Last summer, while Hurricane Irene raged up the East Coast of the US, work was canceled, and I had unexpected free time. As always, I enjoy probing every aspect of Joseph's story I can find, and by sheer luck happened upon this gem while reading a Merrick family tree.
There was a FOURTH Merrick child, never mentioned in any of Joseph's biographies before. He was born two years after Joseph, on April 21, 1864, and named John Thomas Merrick. So there was indeed a "John" Merrick (and actually, the name is quite common in the Merrick family, as is "Joseph.") Alas, this little John only survived for three months, succumbing to smallpox in July of 1864. He was buried on July 21 in Welford Road Cemetery in Leicester.
This is significant in Joseph's family history. It means that Mary Jane was pregnant with a second child at around the time Joseph began to show the first sign of his disorder, at around twenty months. A small lump appeared beneath his upper lip on the right side, and began to grow firm, eventually pushing his lip upwards and almost inside out. This change in Joseph's face is probably what caused Mary Jane to think of her frightening encounter with a circus elephant when she was six months pregnant with him. Did she worry that her new baby would suffer the same fate, even without an encounter with an elephant?
It must have been a time of great worry and apprehension, praying that the new child would be healthy. It's quite possible that John Thomas was born normal, so that his death only three months later was all the more heartbreaking. When William Arthur was born two years later, in 1866, the story was repeated, exceptWilliam survived for five years before dying of scarlet fever. Again, the Merricks' hopes for a healthy son were dashed. I wouldn't be surprised if Rockley Merrick's poor attitude towards Joseph grew with each disappointment and loss. Theirlast child, Marion Eliza, was born with a disability, "crippled" in their terms, and survived to the age of twenty-three before succumbing to myelitis.
A shadow of tragedy hung over the family, and it greatly weakened Mary Jane's health. She died on May 19th, 1873 at only thirty-six (though it was NOT on her birthday as is often stated.)
I wonder how Joseph felt when Treves insisted on calling him 'John?" Did it reawaken memories of the lost little brother who came and went before Joseph's second birthday? He would have been too young to remember him, but no doubt he heard of him, and perhaps Mary Jane went to lay flowers at the grave when she could.
Rest in peace, little John Thomas, restored to your family's story once again.
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ReplyDeleteI have an old copy of the Ashley Montague book, and like all the outdated books, they claim that Joseph was abandoned at the workhouse by his mother. Thankfully we know now that that did not happen. But in that book, they refer to Joseph as "John Thomas".
ReplyDeleteClearly they got the two brothers mixed up.
That's fascinating! So Montague knew about John Thomas too. His birth certificate is on file in the Leicester records --maybe Montague saw it there.
ReplyDeleteAnother odd point - JT's death certificate lists his father as "William Merrick, a greengrocer." Another mystery to be unraveled!
Huh... A greengrocer...
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder how many Merricks were living in that part of Leicester at the time.
Lots! It was a pretty common name. There WAS a William Merrick, on Lee Street, but he was a shoemaker. There was another William Merrick in Leicester, a gardener...perhaps he was also a greengrocer.
ReplyDelete"John" and "Joseph" were very common names too. There was even a Joseph H. Merrick, born in 1863!