Edward C Plummer and Isa M Libby (son of 11 & daughter of 12)

[Jen's maternal GGrandparents]
[Raymond V. Mitchell Jr > William V Mitchell Sr > son of  11 & daughter of 12]

Edward Clark Plummer
BIRTH: 29 Feb 1860, Raymond, Cumberland, Me.
DEATH: 27 Jul 1941, South Portland, Cumberland, Me.

 Isa May Libby
BIRTH:15 Jul 1867, Scarboro,Cumberland,Maine
DEATH:15 Dec 1931, South Portland, Cumberland, Maine


Edward Clark Plummer

Ed Plummer

Edward Clark Plummer ("Ed") was born in Raymond, Maine, to Alvin Plummer (30) and Ellen J Boucher (27).  He was the third son, and third of 9 overall.  His parents were farmers, keeping farming through the generations.   (*His birth record indicates he was the 2nd child, but he had two older brothers.)

Siblings of Edward
1. Joseph B (1855-1936) m 1878 Isabel Folsom (1849-??)
2. Samuel Davis (1857-1917) m. 1892 Alice Haven Witham (1867-1930)
3. Edward Clark (1860-1941) m. 1888 Isa May Libby (1867-1931)
4. Ada Louise (1861-1934)
5. Sarah (1863-1935) m. 1888 Frank Delang Sterling (1863-1940)
6. Harriet Ellen (1867-1951) m 1891 Charles F Ayer (1865-??)
7. Almira Hasty (1870-1955)

Rear: Ed, Clifford, Front: Joseph, Samuel, c 1910.

8. Caroline M (1873-1934) m 1894 Albert S Witham (1869-1930)
9. Clifford Alvin (1878-1965) m 1901 Clara Louise Hayes (1871-1923) m2. 1923 Marie Bosworth (1895-??)

In 1870, Ed's parents were farming in Scarborough on a $3000 farm they owned, next door to William Plummer, and his grandmother Hannah lived with them.

Alvin was farming in Scarborough in 1880, where Ed (20) would have become familiar with Isa May (then 13) and her family.  In 1880, only his older brother, Joseph, had moved out (Scarborough census, page 12).

Isa May Libby
Isa May was born to Thomas Jason Libby and Harriet Ann Farrar in 1867.  She was the third of seven children.  Isa's parents had been down south until just before she was born.  Part of this was that Thomas Jason was in the Civil War, and he married a southern girl from Tennessee while in New Orleans as part of his duty station on 4 May 1864.  Her oldest brother and sister, John Kerchival Libby (1865-1940) and Mary Lillian Libby (1866-1866), were both born in Louisiana, but Mary Lillian was buried in Scarborough in August 1866.  Mary Lillian may have died during or as a result of the journey.

1. John Kerchival  (1865-1940) m 1888 Edith F Taylor (1867-1954)
2. Mary Lillian  (1866-1866)
3. Isa May  (1867-1931) m 1888 Edward Clark Plummer (1860-1941)
4. Veranus "Uncle Vene" Warren (1868-1940) m 1894 Edith E Chase (1874-1936)
5. Leonard Wilson (1871-1962) m 1891 Evelyn May Osborne (1878-1959)
6. Annie Louise (1874-1900) m 1893 Fred Dickson Wish Sr (1867-1937)
7. Lloyd Lester (1876-1931) m 1901 Alice Lillian Gilson (1874-1938)

In 1880, Thomas J (40) and Harriet "Hattie" (33) were farming in Scarborough with their 6 surviving kids (Scarborough census, page 7).

There were a few features of Isa's early life that were formative in her experience.  In September 1884, her father, Thomas J. Libby had gone mad and killed a woman (Lydia Snow), at which point he was imprisoned in Augusta, Maine until the time of his death.

Around that same time, in April 1885, Isa May was recruited to do some modeling work for reknowned artist Winslow Homer, who had moved to Prouts Neck in 1883.  According to her brother Len Libby (1871-1962), who worked as houseboy for Winslow Homer, he recalls a time when he was tasked with sloshing buckets of seawater over his sister as part of the production of Till Death Do Us Part (an etching) which was then revised into Undertow.

Undertow, by Winslow Homer.

