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diff --git a/11920-0.txt b/11920-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57593a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/11920-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4494 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11920 *** + +[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note +[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note + + + + + +SLAVE NARRATIVES + + +A Folk History of Slavery in the United States +From Interviews with Former Slaves + + +TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT +1936-1938 +ASSEMBLED BY +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + + +WASHINGTON 1941 + + + + +VOLUME VII + +KENTUCKY NARRATIVES + + + + +Prepared by +The Federal Writers' Project of +The Works Progress Administration +For the State of Kentucky + + + +[TR: All county names added. Names, information in brackets added.] + +INFORMANTS + +Bogie, Dan + +Henderson, George + +Mason, Harriet +Mayfield, Bert + +Oats, Will + +Robinson, Belle + +Shirley, Edd + +Woods, Wes + + +COMBINED INTERVIEWS + +ANDERSON CO: + Ann Gudgel + +UNION CO: + Mrs. Heyburn + +CALLOWAY CO: + George Scruggs + +GARRARD CO: + Harriet Mason + +BOYD CO: + Rev. John R. Cox + +WAYNE CO: + [Mrs. Duncan] + +DAVIES CO: + [Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander] + +LAUREL CO: + Amelia Jones + Jenny McKee + +JEFFERSON CO: + Susan Dale Sanders + John Anderson + Joana Owens + [Martha J. Jones] + +FLOYD CO: + Charlie Richmond + +OWENS CO: + George Dorsey + +CHRISTIAN CO: + Annie B. Boyd + Kate Billingsby + Nannie Eaves + Mary Wright + +CLAY CO: + Sophia Word + +BOYD CO: + +BELL CO: + Mandy Gibson + +BREATHITT CO: + Scott Mitchell + +UNION CO. + [A Bill of Sale.] + [WILL--Nancy Austin.] + +ROCKCASTLE CO. + +CLARK CO. + +MONTGOMERY CO. + +MONROE CO: + Edd Shirley + [Mrs. C. Hood] + +ESTILL CO: + Peter Bruner + +CHRISTIAN CO: + Easter Sudie Campbell + [Uncle Dick] + Annie Morgan + Cora Torian + Mary Wooldridge [TR: name corrected per interview.] + +CALDWELL CO. + +BALLARD CO. + [Tinie Force and Elvira Lewis] + +LAWRENCE CO. + +LESLIE CO. + +GARRARD CO. + [Mrs. Jennie Slavin] + +WEBSTER CO. + +CALDWELL CO. + Esther Hudespeth + +ANDERSON CO. + +KNOX CO. + +CLARK CO. + +CASEY CO. + +CHRISTIAN CO. + +HOPKINS CO. + +MARTIN CO. + +[TR: This volume contains a high number of misspellings and typing +errors. Words that are apparent misspellings to render dialect, such as +'morster' for 'master', or that reflect spelling errors of a particular +interviewer or typist, such as 'posess' for 'possess' or 'allegience' +for 'allegiance', have not been changed; words that are apparent typing +errors such as 'filed' for 'field', 'ot' for 'of', 'progent' for +'progeny', have been corrected without note, to avoid interrupting the +narrative.] + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) [HW: Ky 9] + +Interview with Dan Bogie: + + +Uncle Dan tells me "he was born May 5, 1858 at the Abe Wheeler place +near Spoonsville, now known as Nina, about nine miles due east from +Lancaster. Mother, whose name was Lucinda Wheeler, belonged to the +Wheeler family. My father was a slave of Dan Bogie's, at Kirksville, in +Madison County, and I was named for him. My mother's people were born in +Garrard County as far as I know. I had one sister, born in 1860, who is +now dead, and is buried not far from Lancaster. Marse Bogie owned about +200 acres of land in the eastern section of the county, and as far as I +can remember there were only four slaves on the place. We lived in a +one-room cabin, with a loft above, and this cabin was an old fashioned +one about hundred yards from the house. We lived in one room, with one +bed in the cabin. The one bed was an old fashioned, high post corded bed +where my father and mother slept. My sister and me slept in a trundle +bed, made like the big bed except the posts were made smaller and was on +rollers, so it could be rolled under the big bed. There was also a +cradle, made of a wooden box, with rockers nailed on, and my mother told +me that she rocked me in that cradle when I was a baby. She used to sit +and sing in the evening. She carded the wool and spun yarn on the old +spinning wheel. My grandfather was a slave of Talton Embry, whose farm +joined the Wheeler farm. He made shingles with a steel drawing knife, +that had a wooden handle. He made these shingles in Mr. Embry's yard. I +do not remember my grandmother, and I didn't have to work in slave days, +because my mother and father did all the work except the heavy farm +work. My Mistus used to give me my winter clothes. My shoes were called +brogans. My old master had shoes made. He would put my foot on the +floor and mark around it for the measure of my shoes. + +Most of the cooking was in an oven in the yard, over the bed of coals. +Baked possum and ground hog in the oven, stewed rabbits, fried fish and +fired bacon called "streaked meat" all kinds of vegetables, boiled +cabbage, pone corn bread, and sorghum molasses. Old folks would drink +coffee, but chillun would drink milk, especially butter milk. + +Old master would call us about 4 o'clock, and everybody had to get up +and go to "Starring"[TR:?]. Old Marse had about 30 or 40 sugar trees +which were tapped, in February. Elder spiles were stuck in the taps for +the water to drop out in the wooden troughs, under the spiles. These +troughs were hewed out of buckeye. This maple water was gathered up and +put in a big kettle, hung on racks, with a big fire under it. It was +then taken to the house and finished upon the stove. The skimmings after +it got to the syrup stage was builed down and made into maple sugar for +the children. + +We wore tow linen clothes in summer and jeans in winter. Sister wore +linsey in winter of different colors, dyed from herbs, especially poke +berries; and wore unbleached cotton in summer, dyed with yellow mustard +seed. + +My grandfather, Jim Embry mended shoes and made fairly good ones. + +There were four slaves. My mother did cooking and the men did the work. +Bob Wheeler and Arch Bogie were our masters. Both were good and kind to +us. I never saw a slave shipped, for my boss did not believe in that +kind of punishment. My master had four boys, named Rube, Falton, Horace, +and Billie. Rube and me played together and when we acted bad old Marse +always licked Rube three or four times harder then he did me because +Rube was older. Their daughter was named American Wheeler, for her +mother. + +White folks did not teach us to read and write. I learned that after I +left my white folks. There was no church for slaves, but we went to the +white folks church at Mr. Freedom. We sat in the gallery. The first +colored preacher I ever heard was old man Leroy Estill. He preached in +the Freedom meeting house (Baptist). I stood on the banks of Paint Lick +Creek and saw my mother baptized, but do not remember the preachers name +or any of the songs they sung. + +We did not work on Saturday afternoon. The men would go fishing, and the +women would go to the neighbors and help each other piece quilts. We +used to have big times at the corn shuckings. The neighbors would come +and help. We would have camp fires and sing songs, and usually a big +dance at the barn when the corn was shucked. Some of the slaves from +other plantations would pick the banjo, then the dance. Miss Americe +married Sam Ward. I was too young to remember only that they had good +things to eat. + +I can remember when my mothers brother died. He was buried at the +Wheeler, but I do not recall any of the songs, and they did not have a +preacher. My mother took his death so hard. + +There was an old ash hopper, made of slats, put together at the bottom +and wide at the top. The ashes were dumped in this and water poured over +them. A drip was made and lye caught in wooden troughs. This was then +boiled down and made into soap. My mother let me help stir it many a +time. Then the big kettle would be lifted from the fire and left until +cold. My mother would then block it off, and put on a wooden plank to +dry out until ready for use." + +Bibliography: +Interview with Dan Bogie, Ex-Slave. + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) [HW: Ky 13] + +Interview with George Henderson: + + +Uncle George tells me that he was born May 10, 1860 near Versailles, in +Woodford County, Kentucky. His father's name was Bradford Henderson, who +was a slave of Milford Twiman who belonged to the Cleveland family. He +does not know where his family came from. There were 21 children +including two or three sets of twins. All died while young, except his +brothers: Milford, Sam, and Joe; and sisters: Elle and Betsy. All the +slaves lived in log cabins and there were about 30 or 40 of them on a +plantation of 400 acres. "The cabin I was born in had four rooms, two +above and two below. The rooms above were called lofts, and we climbed +up a ladder to get to these rooms. We slept on trundle-beds, which were +covered with straw ticks. Our covers were made in big patches from old +cast-off clothes. When we got up in the morning we shoved the trundle +bed back under the big bed. Some boy would ring a great big bell, called +the "farm bell" about sunrise. Some went to the stables to look after +the horses and mules. Plowing was done with a yoke or oxen. The horses +were just used for carriages and to ride. My work was pulling weeds, +feeding chickens, and helping to take care of the pigs. Marse Cleveland +had a very bad male hog and had to keep him in a pen about 10 feet high. +Sometimes he would break out of the pen and it would take all the +bulldogs in the county to get him back. I never did earn any money, but +worked for my food and clothes. My daddy used to hunt rabbits and +possums. I went with him and would ride on his back with my feet in his +pockets. He had a dog named Brutus which was a watch dog. My daddy would +lay his hat down anywhere in the woods and Brutus would stay by the hat +until he would come back. We ate all kinds of wild food, possum, and +rabbits baked in a big oven. Minnows were fished from the creeks and +fried in hot grease. We ate this with pone corn bread. We had plenty of +vegetables to eat. An old negro called "Ole Man Ben" called us to eat. +We called him the dinner bell because he would say "Who-e-e, God-dam +your blood and guts". + +Out clothes were made of jeens and linsey in winter. In the summer we +wore cotton clothes. They gave us shoes at Christmas time. We were +measured with sticks. Once I was warming my shoes on a back log on the +big fire place, they fell over behind the logs and burnt up. I didn't +marry while on the plantation. + +My master and mistress lived in the big brick house of 15 rooms, with +two long porches. One below and one below. My mistus was Miss Lucy +Elmore before she married. Her children were named Miss Mat, Miss Emma, +and Miss Jennie. + +I saw the slaves in chains after they were sold. The white folks did not +teach us to read and write. We had church on the plantation but we went +from one plantation to another to hear preaching. White folks preacher's +name was Reuben Lee, in Versailles. A meeting of the Baptist Church +resulted in the first baptizing I ever saw. It was in Mr. Chillers pond. +The preacher would say 'I am baptizing you in Mr. Chillers pond because +I know he is an honest man'. I can't remember any funeral. + +I remember one slave named Adams who ran away and when he came back my +old master picked up a log from the fire and hit him over the head. We +always washed up and cleaned up for Sunday. Some time the older ones +would get drunk. + +On Christmas and New Years day we would go up to the house and they +would give us candy and fruit and fire-crackers. We were given some of +all the food that the white folks had, even turkey. Would have heaps of +corn-shuckings, the neighbors would come in and then we'd have big +dances and old Marse would always have a "jug of licker". + +If a cat crossed our path we would turn backwards for a while. When I +was about 9 or 10 years old I went from the cabin to the big kitchen to +make the fire for my mammy to get the breakfast and I saw ole man Billie +Cleveland standing looking up in the sky. He had been dead