Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Orey Ellbridge Plummer: The Fourth Child of Levi L. and Martha Jane (Corbin) Plummer

Orey Ellbridge Plummer was born to Levi L. and Martha Jane (Corbin) Plummer on April 10, 1883 at Hastings, Adams County, Nebraska.  Orey obtained 8 years of education attending schools in Hastings and Ayr, Adams County, Nebraska.

When the 1900 Census was taken, the Levi Plummer Family had moved from Hastings to Ayr, Nebraska where many other members of the Corbin family lived.  In 1900, he was listed as 16 years of age and attending school in Ayr.

I find no further mention of Orey Plummer in official records, until 1916, when his mother's obituary states that he is living in Roundup, Mussellshell, Montana.  In that same obituary, it states that Leroy Plummer, the older brother of Orey Plummer, is also living in Roundup, Mussellshel, Montana.

The records clearly indicate that several members of the Plummer family moved to Montana, where they became employed on area ranches and in the coal mines.   I have no idea who began this migration but the idea that a better life existed in Montana must have lured family members west.



Above is a map showing the location of Roundup, Montana.   It is the county seat of Musselshell County.   The very name indicates that it was cattle country.

It may have been that Levi and Martha Jane Plummer's oldest child, Anna L. Plummer, was responsible for her brothers moving to Montana.   Anna L. Plummer married Spartan Thomas West, 30 years her senior, and with her 10 step children moved from Adams County, Nebraska to Wheatland, Fergus County, Montana where the family was engaged in farming and ranching.   Fergus County adjoins Musselshell County and Anna (Plummer) West's residency in Fergus County could provide at least one reason why the brothers were located there.

Orey Ellbridge Plummer was married in 1916 while living in Musselshell County, Montana.  He  was living there and working as a day laborer for ranchers and in the mines.  He married Leonora Cornelia Stone, who was the daughter of William B. and Fedilia (Clement) Stone.

Leonora C. Stone was known to her family and friends as Nora.   She was born on February 28, 1888 in Leola, McPherson County, South Dakota and was the first and oldest child.   William and Fedilia (Clement) Stone moved a great deal, living in Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Texas.    William Stone was a day laborer who worked on ranches and mines and in the Texas oil fields.

Orey and Leonora Cornelia (Stone) Plummer were married on February 28, 1916 (her birthday) in Roundup, Musselshell County, Montana by a Justice of the Peace.  Orey and Nora (Stone) Plummer had moved to Casper, Wyoming when Orey registered for the Draft in World War I.   He registered for military service in World War I in September 1918.  In those papers, he states that he was born on April 10, 1883 in Adams County, Nebraska.  He states that he is 35 years old, and that he is married.   He gives his wife's name as Nora Cornelia Plummer.  He states that he is driving a laundry truck.

Orey and Nora Plummer were the parents of a daughter, Maidie Ruth Plummer, born January 30, 1917 at Roundup, Musselshell County, Montana.  William B. Stone moved his family from Roundup, Musselshell, Montana to the oil fields of Texas, settling at Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Texas.   It was not long before Orey E. and Nora C. (Stone) Plummer and their little daughter Maidie Plummer joined the Stone family there.

I do not know any of the circumstances, but I'm now in possession of the Death Certificate of Leonora Cornelia "Nora" (Stone) Plummer, which relates that Nora Plummer was severely burned in an accident on December 14, 1919.   She lived under a doctor's care for 18 days and passed away on December 31, 1919.   She was buried in Ashwood Cemetery, Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto, Texas on January 1, 1920.

William B. Stone and his wife Fedilia (Clement) Stone must have taken custody of Maidie Ruth Plummer since she is shown living with them on the 1920 living with them in South Dakota.  Sometime between 1920 and 1930, William B. Stone and Fedilia (Clement) Stone either divorced or separated because he is living in Callifornia in 1930 and she is living with several of her children in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.  Maidie Ruth Plummer was living with her grandmother Fedilia Stone and her several of her aunts and uncles in Tacoma, Washington.  William B. Stone died July 29, 1942 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.   Fedilia (Clement) Stone death date and location is not known at this time.

Maidie Ruth Plummer, the daughter of Orey Ellbridge and Leonora Cornelia (Stone) Plummer, grew up in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington where she was married to Howard Nymoen Johnson by the time the 1940 U. S. Census was taken.  

Maidie R. and Howard N. Johnson were the parents of three children:  Dale, Theodore and Beverly Ann Johnson.    They lived in Tacoma, where Maidie Ruth (Plummer) Johnson died on March 24, 2002.  She is buried in Oakhill Cemetery, Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.  Her husband, Howard N. Johnson, died on July 27, 1973 and is buried at Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.

Orey Ellbridge Plummer is listed in the Tulsa City Directory, Tulsa, Oklahoma every year between 1920 and 1947.   The Tulsa City Directory for 1921-1923 indicates that he is a painter, and that he has married a second time to Martha Louis "Lillian" Landru.  They lived the remainder of their lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma and both are buried there.


This is a photograph of Orey Ellbridge and Martha Louisa "Lillian" (Landru) Plummer in their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.   The date is unknown but prior to 1960.

Martha Louisa "Lillian" Landru was born March 28, 1870 in Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa to Hiram and  Ingaborg (Lundsaeteren-Anderson) Knudson.  Lillian Landru was married the first time to Edson A. Pinckney on September 19, 1893 in Forest City, Iowa.  She married Edson Pinckney, who was the widower of her older sister, Isabella Josephine (Landru) Pinckney.   Edson Pincknew was the druggist in the small town of Forest City, Iowa.

Isabella Josephine (Landru) Pinckney evidently died from childbirth complications.   Edson and Isabella Josephine's child, Raymond Landru Pinckney, who was born on February 7, 1892 in Forest City, Iowa and his mother died on February 15, 1892 and was buried in the Forest City Cemetery, Forest City, Iowa.

Martha Louisa "Lillian" (Landru) Pinckney raised Raymond Landru Pinckney and was the mother of two additional children born to she and Edson A. Pinckney.   They are:  Lucille A Pinckney born April 30, 1895 in Forest City, Iowa and Lawrence Melville Pinckney born January 4, 1899 in Forest City, Iowa.

Lucille A. Pinckney married John Farragut "Jack" Robinson and they moved to Pampas, Gray County, Texas and spent most of the remainder of their lives.

Lawrence Melville Pinckney died November 21, 1913 at Minneapolis, Minnesota from typhoid fever and spinal meningitis and was buried in the Pinckney Family Lot in the Forest City, Iowa cemetery.

So far as is known, Orey eventually became an insurance salesman and finished his career in Tulsa, Oklahoma.   Martha Louisa "Lillian" (Landru) Plummer was a housewife.    Orey and Lillian Plummer did not have any children of their own, but raised her daughter Lucille A. Pickney and included her family as their own.

The Plummers died just about a year apart and are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Orey E. Plummer died on May 2, 1960 and Martha Louisa "Lillian" (Landru) Plummer died on March 15, 1961.

If anyone reading this has more information, I'd be happy to add it to this blog.

Happy Trails!






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