Edward B. Plumb Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-070

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection centers the letters (13) sent by Edward Plumb to his wife, Isabel Mills Plumb, September 1861 to July 1862, while a member of the 8^th Regiment of the Iowa Volunteers. Also among the papers are twelve letters, 1854 to 1910, mainly by or regarding Mrs. Edward Plumb, and printed matter mainly about Isabel Mills Plumb and Edward’s brother Ralph Plumb of Oberlin, who participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of September 1858. A photograph of Ralph Plumb, is also included.

Dates

Creation: 1854-1979, undated
Creation: Majority of material found within 1854 - 1862
Other: Date acquired: 01/24/1973

Creator

Plumb, Edward B. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Edward Brock Plumb was born in 1822 to Theron Aaron (1783-1864) and Harriet Merrill Merry Plumb (1788-1835) in Trumbull County, Ohio. He was the brother of Ralph Plumb (1816-1903), a participant in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of September 13, 1858. (This was Oberlin’s defining anti-slavery activist event that led to a well-publicized trial in Cleveland in 1859.) His other siblings included Francis Merrill (1806-1899), Theron Calvin (1808-1838), Martha (1808-1885), Samuel L (1812-1882), Mary Elizabeth (1813-1836), Calvin C (1816-1840), Hiram Abif (1820-1859), Julius Ashtabula (1827-1854), and Harriett Elizabeth (1828-1864). Edward Plumb married Elizabeth Shatto (1824-1860); they had four children, Williston Theron (1847-1915), Caroline Elizabeth "Carrie" (1851-1883), and Bessie (1860-1902). After her death he married Isabel Mills (1843-1910).

Edward Plumb volunteered for service in the Civil War at Davenport, Iowa as a sergeant from Washington County, Ohio in August 1861; he was mustered into service as a First Lieutenant in Company C of the 8^th Regiment of Iowa Volunteers in February 1862. He corresponded with his second wife, Isabel, during his service. He served in Missouri in 1861, where he spent time in the 4^th Street Hospital in St. Louis with a case of dysentery. In 1862 he was in camp at Sedalia, Missouri, and then was transported up the Tennessee River to Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee. He resigned on June 23rd of that year.

Edward and Isabel Plumb had three children, all of whom attended Oberlin College: Grace (Mrs. F.L.) Munson, enrolled 1884-89 (1863-1905); Glenn E. Plumb, Class of 1891 (1866-1922); and Mary (Mrs. Allan F.) Millikan, Literary degree, 1893 (born 1868 in Hartford, MO; died in Oberlin, 1956).

Edward Plumb died on March 13, 1869 in Ralls County, Missouri. The rest of the family moved to Oberlin in 1885.

Sources Consulted

Archives control card by Archivist William E. Bigglestone, Oberlin College Archives, 1973.

Alumni Records, Oberlin College Archives.

Edward B. Plumb, Find a Grave Memorial, accessed 23 March 2017.

Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, Part VII (Washington, July 16, 1867). Accessed online from Google Books, 23 March 2017.

Report of the Adjutant General and Acting Quartermaster General of Iowa, Volume 1, January 1, 1868 (Des Moines: F. W. Palmer, State Printer, 1868). Accessed online from Google Books, 23 March 2017.

Note written by Anne Cuyler Salsich.

Extent

0.20 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The papers were received by the Oberlin College Library as part of a gift from Mary (Mrs. Allan F.) Millikan, daughter of Edward B. Plumb and Isabel Mills Plumb. They were transferred to the Archives on January 24, 1973. The photograph of Ralph Plumb was moved from a general photograph collection to this one in May 2017.