about 3 or 4 +years; but I saw him. + +The white folks looked after us when we were sick. Used dock leaves, +slippery elm for poultices. They put polk root in whiskey and gave it to +us. + +When the news came we were freed every body was glad. The slaves cleared +up the ground and cut down trees. Stayed with Marse Cleveland the first +year after the war. Have heard the Klu Klux Klan ride down the road, +wearing masks. None ever bothered me or any of Marse Clevelands slaves. + +I married years after I left Marse Cleveland. Married Lucy Mason the +first time and had three children, two girls and 1 boy. I didn't have no +children by my second marriage, but the third time I had four. One died. +I have eight grandchildren. + +We had no overseer but Marse Hock was the only boy and the oldest child. +We had no white trash for neighbors. I have seen old covered wagons +pulled by oxen travelling on the road going to Indianny and us children +was whipped to keep us away from the road for fear they would steal us." + +Bibliography: +Interview with George Henderson, Ex-slave. + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) [HW: Ky 11] + +Aunt Harriet Mason--Ex-Slave: + + +She was born one mile below Bryantsville on the Lexington Pike in +Garrard County, and was owned by B.M. Jones. She gives the date of her +birth as April 14, 1847. Aunt Harriet's father was Daniel Scott, a slave +out of Mote Scott's slave family. Aunt Harriet's mother's name was Amy +Jones, slave of Marse Briar Jones, who came from Harrodsburg, Ky. The +names of her brothers were Harrison, Daniel, Merida, and Ned; her +sisters were Susie and Maria. Miss Patsy, wife of Marse Briar gave Maria +to Marse Sammy Welsh, brother of Miss Patsy's and who lived with his +sister. He taught school in Bryantsville for a long time. "General Gano +who married Jane Welsh, adopted daughter of Marse Briar Jones, took my +sisters Myra and Emma, Brother Ned and myself to Tarrant County, Texas +to a town called Lick Skillet, to live. Grapevine was the name of the +white folks house. It was called Grapevine because these grapevines +twined around the house and arbors. Sister Emma was the cook and Myra +and me were nurse and house maids. Brother married Betty Estill, a slave +who cooked for the Estill family. Mr. Estill later bought Ned in order +to keep him on the place. I didn't sleep in the cabins with the rest of +the Negroes; I slept in the big house and nursed the children. I was not +paid any money for my work. My food was the same as what the white folks +et. In the summer time we wore cotton and tow linen; and linsey in the +winter. The white folks took me to church and dressed me well. I had +good shoes and they took me to church on Sunday. My master was a +preacher and a doctor and a fine man. Miss Mat sho was hard to beat. The +house they lived in was a big white house with two long porches. We had +no overseer or driver. We had no "Po white neighbors". There was about +300 acres of land around Lick Skillet, but we did not have many slaves. +The slaves were waked up by General Gano who rang a big farm bell about +four times in the morning. There was no jail on the place and I never +say a slave whipped or punished in any way. I never saw a slave +auctioned off. My Mistus taught all the slaves to read and write, and we +set on a bench in the dining room. When the news came that we were free +General Gano took us all in the dining room and told us about it. I told +him I wusn't going to the cabins and sleep with them niggers and I +didn't. At Christmas and New Years we sho did have big times and General +Gano and Miss Nat would buy us candy, popcorn, and firecrackers and all +the good things just like the white folks. I don't remember any +weddings, but do remember the funeral of Mr. Marion who lived between +the big house and Lick Skillet. He was going to be buried in the +cemetery at Lick Skillet, but the horses got scared and turned the +spring wagon over and the corpse fell out. The mourners sure had a time +getting things straightened out, but they finally got him buried. + +They used to keep watermelon to pass to company. Us children would go to +the patch and bring the melons to the big spring and pour water over +them and cool 'em. When news came that we were free we all started back +to Kentucky to Marse Jones old place. We started the journey in two +covered wagons and an ambulance. General Gano and Miss Nat and the two +children and me rode in the ambulance. When we got to Memphis we got on +a steam boat named "Old Kentucky". We loaded the ambulance and the two +wagons and horses on the boat. When we left the boat, we got on the +train and got off at Georgetown in Scott County and rode from there to +General Gano's Brother William in Scott County, on a stage coach. When I +took the children, Katy and Maurice, upstairs to wash them I looked out +the window into the driveway and saw the horses that belonged to Marse +Briar Jones. They nickered at the gate trying to get in. The horses were +named Henry Clay and Dan. When the children went down I waved at the +horses and they looked up at the window and nickered again and seemed to +know me. When we were coming back from Texas, Maurice held on the plait +of my hair all the way back. I didn't marry while I belonged to the Gano +family. I married Henry Mason after I came to Lancaster to live about +sixty years ago. I am the mother of nine children, three boys and six +girls. There are two living. I have no grand-children. I joined the +church when the cholera epidemic broke out in Lancaster in 1878. The +preacher was Brother Silas Crawford, of the Methodist Church. I was +baptized in a pond on Creamery Street. I think people ought to be +religious because they live better and they love people more." + +Aunt Harriet lived at the present behind the White Methodist Church in +Lancaster. The daughter with whom she lives is considered one of the +high class of colored people in Lancaster. She holds an A.B. Degree, +teaching in the colored city school, and is also a music teacher. She +stands by the teaching of her mother, being a "Good Methodist"; giving +of her time, talent, and service for her church. + +Bibliography: +Interview with Aunt Harriet Mason, Lancaster, Kentucky. + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) + +Interview with Bert Mayfield: + + +Bert Mayfield was born in Garrard County, May 29, 1852, two miles south +of Bryantsville on Smith Stone's place. His father and mother were Ped +and Matilda Stone Mayfield, who were slaves of Smith Stone who came from +Virginia. His brothers were John, Harrison, Jerry, and Laurence, who +died at an early age. + +He lived on a large plantation with a large old farm house, built of +logs and weatherboards, painted white. There were four rooms on the +first floor, and there were also finished rooms on the second floor. An +attic contained most of the clothes needed for the slaves. "Uncle Bert" +in his own language says, "On Christmas each of us stood in line to get +our clothes; we were measured with a string which was made by a cobbler. +The material had been woben by the slaves in a plantation shop. The flax +and hemp were raised on the plantation. The younger slaves had to +"swingle it" with a wooden instrument, somewhat like a sword, about two +feet long, and called a swingler. The hemp was hackled by the older +slaves. The hackle was an instrument made of iron teeth, about four +inches long, one-half inch apart and set in a wooden plank one and +one-half feet long, which was set on a heavy bench. The hemp stalks were +laid on these benches and hackled herds were then pulled through and +heaped in piles and taken to the work shops where it was twisted and +tied then woven, according to the needs. Ropes, carpets, and clothing +were made from this fiber. + +"Our cabins were usually one room with a loft above which we reached by +a ladder. Our beds were trundle beds with wheels on them to push them +under the big beds. We slept on straw ticks covered with Lindsey +quilts, which were made from the cast-off clothes, cut into squares and +strips." + +Bert can just remember his grandparents. + +He would feed pigs; pulled "pusley" out of the garden for them "and them +pigs loved it mighty well". + +No money was paid for work. Bacon and "pone bread" baked in the yard in +an oven that had legs and lid on top was the chief food and his +favorite. The coals were put on top as well as under the oven. They +drank sweet milk and butter milk, but no coffee; they also ate cabbage, +squash, sweet and Irish potatoes, which were cooked with, skins on, +greased, and put in the oven. "Possum" and coon hunts were big events, +they would hunt all night. The possums were baked in the ovens and +usually with sweet potatoes in their mouths. The little boys would fish, +bringing home their fish to be scaled by rubbing them between their +hands, rolled in meal and cooked in a big skillet. "We would eat these +fish with pone corn bread and we sho' had big eatins!" + +Marse Stone had a big sugar camp with 300 trees. We would be waked up at +sun-up by a big horn and called to get our buckets and go to the sugar +camps and bring water from the maple trees. These trees had been tapped +and elderwood spiles were placed in the taps where the water dripped to +the wooden troughs below. We carried this water to the big poplar +troughs which were about 10 feet long and 3 feet high. The water was +then dipped out and placed in different kettles to boil until it became +the desired thickness for "Tree Molasses". Old Miss Polly would always +take out enough of the water to boil down to make sugar cakes for us +boys. We had great times at these "stirrin' offs" which usually took +place at night. + +The neighbors would usually come and bring their slaves. We played +Sheep-meat and other games. Sheep-meat was a game played with a yarn +ball and when one of the players was hit by the ball that counted him +out. One song we would always sing was "Who ting-a-long? Who +ting-a-long? Who's been here since I've been gone? A pretty girl with a +josey on". + +There was no slave jail on the Stone place, and I never saw a slave sold +or auctioned off. I was told that one of our slaves ran off and was gone +for three years. Some white person wrote him to come home that he was +free. He was making his own way in Ohio and stopped in Lexington, +Kentucky for breakfast; while there he was asked to show his Pass papers +which he did, but they were forged so he was arrested. Investigators +soon found that his owner was Mr. Stone who did not wish to sell him and +sent for him to come home. Uncle Ned's own Tim said he "would go fetch +him back" but instead he sold him to a southern slave trader. My old +Mistus Meg taught me how to read from an old national spelling book, but +I did not learn to write. We had no church, but the Bible was read to us +on Sunday afternoons by some of the white folks. The first Church I +remember was the Old Fork Baptist Church about four miles from Lancaster +on the Lexington Pike. The first preacher I remember was Burdette +Kemper. I heard him preach at the old church where my Mistus and Master +took me every Sunday. The first Baptizin' that I remember was on Dix +Fiver near Floyd's Mill. Preacher Kemper did the Baptizin' and Ellen +Stone, one of our slaves was Baptized there with a number of +others--whites and blacks too. When Ellen came up out of the water she +was clapping her hands and shouting. One of the songs I remember at this +Baptizing was: + + "Come sinners and Saints and hear me tell + The wonders of E-Man-u-el, + Who brought my soul with him to dwell + And give me heavenly union." + +"The first funeral sermon I remember was preached by John Moran, negro +at the first Baptist here in Lancaster. + +"The negroes would talk among themselves, but never carried tales to the +white folks. I never heard of any trouble between blacks and whites. On +Sunday's we would hold prayer meetings among ourselves. The neighbors +would come when slaves were sick. Old Mistus looked after us, giving us +teas made of catnip and vermifuge. Poultices of dock leaves and slippery +elm were also used when were sick. Some of the slaves wore rabbit feet +for charms and skins of snakes for a belt as a