The records of adoption in McLean County were kept by the Probate Court in the 19th century. I have long been curious about the fate of orphaned children in McLean County and decided to delve more deeply into their lives. The probate records are held by the ISU Archives, a place I recently visited. While the records are brief, they are interesting and served as a starting point for further research. Fortunately for me, other interested parties had already earmarked where the adoption records occurred in the records (see the McLean County Genealogy Trails website) and I thank them for this work!
In 1873 Anna Belle Brown was just six years old when her father, George, relinquished her in adoption court. the apparent reason for the adoption was the death of Anna's mother. Anna was adopted by Bailey and Mary Plumb, a couple who already had one daughter, named Anne. From that point on Anna Bell was known by her second name, Belle. Belle's birth parents were George and Hattie Brown, and her father was from New York (as was Bailey Plumb) and her mother was from Ireland. George was a painter in Bloomington in 1870 and was possibly an employee or partner of Bailey Plumb.
Anna Belle was styled "adopted daughter" in the census in 1880. The family included the Plumb's married daughter and her husband, Eugene Jackman and son Oscar. The family included the maternal grandmother and an uncle. Bailey Plumb was a "master painter" who was skilled in all types of painting, including gilding and marbling. He frequently advertised in the Pantagraph: "Painting, gilding, graining, glazing, marbling, calcimining & c., done to order."
In 1889, the name of the business had changed to "Belle Plumb" after the bankruptcy of Bailey Plumb's business in 1887. In 1889, the store was noted to be managed by Walter D. Lee, the husband of Belle. The store then specialized in artist's supplies and glass, as well as paints. The Lees continued to manage and own the store until 1922, when they moved to La Jolla, California. Belle died there in 1945, without heirs. Her estate included McLean County real estate valued at $10,000. Another artistic connection of the Plumb family was Oscar Jackman, the son of Eugene and Anna, who was a magazine illustrator in New York City at the time of his mother's death in 1908. Bailey Plumb died in 1894, at the age of 64. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in a large mausoleum named for the Plumb and Jackman families. He was a civil war veteran, having served in an Ohio regiment before coming to Bloomington.
When children were adopted in 1873 part of the boilerplate language was that the child would be heir to the estate of the adopting parent (only the father was named). Belle obviously inherited and took over the family business, lending her name to the business as well.
When the building at 317 N. Center was being rehabilitated in 2001 and old board in the ceiling of a bathroom was discovered. That board was a sign from the Belle Plumb paint store. It can be seen on display in the front window of the attached photo. The building was part of the 1900 rebuilding frenzy and was built for the Lees.