Finley Cornett Wells Bio

Finley Cornett Wells

Finley C. Wells was born 22 Jun 1904 to Phillip Cornett Wells and Susan Whitehead Wells Engle in Leslie County Kentucky.

"FATHER OF FINLEY"
PHILLIP CORNETT WELLS
Born 1882 Died: 9-28-1961 BOYLE KENTUCKY
MARRIED: #(1) SUSAN WHITEHEAD
BORN: 1-22-1888 M 8-8-1903 LESLIE CO., KY.
GRANDAUGHTER OF CATHERINE CORNETT, DAUGHTER OF SUSAN CORNETT.
(listed 1850 Lee co Va census age 38)

Finley had one full brother,Corbin, who fell out of a barn loft and broke his neck and died when he was nine
and a full sister, Polly Jane Wells Harris married to Ted Harris.

Phillip, Finley's father was reported to have had 8 wives, one son Charles Wells is listed also but don’t know which wife was Charles mother.
His last wife was Ennabetty Boggs.

His mother Susan divorced his father and later married Nathaniel Engle.

Children from that marriage: Half brothers and sisters to the other Wells children: Leslie County Ky.

Alice (Ollie) Engle
Bruce Engle
Farmer Engle
Catherine Engle Anderson
Sarah Ann Engle Pack
Langley Engle
Ballard Engle
Thomas Engle(died young)

His father, Phillip remarried Louise Collins a Cherokee Indian From North Carolina
Children from that marriage: Half brothers and sisters:
Elizabeth Wells Studdard (Lizzie) Leslie County Ky and Mississippi
Lloyd Wells Leslie County Ky and Ohio
Louize remarried Jim Baker but the Baker children were not blood relatives to the Wells family.
Leslie County Kentucky was, and still is, very rough and mountaineous country.
Finley lived there and worked in the coal mines as a young man (as most people in Kentucky did at one time or another) until he started college at Berea Kentucky.
He was around 20 years old when he entered the college. Finley was a highly intelligent man, studied and enjoyed History. The students had to have a B average or more to qualify for entry to their school. At Berea you have to work a certain amount of hours a day to help pay for your tuition. He was going there when he met his first wife, Virginia Hawkins. She was fifteen years old and he was twenty one. She was working at Boone Tavern Hotel as a Waitress. He was working asa hotel clerk. They fell in love and were married shortly afterward. That was in 1927 not too long before the depression. Circumstances were very hard for them.
Finley took Virginia to his Father, Phillips, house in the hills of Ky, shortly after their marriage. Finley worked in the coal mines while there and it was a very difficult time for them. Virginia was still a child herself. She said she got so homesick she could die. She took care of Finley's brother and sister. She said one day they were playing on the railroad tracks and she told Phillip, their father, and he punished them so severely that she never told on them again for anything

Finley and Virginia had a child, Juanita and she developed pneumonia at 4 months and died. After her death, they both moved back to Berea Kentucky.
Other children of Finley and Virginia:
Emma Jean Wells Burton
Hampton Cornett Wells
Charles Edward Wells
Robert Wells(died at 18 months)

There were no jobs to be had Finley worked for the WPA to keep food on the table, In the summer they planted a garden and Virginia canned everything she could to feed them in the winter. The children at that time didn’t really realize how poor they really were.
They lived in Berea until the war started in 1942 at that time Finley left and went to Dayton Ohio to find work.
Virginia took the children to Beulah Heights Ky Orphanage to live until they could find found a place and come and get them. Finley lived in a rooming house in Ohio, Virginia following and getting a job at American Aircraft.

The depression era, the loss of two children, and not living together was devastating on the marriage.
They divorced.
Finley remarried to Mary Thompson Warner (Mayme)
Virginia remarried Robert Smith and then Rufus Barker
Finley was living in the boarding house that Mary's mother owned. Finley and Mary moved to Edgewood Court in Dayton Ohio. He got a job at Simons, Warden and White, a knife factory. They went to Kentucky and got the older children and they lived with Mayme and Finley at Edgewood Court. The children spent 2 years there with Mary and Finley. It was not an easy situation for the children or parents. Charles Warner Morrow lived there as well. He was Mary's child from a previous marriage.
Emma Jean was the oldest child, she went to Roosevelt High School in Dayton.
And lived there til she got a job and moved into an apartment of her own.
She later married Chester Burton.
Finley and Mary had 2 boys:

Richard Finley Wells
William Paul Wells
Finley loved to fish, he took the boys fishing quite a bit.