charm. + +"My first wedding was 53 years ago. The woman was named Emma Barren, +raised by Dr. Pettus. I had no children. We went to Mr. Spencer Hubble +to live, in Lincoln County. We had no chil [TR: This sentence appears to +have been unfinished or erased.] + +I received the first news of freedom joyfully. I went to old man +Onstott's to live. I lived there two or three years. I think Abe Lincoln +a great man. He did not believe in slavery and would have paid the +southern people for their slaves if he had lived. All the slaves on +Morse Stone's place were treated well. + +Bibliography: +Interview with Bert Mayfield. + + + + +Mercer County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Hazel Cinnamon) + +Interview with Will Oats--Ex-Slave: + + +Will Oats, 84 years of age, was born in Wayne County, up Spring Valley +in 1854. He was the son of Betty Oats and Will Garddard of North +Carolina. He has three sisters: Lucy Wilson, Frances Phillips that live +in Ohio, and Alice Branton of Mercer County, Kentucky. He has two +brothers; Jim Coffey and Lige Coffey of Harrodsburg. + +As a child he lived with his mother, brothers, sisters, and grandmother. +Their quarters were in the yard of their master; and they were as +comfortable as any slaves--with plenty to eat and clothes to keep them +warm. + +Will was just a boy at that time, and he cut wood and carried it in; and +did other chores around the house such as help to milk and feed the +stock. Their food was plentiful and they ate all kinds of vegetables, +and had plenty of milk and butter, fat meat, and bread. + +The family all wore home made clothing, cotton shirts, heavy shoes, very +heavy underwear; and if they wore out their winter shoes before the +spring weather they had to do without until the fall. + +Will was owned by Lewis Oats and his sister; they lived in a two story +house, built of log and weather boarded. They were very wealthy people. +The farm consisted of over 230 acres; they owned six slaves; and they +had to be up doing their morning work before the master would wake. + +When working and the slaves would disobey their master, they were +punished in some way; but there was no jail. They didn't know how to +read or write, and they had no church to attend. All they had to do when +not at work was to talk to the older folks. On Christmas morning they +would usually have a little extra to eat and maybe a stick of candy. On +New Year's Day their work went on just the same as on any other day. + +Will, as a boy loved to play marbles which was about the most +interesting game they had to play. Of course, they could play outside as +all children do now when they had spare time. + +At that time there were few doctors and when the slaves would get hurt +or sick, they were usually looked after by the master or by their +overseer. + +After the war had closed, Will's grandmother walked from Monticello to +Camp Nelson to get her free papers and her children. They were all very +happy, but they were wondering what they were going to do without a +home, work, or money. But after Will and his mother and grandmother got +their freedom, the grandmother bought a little land and house and they +all went there to live. Of course, they worked out for other people and +raised a great deal of what they ate. Will lived there until he grew +older and went out for himself; and later moved to Mercer County where +he now lives. + +Bibliography: +Interview with Will Oats, Ex-Slave of Mercer County. + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) + +Aunt Belle Robinson: + + +I found Aunt Belle sitting on the porch, dressed nice and clean with a +white handkerchief pinned on her neck. When I went to her and told her +who I was and the reason for my visit her face beamed with smiles and +she said "Lawdy, it has been so long that I have forgot nearly +everything I knew". + +Further investigation soon proved that she had not forgotten, for her +statements were very intelligent. She was working on a quilt and close +investigation found that the work was well done. Aunt Belle tells me "I +was born June 3rd, 1853 in Garrard County near Lancaster. My mother's +name was Marion Blevin and she belonged to the family of Pleas Blevin. +My father's name was Arch Robinson who lived in Madison County. Harrison +Brady bought me from Ole Miss Nancy Graham and when Mr. Brady died and +his property was sold Mrs. Brady bought me back; and she always said +that she paid $400 for me. I lived in that family for three generations, +until every one of them died. I was the only child and had always lived +at the big house with my mistus. I wore the same kind of clothes and ate +the same kind of food the white people ate. My mother and father lived +at the cabin in the yard and my mother did the cooking for the family. +My father did the work on the farm with the help that was hired from the +neighbors. I was too young to remember much about the slave days, but I +never heard of any slaves of the neighbors being punished. My "Mistus" +always took me to the Baptist Church with her. I do not remember any +preacher's names or any songs they sang." + +Bibliography: +Interview with Aunt Belle Robinson, Ex-Slave of Garrard County. + + + + +Monroe County. Folklore. +(Lenneth Jones-242) [HW: Essay] + +Uncle Edd Shirley (97): + Janitor at Tompkinsville Drug Co. and Hospital, + Tompkinsville, Ky. +[TR: Information moved from bottom of page.] + + +Slaves: + +I am 97 years old and am still working as janitor and support my family. +My father was a white man and my mother was a colored lady. I was owned +three different times, or rather was sold to three different families. I +was first owned by the Waldens; then I was sold to a man by the name of +Jackson, of Glasgow, Kentucky. Then my father, of this county, bought +me. + +I have had many slave experiences. Some slaves were treated good, and +some were treated awful bad by the white people; but most of them were +treated good if they would do what their master told them to do. + +I onced saw a light colored gal tied to the rafters of a barn, and her +master whipped her until blood ran down her back and made a large pool +on the ground. And I have seen negro men tied to stakes drove in the +ground and whipped because they would not mind their master; but most +white folks were better to their slaves and treated them better than +they are now. After their work in the fields was finished on Saturday, +they would have parties and have a good time. Some old negro man would +play the banjo while the young darkies would dance and sing. The white +folks would set around and watch; and would sometimes join in and dance +and sing. + +My colored grand father lived to be 115 years old, and at that age he +was never sick in his life. One day he picked up the water bucket to go +to the spring, and as he was on his way back he dropped dead. + + + + +Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories. +(Eliza Ison) + +Interview with Ex-Slave Uncle Wes Woods: + + +My first visit to uncle Wes Wood, and his wife Aunt Lizzie Wood, found +them in their own comfortable little home in Duncantown, a nice urban +section of the town, where most of the inhabitants are of the better +class of colored people. A small yard with a picket fence and gate +surround the yard, which had tall hollyhocks, rearing their heads high +above the fence. + +A knock on the front door brought the cordial invitation "to come in". +Upon entering, I was invited to have a chair and "rest my hat". After +seating myself and making inquiry as to their health, I told them the +object of my visit, and their faces beamed when I asked if they +remembered "slave days". Aunt Lizzie set down the can of beans she was +preparing for their meal and said with a clasp of her hands, "Lawsey, +Honey, what I do know would fill a book". + +Uncle Wes had been a "shut-in" for eleven months, and was in bed, but +was cheerful and bright with an intelligent memory, rarely found in one +his age. Uncle Wes tells me that he was born May 21, 1864 in Garrard +County, near Cartersville, and was first a slave of Mrs. Eliza Kennedy, +who later married John Yeakey, of that section of the county. "My +father's name was Ben Woods, my mother's name was Janie Woods, but I do +not know what family she belonged to except the Woods. My master owned +about three or four hundred acres of land, and there were about twenty +slaves, including the children. + +There were three or four cabins for the slaves to live in, not so very +far from the house. The cabin where my mother and father lived was the +closest to the house, for my mother did the cooking. Our cabin was one +long room, with a loft above, which we reached with a ladder. There was +one big bed, with a trundle bed, which was on wooden rollers and was +shoved under the big bed in the daytime. The oldest boys slept in a big +wooden bed in the loft. The cabins were built of logs and chinked with +rock and mud. The ceiling was of joists, and my mother used to hang the +seed that we gathered in the fall, to dry from these joists. Some of the +chimneys were made with sticks and chinked with mud, and would sometimes +catch on fire. Later people learned to build chimneys of rock with big +wide fire places, and a hearth of stone, which made them safer from +fire. + + +Second Interview: + +"I chopped corn and pulled weeds and the other work hands would let me +ride behind them beck to the big house, and My! how hungry I wuz and how +we did eat. We would have beans, cooked in a big kettle in the back +yard, cabbage and potatoes, with corn pone bread, baked in a big oven In +the yard and plenty of good buttermilk to drink. + +"My young bosses, when I lived in the Kennedy family would take the dogs +and let me go coon hunting at night with them, and what big times we +had. The possums were skinned and cooked in a big kettle hung over the +fire, then taken out and put in a big oven to take. A piece of streaked +meat was put in and a small pod of red pepper--My-My what eatin' we had! + +"We fished with a stock pole and a twine string. We had big times +hunting fishing worms for bait. We used to catch Hockney, Hads and +Chubs. My mistus would not let me go fishing on Sunday, but I would slip +off and go anyhow. I nearly always had a good string caught and I would +tie them to a branch on the creek until the next day; then I would go +fishing and in about two hours I would come back with the fish, and she +would say, "Wes, you had good luck today"; and I would say, "Yes Mistus, +I did", but never did I tell her when I caught the fish. + +"My first wife was Lou Burnsides and we had five children: Eliza, +Fannie, George, Julia, and Jennie. All of them are dead but two. I have +no children by my present wife. + +"I never saw a slave whipped or in chains. My boss did not believe in +that kind of punishment. If the children needed whipping, it was done +like all other children are whipped when they need it. + +"The first colored preacher I recall was named John Reed, a Baptist +preacher at Paint Lick. I joined the church at Lowell, not very far from +here. The preachers name was Leroy Estill, a "Predestinerian". + +"Marse Woods had five children, two boys and three girls, none of them +are living. + +"We were glad when the news came that we were free, but none of us left +for a long time, not until the Woods family was broken up. My father +hired me out to work for my vituals and clothes, and I got $25.00 at the +end of the year. I do not remember of any wedding or death in my old +masters house. + +"I believe in heart-felt religion and prayer. The Good Book teaches us +we must be prepared for another world after this. I want to go to Heaven +when I die, and I try to live by the Bible." + +Bibliography: +Interview with Wes Woods, Ex-Slave of Garrard County. + + + + +COMBINED INTERVIEWS: +Customs: By Counties +Slavery: Local History and Dialect + + +ANDERSON CO. +(Mildred Roberts) + +Story of Ann Gudgel (age unknown): + + +"I doesn't know how old I am, but I was a little girl when dat man +Lincum freed us niggahs. My mammy neber tole us our age, but I knows +I'se plenty old, cause I feels like it. + +"When I was a liddle girl all of us was owned by Master Ball. When +Lincum freed us neggahs, we went on and libbed with