Sacred Ground: Storey Cemetery
ROBBINS | The Sacred Ground series began the story of the Mountain View community’s Storey Cemetery a few weeks ago, when profiling the Smithers Cemetery in Robbins.
Charles Elmer Mullins, a 15-year-old who was killed in a railroad accident at Rockwood, was one of the first people to be buried at Smithers Cemetery in 1924. His father, Henry Mullins, was originally from Pickett County but eventually moved to Robbins, and both Henry and Lou were later buried at the Storey Cemetery when they died in the 1950s, as were several of their other children.
The Storey Cemetery began three years after Charles Mullins’ death, with the death of 22-year-old Floyd Arnold Storey in 1927. It was tragic irony that Floyd Storey was also killed in a railroad accident in Rockwood. (As you’ll read in a moment, the Storey and Mullins families were connected.)
Today, the Storey Cemetery is a small, well-kept cemetery on the edge of Mountain View Road, just a mile or so — as the crow flies — from the Smithers Cemetery. There have been nearly 90 burials in the cemetery through the years.
The Storey family
Floyd Storey — who was killed when he fell from a railroad car — was the son of Pleasant “Ples” Barton Storey and Mary Alice Huddleston, both of whom would later be buried at the family cemetery at Mountain View. His paternal grandparents were Henry Taylor Storey and Cynthia Ann Beaty, and that’s where this story begins.
Like the Mullins family, the Storey family was originally from Pickett County. In fact, the Storey family has long been one of the most prominent families in the Byrdstown area, dating back to the early 19th century, when that area was still part of Overton County.
It was Archibald Bates Storey who migrated from Virginia to Tennessee around 1814. He married Elizabeth “Betsy” Flowers, the daughter of Roland Flowers and Anna Garrett. About 1814, a caravan that included siblings Elijah Caleb Garrett, Joshua Bernard Garrett and Anna Garrett Flowers, and their families, made the journey through the Cumberland Gap from Virginia to present-day Byrdstown. Roland and Anna’s daughter Betsy — who had married Archibald Storey in 1804 — was not part of that caravan, but she moved her family to Byrdstown to join her family shortly thereafter. Ever since that time, the Pickett County area has been populated by the Garrett, Flowers and Storey families.
Archibald and Betsy — who spelled their name “Story” — are buried in the Story Cemetery in the Moodyville area of Pickett County. Their son Arthur, or Arter, who spelled his name “Storie,” was one of their nine children. He married Elenor Graham, and they also had nine children, one of whom died in infancy.
Following Elenor’s death in 1882, Arter remarried to Lucinda Jane Mullins. And that’s where the connection between the Storey family and the Mullins family began.
The Mullins family
Lucinda Mullins, the second wife of Arter Storie, was the daughter of James Thomas Mullens and Matilda Graham of Pickett County. Her parents are buried at the Story Cemetery in Byrdstown (not to be confused with the Story Cemetery in nearby Moodyville, where Archibald and Betsy Story are buried).
Lucinda’s brother, John Lewis Mullins, married Martha Anna Felkins. And their second-oldest son was Henry S. Mullins — who married Lou Cope and moved to Robbins. Lucinda, the second wife of Arter Storie, was an aunt to Charles Elmer Mullins, who was killed in the railroad accident in 1924 and buried at Smithers Cemetery.
Lucinda first married Roland Flowers — a grandson of Roland Flowers and Anna Garrett, who were part of the caravan from Virginia to Byrdstown in 1814. His parents were James Flowers and Elizabeth Graham. His aunt and uncle were Betsy Flowers Story and Archibald Story.
By now you’ve seen the surname Graham mentioned several times. If you’re wondering about the connection: Elenor Graham (the first wife of Arter Storie), Matilda Graham (the mother of Lucinda Mullins, the second wife of Arter Storie), and Elizabeth Graham (the mother of Lucinda’s first husband, Roland Flowers) were all sisters. They were the daughters of John Graham and Sarah Buntin, who had 17 children and moved from North Carolina to present-day Pickett County in the early 1800s.
To sum it up: Lucinda Mullins married her first cousin, then married her aunt’s widower after her first husband died. That wasn’t terribly uncommon during the pioneer era of the remote Appalachian communities; there were very few people living in these communities during those early days.
Arter Storie and Lucinda Mullins were both elderly when they married, and they had no children together. Arter Storie lived to the ripe old age of 104 before dying in 1917.