Family lore includes additional work toward The Lifeline.  In similar vein to the book which quoted Len Libby about Undertow, Isa May posed for this one as well, with Len on bucket duty.  The shawl is kept as a family treasure, passed down to cousin Janet (?).   Various historians had questioned why Winslow Homer never married, and one rumor was that he had only ever loved one woman, with red hair, whom he could never get over.  Isa May was known to have red hair, leaving room for speculation of his affections.  Art historians seem to indicate that The Lifeline was inspired in 1882-1883, Homer moved to Maine in 1883, the painting was finished in 1884, and put on display at the National Academy Exhibition in April 1884.

Other interesting resources for referencing Homer's art can be found here.

From here, page 225.

 Life Together
After a few years at Prout's neck, Ed's father, Alvin, died in February 1888.  Later that same year, Ed married Isa on 21 September 1888.  It is interesting to note that Ed and Isa's child, Norman A was born the following spring on 14 April, 1889.

Isa and Ed only had two children (1900 Census confirms 2/2):
1. Norman Alvin (1889-1969) m1. 1914 Hilda M Gardiner (1886-1941) m2. 1948 Helen P Ayer (1897-1990)
2. Elsie Farrar (1899-1955) m.1920 Raymond V. Mitchell (1897-1964)


In 1900, the Plummers were living in South Portland.  Ed, Isa, Norman and Elsie are listed with Grammy Libby (Harriet A) living with them as a widow.  Ed is noted as being a professional photographer and having been fully employed the prior year.  Later in life, Ed kept a second-hand store with odds and ends for sale.

Norman Plummer

They happened to be in Canada for the 1901 Census (March 31). Edward and Isa, Norman and Elsie are listed in the household in Hochelaga, which is a district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Travelling with them was Isa's younger brother Lloyd Libby (1876-1931), Isa's mother, Harriet Ann Farrar Libby (1846-1931), and Isa's brother Veranus (1868-1940).  They are listed as Congregationalists (religion).

138 E. Prom ("Dorothy Plummer House")

Ed's mother, Ellen, had been living with her son Sam in Portland (a politician at 138 Eastern Promenade), after Alvin died.  She later passed away in 1904 of diabetes.  (Photo of the house says "Dorothy Plummer House"  1940 Census for Dorothy shows her at the house with her brother Phillip, a "Real Estate Owner".  Both were single.  Dorothy had done 3 years at college!)

 As of 1920, Ed, Isa, and their 21 year old daughter Elsie are living at a home they own at 30 Summer Street, which was later renamed Q Street, then renamed Churchill Road.  Harriett A (75) and Veranus (51, retired) are living with them.  Ed runs a vulcanizing shop.

*Note on Veranus.  Veranus had been married to Edith Chase, and had 5(?) children (1910 census).  66 Federal Street, Portland. 1900 Census shows the couple with Napoleon "Leon" only, and the census taker only recorded 1/1 children and Hazel is living elsewhere.  They were divorced 18 Oct. 1900. Edith remarried John Knowlton in 1905 and lived in Cambridge MA by 1910. Three of the children are Napoleon (Leon, 1895-1975), Hazel (1896-1918, died age 22 of nephritis: kidney disease), and Everett (died at 1 month of marasmus, 1898).  Edith had moved to 204 Pearl St Cambridge with Hazel, perhaps to seek treatment.

Isa and Ed with granddaughters Olive ('21), Harriet ('23), and Mildred ('26)

In 1930, Ed and Isa lived at the same house (Churchill street, facing Broadway, South Portland.   He's a vulcanizer, with the franchise to Goodyear rubber manufacturing.  In that year, they are sharing their home with Veranus Libby (Isa's younger brother, 1868-1940, divorced, 61) and Harriett Libby (83, 1840-1931, widow of Thomas Jason Libby), Isa's mother.

Isa's mother, Harriet Ann Farrar, died on 15 July, 1931.  Later that same year, Isa died in 15 December 1931, and was bur
ied in the plot with her parents at her father's burial plot at Black Point.

After Isa May died, Ed lived with his son, Norman and daughter-in-law Hilda (as recorded in the 1940 Census) came to live with them at Q Street.


Ed was buried alongside his departed wife, Isa May Libby in Scarborough at the Black Point Cemetery in 1941 after he died at age 81

.