Michael and Ruth Plaster, in 1857, made the 2,000 mile journey over the plains of the Oregon Trail to Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. They had seven children at the time. Traveling on the Oregon Trail was difficult, and women planning to leave would gather for important social events with friends in the months before to sew quilts together. An article on the Oregon Trail says that "When it came time for a family or a group of families to leave, the farewells were often grandiose and sad...During the journey, women did most of the things they did back home; cooking every meal, taking care of the children, gathering food and fuel for the fire. Women had to do these things in dust, rain, hail, in tents or in the open air." Ruth's parents are listed as William Burress and Eleanor Frakes in the Oregon Biographical Index.
1819
Mar 30
| 1819 • Burlington Arcade opens in London. |
1820
Aug 7
Age: 1y
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residenceLittle York, Hardin, Kentucky, USA ⇓ Also living in Little York is a Job Burris. On the same page, a Charles and David Dougherty are also living. 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1820 • Capture of Valdivia: Lord Cochrane occupies Valdivia in the name of the Republic of Chile. |
1836
Jun 23
Age: 17y
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marriageMichael Plaster Schuyler County, Illinois, USA ⇓ "Schuyler County Illinois I Do hereby Certify that I Did Join to gether in Marriage Michel Plaster & Ruth Burrass on the 23 day of June 1836". Signature of the justice of the peace is difficult to make out. 4 Sources ⇓ |
| 1836 • Sam Houston is inaugurated as first elected President of the Republic of Texas. |
1838
Mar 22
Age: 18y
birth of childAnn Marie Plaster Lee County, Iowa, USA ⇓ |
| 1838 • The Boers win a decisive victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. |
1840
Age: 20y
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residenceTownship 66, Lee, Iowa Territory, USA ⇓ Michael and Ruth (Burress) Plaster are living with their oldest daughter Ann Marie Plaster, who is about one or two years old. On the next page is a 20-30 year old Joseph Burris. 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1840 • King's College Hospital opens in London. |
1843
Jan 10
Age: 23y
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birth of childMargaret J Plaster Gentry County, Missouri, USA ⇓ 1 Source ⇓ |
1846
May 16
Age: 27y
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birth of childThomas Jefferson Plaster Gentry County, Missouri, USA ⇓ 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1846 • Discovery of Neptune: The planet is observed for the first time by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest as predicted by the British astronomer John Couch Adams and the French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier. |
1849
Oct 1
Age: 30y
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birth of childElizabeth Ellen Plaster Athens, Gentry, Missouri, USA ⇓ 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1849 • The Constitution of California is ratified in a general election. |
1850
Sep 24
Age: 31y
| 1850 • United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war. |
1850
Sep 24
Age: 31y
| 1850 • Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States following the death of President Taylor. |
1852
Sep 10
Age: 33y
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birth of childEmily L Plaster Gentry County, Missouri, USA ⇓ 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1852 • The Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. |
1856
Feb 28
Age: 36y
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birth of childLaura Hanna Plaster Gentry County, Missouri, USA ⇓ 1 Source ⇓ |
1857
Age: 37y
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movedOregon ⇓ The Plasters were pioneers on the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon, a journey of 2,000 miles. In the "Oregon Biographical Index", it mentions that Ruth Burress and her husband Michael Plaster traveled to Oregon in 1857 from Gentry, Missouri over the plains. This photo is not of them, but of some travelers from that time period. See gallery for more info on the Oregon Trail: https://johnsonfamily.talldude.net/ruth-burress-124/gallery/oregon-trail/all 2 Sources ⇓ |
| 1857 • In India, British forces recapture Delhi, compelling the surrender of Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor. |
1860
Age: 40y
| 1860 • French typesetter Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville sings the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune" to his phonautograph; producing the world's earliest known sound recording (however, it is not rediscovered until 2008). |
1860
Mar 22
Age: 40y
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birth of childGeorge Washington Plaster Brownsville, Linn, Oregon, USA ⇓ 5 Sources ⇓ |
| 1860 • Giuseppe Garibaldi and his troops depart from Quarto on the Expedition of the Thousand. |
1870
Age: 50y
| 1870 • Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming, becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally since 1807. |
1878
Apr 3
Age: 59y
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deathBrownsville, Linn, Oregon, USA ⇓ Picture is of the footstone at Ruth Plaster's grave. 1 Source ⇓ |
| 1878 • Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX as the 256th pope. |