History Back Drop: Faith and Political Power

From the late 1600s into the early 1800s, Protestantism was the religion of vast political power in Ireland. This power had wide social implications, including marriage between faiths. While marrying outside of one’s faith was not illegal during this period there were many disincentives for a Protestant to convert to Catholicism and many incentives for Catholics to become Protestant. For example, if a Catholic man owning land died, his property would be equally divided between his surviving sons. That is unless one of the sons was Protestant; in that case the Protestant son would receive all the land! Such draconian rules were called Penal Laws.

Penal laws were strictly enforced for over 140 years from 1689 to 1829. These laws were enacted to extract power from the Roman Catholic majority and came about under the Protestant crown reigns of William and Mary, William III, Anne, and George I and II, each subsequent rulers of the United Kingdom. Penal laws isolated Catholics and Protestants creating separate social classes, giving economic and political advantages to the Protestants. The Penal laws began to be repealed in 1829, but tensions between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland persist to this day.

The Dukelow [Ducklow] families of the 1800s and early 1900s frequently choose the first names of George, Mary, William, Anne and Elizabeth for their children. These names were often selected by the tradition of naming children after a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, aunt or uncle. It seems unlikely that the first use of these names were just a coincidence in matching names of the ruling royalty. The original choice of these names in the Dukelow family no doubt demonstrated patronage, honor and respect to the crown.

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Interconnected Families – A Shared Faith Community

John and Elizabeth Dukelow (Thomas’ parents) were one family of a cluster of Protestant families that were tightly interconnected. Catholic tenant farmers dominated the population in much of County Cork, Ireland. But, as a result of some artifacts of ancient land ownership rights, there was a small concentrated group of Protestants tenant farmers in far western side of Cork. Because of so few Protestants families around them, these families formed a tight and complex social network with each other. Nearly all the Protestant families there were either related by blood or by marriage. These inter-family complexities occurred for many generations, with the subculture reinforced by Penal Laws (see the History Back Drop on Penal Laws). From the outside this group appeared to be one large extended family. Family names in this cluster included the Swantons, Goods, Roycrafts, Loves, Youngs, and likely also included the Gallaghers and Nicholsons.

These strong inter-family relationships continued when families emigrated from Ireland to New York State and held fast as some families from this cluster eventually settled in Wisconsin.

One example of this interconnectedness is revealed around the Christening and eventual wedding of Thomas and Elizabeth’s first born, Mary Ann. Mary Ann’s baptismal sponsor when she was three months old was Thomas Good. Twenty-two years later, the same Thomas Good became her father-in-law! Mary Ann married Frank Good, son of Thomas Good, in the year 1865. This wedding appears to have been an "arranged" marriage. Mary Ann lived in Dodge County and Frank lived in Dane County. This distance of 60 or more miles was a major obstacle to romance in the 1860s! Imagine the effort it took to travel that distance (and back) by horse. Frank and Mary Ann had only met each other two or perhaps three times before their wedding. However, they apparently got along well as there marriage lasted over 59 years!

The strong inter-family relationships also became a part of the political picture in Rochester New York during the 1800s. The Dukelow family was part of what was labeled the “99 Cousins” which controlled much the Rochester City government in the 1840s and 1850s. More on what were called the “99 Cousins” will be discussed later.

Thomas and Elizabeth’s son John T married twice. His second marriage in 1904 may be some of the last vestiges of this closely connected extended family group. John’s marriage, at age 57 is to his first cousin, Kathryn Nicholson, age 37. Kathryn is Elizabeth’s niece, daughter of Elizabeth’s brother George Nicholson [see separate discussion about George Nicholson under post "Elizabeth Nicholson's Family.]