Master Ball till us +chilluns was bout growed up. None of us was eber sold, cause we belonged +to the Balls for always back as far as we could think. + +"Mammy worked up at the big house, but us chilluns had to stay at de +cabin. But I didn't berry much care, cause ole Miss had a liddle child +jest bout my age, and us played together. + +"The onliest time ole Miss eber beat me was when I caused Miss Nancy to +get et up wit de bees. I tole her 'Miss Nancy, de bees am sleep, lets +steal de honey.' Soon as she tetched it, day flew all ober us, and it +took Mammy bout a day to get the stingers outen our haids. Ole Miss jest +natually beat me up bout dat. + +"One day they vaccinated all de slaves but mine neber took atall. I +nebber tole noboddy, but I jest set right down by de fireplace and +rubbed wood ashes and juice that spewed outen de wood real hard ober de +scratch. All de others was real sick and had the awfullest arms, but +mine neber did eben hurt." + + + + +UNION CO. +(Ruby Garten) + +Mrs. Heyburn: + + +(These two stories were told by Mrs. Heyburn as she remembered them from +her grandmother). + +"When the War was going on between the States and the Confederate +soldiers had gone south, the Yankee soldiers came through. There was a +little negro slave boy living on the farm and he had heard quite a bit +about the Yankees, so one day they happened to pass through where he +could see them and he rushed into the house and said, "Miss Lulu, I saw +a Yankee, and he was a man." + + +"I remember the slaves on my grandfather's farm. After they were freed +they asked him to keep them because they didn't want to leave. He told +them they could stay and one of the daughters of the slaves was married +in the kitchen of my grandfather's house. After the wedding they set +supper for them. Some of the slave owners were very good to their +slaves; but some whipped them until they made gashes in their backs and +would put salt in the gashes. + + + + +CALLOWAY CO. +(L. Cherry) + +Story of Uncle George Scruggs, a colored slave: + + +I wuz a slave befo de wa. My boss, de man dat I b'long to, wuz Ole Man +Vol Scruggs. He wuz a race hoss man. He had a colod boy faw evy hoss dem +days and a white man faw evy hoss, too. I wuz bawn rite here in Murry. +My boss carrid me away frum here. I thought a heap uv him and he though +a heap uv me. I'd rub de legs uv dem hosses and rode dem round to gib em +excise. I wuz jes a small boy when my boss carrid me away from Murry. My +boss carrid me to Lexinton. I staid wid Ole Man Scruggs a long time. I +jes don no how long. My boss carrid me to his brother, Ole Man Finch +Scruggs. He run a sto and I had to sweep de flo uv de sto, wash dishes +and clean nives and falks evy day. Ole Man Finch Scruggs carrid my uncle +up thar wen Ole Vol carrid me. Ole Man Finch Scruggs liv'd at a little +town called Clintinvil on tuther side uv Lexinton. Wen Ole man Vol +Scruggs marid, he take me away from Old Man Finch Scruggs and carrid me +to liv wid him. I wuz den wid my ole boss again. He den hired me to wuk +faw a docta in Lexinton. My job wuz to clean up his ofis and wen he went +out en de cuntry, he took me long to open de gates. I had to skowa nives +and fawks and ole brass canel stix. Dats been a long time ago, Ize +tellin you, white man. While I wuz sweepin de doctas ofis one day I saw +droves uv colud folks gwine by wid two white men ridin in front, two +ridin in de midel, and two ridin behind. De colud folks wuz wulkin, +gwine down town to be sold. When I fust seen em comin I got scared an +started to run but de white man said, "stop, boy, we is not gwine a hurt +you." I staid wid dat boss docta sumpin like a yer, an den wont back to +my Ole Boss. I'd a been up thar wid im yet but he kep telin me I wuz +free. But I diden no whut he mean by sich talk. Wen my Ole Boss sole out +up thar, he brung me wid him on to Paducah. + +He had a neffu in de wholesale grocy bisness in Paducah. My Old Boss +carrid me to his neffu and lef me thar. Dat wuz de las time I eva saw my +good Ole Boss caus he went on to Missouri. My Old Boss wuz sho good to +me, white man. I sho do luv im yet. Wy, he neva wood low me to go +barfooted, caus he wuz afraid I'd stick thorns in my feet, an if he eva +caut me barfooted, he sho wod make my back tell it. Wen he lef me in +Paducah, his neffu took me over to my ant, Rose Scruggs to stay all nite +wid her. Nex day I walked wid my cousin to Mayfield, carryin two toe +sacks uv cloes dat my Good Ole Boss give me wen he lef me in Paducah. De +cloze wuz faw me an my muther. Wen we got to Mayfield, we went strate to +Judge Williams caus he marrid my Ole Boss' sister and I wuz sho we could +stay wid dem. My Ole Boss an my muther wuz play-children together. My +muther's name wuz Patsy Malone. Mr. Maline's wife wuz my Ole Boss' +sister and my muther fell to her as a slave. Next day I come to Murry +whar my muther lived wid Miss Emily Malone. I wuz gone a long time caus +my Ole Boss took me way from Murry wen I wuz a small boy. I staid wid my +muther til she died. I now live in one mile uv de house whar I wuz bawn. +Mr. Hugh Wear sez I is 100 years old. + + + + +GARRARD CO. +(Sue Higgins) + +Story of Aunt Harriet Mason age 100--a slave girl: + + +"When I was seven years old my missis took me to Bourbon County, when we +got to Lexington I tried to run off and go back to Bryantsville to see +my mammy. Mas'r Gano told me if I didn't come the sheriff would git me. +I never liked to go to Lexington since. + +"One Sunday we was going to a big meetin' we heared som'in rattling in +the weeds. It was a big snake, it made a track in the dust. When we got +home missis asked me if I killed any snakes. I said to missis, snake +like to got me and Gilbert, too. + +"They used to have dances at Mrs. Dickerson's, a neighbor of General +Gano (a preacher in the Christian Church). Mrs. Dickerson wouldn't let +the "Padaroes" come to the dances. If they did come, whe[TR:she?] would +get her pistol and make them leave. + +"When General Gano went from Texas to Kentucky, he brought 650 head of +horses. He sold all of them but Old Black. + +"Mas'r Gano went back to Texas to take up a child he had buried there. +The boat blowed up, and he came nigh gittin' drowned. + +"One time I wus out in Mas'rs wheat field. I would get the wheat heads +and make chewin' wax. I told missis I want to go up to Bryantsville to +see my mammy. Mas'r took me in about a week. + +"Up at Miss Jennie West's house they had an ole icehouse. Some boys made +out like they had a bear up there to scare every body away. + +"I saw a flock of wild geese fly over one evenin' late. Some boys saw +them and one boy shot the leader. The rest of the flock wound round and +round, they didn't know where to go. + +"One time when I was actin' nurse for missis, there was another nigger +gal there and we was playin' horse-shoes. Celia hit me in the head. It +got blood all over the baby's dress. Missis came out, she say, "I'll +hit you niggers if you don't stop playing with horse-shoes." The scar is +on my head yet whar Celia hit me. I ain't played since. Do you blame me? + +"Missis told her brother Sam one day to whoop me. Every time he hit me, +I'd hit him. I wan't feared then. I didn't know no better. Look like +white folks goin' to have their way and niggers goin' to have theirs. + +"I used to say I wish I'd died when I was little. But now I thank De +Lord I'm here and I want to stay here as long as Lilly (my daughter) +lives. + +"Missis wanted all of us little niggers to call Kate, Missis' little +daughter, Miss Kate. But missis say, "They will call me old missis +then". + +"Kate had red hair. A little nigger boy say, 'Look! Harriet, the town's +on fire', I say git away from here nigger, I ain't goin' to have you +makin' fun of my chil'en. + +"Me and missis was goin' to a neighbor's house one day in a sleigh. The +baby was wrapped up in a comfort (it had a hole in it). The baby slipped +out. I say, 'Lor' missis, you're lost that baby.' + +"No, I haven't, Missis say. We stopped and shook the comfort and John +was gone. 'Ain't that awful, Miss Mat?' We went back and found him a +mile behind." + + +I asked Aunt Harriet to sing. She said, "I have to wait for the speret +to move me". (S. Higgins). + + + + +BOYD CO. +(Carl F. Hall) + +Rev. John R. Cox: + + +It is probable that slave labor was more expensive to the white masters +than free labor would have been. Beside having cost quite a sum a +two-year old negro child brought about $1,500 in the slave market, an +adult negro, sound and strong, cost from $5,000 up to as high as +$25,000, or more. The master had to furnish the servant his living. The +free employee is paid only while working; when sick, disabled or when +too old to work, his employer is no longer responsible. + +A slave owner, in West Virginia, bought a thirteen year old black girl +at an auction. When this girl was taken to his home she escaped, and +after searching every where, without finding her, he decided that she +had been helped to escape and gave her up as lost. About two years after +that a neighbor, on a closely farm, was in the woods feeding his cattle, +he saw what he first thought was a bear, running into the thicket from +among his cows. Getting help, he rounded up the cattle and searching the +thick woodland, finally found that what he had supposed was a wild +animal, was the long lost fugitive black girl. She had lived all this +time in caves, feeding on nuts, berries, wild apples and milk from cows, +that she could catch and milk. Returned to her master she was sold to a +Mr. Morgan Whittaker who lived near where Prestonsburg, Kentucky now is. + +A Dr. David Cox, physician from Scott County, Virginia, who treated Mr. +Whitaker for a cancer, saw this slave girl, who had become a strong +healthy young woman, and Mr. Whitaker unable to otherwise pay his doctor +bill, let Dr. Davis have her for the debt. + +At this time the slave girl was about twenty-one years of age, and Dr. +Davis took her home to Scott County, Virginia where he married her to +his only other slave, George Cox, by the ceremony of laying a broom on +the floor and having the two young negroes step over the broom stick. + +Among the children of George Cox and his wife was Rev. John R. Cox, Col. +who now lives in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and is probably the only living +ex-slave in this county. + +After the Emancipation Proclamation, by President Lincoln, in 1865, John +managed to get four years of schooling where he learned to read and +write and become very proficient in arithmetic. + +He says that had he had the opportunity to study that we have today he +could have been the smartest man in the United States. He also says, +that before freedom, the negroes in his neighborhood were allowed no +books, if found looking at a book a slave was whipped unmercifully. + +John's master, in allowing his slaves to marry, was much more liberal +than most other slave owners, who allowed their slaves no such liberty. + +As a rule negro men were not allowed to marry at all, any attempt to +mate with the negro women brought swift, sure horrible punishment and +the species were propogated by selected male negroes, who were kept for +that purpose, the owners of this privileged negro, charged a fee of one +out of every four of his offspring for his services. + +The employing class of Kentuckians, many of them descendants of slave +owners, are prone to be reactionary in their attitude towards those who +toil, this is reflected in low wages and inferior working conditions, a +condition which affects both white and black labor alike, in many +sections of the state. (Bibliography: Rev. John R. Cox (colored) +Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Born 1852 (does not know day and month), +Minister A.M.E. Church. First truant officer Catlettsburg, Kentucky. +Interviewed Dec. 23, 1936.) + + + + +WAYNE CO. +(Gertrude Vogler) + +[Mrs. Duncan:] + + +"After the War was over mammie's old man did not want us with them, so +he threatened to kill us. Then my old mammie fixed us a little bundle of +what few clothes we had and started us two children out to go back to +the Campbell family in Albany. The road was just a wilderness and full +of wild animals and varmints. Mammie