Now, the rest of the story: Uncovered by genealogists!
Baum already had the story for The Wonderful World of Oz mostly written when his wife’s niece, named Dorothy Louise Gage, died suddenly in 1898. The child was only 5 months old when she died from what was diagnosed at the time as “congestion of the brain” and today would have most likely been revealed to be either meningitis or encephalitis.
Maud, Baum's wife, was distraught over the news of her perfect baby niece’s death. After returning from the funeral in Bloomington, Illinois, Maud was in such grief as to require a doctor’s care.
The Gage family would never be the same and shortly after the death of their infant daughter, Sophie and Thomas Clarkson Gage moved with their remaining child to South Dakota.
Baum changed Dorothy Gage to Dorothy Gale in the story to memorialize her as the main character in his beloved book!
Dorothy was buried in Bloomington, Illinois and forgotten! A few years ago a genealogist discovered her story and her grave. 
This little marker is about 4" x 4" and maybe 6" tall. Notice the coins laid by the marker for size comparison.
When the grave was found and the story uncovered, an actor, who played a Munchkin in the movie, saw the newspaper article about the discovery. His family made gravestones in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. They made a new marker for Dorothy.
It was placed the in front of the original marker.
But, that still was not good enough for the cemetery association! A tree near Dorothy's grave had to come down, so they paid an artist to carve a statue!
These are original pictures by me, Dave Draper. I live about a mile from this cemetery.
Dorothy Louise Gage has a profile on WikiTree!
Find A Grave Memorial
She is my 17th cousin! (I didn't know that until today)
