheon and that they had 5 children, not 4 like we all thought. Also something really interesting is this Maggie is buried with her child in the Holy Cross Cemetery in the same row and just a few plots from Ellen Reardan McAuliffe which is Margaret (William’s wife) mother. To me, it is more than a coincidence that she is buried in the same cemetery so close to a woman who I believe is her grandmother.

Doing some quick math Maggie was married less than 4 months when she gave birth to a child. We all know how that went over in those days. Now was she just forgotten about all these years - or was she just never spoken of because of her situation. I really believe she is the child of William and Margaret McCutcheon and I gave her, her place between William and Alice and among, our McCutcheon’s.

If any one knows anything about Maggie please let me know.

By: Dawn Ford