Born on the family farm in North Salem, Indiana. Lived his entire life in Hendricks County. Farmed the land on County Road 200 North for three decades. Buried at New Winchester Cemetery alongside Sarah, his wife of 46 years.
Wayne Allen Plunkett was born on January 23, 1914, on the family farm in North Salem, Eel River Township, Hendricks County, Indiana — the heart of central Indiana farm country, about 25 miles west of Indianapolis. He spent his entire life in Hendricks County, as his father Alva Cecil Plunkett had before him, and his grandfather Robert N. Plunkett before that.
On March 14, 1936, Wayne married Sarah Frances Phillips, with the ceremony performed by Rev. John Shoemaker and the license signed by Frank Tucker, Clerk of the Hendricks Circuit Court. Their marriage brought together two of the county's oldest farming families. Together they raised five children on the farm they would eventually call their own. Wayne died June 13, 1982, at Hendricks County Hospital in Danville, at age 68. He and Sarah are buried at New Winchester Cemetery.
"The farms are cultivated according to the latest practices employed over the country and along with care for proper cultivation has become a pride in the appearance of the field."
— History of Eel River Township, Hendricks County
Sarah Frances Phillips — formal portrait, circa 1930s
Married Wayne Plunkett in 1936
The farm at 5604 W. County Road 200 North — the East Half of the Southwest Quarter of Section 27, Township 16 North, Range 2 West — has been traced back to its first private owner. We have the original federal patent documents. Every owner for 187 years is now known.
| Period | Owner | Source & Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1828 – 1832 | George Washington Turner (settler) | History of Marion Township (1878) lists G.W. Turner and Paul Faught as co-settlers arriving together 1828–1832 — years before the formal patent. Turner farmed this ground before he legally owned it. ✓ Confirmed · History of Marion Township, 1878 |
| Sept. 16, 1835 | George Washington Turner (federal patent) | U.S. patent, Cert. No. 22122 — NE¼ NW¼ Section 34-16-2W, 40 acres. ✓ Confirmed · Presidential signature: Andrew Jackson · BLM GLO Records |
| March 18, 1837 | George Washington Turner (federal patent) | U.S. patent, Cert. No. 22501 — E½ SW¼ Sec. 27-16-2W, 80 acres. This is the farm. Wife: Catharine Faught Turner, daughter of Paul & Elizabeth Faught — buried in Turner Cemetery on the property. ✓ Confirmed · Presidential signature: Martin Van Buren · BLM GLO Records |
| 1837 – 1880 | Turner family (50 years) | Turner farmed and expanded; bought more Sec. 34 land from Milton Bridges, Feb. 1860. Son George P. Turner (b. 1837) buried on farm 1864. Daughter Mary E. Turner Sharp buried 1879. Family moved to Iowa. G.W. Turner died Nov. 21, 1881, Taylor County Iowa. ✓ Confirmed · Find a Grave; deed records |
| April 1, 1880 | George W. Turner → John F. Underwood | Deed dated April 1, 1880; recorded July 20, 1880. Turner sold ALL THREE PARCELS — E½ SW¼ Sec. 27 (80 ac), E½ NW¼ Sec. 34 (80 ac), SW¼ NE¼ Sec. 34 (40 ac) — 200 acres total — for $9,000. Turner was age 67. ✓ Confirmed · Hendricks County Transfer Record |
| 1880 – 1937 | John F. Underwood (57 years) | Held all 200 acres for 57 years. Confirmed in 1891, 1904, and 1929 county maps. ✓ Confirmed · Transfer record; multiple plat maps |
| March 8 / 16, 1937 | Underwood → Herschel H. Holtsclaw | Warranty Deed signed March 8, 1937; recorded March 16, 1937. All three parcels (200 acres). Exactly 100 years after Turner's March 1837 purchase. ✓ Confirmed · Hendricks County Transfer Record |
| 1937 – 1963 | Holtsclaw (Wayne & Sarah renting) | Tax cards confirmed 1941–1956. Family oral history: Wayne & Sarah rented from Holtsclaw. Chandler family may have rented briefly in early 1950s while Wayne & Sarah lived in Danville. |
| Sept. 12, 1963 | Wayne A. & Sarah Plunkett | Deed transfer: Holtsclaw and wife to Wayne A. Plunkett and wife. ✓ Confirmed · The Republican, Danville, Sept. 12, 1963 |
| 1963 – 1982 | Wayne & Sarah Plunkett | Active farming; Black Angus cattle, corn, hay. Equipment sold Feb. 15, 1969 due to Wayne's ill health. Wayne dies June 13, 1982. |
| 1982 – 1999 | Sarah Frances Plunkett | Sarah survives Wayne by 17 years, retaining ownership until her death Aug. 13, 1999. |
| ~1999 – 2000s | Joy, Darrel, Beth & Dixie (divided) | Farm divided among four children. Joy's ~26 acres includes the farmhouse, barns, outbuildings, and pasture. |
On March 18, 1837, President Martin Van Buren signed a land patent granting George Washington Turner the East Half of the Southwest Quarter of Section 27 — 80 acres — the piece of ground that would eventually become Wayne and Sarah's farm. But Turner had been here long before that patent. The History of Marion Township (1878) records him as one of the first settlers of Marion Township, arriving between 1828 and 1832 — a full seven years before the federal paperwork. He farmed this ground before he legally owned it, as frontier settlers routinely did.
In the same passage, the same sentence, the history also names Paul Faught as a co-settler arriving at the same time. Paul Faught was the father of Catharine Faught — the woman George Washington Turner would marry. They didn't meet when Turner married Faught's daughter. They came to Indiana together and built this township side by side.
Two years before the Section 27 patent, on September 16, 1835, President Andrew Jackson had signed a patent granting Turner the adjacent Section 34 parcel — 40 acres. Turner assembled his farm across two presidential administrations, formalizing what he had already been building for years.
The original documents survive in the National Archives, accessible through the Bureau of Land Management's GLO Records system. Both bear the pen of a President of the United States.
"In testimony whereof, I, Martin Van Buren, President of the United States of America, have caused these Letters to be made Patent..."
— Federal land patent, March 18, 1837
President Martin Van Buren · March 18, 1837
The original patent for Wayne & Sarah's farm
President Andrew Jackson · September 16, 1835
Adjacent Section 34 parcel
Public Sale notice · February 15, 1969
"Due to bad health" — Wayne Allen Plunkett, age 55
On February 15, 1969, Wayne and Sarah Plunkett held a public auction of all their farm equipment. Wayne was 55 years old. The notice said simply: "due to bad health." He had more than a decade of life remaining, but his days working this land were over.
The inventory of what he sold tells the story of a serious, well-equipped operation at its peak:
Victor Carpenter and George Jackson served as auctioneers. Homer Leonard was clerk. Lunch was served. The farm went quiet after that day.
Every claim in this biography is supported by primary source documents. Click any image to view full size.
On the property today — on the land George Washington Turner first settled around 1828 and formally purchased in 1837 — there is a small family burial ground known as the Turner Cemetery. It is formally recognized in Marion Township's official cemetery records and tended today by family members who live on the property, including a grandson of Wayne and Sarah Plunkett. The cemetery is not just named after the Turners — it holds Turner family members and the family of Catharine Faught Turner, George Washington Turner's wife. Paul Faught, Catharine's father, was Turner's co-settler: the History of Marion Township names them both arriving in the same years, in the same sentence. They built this township together. They buried their dead together. These are the people in that ground: