History

A Little Historical Perspective

As you may well know, there are two, and sometimes more, sides to every story. In the families of slave descendants you can imagine there are many stories. My family is no different. During our research, we discovered a few things about various branches of the family. We garner from our research that there were at least four slave plantations in our ancestral past: the Cole Plantation, the Flowers Plantation, the Fluker Plantation, and the Lewis Plantation. As we receive information regarding these issues this site will be updated.

My paternal great-grandpa, William Harrison Taylor's father's surname was "Cole", not Taylor. Apparently, great-grandpa refused to accept theplantation owner's surname. Instead, he adopted the surname of his stepfather. Grandpa Taylor's spouse, Elizabeth Ophelia (Flowers) Taylor, was the daughter of a man born on the Flowers plantation. His spouse, my paternal great- grandmother, was named Dora Howard. Her father was a also a white man, named Var Lewis. It is not known whether he was a plantation owner. Great-grandma also adopted the surname of her stepfather.

Until recently, I was under the mistaken belief that John Fluker was born a slave on the Fluker Plantation. I had at least two versions of the Fluker history. My own and stories I was told by one old gentleman I met who knew my grandmother. Unfortunately, I cannot recall this man's name but I do recall he was in my grandmother's home when we talked (This was during a period when I was much younger and was not into making a record of things I picked up from the griots I met). This old gentlemen claimed to have known John Fluker.

His version was that great-great-grandpa Fluker had been given the much talked about 40 acres and a mule when he was freed from slavery. Further, he said that nearby white farmers tried to take the property away from John Fluker and that the white neighbor across highway 81 (John McIntyre) "stood up" for my great-great-grandpa, telling them that he bought the property fair and square.

Because of this story, I thought he was given the classic "40 acres and a mule" when he became a freedman and bought other property, thereby adding Fluker Farm to his holdings. I also heard from other family members that he had tried to entangle these holdings in such a way that no one could get them away from his daughter and her heirs, requiring the signature of persons from several generations of the family in order to effect a sale. Recently, however, while talking to my cousin Barbara, in New Jersey, I have yet another version.

Apparently, Mamma Jones used to tell Barbara stories about her father. According to what Mamma Jones told Barbara, John Fluker used to employ "old man McIntyre" (John McIntyre). Fluker was a wealthy property owner and was never a slave. However, Mamma Jones had no knowledge of where the wealth in property holdings came from. I do know that the holdings were vast because I lived there.

When I was a child I heard there were about 400 acres of farm land. It included a public pond a lake behind the house where we used to climb trees when there was drought and the lake was dried up; a bayou where we used to go fishing; cotton fields where I chopped and picked cotton; vast acreages of potato and vegetable crops; horses, a stud bull, cows, chickens and geese; a hogpen full of hogs and piglets; and a cemetery (Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Hooker, AR) where both Mamma Jones and Mother Dear were buried.

Based on these two different versions of the Fluker history and a little logic, my theory is this: Since Mamma Jones was born in 1883, my best guess is that her grandfather, not her father, was the direct descendant of the Fluker plantation owner. John Fluker must have inherited from his father, who may have gotten the initial 40 acres when he was freed about 1865. Maybe he bought other property periodically, and it grew into the small empire that I remember.

Mamma Jones did tell me that her mother was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. So John fluker must have met and married a Cherokee Indian, somewhere between 1880 and 1882. But what I did not know, that Barbara related to me, is that they had at least three children: a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Fluker (Mamma Jones), and two other children who died very young. I do not know the names of these other two children.

My sources did say that "Old Man Fluker" was a hard man to get along with. Apparently this extended much farther than I could ever have imagined. According to Barbara, Mamma Jones said her father was a very mean man, would shoot you if you came onto his property after sundown, and he was very mean to her mother. Apparently, her mother developed pneumonia and died, after being thrown out of the house on a cold rainy night by John Fluker.

Now I believe that there was no questionable sale of that land. I am thankful to my cousin Barbara for trying to set the record straight on that point and a few other things. In turn, I need to try and set the record straight here: Truthfully, I probably will never know the real true story. But according to Barbara, Mamma Jones wanted to get rid of the land because no one in the family wanted to live in Ladd, AR. It was sold freely with full knowledge and disclosure. Several family members reaped the benefits from the sale, and Mamma Jones lost the rest of the money because she used to keep her money at home.

I believe that this story about her losing this large sum of money may be true because I know Mamma Jones kept her money in a "money belt" around her waist. I saw it many times. But my original concern that the sale of the property was questionable did play a huge part in my decision to become a lawyer. Now, I'm simply grateful at least that John Fluker begat the woman who helped me begin my life, there on Fluker Farm.

I once had this sort of romantic vision of John Fluker riding the farm, herding cattle or picking cotton, as I have no pictures of him. Some idealistic part of me wants to hold onto the image I first had of my great-grandfather and reject this shotgun toting mean person I have recently been told about. Fluker Farm had cotton fields, cattle, geese, chickens, hogs, and barefoot children fishing, climbing trees, and just being happy. Those were truly my best days! Only now they are clouded by the image of a man herding people with a shotgun, not cattle.

Thank you for reading this far. We hope you enjoy reading about the Flukers and Taylors, and that you have no problems following the links to the different branches of our ancestral tree. The family has grown into what is now the eighth generation.

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