All Citizens: Helen Williams Plum & Cynthia Peck Williams
/A Look at the Women Behind the Lilacs
1850 Census
Helen Maria Williams was born in Ledyard, Cayuga County, New York on July 17, 1845, to George Williams and Cynthia Peck Williams. The town of Ledyard is in the Finger Lakes Region, where the first settlers arrived in the late 1700s. Although the town is only about 30 miles away from where the Sheldon Peck family lived in Jordan, New York, there is no evidence linking Helen’s maternal relatives to Sheldon Peck’s lineage.
On the paternal side, the Williams family can be traced back to colonial America and its British roots with ties to the colony of Rhode Island. Helen’s father, George Williams, died on January 17, 1847, when Helen was an infant. The 1850 census indicates that Helen and her mother Cynthia Peck Williams were living with Cynthia’s parents, Isaac Peck and Catharine Tator Peck, and Cynthia’s younger brother, Stephen. Isaac Peck stated his occupation as cooper, a skilled trade making barrels. Isaac was born in Connecticut in 1779 and died in Ledyard on June 6, 1859. Cynthia’s brother, Stephen, was unable to work; the census taker noted in the 1850 and 1860 census that Stephen was “idiotic”. Another brother, Frederick, had died in 1837 at the age of nineteen.
1860 Census.
The 1860 census allows for another look at the combined Peck-Williams household and some fascinating discoveries can be seen. Helen’s widowed grandmother, now the head of the household, has real estate worth $1000 and another $100 in her personal estate. Her mother, Cynthia, has $5200 of real estate. If an inflation calculator were used, those amounts would be equivalent to $30,890 (Catharine’s real estate), $3089 (Catharine’s personal estate), and $160,629 (Cynthia’s real estate) in 2020. There are also boarders in the household. Presumably, Isaac Peck may have had a large farm as two men are listed as farmers and another two men as farm laborers Each of these four men were married with children. The 1865 New York state census also shows that Helen Williams and her mother Cynthia were still living with Catharine Tator Peck. Helen’s Uncle Stephen died in 1864.
Helen Plum, Portrait, Original Located in the Helen Plum Library..
On April 10, 1867, Helen Williams married Ohio native, William Rattle Plum. They adopted nicknames for each other that lasted their entire married life; he called her Nellie and she called him Will. They met in New Haven, Connecticut, where she was attending Miss Brace’s School for Young Ladies and he was attending Yale University. After the wedding, the young couple moved to Chicago so that Will could start his new practice as a lawyer. In June 1867, Helen’s Grandmother Catharine passed away. Although it’s not recorded, Cynthia presumably moved to Chicago to live with Helen and William.
The young couple moved to Chicago, but by unwritten accounts, they knew that they did not want to live in the city. Will decided a 30-minute commute by train was acceptable, so he set his watch and began the search for a home. When he arrived in Babcock’s Grove, he looked at the available real estate.
Finding nothing that suited him, he went back to the train depot to wait for the train back to Chicago. After a conversation with the station agent, William looked at the Widow Harris home located on a hill near the station. He decided that this was the place and bought the home. When he brought Helen out to see the place, the home was small and the property was overgrown. They set about cleaning the place up and eventually transformed the home into a beautiful showplace. As the story goes, when Cynthia spotted a silver aspen sapling, she asked her new son-in-law to plant it in the front yard of the house. William planted the tree as asked, which shaded the Plum home for many years. When the Plum estate was transformed into the Helen M. Plum Memorial Library and Lilacia Park, the tree was nicknamed “Mother’s Tree” and park staff labored to keep it alive. It is now gone, but the memory of the large tree lives on.
Plum Estate
Maple Street Chapel, c. 1800s.
When the Plums moved to Babcock’s Grove in 1868, the town was being platted and the application filed for the community to be recognized. Although William was only twenty-three years old at the time, he was elected to the new town council. At the first meeting, he was sworn in as Town Clerk, then served with Allan Wrisley on a committee to create ordinances. He soon became involved with a variety of civic duties. as well as working in his Chicago law practice. He and Helen were early members of the First Congregational Church of Lombard, renting a pew near the front of the church. The building that they worshipped in is now Maple Street Chapel. and every year during Lilac Time, the Plums pew is decorated with lilac sprays. Helen became involved with church activities, teaching Sunday School and leading the Ladies Union. She also helped establish the Missionary Society at the church in the 1880s.
Door Knob from the doors of the Plum Estate. Lombard Historical Society Collection.
Although the Plums never had children, their large white house was often used by boarders and family members. Helen’s mother, Cynthia, lived with them and William’s family would come out from Ohio. William’s brother, Wilbur, moved to Lombard from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and established his home nearby on Maple Street. The house was described as a large white home with a veranda that faced east. The double front doors were black walnut, stained black, with beveled glass panels. They were flanked by sidelights of textured glass. Upon entering the home, a visitor would see the staircase to the second floor and a long hallway to the back of the home.