gave us some powder and some +matches, telling us to put a little down in the road every little while +and set fire to it. This would scare the wild animals away from us. + +"We got to the river at almost dark and some old woman set us across the +river in a canoe. She let us stay all night wit her, and we went on to +'Grandpap Campbells'' (We always called him grandpap instead of master, +as the others did.) When he saw us comin' he said 'Lawd have mercy here +comes them poor little chillun'. + +"I stayed with them that time until I was big enough to be a house girl. +Then I went to live with the Harrison family in Albany; and I lived with +them till I married old Sam Duncan and come to Wayne County to live. +I've raised a family of nine children and have thirty-seven grand +children and twenty great grand children. + +"Every one of my children wears a silver dime on a string around their +leg, to keep off the witches spell. One time, before my daughter Della +got to wearing it, she was going down the road, not far from our house, +when all at once her leg gave way and she could not walk. Of course I +knowed what it was. So I went after Linda Woods, the witch doctor. She +come with a bottle of something, all striped with all colors, but when +you shake it up it was all the same color. She rubbed her leg with it +and told me to get all the life everlasting (a weed you know) that I +could carry in my arm, and brew it for tea to bathe her leg in. Then +pour it in a hole in the ground, but not to cover it up. Then not to go +down the same road for nine days. + +"We did all she said, and her leg got all right as soon as we bathed it. +But she did not wait nine days, and started down the road the next day. +The very same thing happened to her again. Her leg give way under her +and she could not walk a step. + +"I went after Linda Woods again. This time she said, 'D--m her, I told +her not to go over that road for nine days.' But she came with the +striped bottle and destroyed the witch spell again, telling her this +time if she went over the road again for nine days that she would remain +a cripple all her life, for she would not cure her again. + +"Della stayed off that road for nine days, this time, and all the +family have worn the silver dime around their legs ever since. + +"Another time my old man Sam got down in his back. Well, he went to +Henry Coulter (he was another witch doctor). He just shot in the back +with a glass pistol, and cured him. Of course there was not any bullet +in the pistol, but it cured him. He could draw a picture of a chicken on +a paper and shoot it, and a chicken would fall dead in the yard, yes +sir. I've seen him do it. Old Henry is dead now though. When he died he +had a whole trunk full of the queerest looking things you ever seed. And +they took it all and buried it. Nobody would touch it for anything. + +"I always keep a horse shoe over my door to keep the spirits away. We +live very close to the graveyard, and my boy Ed said he had been seeing +his brother Charley in his room every night. If he was livin' right he +would not be seeing Charlie every night. Charlie never bothers me. He +was my boy that died and is buried in this graveyard above our house." + + + + +DAVIES CO. +(Cecelia Laswell) + +[Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander:] + + +The following is a very old Negro sermon I found in an old scrap book +dated 1839, belonging to Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander, Frederica St. She +says she has heard her family refer to parts of it at different time in +her early life and supposed that the negro preacher belonged to her +people. Quote: Mine deerly fren: Ub dar's wun ting wot de Lord +abominerates worser nor anudder; it is a wicked nigger! A wicked wite +man's bad snuff, dur Lord nose! but dey so dam wite, an so kussed sarcy, +day doun no no better, so dar's some appolleragee fur 'em; but I gin yer +for th noe as how, a wicked nigger can nibber scape frum de vengence ob +de Lord-day's no use playin possum any more dan day was ob Joner coorin +it into de wale's belly! (Glory from the congregation) Let um go to de +Norf Pole, or to de Souf Pole, to de West Pole, or to de East Pole, or +de Poles in any ob de words; he ant a bit safer den he would be in a +cellar at 5 pints, wid ole Hays arter him! (groans) Oh! niggers! I tink +I see you look round. Yer's better! Fer wot I tells yer's trufe! Gorda +mity's trufe! Werrily I say unter yer! Wen de court ob seshions ob de +las day cum, ye'll reckerlect wot I say at dis times! Wen yer hab de +Lord fer Recorder, an a jury ob angles, an Gabriel ter report der trial +fer de hebbenly "Herald" (deep groans) Yas! den yar'll turn up de wite +ob yer eyes! (Sighs) den ter'll call fer de rock ter cubber yer! An de +hill ter fall top o' yer. No yer don't. Kase, in de fus place day +woodn't do it; an in de libenth place, ub day would it would be no +better dan ridin in a cart in de big city or gettin under de butcher's +stall in de fly market; fer de Lord can move more mountins in wun +minite, dan de biggest nigger in dis congregation could shake a stick at +twixt now an next fort ob July (clapping of hands, sighs, groans and +grunts) Tink, yer black sinners ob de bottomless pit, deeper dan de hole +Holt bored fer water. Oh! yer'll wish yo cood bore fer wat-r dar! but +day's no water dar, an de deeper yer go, Oh, my bredren, de deeper it +git! An den de smell! Yer'll gib yer soul uv yer had any left, jist fur +wun smell ob a rotten egg! Oh, my deelee frens some ob yer hold yer nose +wen yer go by de gas works. How der yer spose yer'l feel dare yer smell +notin but brimstone an nashin ob teeth! (deep groans) Oh, I hear yer +groans, but I ant begin to cum ter worst yit. Oh! my toenail a'most +shake off in ma stockin wen I tink ob dat heat ob infernal regins! Den +yer tink melted led cold as de young gemmen at de big houses tink a miny +julip is now, an besid's my brederen it keeps a burnin nite on day to de +end ob ebrerlastin; yer needn't tink bimeby yer go from dare to hebben +like de Rummin Catlick--No, in de fust place yer don't; an in de second +if yer cood, yer'd git yer def of cole goin frum one place to tudder. An +now, my belobbed brederen, lets in terwestigate how tar git bale; how to +avoid de Sing Sing ob de world wot's got to cume. Fiddlin an dancin wont +do it. Yer'll neber git ter hebben by loafin, pitchin cents, an dancin +Juba! De only way is ter support de preacher, gib yer money ter me, and +I'll take yer sins on my shoulder. An now I beseech yer not ter leebe +dis here holy place an go round er corner, round er corner and fergit de +words yer have heered dis night. Next Wednesday ebenin dar will be a +sarbice in his place de Lord willin, but next Thursday ebenin weffer or +no. An now we will sing inti de 40-elebent him de particlarest meter. + + Old Ebe he was de second man fur Adam was de fust---- + A black man's made ob ebony, a white man's made o' dust. + + Methuselah was the oldest man, but Sampson was the strongest---- + Cats, rats, and puppies all hab tails, but monkies is der longest. + +(While they were singing the 11th verse, I took my departure.--B.L.) + + + + +LAUREL CO. +(Perry Larkey) + +Amelia Jones: + + +Concerning slaves of this section of the country, I will quote +experiences and observation of an old negro lady who was a slave, Mrs. +Amelia Jones, living in North London, Kentucky. "Aunt Amelia" as she is +known around here is eighty-eight years of age, being sixteen years of +age at the close of the Civil War. + +Mrs. Jones says, "I will tell as best I can remember, _I was born +eighty-eight years ago in Manchester, Ky. under a master by the name of +Daw White. he was southern republican and was elected as congressman by +that party from Manchester, Ky_. He was the son of Hugh White, the +original founder of Whitesberg, Ky. Master White was good to the slaves, +he fed us well and had good places for us to sleep, and didn't whip us +only when it was necessary, but didn't hesitate to sell any of his +slaves, he said, "You all belong to me and if you don't like it, I'll +put you in my pocket" meaning of course that he would sell that slave +and put the money in his pocket. + +The day he was to sell the children from their mother he would tell that +mother to go to some other place to do some work and in her absence he +would sell the children. It was the same when he would sell a man's +wife, he also sent him to another job and when he returned his wife +would be gone. The master only said "don't worry you can get another +one". + +Mrs. Jones has a sister ninety-two years of age living with her now, who +was sold from the auction block in Manchester. Her sister was only +twelve years of age when sold and her master received $1,220.00 for her, +then she was taken south to some plantation. Also her father was sold at +that place at an auction of slaves at a high price, handcuffed and taken +south. She never saw her father again. She says the day her father was +sold there was a long line of slaves to be sold and after they were sold +and a good price paid for each they were handcuffed and marched away to +the South, her father was among the number. + +The Auction block at Manchester was built in the open, from rough-made +lumber, a few steps, and a platform on top of that, the slave to be +sold. He would look at the crowd as the auctioner would give a general +description of the ability and physical standing of the man. He heard +the bids as they came in wondering what his master would be like. + +Mrs. Jones claims she had no privileges, but had as before stated plenty +to eat and wear, and a good place to sleep; but most masters treated +them cruel and beat them most of the time. They were also underfed at +most places, but since they had such a good master they did not want for +a thing. + + +Cemetery Hill as it is known to us here, being in London, Ky. was a hill +on which a Civil War battle was fought. The trenches are still here. The +hill was given to the north to bury their dead by Jarvis Jackson, a +great grand father of the Jarvis Jackson who is now city police of +London, today. By some reason, the soldiers were taken up and moved to a +different place only a few years ago. Mrs. Hoage says "the first daisies +that were brought to this contry were put on that hill" and she can +remember when the entire hill was covered with them. + +The southern side had trenches on the east side of the Dixie Highway on +and surrounding the site where the Pennington Hospital is now standing, +which are very vivid today. The London City School being in the path +bears a hole today from a cannon ball. Shot no doubt from the Southern +forces. The new addition to the school hides the hole, but until recent +years it could be seen being about ten inches in diameter. + +Zollie Coffer a southern general had camped at Wild Cat, Ky. but was +forced to retreat when general Garrad and Lucas and Stratton two +captains under him, all from Clay county, with a large crowd came in. +He, on his retreat came through London and had a battle with an army of +Ohioians camped on Cemetery Hill. Quoted a poem by Mrs. Hodge, which she +remembered from those days: + + "Just raise your eyes to yon grassy hill, + View the bold Ohioians working with skill, + Their bombs lying around them to spew fiery flames, + Among the seceders, till they wont own their names." + +Mrs. Hodge quotes another poem from memory about Gen. Coffer's retreat +from Wild Cat: + + "Our tigers and bullpups to Wild Cat did go, + To fight our brave boys, tho our force they did not know. + When they come in gun shot distance, Schelf told them to halt, + We're not Murphey's honey, nor Alex Whites salt. + + His orders to his men, was "go thru" or "go to hell" + But our Indiana hoosier bous, heard them too well, + In less than thirty minutes, they gave them many balls, + Wild Cat had had kittens, Oh; don't you hear them squall. + + They did not stay long, before they did retreat, + Went on double quick and left all their meat, + As they went back through Barbourville, they say Zollie did say + I've lost fifteen hundred killed or run away. + + Away back in Mississippi, we're forced to go + As for our loss you'll never know + Slipped back when the