Celebrating Cora Sevier: A Woman Ahead of her Time

It’s always interesting to learn about past lives and activities of Barbourvillians. That’s part of the reason why the Museum Corner researches and writes about families, individuals, and groups who not only had an impact on our little community, but other cities as well. They might have started here in Barbourville, or came here for a while, but none the less, their impact was felt in more than one locale.
Few individuals have had a greater impact on their family or in their community than Cora Sevier. The Museum Corner thought it would be interesting to share her obituary from 1961, sprinkled with some additional facts to help you get a glimpse into the life of an exceedingly interesting woman, well before her time. The obituary is from the July 31, 1961, edition of the Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
Miss Cora Bales Sevier, 76, for many years owner of the Nancy Sevier dress shop on Connecticut Avenue, died this morning at the Washington Hospital Center of injuries received when she fell in a department store last Thursday. Plagued throughout her life by a series of accidents and illnesses, Miss Sevier nevertheless was successful in several careers.
At the age of 20, a trotting horse ran away and slammed the carriage in which she and her aunt were riding into a large boulder. Her aunt was killed and Miss Sevier suffered a broken leg and hand and other injuries. It was thought at the time that she might not recover.
After a two-year recovery period, she took up swimming as rehabilitation while studying custom design at Columbia University in New York City. She previously had studied art under Frank Duveneck at the Cincinnati Art Academy.
Her swimming coach at Columbia recommended her to Louis Handley, sports editor of the New York Times, who coached several well-known swimmers including Gertrude Ederle, first woman to swim the English Channel.
Mr. Handley at first refused to take Miss Sevier, as she had not won any important championships. He later referred to her as the “Mermaid of Dixie” – the first woman swimmer he coached from below the Mason – Dixon line. She was a native of Richmond, Kentucky and was raised in Barbourville, Kentucky.
After leaving the university in 1919, she stayed on in New York as a commercial artist. In the summers she taught swimming at Tate Springs and Whittle Springs in Tennessee. She also became the first Red Cross lifesaving examiner in Kentucky and trained more than 1,000 boys and girls at Union College in Barbourville.
In 1924, she contracted white lead poisoning from painting china. She returned to Kentucky and later came back to Washington in 1933 to work for the National Recovery Administration and the General Accounting Office.
Shortly before World War II, she opened the Nancy Sevier Shop (named for her mother) at 3523 Connecticut Avenue N.W. where many prominent Washington women bought their clothes. Miss Sevier closed the store in 1953. (The shop was located in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of D.C.)
She leaves several nieces and nephews, including Miss Nancy Madden of the home address, 2900 Connecticut Avenue N.W. and Mrs. C. W. Hiatt of Harwood, Maryland.
Cora was born in Barbourville on September 13, 1884, the oldest of four children of Alexander and Nancy Sawyers Sevier. Her siblings included Alex, Jr. (1886 – 1906), Marena (1888 – 1980) and John Rector (1891 – 1953).
Cora’s mother, Nancy Sawyers Sevier died in 1909, at the age of 47, just three years after having lost their son and Cora’s brother, Alexander, Jr.
An avid Democrat in both Washington, D.C. and at home in Barbourville, Cora’s tombstone is even a testament to her dedication. On the top of the stone, it reads, “She never voted the Republican ticket. Artist, Swimmer, Fashion Businesswoman, and Author.
Cora authored a book on the Sevier family history with her niece, Nancy Madden, after doing extensive research. The book was published in 1961 and was entitled, Sevier family history:, with collected letters of Gen. John Sevier, first Governor of Tennessee, and 28 collateral family lineages.” The book is still available on Amazon today. At the time, the Nashville Banner headlines read, “History of Sevier Family is a Masterpiece.” Cora’s line of Seviers descended from Gen. John Sevier’s brother Col. Valentine Sevier. Even though she was blind for the last ten years of her life, she completed the history of the Sevier family with her niece and caregiver Nancy.
Cora’s last will and testament was entered into probate in Clay County and gave her farm in Goose Rock, her jewelry, her home in D.C., and money, and the remainder of her worldly possessions to her grandnieces and nephews.
Cora passed away on July 31, 1961, at the age of 76. Her funeral rites were held at the All-Souls Memorial Episcopal Church at Cathedral and Connecticut Avenues NW and her body was returned to Barbourville for burial.
At a time when single women were not allowed by society to be on their own, to voice their opinions about politics or to own property or business, Cora Bales Sevier did so with confidence and was well ahead of her time. She moved with ease between Barbourville and Washington, D.C. returning to her hometown with she was needed. Accounts of her death were published in newspapers throughout the United States.
This Women’s History Month, we celebrate Cora Bales Sevier and her tenacity for life despite the drawbacks that she refused to let slow her down.