Something here doesn't make sense to me:
Orin H. Plank was born 16 June, 1863 in Sprinvalley, Illinois. His bible which was presented to him by his mother is inscribed: "Presented to Orin Harvey Plank From his Mother. Remember now they Creator in the day of thy youth. Hampton, Iowa Feby 4th 1872." This would have made him 9 years old.
His brother, James Monroe PLANK was born in Whiteside County, Illinois on September 18, 1861. His obit said that the family came to Logan township (Minden), Kearney County, Nebraska in 1877.
Your information states that Elanor Lucretia PLANK was born June 5, 1861 in Hampton, Iowa.
How could James and Ella been born in the same year and different states?? We have some dates wrong here somewhere. The obit for James is part of an article from the Kearney Co. History that go through an inter-library loan years ago. I believe that I sent that to you. What do you make out of this?
Also, according to Vi (Plank) Byrnes, before she died, her family lived in the following places and in this order:
Orin was supposedly a policeman for a short time somewhere in Oregon. He (supposedly) had a number of rental homes and properties in Oregon and co/signed a note on a loan for a friend and used them as colateral. He ended up losing everything.
He was also a housemover by profession. At one time he had a house fall on him and injured him quite badly. From that day on his was a hunchback and had epileptic seizures occasionally. Orin didn't work for a long time and his son, glenn, badgered his father telling him that he was tired of supporting the family all the time and finally Orin went back to work and died in the Kendall limestone quarry. Glen blamed himself for his father's death for the rest of his life.
Also my second cousin, Bev, said, "I would ask Grama (Ruby) to tell me about my Grandpa but she would never talk about him. She would always say "We don't need to talk about him," and would always tell me about my Grandpa Blackburn (different side of the family). Bev said that Ruby didn't like her husband very much as she had caught him in the cellar with a cousin of his. I have never heard this from anybody except Bev and I know she got it from her mother (Vi) who liked to embellish things. You can believe the story or not.
Vi wouldn't speak to her brother Glen for many years. Right up to the day of his death. She wasn't too friend with Bus (Willis) either. So much for skeletons in the closet and family feuds.
According to information that I have gathered from obits, Orin and Ruby Plank came to Bellingham, Wa in or around 1917.
Tom Hanson
November 13, 1998