Henry Mullins, the nephew of Lucinda Mullins, moved to Scott County at some point after his marriage to Louvernia Cope. She was the daughter of Ambrose Cope and Laura Cargile, who were also from Pickett County. Lou had a sister, Mary Melinda (who went by “Ninnie”) who married Alvis Crawford Flowers, a grandson of Lucinda Mullins Storie.
From Pickett County to Scott County
It’s not clear what brought the Storey and Mullins families from Pickett County to Scott County, though it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume it was a search for jobs. The railroad was just one industry that was booming in Scott County by the beginning of the 20th century, and members of both the Mullins and Storey families worked on the railroad (as evidenced by the deaths of Charles Elmer Mullins and Floyd Storey).
Nor were Henry Mullins and his family, and Henry Storey and his family, the only ones to make the move. Alvis and Ninnie Cope Flowers lived out their lives in Pickett County, but several of their children moved to Scott County. Nearl Glen Flowers married Rheba Todd from Scott County, and is buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery. His brother, Lauton Flowers, is also buried at Black Creek Crossroads. And their sister, Ozee, is buried at the Storey Cemetery at Mountain View. She first married William Paul Lewallen, and later married Monroe Freeman Branim. Both her first husband and her son, Gene Lewallen, are buried at the Storey Cemetery.
The Walker family
After Floyd Storey was killed while working on the railroad and buried at Storey Cemetery in 1927, the next several burials that occurred there were children.
In 1930, three-month-old Glois Storey was buried there. She was the daughter of Pleasant Storey Jr. and Arzonia Ellis, and a niece to Floyd Storey.
Newborn Christine Walker was buried at the cemetery later that same year.
In 1932, one-year-old Billie Walker was buried at the cemetery.
In 1933, eight-month-old Easau Walker was buried at the cemetery.
And, in 1937, two-year-old Willie Walker was buried at the cemetery (his headstone is misspelled “Billie”).
Willie was the son of Rad Walker and Myrtle Williamson. The Walker family was also from Pickett County. Rad’s brother, Brice Walker, married Ada Storey, who was a sister to Floyd Storey (the daughter of Ples Storey and Mary Huddleston). Rad and Brice were the sons of John Walker and Mary “Polly” Cargile.
Christine, Billie and Easau may have been the children of Brice Walker and Ada Storey. However, one or more of them may have been the children of Rad Walker and Myrtle Williamson.
Ada died in 1932 at the age of 37 and was buried at the Storey Cemetery. Brice Walker is also reported to have been buried there, though he doesn’t have a marker at the cemetery. They had other children buried at the cemetery, including 23-year-old Carlie Walker in 1939, after he died of a gunshot wound, and Ruth Vera Walker in 2010.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Georgie Walker, another of Rad and Myrtle Walker’s children, was buried at the cemetery in 1943.
The cemetery grows
Mae Ellis Storey was buried at the family cemetery in 1933, when she died at age 28. Her death certificate simply stated that she died of “female trouble.” She was the wife of Lloyd Virgil Storey, who was the son of Ples and Mary Storey and a brother of Floyd Storey. He remarried to Ollie Goad in 1933, and she is also buried at the cemetery.
Lloyd Storey has two other children buried at the cemetery, including infant Shirley Storey, who died in 1937, and infant Phillip Dale Storey, who died in 1954. Most of the rest of his children are buried at Black Creek Crossroads, though he has a daughter, Julie Storey Hamby, who was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery. Her husband, Bill, was one of the singing Hamby brothers from Brimstone.
The first person other than a member of the Storey or Walker families to be buried at the cemetery was John R. Buttram in 1934. His wife, Elizabeth “Sis” Boles, was buried there 10 years later.
Another family was represented at the cemetery the following year, when three-year-old Lorene Massengale was buried there. She was the daughter of Andy Massengale and Alma Draughn. Her parents would later be buried at the cemetery, as well.
There were a number of other burials that occurred at the cemetery through the remainder of the 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s.
The cemetery today
More than 80 people have been buried at Storey Cemetery. There are a few unmarked graves there, as well.
The most recent burial at the cemetery, as of this writing, was Darren Lee Storey in 2022. He was the son of John Lee Storey and Juanita Brummett. His father was buried at the cemetery in 2006.
Darren Lee Storey was a second-great-grandson of Ples Storey, through Pleasant Storey Jr.
