Plummer

Date: April 17, 2002

Ruth Jones took interviewers (Dick & Alice Haight) on a tour of the Plummerville cemetery. Interview followed, with Judy Mauger. Ruth showed a Plummer family tree.

Benjamin & Elvira Plummer arrive in Saugatuck in 1832 – it was then known as Newark. They were the second family after the Butlers to come. They build the first saw mill near Goshorn Lake. Later they built a tanning factory on Lakeshore Drive, north of Plummerville Cemetery. 600 original Plummer acres were sold to Bill Smith.

Their children were: Andrew, Lucinda, William, Eleanor & Mary. William was Ruth’s grandfather. In 1853, the cholera epidemic took many Plummer children. In 1860, the Plummer boys, including William, went to California for the Gold Rush. He sent for his wife & children and ended up growing wheat. Ruth’s father, Leo, was born in Sacramento, CA. Ruth married Roland Jones in 1940 and in 1942, he went to WWII.

Ruth taught Math in Glenview, IL

This is an excellent history of the Plummers in the area.