Finley, Mary, Hamp, Ed, Richard, and Bill moved from Edgewood Court to Lawn Crest Ave. in Drexel. They lived there at the time Mary died with a massive heart attack. At the time she was pregnant with another child which died. Dec. 1948.
Hamp went into the Navy and Ed followed later. Finley did the best he could for his sons.

He met Ellen bowen in 1954 and she had 4 children and they married. The marriage didn’t last.
In 1958 Finley, Richard, and Bill went to live with Emma Jean for a while.
Richard went to Kemp School for a short while. They moved to West Second Street in Dayton.
Finley and the boys moved in with Ida B Morrow and Finley married her.
Ida had 2 sons and one daughter. Ida was very good to Richard and Bill. They both went to Colonel White High School and graduated.
Finley's half brother Lloyd came to Ohio and he helped him and Lloyds younger brother get a job at the place where Finley worked. Lloyds son Mike said they probably wouldnt have made it, if Finley hadnt have helped them.
Finley had a great love of history and the outdoors which he instilled in the children.

Richard worked for a while at the factory where his dad worked, both of the boys served in the Air Force.
Richard was serving in England when Ida died.
She was a diabetic and she died right after Christmas in Jan 1969.

Finley lived with Richard and his wife, Gayl Ramey in Xenia Ohio, for a while until they were shipped out overseas again. Then, he went to live with Bill and his wife, Penny Smith in Dayton, Ohio for a couple of months.
He rode the bus down to Ky to see his sister, Polly Harris and there he met, Dema Elam and aventually they married. They lived in Cincinnati Ohio on Peete Street.
On March 31, 1977 Finley went to the front door to answer a knock and opened the door to the chain and someone shot him. He died instantly. The assailant has not been found to this day.
The above written by: Emma Jean Wells and Richard Wells

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Emma Jean Wells Personal Comments:

"My mother told of a time when they got married, they had a small bank account so they took enough money out to buy each of them an outfit of clothing ,which was a good thing because the rest was lost when the banks closed down during the depression.

My mother was devastated with the loss of her first child, Juanita and made an impact on both my dad and her.
Another child Bobby was born was born and died when he was 18months old."I can remember him he was so sweet and loving, we all loved and missed him so much, My mother and father were again devastated. They were not sure what he died of, Scarlet fever or severe Strep Throat.,
We all were very happy. I remember I had a steady diet of pinto beans and cornbread, which my mother prepared daily on our heating stove on our living room.
My parents really had a rough time.
The depression took its toll on many families, and mine was no exception.
Hamp, Ed and I didn’t fully understand at the time the impact that it had on our family and the future would be split and forever changed.
My father went to Ohio to find work. He got a job at Simons, warden and White, a knife factory.
My father was living in a rooming house, and he met Mary Warner, the daughter of the lady that owned the house and after he and my mother, Virginia, divorced, he married Mary (Mayme). He came to Kentucky and brought us back to live with them. We spent several years there which was really the best thing for us at the time although we didn’t feel so at the time.
It was a religious background which I have continued today. I resented her because I felt she was taking my mothers place, which of course she wasn’t. She was a very good and kind person. Which I see with hindsight.
I lived with them until I found a job, first at the corner drugstore then a dept store and then as an elevator operator. I got a job at General Motors at Delco in Dayton Ohio at the age of 17. I moved into an apartment an no longer lived with my Father.

Hamp and his wife, Mitzi, took him back to Bremmerton Washington with them for a while, he really enjoyed himself, fishing etc. right after that was when he married Dema.

He seemed very happy with this Christian lady. I know he accepted Christ as his savior when he was going to church with her.
They came to visit me quite often and I and my father grew very close at this time of our lives. "

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Richard Wells Personal Comments:
225 Lawn Crest Avenue, Dayton Ohio, the first year 1 January 1944. My first memories began with the rude awakening one early morning by mom. Dad had got up to get ready for work and had just left, walking to the bus stop as he had done many times. Mom wasn’t feeling well when she woke me, asking me to go get dad because she was ill. I can’t even remember to this day if I found dad. (about 1949)

