October 14, 2021
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series profiling descendants of the Mayflower settlers, focusing on the Plimpton family line. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
With this article, I continue with my series “Who’s Who” of Mayflower descendants and profile a Plimpton family line, known for Yankee ingenuity, that descends from Mayflower passenger William Brewster.
James Leonard Plimpton (1828-1911), born to Leonard and Sarah Turner (Lane) Plimpton, invented a magic patent to make roller skates, in 1863.
I found the story related by his granddaughter, Elizabeth Wright Plimpton, in the Evening Star.
In the article, Elizabeth shared a scrapbook – I’d love to locate that! Here is the skinny on the skates:
“My grandfather [James L. Plimpton] was born on a farm near Medfield – that’s south of Boston – in 1828. He was mechanically inclined… There was a severe open winter, with day after day of skating, which he enjoyed. When the ice broke, he wanted to keep on skating. He made a pair of roller skates, each with four rollers, made of Turkish boxwood.
“He found that he could go straight, but he could not turn or skate in curves… He put a rubber spring in the skates to make them ‘guidable.’”
Next, Elizabeth took out the Encyclopedia Britannica and showed an entry under Roller Skating, which read:
“Until the invention of the now-common cushioned truck for roller skates by James L. Plimpton of Medfield, Mass., in 1863, roller skating was not widely popular; the sport was simply too difficult to master. Plimpton patented his rocking skate that year, and the first great roller-skating craze swept the United States and Western Europe.”
Next Elizabeth produced the scrapbook.
In her scrapbook was a letter from General W. T. Sherman “saying how much he enjoyed the skating.”
She further explained:
“In 1874 my grandfather took my father, Henry R. Plimpton, and my Aunts Frances Amelia, Mary Elizabeth and Sarah Katharine Plimpton to England… My father and aunts skated for Queen Victoria. Soon there were skating rinks in Brighton and Huddersfield.”
According to sources James also offered training classes and medals for the best skaters, popularizing the new sport of “roller polo.”
James’ children mentioned above were all members of the Mayflower Society. Henry Richardson Plimpton (1868-1960), father of Elizabeth Wright Plimpton, joined the Mayflower Society in 1899. His membership was announced in the Boston Herald.
Francis Amelia was featured in “Life Visits the Mayflower Descendants,” Life magazine, 1948.
Mary Elizabeth never married.
Sarah Katherine married Charles Franklin Pierce, noted painter of landscapes and animals.
Henry Richardson married Edith Alden Hall, also a descendant of William Brewster and Mayflower passengers John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, William Mullins, John Alden, and John Tilley. She was born to Robert Beals and Sarah Delia (Lord) Hall. She too had membership in the Mayflower Society.
Their son, Colonel John Alden Plimpton, was a driving force behind the Society of Plimpton Descendants family gatherings. More on that and other Mayflower family lines coming!
Note: Just as an online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, helped tell the stories of the Plimpton family line, they can tell you stories about your ancestors that can’t be found anywhere else. Come look today and see what you can discover!
Additional Note on the header image: James Leonard Plimpton and his wife Harriet Amelia Adams. Courtesy of the Society of Plimpton Descendants.
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Great article Melissa! I really enjoyed your article. It’s fascinating to read about Mayflower descendants and their accomplishments. Fun to read!
Thank you Meriwyn! I appreciate it! A treasure trove of Mayflower stories on GenealogyBank and more to come, so check back!
I am a descendant (I believe great, great granddaughter) of James Plimpton. My grandmother gave the book “Plimpton Family Genealogy” to my dad, who left it to me. Growing up rollerskating in the eighties, my dad would tell me that my great, great grandfather invented the roller skate. I would go to the local roller rink and tell everyone I could, but no one seemed to believe me… or cared to lol. I live near Boston today and am excited to learn more about my ancestry. Thank you for sharing this article!
You are Welcome! And…Thank you for sharing this Meghan! So exciting to hear from a kinfolk connected to Plimpton. I loved this story and had fun researching the roller skate reference. I am happy this blog post found you!