union fell asleep + Hauled off our dead and buried them deep. + + To fight against Garrad, it never will do, + Stratton and Lucas is hard to out do, + They conquered our tigers and bull pups too, + In spite of our force and all we could do." + +Coffer was killed by Colonel Frye at Mill Springs. A statue is erected +to Zollie Coffer at Somerset, Kentucky. + +Both sides were cruel during the Civil War. Mrs. McDaniel who lives here +tells a story of how her father was killed in Clay County, while eating +dinner one day. Some federal soldiers drove up and asked what side he +was on and upon saying the confederate side, they took him outside and +shot him with a gun in his own yard. + + + +Jenny McKee: + + +Mrs. Jenny McKee, of color, who lives just North of London can tell many +interesting things of her life. + +"Aunt Jenny" as she is called, is about eighty-five years of age, and +says she thinks she is older than that as she can remember many things +of the slave days. She tells of the old "masters" home and the negro +shacks all in a row behind the home. She has a scar on her forehead +received when she was pushed by one of the other little slaves, upon a +marble mantle place and received a deep wound in her head. + +The old negro lady slaves would sit in the door way of their little +shacks and play with pieces of string, not knowing what else to do to +pass off the time. They were never restless for they knew no other life +than slavery. + +Aunt Jenny McKee was born in Texas though she doesn't know what town she +was born in. She remembers when her mother was sold into the hands of +another slave owner, the name of the place was White Ranch Louisiana. +Her mother married again, and this time she went by the name of Redman, +her mother's second husband was named John Redman, and Aunt Jenny altho +her real name was Jenny Garden, carried the name of Redman until she was +married to McKee. + +During the War her mother died with cholera, and after the war her +step-father sold or gave her away to an old Negro lady by the name of +Tillet, her Husband was a captain from the 116th regiment from +Manchester. + +They had no children and so Aunt Jenny was given or sold to Martha +Tillet. Aunt Jenny still has the paper that was written with her +adoption by Mrs. Martha Tillet and John Redman, the paper was exactly as +written below: + + +White Ranch +September 10, 1866 + +To Whom it may concern, I, John Redman has this day given my consent +that Mrs. Martha Tillet can have my child Jenny Redman to raise and own +as her child, that I shall not claim and take her away at any time in +the future. + + x +John Redman +his mark + +She has a picture in her possession of Captain Tillet in war costume and +with his old rifle. After the war the Tillets were sent back to +Manchester where he was mustered out, Aunt Jenny being with them. "I +stayed with them" Aunt Jenny said, "until I was married Dec. 14, 1876, +to David McKee another soldier of the 116th regiment". She draws a +pension now from his services. + +David McKee was a slave under John McKee, father of the late John McKee +of this place. He was finally sold to a man by the name of Meriah +Jackson. "David's masters were good to him" said Jenny "he learned to be +a black smith under them". + +Aunt Jenny has the history of the 116th regiment, U.S.C. Infantry. +Tillet was captain in this regiment and David McKee a soldier then was a +lot of soldiers in this regiment from here. Tom Griffin being one, a +slave who died a few years ago. The history was printed in 1866 and this +particular copy was presented to Captain Tillet, and bears his +signature. + +The first deed to be put on record in the Laurel County court was +between Media Bledsoe of Garrad County of the first part and Daniel +Garrard of Clay County of the second part. Being 4800 acres of land +lying in Knox County on Laurel River and being that part of 16000 acres +of land patented in the name of John Watts. One thousand dollars was the +sum paid for this land. This is on record in Deed Book "A", page 1. Date +of September 30, 1824. + + + + +JEFFERSON CO. +(Byers York) + +Susan Dale Sanders: + + +The following is a story of Mrs. Susan Dale Sanders, #1 Dupree Alley, +between Breckinridge and Lampton Sts., Louisville, an old Negro Slave +mammy, and of her life, as she related it. + +"I lived near Taylorsville, Kentucky, in Spencer County, nearly all my +life, 'cept the last fo' or five yea's I'se been livin' here. I was bo'n +there in a log cabin, it was made of logs, and it was chinked with clay +and rock. My Mammy, was raised from a baby by her master, Rueben Dale. +He was a good ole Master, and was alway's good to my Mammy. Master Dale +owned a big farm and had big fields of co'n an' tobacco, and we raised +everything we had to eat. Ole master Dale was a good ole baptist, had +lots of good ole time relig'n. Ruben Dale had lots of slaves, and every +family had its own cabin. As he raised my Mammy as a slave from a baby, +she thought there was none livin' bett'r than her master Dale. + +The next fa'm close to the Masters, was owned by a man, Colonel Jack +Allen, and he had a big fa'm and owned lots of slaves. And Mammy was +allowed to marry one of the Allan slaves, and my father's name was Will +Allen. You see the slaves had the same name as the Master's, as he owned +'em. My Mammy had seven children and we all grow'd up on our Master +Dales fa'm. My father had to stay at his master's, Col. Jack Allen's and +wo'k in the fields all day, but at night he would come to my mammy's +cabin and stay all night, and go back to his master's, Col. Allen's +fields the next mon'in. Yes, I grow'd up in slavery times. I used to +carry tubs of clothes down to the old spring house, there was plenty of +water, and I'se washed all the clothes there. Me and my sisters used to +wash and sing and we had a good time. I can't remember much of the ole +song's its been so long ago. + +I had two brothers, and they jined the war and fought in the army. One +was named Harry and 'tother Peter. Mammy wo'ked hard, done all the +cookin' but ole Master Dale was so good to all of us children we did't +mind it. I'se was a mischevious gal when I was grow'in up. I'se would +get a lickin' most every-day. I'se alway's like to fight the ot'er +children, and I would say, "Mammy she hit me", but I was bad and I'se +got my whipp'n. On my masters fa'm we killed a lot of hogs for our meat, +had a big trough, that we cut the meat up in, and put the hams and +shoulders together, and the middles together, then put 'em down in salt +for about six weeks, and then hang them up in the smoke-house and smoke +'em with hickory chips. And leave them all the time till we used 'em up. +We had a apple house we used to fill every fall with the best apples. +The ole master sho' had a apple fa'm. Inside of the house there was a +big hole in the ground, dug deep, and we use to fill it full of apples, +then cover it over with a straw, and O Lawd, we would have apples all +wint'r when the snow lies deep on the ground; sure I wish them old days +back. + +Some of the other old Masters, who had lots of slaves on fa'ms close by, +was so mean to the slaves they owned. They wo'ked the women and men both +in the fields and the children too, and when the ole Master thought they +was'n't do'n' 'nuf wo'k, he would take his men and strip off their +shirts, and lash them with cow-hide whips until you could see the blood +run down them poor niggers backs. + +The Nigger traders would come through and buy up a lot of men, and women +slaves, and get a big drove of them and take them further south to work +in the fields, leavin their babies. I'se never can forget. I know'd some +mean ole masters. + +Our ole master Dale that raised my Mammy and her family never was hard +or mean like that. He would let us go to church, have parties and +dances. One of the ole salves would come to our cabin with his fiddle +and we'd dance. + +After I'se grow'd up, I'se wo'ked for Mrs. Susan Lovell, that was the +ole masters married daughter. She lived down the road from his fa'm. She +was good to me! You see I was named after Susan Lovell. It was while I +was wo'kin' fo' her when the war ended. She told me I was free after the +war was over. I got happy and sung but I didn't know for a long time, +what to be free was, so after the war she hired me and I stayed on doin' +all the cookin' and washin' and all the work, and I was hired to her for +four dollars a month. After the war was over my father died. And it +wasn't long after that, I Married Wm. Sanders and we had six children. I +got a Government pension, as my husband was in the army during the Civil +War and he was wounded in the body, but he lived a long time after the +war was ended. + +In the ole days we used to sing and go to church, sing the ole time +religion, and when we danced we sung: "Who's been here since I'se been +gone, Ah, that gal with the blue dress on." + +I'se still believes in lots of good and bad luck signs, but forget most +of 'em, "But if you drap a knife, on the floor someone is sure to come +to see you, and if you dream of money that is good luck." "To sneeze at +the table is bad luck, to sneeze when away from the table good luck." +"If you dream of the stars is bad luck." + + + +John Anderson: + + +A story resulting from an interview with John Anderson, an old Negro +slave: + +"I was born in Pennsylvania, on Shiptown road, Clinton County, close to +Mercersberg. When I was growing up my mammy always believed in making +her own medicine, and doctored the whole family with the roots she dug +herself. She use to bile down the roots from may-apple, snake root and +blood root, and make her medicine. This was good for the blood and keep +us from gettin' sick. + +While the wah was goin' on, the soldiers were campin' all about us and +when they heer'd the Gray's was comin' they got ready for battle, and +when they did come they fit' em back, and they made their stand at +Harpers Ferry, Va., and had a hard battle there. My mammy was scared of +the Gray's and when she heer'd they was comin', would hide us three boys +in some white folks cellar until they was gone. They would take all the +young niggahs with them they could get hold of, and soon as they'd gone, +we would go back home. + +When the wah was over, me and some boys went over to the battlefield and +foun' a calvary gun which I had for years. We lived in a log cabin on a +farm and worked for a farmer in the fields while my mammy worked in the +house for the white folks. We had lots of things that is good and bad +luck." + + + +Joana Owens: + + +The following is the life and traditions of Joana Owens, 520 E. +Breckinridge St., Louisville, Kentucky, an old negro mammy who was born +during slavery. + +"My mother and father was slaves, and there was two children born to +them, my sister and me. We used to live at Hawesville, Kentucky, on the +Ohio River. My peoples name was Barr, and their masters name was Nolan +Barr. You know they all had to take their masters name in slave days. + +I will never forget how mean old Master Nolan Barr was to us. I was +about fourteen years old and my sister was a little younger. We lived in +an old log cabin. The cracks was filled with mud. My Mother done the +housework for Master Barr's house. My father and sister and me had to +work in the fields. He had a big farm, and owned lots of slaves, and +when the old master got mad at his slaves for not working hard enough he +would tie them up by their thumbs and whip the male slaves till they +begged for mercy. He sure was a mean old man. I will never forget him as +long as I live. I don't know exactly how old I is, but I am close to +ninety now. After I growed up and married a man named Owens, we come +here to Louisville to live. That was a short while after the slaves was +freed. I can remember how me and my sister used to go down to the river +and watch the red hospital boats come in, bringing the wounded soldiers +in to be cared for, and me and sister would go long +singing--Nigger--Nigger--never die, if you want a chicken pie." + + + +[Martha J. Jones:] + + +In an interview with Mrs. Martha J. Jones, she reminisced of the old +Civil War days as follows: + +"I was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, and