The Rose Quartz Headstone

My sister, who hates cemeteries, wanted to show me a headstone in the Hillside Cemetery in Auburn, Massachusetts that she fell in love with, so of course, I had to look at it. It's a beautiful large piece of solid Rose Quartz with a plaque engraved with "Dorothy Plue Vogel" on it. There is no other information. No dates, no nothing. Who is Dorothy? What is her story? How did she get this striking headstone? 

I was intrigued as soon as she brought me to see it. The stone itself is gorgeous! But now I wanted to know more about Dorothy. I looked on Find A Grave and a photo of her stone was on there but there was no information.[1] There are no other Vogles in Hillside Cemetery. There are two other Plues, but I didn’t know if they were related to Dorothy.

After a bit of research, I started piecing together the life of Dorothy Plue Vogel and wanted to write a story about her so she's not forgotten about.

Dorothy Angela Plue was born in Glens Falls, Warren County, New York on 20 March 1905.[2] Glens Falls is near the Vermont border and just south of Lake George in New York. She was the oldest child of Herbert John Plue and Martha M. Barrett.[3] She had a brother, Bradford Barrett Plue, who was 18 years younger than her.[4] Interestingly in December 1922, Dorothy’s mother, Martha, filed for separate support in Worcester County Probate court citing Herbert Plue as cruel and abusive. She also asked for custody of her daughter, Dorothy.[5] [Court records in Worcester County need be searched for further court documents]. They must have gotten back together though, because in 1930 and 1940, Herbert and Martha lived with their young son, Bradford, in Worcester.[6]

Back to Dorothy. In 1910 the Plue family, including five-year-old Dorothy, was living with her parents in the household of her maternal grandmother and step-grandfather, Noel and Mary Conger, at 29 Webster Street in Worcester.[7] Herbert was a machine operator. In 1920 14-year-old Dorothy was enumerated with her parents at 9 Wachusett Street in Worcester.[8]In 1927 they were living at 27 Orange Street in Worcester and Dorothy was a phone supervisor.[9]

 

Dorothy married Edward Ferguson Moore of Webster, Mass. on 30 September 1927 in Worcester.[10] He was the son of Timothy Moore and Catharine Ferguson. The marriage did not last long. By 1930 Edward had moved to Rochester, New York with his mother, and his marital status was recorded as single. The 1930 city directory in Rochester lists Edward working as a foreman and living with his mother, Catherine widow of Timothy, at 86 ½ Alexander.[11] Dorothy was not living with them and I couldn’t find her on any census. There was a Dorothy Moore renting a room in Westchester, New York, who fits the right age which could be her but there’s no proof that was her.[12]

 

She next married George Adam Vogel in Manhattan on 16 September 1936. They lived together at 252 W. 76^th Street in New York City at the time of the marriage. George was a hotel representative and Dorothy did not have an occupation on the marriage record. They both said this was their first marriage which was not the case for Dorothy. 

 

Her obituary revealed the most about her life.[13] Dorothy was a fashion designer and owned shops called Doge Couture in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida. She was living in West Palm Beach at the time of her death at 1701 South Flagler Drive and moved to West Palm around 1965. Before that she lived in New York City and Europe. She died on 13 August 1975 at Sloane-Kettering Research Institute Hospital in New York City. Her obituary requested contributions in her memory to the Sloane-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. She likely died from some form of cancer but I didn’t order her death record to confirm.

 

Her husband, George, died in 1974. Her brother, Bradford B. Plue of Auburn, Massachusetts, survived her. She didn’t have any children so it’s likely her brother had her interred in a cemetery near him and why she’s in Hillside Cemetery with a beautiful stone. Bradford was married to Marilyn Trotter. He died in Worcester on 21 November 2001 and Marilyn died 21 September 2018.[14] Marilyn’s obituary stated both Bradford and Marilyn didn’t have siblings but that was an error, as we can see from the research above. They didn’t have any children either. Bradford and his wife were very philanthropic, according to their obituaries. Bradford seems to have loved genealogy as he was a member of several genealogy societies like New England Historic Genealogical Society and Killingly [Connecticut] Historical Society. Bradford and Marilyn are buried in the same cemetery as Dorothy not far from the beautiful Rose Quartz stone that started this discovery journey. 

---

[1] Find A Grave, (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial: accessed 4 Dec 2023);  memorial no. 176843097, Dorothy Plue Vogel, Hillside Cemetery (Auburn, Mass.), headstone image by contributor no. 47374189. 

[2] “New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967,” Dorothy A. Vogel (1958); digital image Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5726178:1277 : accessed 4 Dec 2023); Record Group no. 85, Series no. A3998, NARA, Washington D.C.

[3] “Mrs. Dorothy Vogel,” The Evening Gazette (Worcester, Mass.) 14 Aug. 1975.

[4] “Mr. Bradford B. Plue, 74,” Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), 23 Nov. 2001; digital image GenealogyBank(https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/0F7052A58D6F269A-0F7052A58D6F269A : accessed 4 Dec 2023).

[5] “Mrs. Martha M. Plue Asks Separate Support,” Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), 5 Dec. 1922, p. 20, col. 7; digital image GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01150810190938255021701700798 : accessed 4 Dec 2023).

[6] 1930 U.S. census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Worcester, enumeration district (ED) 14-94, sheet no. 4B, dwelling 66, family 93, Herbert J. Plue; NARA microfilm T626, roll 970. 1940 U.S. census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Worcester, enumeration district (ED) 23-163, sheet no. 1A, dwelling 1020, family 8, Herbert J. Plue; NARA microfilm T627, roll 1718.

[7] 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule Worcester, enumeration district 1899, pg. 9a, house no. 29, family no. 129, Herbert Plue in the Noel H. Conger household; NARA T624, roll 633.

[8] 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule Worcester, enumeration district 327, p. 17A, house no. 9, dwelling no. 122., Herbert J. Plue; NARA microfilm T625, roll 751.

[9] U.S. City Directories, Worcester, Mass., 1927, Dorothy A. Plue, p. 1005; digital image Ancestry(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/10394500 : accessed 4 Dec. 2023).

[10] “Weddings” Moore-Plue, The Evening Gazette, Worcester, Friday, 25 November 1927, p. 6, col. 1; digital image Genealogy Bank(https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01150810190938255021696518665 : accessed 4 Dec. 2023).

[11] U.S. City Directories, Rochester, NY, 1930, Edward F. Moore, p. 1112; digital image Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/120196459:2469 : accessed 4 Dec 2023).

[12] 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Westchester County, New York, Ossining, enumeration district 60-302, p. 8B, dwell. no. 147, family no.199, Dorothy Moore in the household of Elias Rogers; NARA microfilm T626.

[13] “Mrs. Dorothy Vogel,” The Evening Gazette (Worcester, Mass.) 14 Aug. 1975.

[14] “Marilyn Plue,” Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.) 22 Sept. 2018.