This change in our lives set a pattern we would learn to live with the rest of our lives. Pop, as we called him, would get us up before he went to work (5 am), feed us, and made sure we were dressed for school. He made the long walk every day to the bus stop, then the long ride to town, then walking about a mile to Simmons-Warden & White Co. where he worked as a machinist, sharpening knife blades for various uses. This is the only job he ever had when he came to live in Ohio from Kentucky. This routine made for a long tiring day: traveling, working all day, and then the long ride and walk home. I know how it was from all the trips we took to see grandma Butler, who lived on Third Street in Dayton, not far from where he worked.
Soon after mom died, Ed and Hamp both left for the Navy. I really don’t remember much about them at that time. Pop had fixed an old building in the back for them. I really don’t blame them for wanting to get out of there. Most of my memories center around Pop, Bill, and I since I was quite young. With Pop working all the time, Bill and I had a lot of time on our own. Maybe this is why we were always picking on each other, especially me being the older.
During school it wasn’t so bad. Up with Pop, breakfast, ready for school, and then Pop off to work. But when summer came, we were all over the place. Walking here and there, playing with all the neighborhood kids (Chuckie Hobbs, the Goodpastures (all 8), the Mullins kids). The kids always liked to come over on Sunday’s, especially when Pop (they all called him Pop) made chicken and dumplings. Needless to say, it did not last long when they came. Then we would have a piece of his famous yellow cake (without icing) for dessert. I don’t think there was a kid in the neighborhood that hadn’t heard about the dinners.
Left to our own devices, it was a wonder we survived on our own until Pop got married again to Ellen Bowen (1952-1953) and she had four kids. I really don’t remember much, but we did have a car. Pop never learned how to drive it, Ellen did it all. She was OK, she saw to our needs, but we sure didn’t get along with her kids. They thought they were so much better than Bill and I. We only got along with her youngest daughter, Darlene, because she was close to our age. The other three were much older, and didn’t care for us. I can only remember us driving to Kentucky one time to grandma and grandpa’s Wells, Grandma Engle in Whiteburg, and grand pa Phillips in Hazard, Ky. I don’t remember when Pop and Ellen divorced, but I remember it wasn’t soon enough. Don’t ask me why, but maybe I liked the freedom we had before she came into our lives.
As we grew older, we learnt how to fend for ourselves. Pop expected us to carry our own share now that we were on our own again. We learned how to cook (open soup cans and make sandwichs) for ourselves. We kept the house as clean as we could; for us. Pop said we either carry our share or he would find a home for us; enough said.
When Pop wasn’t at work or working around the house, he was usually laying on the couch reading a book and eventually falling asleep. Many a time he fell asleep with his head in my lap. I still remember the times I sat out on the front porch waiting for him to come home from work, especially when it was stormy.
I can’t remember anyone who met Pop that didn’t like him. He always found time to take us hunting (especially in Ky), and fishing. He liked having the neighborhood kids around. Of all of Pop’s kids, I believe I was the closest to him. Pop and I loved to be out in the woods, walking, hunting, or fishing - even as I got older, I still loved to take him fishing. He taught me the reality of life; how could you ask a young kid to raise rabbits, then take them out to the garage to kill them for dinner. As hard as his life was, he found time to teach me about life through hunting, fishing, and talking.
Goodbye Lawncrest.. here comes Dayton. When they got married we moved into Dayton, going to bigger schools,. Ida brought stability to our teenage lives. We had a house with indoor plumbing, a phone and yes, another car she drove.
Pop lived with me and my wife for a while after Ida died and it was a pleasure to have him there. He loved to go fishing with us and he and our little girl Melissa were very close. He used to call her peanut. We went fishing one time, she was 2 years old. We noticed she was eating something, he was laughing, and it was the red worms. Tickled him to death. He loved to tease. He especially liked to tease the little dog.
Pop was a special person with a great attitude toward life."

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Gayl Wells, daughter-in-law Personal Comments:

"What can I say about my father-in-law except that I dearly loved him.
He was very good to me and welcomed me into the family.
He came to live with us after Ida died and he was very welcome.
He was a great help to me with Melissa.

He used to get miffed at me for catching all the fish on an old cane pole so he went out and bought me a rod and reel, said if I was going to outfish him it might as well be with a decent pole.
Fishing was a passion with him as well as the love of history.
One time we caught a lot of carp and he brought them home and buried them under my tomato plants, and I had an abundance of tomatoes that year. The calcium I guess in the bones.

Richard got stationed in England and he considered going with us but decided against it. He went to live with Bill and Penny for a while then Hamp for a bit, then he met Dema and remarried again.

I used to tease him about all his wives, he would just shake his head said he couldnt figure it out. I always told him he would catch up with his dad if he wasnt careful. Phillip was supposedly married 8 times.

Our daughter Melissa is the only one that got to see him and he used to take her fishing a lot and she still has a great love of fishing. The other children have suffered a great loss in not having known their grandfather. Our son Phillip Finley Cornett Wells is named after him and his father.

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