later during the Civil +War, I lived in Gilmer County, W. Va. My fathers name was Robert R. +Turner; he was born in 1818 and my mother's name was Susan; she was born +in 1821. My parents had six children and we lived on a big farm. + +My father was in the legislature in W. Va. During the Civil War, I had +three brother in the Southern Army. One of them died of fever, one was +shot and killed in action, and the other William Wert Turner, came out +of the army after the close of the war and became a lawyer. Later he +went to New Castle, Kentucky, and became a prominent lawyer, where he +remained until his death in 1932. + +I married John R. Jones, a lieutenant in the Union Army, at Gilmer, W. +Va., when I was about twenty years old, shortly after the war. We then +moved to New Castle, Kentucky, Henry County. We had four children born +to us, and I now have three living children; later on in years we moved +to Louisville. During the days of the Civil War my father owned three +slave, one was an old darkey named Alex, and the nigger mammies, were +Diana and Mary Ann. My parents were always good to their slaves, and +never traded or sold them. They were good workers and my father never +kept many. + +My Uncle, John C. Turner, had farms close to my father's in West Va., +and he had fifty-two slaves when the war ended. He would buy, sell and +trade them all the time. The slaves were judged by the Masters. If they +were big and strong they would bring a good price, as they would be +better workers for the fields, and then, I would watch my uncle swap and +buy slaves, just the same as he was buying any other stock for his farm. +I am getting [HW: old] now, and my memory is not so good no more, and it +is hard to remember the things of so long ago. You see, I will be ninety +years old, next Feb. 23rd. I was born in 1847." + + + + +FLOYD CO. +(John I. Sturgill) + +Charlie Richmond: + + +We are unable to interview ex-slaves in Floyd County, so far as anyone +we are able to contact knows, there are no living ex-slaves in the +County. There are several colored people. The majority of them reside at +Tram, Kentucky, Floyd County, in a kind of colored colony, having been +placed there just after the Civil War. A small number of colored people +live in the vicinity of Wayland, Kentucky, the original being the +remains of a wealthy farmer of Civil War day, by name of Martin. The +colored people were identified as "Martin's Niggers." + +The last ex-slave of Floyd County, says Mr. W.S. Wallen of Prestonsburg, +Kentucky, was "Uncle" Charlie Richmond, of Prestonsburg. Uncle Charlie +was brought to the county by old Judge Richmond, father of I. Richmond +of the Richmond Dept. Stores of Prestonsburg, about the time of the +Civil War. When the war was over "Uncle" Charlie worked at Richmond's +for hire and lived as a member of the family. While working on a +Prestonsburg newspaper, Mr. Wallen interviewed this old ex-slave and +worked him into a feature story for his paper. These old paper files +were destroyed by fire about 1928. + +Mr. Wallen remembers that "Uncle" Charlie Richmond, as the old ex-slave +was called, died in 1910, was buried in Prestonsburg, and that he, W.S. +Wallen, wrote up the old Darkey's death and funeral for his newspaper. +This is the same paper who's files were destroyed by fire and which +papers does not now exist. + +Old Judge Richmond brought this old slave, from Virginia about 1862, +along with a number of other slaves. "Uncle" Charlies was the only slave +that remained in the family as a servant after the Emancipation +Proclamation. + +Mr. Wallen is a lawyer in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, a member of the James +and Wallen Law Firm, located in the Lane Bldg., on Court St. He was born +at Goodlow, Kentucky in Floyd County, March 15, 1866. He taught school +in Floyd County thirteen years, took his L.L.B. at Law School in +Valpariso, Ind., in 1910, and later served as representative to the +Kentucky General Assembly from the 93rd District, the 1922-24 and 26 +Sessions. + +The List of People who owned Slaves in Floyd County include: + + Sophia Lane, Lanesville. + + Jim Lane, Lanesville + + Gilbert Higgins, Wilson's Creek + + George May, Maytown + + Hi Morgan, Prestonsburg + + Penny J. Sizemore, Prestonsburg + + Samuel P. Davidson, Prestonsburg + + I. Richmond, Prestonsburg + + Valentine Mayo, Prestonsburg + + ---- Lanes, Prestonsburg + + Kennie Hatcher, Lanesville + + Morgan Clark, John's Creek + + Daniel Hager, Hager Shoals near what is Auxier, Ky. + + Adam Gayheart, Prestonsburg + + John P. Martin, Prestonsburg + + Jacob Mayo, Sr., Prestonsburg + + Wm. Mayo, Jr., Prestonsburg + + Johnny Martin, Wayland, Kentucky + + Thomas Johns, Dwale, Ky. + + Isom Slone, Beaver Creek + + John Bud Harris, Emma, Kentucky + + Billy Slone, Caney Fork, Right Beaver, Kentucky. + +This list is as remembered by the oldest citizens, and one T.J. "Uncle" +Jeff Sizemore, 94 years old Civil War Veteran and citizen of +Prestonsburg, Kentucky, dictated then to the writer in just this order. + +The nearest auction blocks were Mt. Sterling, Kentucky and Gladdville, +Virginia. Most slaves from the present Floyd County Territory were +bought and sold through auction in southwest Virginia. Other auction +blocks were at Abington and Bristol, Virginia. + +The negro dialect of this county is a combination of the dialect white +folk use plus that of the negro of the South. The colored population is +continually moving back and forth from Alabama, Georgia and North and +South Carolinas. They visit a lot. Colored teachers so far have all been +from Ohio. Most visiting colored preachers come from Alabama and the +Carolinas. The negroes leave out their R's use an't han't gwin, su' for +sir, yea for yes, dah for there and such expressions as, "I's Ye?" + +The wealthiest families o' white folk still retain colored servants. In +Prestonsburg, Kentucky one may see on the streets neat looking colored +gals leading or wheeling young white children along. Folk say this is +why so many southerners leave out their R's and hold on to the old +superstitions, they've had a colored mama for a nurse-maid. + +Adam Gearheart was a sportsman and used negro Jockeys. His best jockey, +Dennis, was sold to Morg. Clark, John's Creek. The old race track took +in part of the east end of the present Prestonsburg--from Gearheart's +home East in Mayo's bottom one mile to Kelse Hollow--Jimmie Davidson now +lives at the beginning of the old track, near Maple Street. Mike Tarter +of Tennessee, Gearheart's son-in-law brought horses from Tennessee and +ran them here. Tarter was a promoter and book-maker also. Penny J. +Sizemore and Morg. Clark were other sportsmen. This was as early as 1840 +up to the Civil War. + +Slaves ware traded, bought and sold between owners just as domestic +animals are today. Where one owned only a few servants with no families +they lived in the big house--otherwise in Slave quarters, little cabins +nearby. + +Billy Slone just had two female servants, he bought them in Virginia 15 +years old, for $1,000.00 sound. + +Many folk went over to Mt. Sterling or Lexington to auctions for trading +servants. (The same manner is used trading stock today). + +Slave traders came into the county to buy up slaves for the Southern +plantations, and cotton or sugar fields--Slave families were very +frequently separated, some members mean, theiving, or running away +niggers were sold (first) down the river. Sometimes good servants were +sold for the price, the master being in a financial strait or dire need +of money. Traders handcuffed their servants purchased, and took them by +boat or horse-back down the river or over in Virginia and Carolina +tobacco fields. + +Good servants were usually well treated and not over-worked. Mean or +contrary servants were whipped, or punished in other ways. Run-aways +were hunted--dogs being used to track them at times. + + + + +OWENS CO. +(John Forsee) + +George Dorsey: + + +Although this article is presented in narrative form and has but few +characters, the writer believes it to be an excellent example of life in +Owen County sixty or more years ago. With the exception of the grey +eagle episode, similar events to these described were happening all over +the county. There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of any part of +the article. The narrator (George Dorsey, age 76 (negro) Owentown, +Kentucky, born in slavery and raised by a white family) bears a good +reputation and is intelligent enough to react favorably and +intelligently to questions concerning the past. Further interviews +concerning more general subjects are planned. + +"I was born on the 16th day of June, 1860 on the ole poor house farm +'bout two miles from Owentown. My mother yousta tell me I'd be a sleepy +head. I didn't know what she meant by that so finally one day, after I +got to be a great big boy, I asked her what she meant. + +"Well, she says, Chickens that is hatched in June jess stand 'round in +the hot sun an' sleep themselves to death. So, as you was born in June, +you'll jess be a sleepy head." + +"My mother belonged to Sammy Duvall, the father o' little Sam Duvall who +died not long ago. Little Sam usta be town marshall here and a guard at +the pen over at Frankfort. I was born a slave an' stayed one till the +niggers was freed. + +"Bout the time the war was over I seen my first soldier. The road that +passed along in front of our house was a dirt road. I'd gone with mother +to watch her milk a young cow late one night, 'bout dark I guess, when I +heard somebody hollerin' and yellin' an' I looked down the road an' seen +'em comin'. I was 'bout five years old then an' it looked to me like all +the army was comin' up the road. The captain was on a hawse an' the men +afoot an' the dust from the dirt road a flyin'. There was a moon shinin' +an' you could see the muskets shinin' in the moonlight. I was settin' on +a fence an' when I seen 'em it scared me so I started to run. When I +jumped off I fell an' cut a hole in my for'head right over this left +eye. The scar's there yet. I run in the house and hid. Mr. Sammy Duvall +had to get on a hawse an' go to New Liberty an' fetch a doctor to plug +up the hole in my head. I seen lots of soldiers after that an' I always +run under the bed or hid in a closet or somewheres. They stayed 'round +here for a long time. Finally provender got low and the soldiers took to +stealing. We called it stealin', but I reckon it warn't for they come +and got the stuff like meat out o' the smoke house in broad open +daylight. Mr. Duvall had a chestnut earl stallion he called Drennon an' +they come, or somebody did, an' got him one night. One day, 'bout two or +three weeks later, Will Duvall, a son o' Mr. Sammy Duvall, heard that +the hawse was over in Henry County where the soldiers had a camp. So he +went over there and found the Captain an' told him he'd come after old +Drennon. The Captain said to describe him an' Will said, "Captain, he's +a chestnut earl named Drennon. If'n I whistl' a certain way he' nicker +an' answer me." + +"Well, they went down to the stable where they had a lot of stalls like, +under tents. An' when they got there, Will, he whistled, an' sure +'nough, old Drennon nickered. So the Captain, he said, That's your hawse +all right. Go in an' get him an' take him on home. + +Will brought the hawse home an' took him down in the woods on the creek +where the water'd washed all the dirt offen a big, flat rock and we kep +him hid for three or four weeks. We didn't want to loose him again. + +When I was 'bout six years old we moved offen the creek to a new road up +on the ridge. It was on the same farm but to another house. I had a +great big, ole grey cat I called "Tom." I wanted to move him so I put +him in a pillow slip so's he couldn't see where we wus takin' him so he +couldn't fin' the way back. He stayed 'round his new home for a few days +an' then he went back to his ole home. Mr. Duvall went and got him again +for me. Not many white men would do that for a little nigger boy. He +musta told Tom somethin' for he never run off no more. + +Mr. Duvall usta ride a blazed-face, sarl [HW: sorrel] mare named Kit. He +most al'ays taken me up behind him, 'specially if he was goin' to town. +Kit