Plummer Family Tree
The Plummers of Sussex
Welcome to this web site!
It's a personal family history site, compiled in Legacy by Edward Watson, the youngest grandson of Ebenezer Plummer (born 1876).
To view the family tree, click on the Pedigree Chart for Ebenezer Plummer below,
then on any of the family member links on the right, to navigate through the tree.
There are over 600 individuals in the family tree.
To return here, click on Home or Table of Contents at the bottom of any page.
This site is in the course of being verified and updated from online sources, but originated in the research and documentation of these ancestors which was undertaken in the 1960s.
The research involved manually recording facts from original parish registers, which were mostly held locally in Sussex parishes, and from the original census returns held at that time in London. It included valuable information provided by the verbal reminiscences of older family members, now deceased.
The history of the Plummer family in Sussex has been definitively traced back 250 years in the records of the county. Prior to Henry Plummer, who married Sarah Pound at Horsted Keynes in 1776, there is some uncertainty about the family's origins.
My first cousin Donovan Plummer proposed a connection with the Plummer family of Surrey. He identified Henry Plummer with the Henry Plummer who was born in Leatherhead in 1744. An alternative solution is that followed by a second cousin (once removed), Peter I'Anson on Ancestry, identifying Henry Plummer with the Harry Plummer born at Calne in Wiltshire in 1753. This has the advantage of agreeing with the long-standing family tradition that the Plummers came originally from Wiltshire, and is the genealogy adopted here.
Neither solution, however, has established any clear link with the Wealden iron industry, or the Plummers Plain area (other than James Plummer's marriage at Worth and his son Thomas's christening there), or proved any connection with the Plumers (spelt with one m) of Ripe and Lewes, whose pedigree was published by Comber in his Sussex Genealogies. However, it is likely, though not certain, that Sarah Pound is the wife whose marriage (to Henry Plummer), reputedly rejected by her husband's parents, was the cause of their move to Lindfield in mid-Sussex.
Sarah Pound's own identity, too, has been questioned: either she is the Sarah Pound born in 1744, daughter of William Pound of Farnham, or she is the Sarah Pound born in 1758 in Wiltshire. Certainly in the face of parental opposition a move by Henry and Sarah to Lindfield from Wiltshire seems more plausible than a move from Leatherhead or Farnham.
Other evidence strongly suggests that Sarah Pound is from Wiltshire. Three of her first cousins have links to Sussex, one of them in Calne marrying a Thomas Friend from Horsted Keynes before moving with her husband to Horsted Keynes where they had a family. Two others moved from Wiltshire and married in Sussex, one in Brighton before also moving to Horsted Keynes and the other marrying and living in Chailey.
I hope you will benefit from the information presented here. Any additional information you can supply will be welcomed.
Acknowledgments for assistance and special thanks to:
My mother Irene Plummer [Watson] (died 1970), my distant cousin Annie Plummer [White] (died 1989),
my aunt Edith Plummer (died 1990), my uncle Alfred Plummer (died 1991),
my first cousin Raymond Plummer (died 2005), my brother Robert Watson (died 2015),
my second cousin Peter I'Anson and my first cousin Donovan Plummer.
Table of Contents
Pedigree Chart for Ebenezer Plummer
Ebenezer Plummer & Edith Mary Jenner with their children
Alfred (Fred), Edith, Winifred, Annie (Nan), William Frank & Irene (in front)
Charles Plummer 1852-1924 (father of Ebenezer) with his family
Key to Charles Plummer Family Group Photo
This photo appears to have been taken in 1912 at the marriage of Annie Plummer (19) to Albert Tomsett (20). The wedding took place in the Lewes Registration District, almost certainly at Chailey. The bride's father Charles Plummer (18) is seated on her right and her mother Caroline Martin (10) stands behind her.
Other evidence indicates that the picture must have been taken between 1911 and 1913 (after the birth of Mary Plummer (25) in 1910 and before the death of Annie Chiesman (8) in 1913).
Rows top to bottom
Individuals are numbered left to right
Top row (6)
1. ?
2. Uncle Alec Plummer - Alexander Plummer (1886-1918)
3. Uncle Albert Plummer (1880-1916)
4. ?
5. Uncle Dick Harvey (?or Fred) Aunt Emily's husband - Richard Harvey
6. Cousin Reg Harvey (1899-?)
2nd row (8+1)
7. ?
8. Aunt Annie, Uncle Alec's wife - Annie Chiesman (1881-1913)
9. Aunt Esther, Uncle Albert's wife with Cissie - Esther Kemp ( ) with Cissie Plummer (1909-?)
10. Granny Plummer - Caroline Martin (1873-1939)
11. ?
12. ?
13. Aunt Nell, Uncle Will's wife - Eleanor Long (?-1948)
14. Aunt Emily - Emily Plummer (1878-1966)
3rd row (9)
15. Uncle Owen Plummer (1883-1917)
16. Aunt Polly - Mary Parris, Owen Plummer's wife ( )
17. Aunt Kate - Katherine Plummer (1898-1961)
18. Grandad [Charles] Plummer (1852-1924)
19. Aunt Annie (married no. 20) - Annie Plummer (1888-?)
20. Albert Tomsett (married to no. 19) ( )
21. Aunt Dora - Dora Plummer (1894-1967)
22. ?
23. ?
Bottom row - children (8)
24. [Owen's] Dolly (on lap) - Dorothy Plummer (1908-1977)
25. [Owen's] Molly (on lap) - Mary Plummer (1910-?)
26. [Owen's] Stanley - Stanley Plummer (1907-?)
27. Uncle Albert's Charlie - Charles Plummer (1903-1971)
28. Uncle Will's Will? - William James Plummer (1907-1926)
29. ?
30. Uncle Albert's Will - William Plummer (1906-1923)
31. ?
Sussex hayfield scene from the 19th century:
the first on the left is thought to be William Jenner (1850-1901)
Contact Information
Edward Watson
Dumfries, Scotland
E-mail: mail@sussexplummers.org.uk
