My mother was good at revealing memories about her childhood when I was a kid. Or maybe I was just good at listening. Regardless, one of those memories dealt with Mrs. Cora Fluellen. Mrs. Fluellen was a lady that lived in the same neighborhood as my folks, the Phalens and the McClanahans, in the area commonly known as Plymouth, West Virginia. Mother would tell us (all of us kids, not just me) how her mother would walk up to Mommy McClanahans for a visit and take mom and her siblings. Of course, she had an aunt that wouldn’t let the kids in the house ’cause, I guess she’d either cleaned the house or she didn’t want to be bothered by her sister’s youngins. But I grew up with the knowledge that the McClanahans, my grandmother, and her siblings had grown up at the mouth of Plymouth Holler. (For non-natives, a “holler” is what you’d call a Hollow – a narrow valley between two mountains).
In the 1980s, I worked for an upholstery company/furniture store in Springfield, Ohio. I was called out to a house requesting an estimate on a rocking love seat for which the client would need both fabric and upholstery work performed. I arrived at the home of, if I recall correctly, Mr. and Mrs James Carter. Mrs. Carter picked up on my accent and began to ask the questions that I was used to being asked, having a “weird” accent. “Where are you from?” she asked. Common response: “Near Charleston, WV.” I say common because few people who claimed their grandma was from West Virginia ever knew the name of my hometown nor I theirs. “Where at near Charleston?” Mrs. Carter asked. “A little town in Putnam County,” I stated. That normally shut down further questions. “Where at in Putnam County?” she pressed. Daggum, she was insistent! “A little town called Bancroft along the Kanawha River,” I replied expecting that to end the questioning.
“Have you ever heard of Black Betsy?” she asked quietly. You could have blown me down because nobody, and I do mean nobody in all my travels up and down the Atlantic Coast states and then some had EVER heard of Black Betsy, West Virginia. Heck, in North Carolina, people didn’t seem to comprehend that there was a state named “West Virginia,” let alone the name of the capitol city. Mrs. Carter had my full attention.
It turned out that the Carters had grown up at Plymouth, their fathers working in the coal mine there. Mrs. Carter knew the aunt that I mentioned in the first paragraph above and revealed several stories about said aunt. I knew she was right. Some of that information I had heard, some of it came as a surprise.
Then I asked if she knew Mrs. Fluellen, one of the names lodged in my memory from stories my mother had told. Absolutely Mrs. Carter knew her. She also knew that Mrs. Fluellen had moved out to Ohio at some point in time also. Her revelations led me to think that there was a mass migration of folks from Plymouth, WV to Ohio. If she told me where Mrs. Fluellen lived, I don’t recall, but I felt as if I’d met more of “my people;” People from home. I couldn’t wait to tell my folks about Mr. and Mrs. Carter.
This week, I set out to learn more about Mrs. Fluellen, the lady with the voice of an angel who made the earth stand still for my mother when she sang, and how she came to live at Plymouth, West Virginia, where she’d gone in Ohio, and when. The following is what my research revealed.
Cora Lee Peoples was born on 20 July 1895 in Alabama (I’m thinking Autauga County) to Lewis and Mattie Peoples. I believe her surname was mistaken as “Reed” on her marriage record to J. A. Fluellen – I could have the wrong couple – on 2 June 1917 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. I found them in the 1920 Census living in Jefferson County, AL. But by 1930, the couple was living at Plymouth, Putnam County, WV with their two children: Lewis G Fluellen, aged 19, Alabama and a daughter, Ethel M. Fluellen, aged 11, born West Virginia. There is only one reason they came to Plymouth: the Coal Mine and work.
John and Cora Lee Fluellen lived at Plymouth until 1960 as they are in the Censuses there through 1950, the last available Census. Son Lewis Grant Fluellen had married at Point Pleasant in 1936. I found him in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio in the 1950 Census with his wife and children. Daughter Ethel Mae Fluellen had also married at Red House, WV but I’ve yet to trace information on her other than her marriage record.
I suspect Mrs. Cora Fluellen left Plymouth – or Bancroft, whichever name you prefer – about 1961 or shortly thereafter. I base that assumption on the death record of husband John Agustus Fluellen, located in the West Virginia Vital Records database online. John Agustus Fluellen was born 25 Jun 1888 Benoit, Bolivar County, MS, the son of Benjamin Fluellen & Margaret J. Windham; he died 3 Mar 1961 at Bancroft and is buried on Schowen’s Hill. Cora Fluellen, his widow, was the informant listed on the Death Record.
Cora Fluellen died on 18 October 1987 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio at the age of 92 years old. Her “findagrave” listing doesn’t mention any children, parents, or other family and I wonder whether she outlived her son and daughter and whether her grandchildren or great-grandchildren sit still long enough to learn more about the ancestors. I’m pretty sure, if Cora Fluellen knew her husband’s parents, she could have told her descendants all they wished to know.
My aunt Bertha remembers her and one of my cousins says he does, too. I would love to have known her. In the very least, I can honor her memory in case someday one of her descendants takes an interest.
RECORDS:
Burial, Cora Fluellen: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/270789462/cora-fluellen
Son: Lewis Grant Fluellen m. Anna Belle Craig (b. Belpre, OH) 15 Aug 1936 at Presbyterian Church, Point Pleasant, WV (license obtained Putnam Co).
MARR CERT: “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2025. Wvculture.Org. https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=567401&frame=00397
Children: John L., b. WV; Robert G., Josephine L, Cora B, Yvonne L., Craig S. Fluellen.
Daughter: Ethel Mae Fluellen m. Charles Casper Stephens (b. Putnam Co) 31 Mar 1934 at Red House Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
MARR Cert: “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2025. Wvculture.Org. https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=567291&frame=00508
Ethel and Casper had two sons: Charles C, Jr and John E. Stephens. Apparently, the couple divorced and Ethel Mae remarried to Herbert Wesley Waddy. I’m not aware of any children born to the Waddys.
MARR Cert: “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2025. Wvculture.Org. https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=521725&frame=00141
Ethel Mae died 23 Dec 1959 at Charleston, WV of a Coronary Thrombosis. “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2025. Wvculture.Org. https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=460382&ImageNumber=659
Burial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/239137810/ethel-mae-waddy
Husband: John Agustus Fluellen
Occupation: Coal Miner
Death Cert: “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2025. Wvculture.Org. https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=2074162&frame=01377
Burial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129446507/john-agustus-fluellen