Prior to that, Wanda Lee Sims Storey was buried at the cemetery in 2020, and her husband, Ples Daniel Storey, was buried there in 2019. Ples Daniel Storey was a great-grandson of Ples Storey, and an uncle to Darren Lee Storey. His parents, Pleasant Storey Jr. and Arzonia Ellis, were buried at the cemetery in 1976 and 1986, respectively.
There have been several other recent burials at the cemetery, including Ozee Flowers Branim, Tina Storey Rains and Betty Storey Pemberton in 2016.
Tina Storey Rains was the daughter of Joseph and Sandra Jeffers Storey. Her mother was buried at the cemetery in 1995. She was a second-great-granddaughter of Ples Storey, through Claude Earl Storey. Betty Storey Pemberton was the daughter of Claude Earl Storey and Martha West, and a great-aunt to Tina Storey Rains. Her husband, Herbert Hoover Pemberton, was buried at the cemetery in 1981.
The land surrounding the Storey Cemetery remains in the hands of descendants of Ples and Mary Storey.
Cemetery Census
GPS Coordinates: 36.38133, -84.58871
First Burial: 1927
Last Burial: 2022
Elsie Pitman Abbott 1908–1974
Mary Luchin Anderson 1935–1958
Ozee Flowers Branim 1925–2016
Cody Bunn 1968–1969
Samuel Burchfield 1964–1964
Elizabeth Boles Buttram 1869–1944
John R. Buttram 1867–1934
Helen Clark 1931–1935
Margaret Walker Clark 1860–1938
Beptha Eppepson 1913–1952
Jeanette P. Goike 1946–1946
Infant Son Gunther 1954–1954
Infant Daughter Gunther 1944–1944
James B. Gunther N/A–1943
Linda Teresa Hamby 1962–1963
George Henry 1922–1990
Charles Krahn 1954–2002
James Krahn 1956–1983
Gene Lewallen 1946–2004
William Lewallen 1916–1965
Columbus Lowe 1864–1946
Rebecca Wilson Lowe 1880–1961
Walter Lowe 1949–1949
Alma Draughn Massengale 1914–1970
Andy M. Massengale 1909–1989
Lorene Massengale 1932–1935
Ida B. Mathews 1882–1964
John H. Mathews 1873–1970
Ida Boles Matthews 1882–1964
Lue Mullens 1875–1950
Henry S. Mullins 1864–1959
James Alfred Mullins 1906–1961
Lillie Newport Mullins 1907–1983
Lou Cope Mullins 1875–1950
McKinney Mullins 1895–1959
Betty Storey Pemberton 1938–2016
Elsie McCreary Pittman 1908–1974
Frank Pittman 1905–1955
Tina Storey Rains 1968–2016
Hattie Mullins Sexton 1893–1976
Joyce Henry Shoopman 1933–1989
Archie Storey 1936–1997
Arzonia Ellis Storey 1909–1986
Baby Girl Storey 1950–1950
Baby Son Storey 1950–1950
Barbara Conatser Storey 1927–2011
Claude Storey Sr. 1899–1965
Connie Mathews Storey 1911–1941
Darren Storey 1962–2022
David Storey 1949–1949
Earl Storey 1921–1976
Floyd Arnold Storey 1905–1927
George Storey 1934–1993
Glois Storey 1929–1930
Granville Storey 1922–1972
Henry Storey 1849–1938
Jerry M. Storey 1942–1959
John Storey 1941–2006
Lessie Mae Storey 1938–1990
Mae Ellis Storey 1905–1933
Martha West Storey 1897–1969
Mary Huddleston Storey 1874–1971
Phillip Storey 1953–1954
Pleasant Storey Jr. 1909–1976
Pleasant Storey Sr. 1870–1943
Ples Storey 1946–2019
SandraJeffers Storey 1947–1995
Shirley Storey 1937–1937
Sylvia Lewallen Storey 1923–1965
Wanda Lee Sims Storey 1947–2020
William “Bill” Storey 1930–1996
George N. Story 1934–1993
Velta Lee Terry 1950–1950
Ada Storey Walker 1894–1932
Billie Walker 1930–1932
Carlie Walker 1916–1939
Christine Walker 1930–1930
Christine Walker 1890–1961
Easau Walker 1932–1933
Georgie Walker 1927–1943
Gertie Walker 1890-N/A
Ruth Walker 1925–2010
Willie R. Walker 1935–1937
Della West 1906-N/A
Elizabeth West 1933–1940
Reason West 1905–1960
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.