On the north side, was a formal parlor where the Plums entertained and held meetings. On the other side, was the family living room, a less formal parlor filled with sunlight. A dining room was off of the family living room with a small smoking room for the men. A large bookcase said to hold 500 books, was near the entry. The kitchen, pantry, laundry, and a storeroom were at the back of the house. Upstairs, there were five bedrooms (one of which was reserved as a servant’s room) and a large room that held William’s library and a billiard table. As Helen’s health began to fail, William installed a single chair elevator for her on the staircase. After the Plums died, this home was converted into the public library and was demolished in 1963. The Lombard Historical Society owns the beautiful front doors, with their ornate hardware, that once graced the Plum home.
Helen Williams Plum was one of the more prominent women in Lombard society. Her memorial booklet, published for her funeral, is filled with praise from her friends. They spoke of her kindness and generous spirit. People who grew up in Lombard told of her motherly spirit and how even as adults when they came back to Lombard they would visit “Mrs. Plum” as if they were visiting their own mother. Helen started a group called the Baby-Friendly Society which raised funds and had clothing drives for needy families in the area. Her friends noted that Helen was well educated and was skilled in the domestic arts. Her prowess as a cook was admired.
Helen & William Plum
Part of that prominent status led to a collaboration between Helen Williams Plum and a group of women from her church. In 1891, Helen’s neighbor, Ellen Martin, led the group of fourteen women to the Lombard polling place to vote in the town election. Helen’s mother, Cynthia Peck Williams, joined them. Helen was forty-five years old and her mother was seventy-three. Just four years later, on February 19, 1895, Cynthia Peck Williams died. She is buried at the Ledyard Church Cemetery in Ledyard, New York, next to her husband and near her parents and brothers.
Helen loved nature and gardening. When she moved to Illinois as a young bride, she brought a box of flower cuttings and shrubs from her home in Ledyard, New York. In Lombard, she specialized in saving seeds from snapdragons and dwarf marigolds, planting them every year in her garden. William’s garden journals note the areas that Helen used for her plants. When Dora Zabel married in 1921, Helen sent her sprays of orange blossoms from the Plums greenhouse. When the Plums began to collect and propagate lilacs, William noted that he planted several especially fragrant plants near the house so Helen could enjoy the garden. One photo owned by the Lombard Historical Society shows the Plums in the garden with friends. Helen is seated in a large cart, similar to an oversize wheelchair so that she can get around outside.
As William began to earn more money as a lawyer, the Plums began to travel. One trip took them down South so they could tour the Civil War battlefields. William was planning to write a fictional novel, basing it on his experiences as a telegrapher during the war. Helen’s notes from the trip reflected her interests in the scenes and the history while William’s notes reflect his feelings and his experiences of being in this location during the war. The next big trip they took was at Helen’s urging. In 1910, the Plums embarked on a fourteen-month tour of Europe. Helen wanted to stop at the famous Lemoine gardens in Nancy, France. Although William was reluctant, he arranged for Helen and himself to make the stop. The Plums purchased two lilac bushes; Mme. Casimir Perier (white) and Michel Buchner (purple).
Click to Enlarge, Newspaper, c. 1923.
Although Helen was plagued by heart troubles and had difficulty getting around, she still found time to socialize. She was a charter member of the Lombard Woman’s Club and hosted women members at home for the Nature Study Class. In 1923, the club hosted the renowned landscape architect, Jens Jensen, opening the lecture to the public While it doesn’t say that Helen attended, a newspaper article about the lecture would lead to one to assume that she may have been there to listen to Jens Jensen speak about the beauty of the Illinois woods and wildlands.
Helen Plums, Death Certificate.
In 1924 the Plums planned a trip to Florida. Unfortunately, Helen took ill and died at the Naval Hospital at Parris Island, South Carolina. Her death certificate shows that she died of cardiac failure after twelve days in the hospital. Helen was seventy-eight years old. She had a will in which she stated her desire for the establishment of a public library in her name, and bequeathing “a pastel portrait of me” for the library. She included bequests of money for several people, including a servant, Alma Laske.
Helen further outlined plans for furniture, jewelry, and paintings to be given to various family members. Her real estate holdings go to her husband, who is also named as the executor of her estate. Helen Williams Plum was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Her beloved husband, Will, died on April 28, 1927, and is buried with her.
Written By Lombard Historical Society Archivist: Jean Crockett
Citations
Budd, Lillian. Footsteps on the Tall Grass Prairie. 1976. Lombard Historical Society
Watts, Gerry Rader. The Legacy of William R. Plum. 1999.Lombard Historical Society
Find-a-Grave. Oakwood Cemetery, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. (also known as Cuyahoga Falls Cemetery). Memorial ID 6264613
Helen Maria (sp) Plum 1845-1924. Memorial Booklet. Copy owned by Lombard Historical Society, M-72-6-1
Lombard Woman’s Club, scrapbooks 1921-1924.
The last will and testament of Helen M. Plum, of Lombard, Illinois. Dated April 18, 1921. Copy owned by Lombard Historical Society, M-74-9-1
New York State Census, 1865. Ancestry.com
The Chicago Tribune. Wednesday, April 15, 1891. Illinois Women at the Polls. The Town of Lombard the first to start the suffrage ball rolling.
The Daily Inter-Ocean. Saturday, April 11, 1891. Fifteen of them went to the polls and voted last Monday.
United States Federal Census. Ancestry.com
1850; 1860; 1870; 1880; 1900; 1910; 1920