was trained to hunt deer. I can't remember any deer in the country +but Mr. Duvall yousta tell me 'bout 'em an 'bout the way they had their +hawses trained. He said there wus a place down on Panther Lick Creek, +below where we lived, that was a deer lick. The deer would come there +and lick the ground close to the creek because there was salt left there +by the high waters. He'd put a strap with a littel bell on 'round ole +Kit's neck; an' tie her to a tree not far from this lick. Then he'd hide +behin' 'nother tree close to Kit. When the deer come ole Kit'd shake her +head an' the deer would raise their heads to see what the noise made by +the bell was an' where it was comin' from. Then he'd shoot the deer in +the head. He showed me the place where he killed the biggest buck he +ever seen right here jess out o' town a little ways. He kept the horns. +An' I remember seein' 'em in the attic at his house. He had an ole +riffle he called "Ole Betsy" that'd been his deer rifle. + +After I got to be a big boy, huntin' and fishin' was good. I never got +to do any uv it except on Saturdays and Sundays. Everbody had a brush +fence 'round the house to keep the stock in out o' the yard and one day +I seen a big bird sail down on the fence and run under it. Mother was +out in the back yard so I said to myself, I'll get the gun and kill that +hawk. I taken good aim at its head and banged away. At the crack o' the +gun I never heard such a flutterin' in my life. Mother come runnin' to +see what was the matter and when she seen it, she said, Son, that's a +pheasant. Some day you'll be a good hunter. An' guess I was for I killed +lots o' pheasants, quail, squir'ls and rabbits. + +Little Sammy Duvall had a pointer he called "Quail". She was the +smartest dog I ever seen, but everybody had smart dogs them days. +Quail'd trail birds when they was runnin' till she got clost and then +circle 'round 'em an' make her stand. + +Be careful there, Quail, Mr. Sammy would say. He'd nearly always get +eight or ten out uv a covey an' sometimes the whole covey. I yousta go +along jess to see him shoot. He hardly ever missed. There was so many +quail that nobody ever thought to leave any uv a covey if he wanted that +many an' they didn't get so scattered that he couldn't fin' em. + +After the deer was all killed out, people trained their deer hounds to +chase foxes, coons and such like. The white boys from town yousta come +and get Will and young Sammy to go coon huntin'. They al'ays had ten or +twelve dogs. They al'ays taken me along an' treated me jest the same as +if I was as white as they was. If I got behind or out o' sight somebody +was sure to say, 'Where's George'? + +One night we treed three coons in a big hollow oak. They started to cut +down the trees an' put me at the butt with a fire bran'. When the tree +fell the coons'd come out an' I was supposed to drive 'em back with the +fire, jest lettin' out one at a time so's the dogs could kill 'em. I was +about half scared uv 'em and when one big feller come out I backed up +an' he got by me. I throwed the fire at him an' it lit on his back an' +burnt' him. I never seen a coon run so fast. But the dogs soon treed him +again an' we got him. Then we come back an' the dogs picked up the trail +uv another one an' we catched him. I never seed a bigger one. He was as +long as this umbrella (3-1/2 ft.) The other one got away. Coon huntin' +was a great sport with the boys an' men in those days. + +I catched the only grey eagle that was ever seen 'round here. They was a +bunch of us boys out rabbit huntin' one day one fall. The dogs got after +a rabbit an' chased it across a holler out o' range. I had the only gun +in the crowd an' was right after that rabbit. The dogs run over the +track an' could see 'em over on the hillside jess settin' still. All at +once I seen a big bird--I taken it to be a hawk, fold its wings like a +man'd fold his arms 'round his body, and drop straight down on the +rabbit. But the rabbit saw it too for when the eagle got there he was +ten feet up the hillside. The bird hit, "boom", jest like that. But the +rabbit was goin' over the hill an' the eagle musta saw him for he riz +an' flew in that direction. + +'You boys stay back, I'll kill that hawk. That's the biggest hawk I ever +seen,' I told them. When I got to the top of the ridge I seen him +settin' in the top uv a big tree. The boys stayed where I told them and +I slipped along till I got pritty close enough to shoot him. He was +either watchin' the rabbit or didn't think I was watchin' him for I got +pritty close before he started to fly. Jess as he opened his wings I let +him have it with my old muzzle loader shotgun. Down he come makin' as +much noise as a whole flock o' hawks oughta made. He was alive when I +got to him an' made right at me, strikin' with his claws an' bill. The +dogs come when they heard the shot an' he whipped 'em off. Every time he +struck one of 'em he (the dog) would holler like he'd been speared. The +other boys wanted to kill it but I gotta a long pole an' got it on him +so's it held him down. We'd found out by this time that one wing was +broke by my shot. So we jess hold of the tips of his wings an' led him +to the house. His wing spread was 'bout six or eight feet. When I got +him to the house I told 'em I had the biggest hawk they ever seen. A ole +man by the same of William said, "Hell that ain't no hawk, that's a grey +eagle." A ole colored fiddler, named Fred Roberts, sent word he'd buy +it from me. He even got so fraid he wouldn't get it that he come for it. + +'What'll you take for him', he asked me, and before I could say anything +he says, 'I'll give a dollar for him'. + +That was a lot of money for me an' boy like I sold him then and there. I +coulda got two or maybe three dollars for him. Fred taken him to town +an' fed him live hens and raw meat. On court days or when there was a +crowd in town he showed him for ten cents a look. I bet he made $50.00 +on him. People yousta to come for miles to see that eagle. He finally +died. + +Fishin' was good too. We cut our poles in the woods an' used to flax +thread for lines. Where people built water-gaps in fences that crossed +the creeks the water'd fill in till it made a dam. Then the creek spread +behind it. Them water holes was full o1 perch an' cat fish. They didn't +get much bigger them your hand but they bit fast and we had lots o' fun +catchin' 'em. + + + + +CHRISTIAN CO. +(Mamie Hanberry) [TR: also spelled Hanbery.] + +Annie B. Boyd: + + +Annie B. Boyd, born August 22nd 1851, resides at corner of Liberty and +First Street, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Born a slave belonging to Charles +Cammack near Gordonsville, Kentucky in Christian County. "My mother and +me war put on de block in front of de Courthouse in Hopkinsville and +sold to Mr. Newt. Catlett and we brung $500.00. Marse Catlett lived on +the corner of Seventh and Clay Streets, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Wen I +was older the white folks had me foh to nurse dar chilluns. I noes wen +de war broke out marse had a store and den marsa took me to his wife's +kinfolks down in de country till freedom war declared den my stepfather +come an' got me. Of course I hed ter work and den I went ter nurse foh +Dr. Fairleigh and nussed his daughter Madge. De white folks wont good to +me. My marster was a good man but my missus wont no good woman. She +uster box my ears, stick pins in me and tie me ter de cedar chest and +whoop me as long as she wanter. Oh, how I did hate dat woman. + +"Yes, once in my life I seed a ghost. We was goin' thru de woods to a +neighbors ter a prayer meeting en a man stepped out in de woad without +no head wid all his clothes on en I had jes wropped my head dat day and +wen I seed him all my hair strings en all jes stood straight up. I got +hot den I'se got cold and he jest stepped ter de side of de road en I +went by running. Yes, we got ter de prayer meeting en den we went back +home de same way en did us niggers run? + +"I was nurse in slave time en I carried de chilluns all ober de house en +one day I had de chilluns upstars en my missus called me en I went ter +see whar she wont and while I'se war gone de baby got hodter Indian +Turnip an hed bit it by de time I git back dar en I called my missus en +she come en made me eat de rest of de turnip en my face enall swelled up +en my eyes war closed foh days. After missing de baby en tending ter de +uther chilluns all de day an night wen I put de baby ter bed I bed ter +knit two round ebery night en would be sleepy en my missus would reach +ober en jab a pin in me to keep me awake. Now dat is what I calls a mean +woman. + +"I kin read en write at first of freedom I sent ter school some en +learned ter read and write. + +"I sho do believe in dreams. I had one once I laid down on de bed ter +take er nap en den I dreamed dat somethin was a chokin me en I pulled at +my dress en a big snake dropped out of my bosom rolled down on de bed. +Den on de floor en when I woke up sho nuff dar war a snake on de floor +by de bed en I killed it en den I knowed dat I had an enemy sho nuff in +a few days a woman I thot was my friend turned gain me. By killing de +snake I knowed dat I would conquer dat enemy. + +"I noes wishes cen come tru seems ter me I hev but my memory aint so +good but still I believes hit. + +"Wen de smoke flies low hit sho is goin ter snow." + +"Spilling salt or ter waste salt is bad luck. I always wen I makes my +bread put de salt in de bread den I puts some of de salt in de fire ter +bring me good luck. + +"Sometime de moon affects people wen it changes hit makes some folks +crazy en dey is hard to git alon wid." + +"If you plant Irish pertatoes on de light of de moon you hev nuthin but +top. Whatever ter be made underneath de ground like turnips, potatoes, +onions is ter be planted by de dark of de moon. Beans, peas, corn in de +light of de moon. + +"Yes, spit will cure, cause I had ringworms once en in de morning wen I +woke up afore I spoke ter anyone I'd take spit en put on my face en hit +sho cured de ringworms." + + +(Signs) + +"If you nail a horse shoe ober de door hits a good luck ter you. + +"I thin "13" is an unlucky number I'se heard so much talk of hit till I +believes hit. Breaking a mirror is sho bad luck if you break one you +will hev seben years bad luck." + +"Blue gummed niggers is shon bad luck wen I sees one gits as far away as +I kin foh if one bites you you is a ded nigger foh dey is pizen as er +diamond back." + +"De white folks jes made niggers carry on like brutes. One white man +uster say ter nuther white man, "My nigger man Sam wanter marry yer +nigger gal Lucy what does yer say en if he said hit war all right why +dat couple war supposed to be married. Den Sam would work foh his +marster in de daytime en den would spend de night at Lucy's house on de +next plantation." + + + +Kate Billingsby: + + +Kate Billingsby, Ex-slave, according to a record in a Bible the Buckners +gave her when she married was born in 1828. She was owned by Frank and +Sarah Buckner. Born in this County and has spent her life in and around +Hopkinsville. She lives on what is known as the Gates Mill Road about +one half mile east of US 41E and owns her own home. + +Aunt Kate as she is generally called is a small black negro and in going +into her home you will find it furnished in lovely antique furniture in +a disreputable state of repair. She met me with a dignity and grace that +would be a credit to any one of the white race to copy, illiterate +though she may be. Her culture and training goes back to the old Buckner +family, at one time one of the most cultured families in Christian +County. She is not a superstitious negro. Being born a Buckner slave, +she was never sold and her manners and ways proclaim that she surely +must have been raised in "De white folks house" as she claims, being a +maid when old enough, to one of Frank Buckner's daughters. She stated, +"Dese Buckners war sho good to me, eben now dey chilluns comes to see me +and always bring me something. Dey don let my taxes lapse am I'se neber +widout somting to eat." My man and I was married by Mr. Alexander at +McClain College. I was de cook an he was the janitor. My man followed +his Massa in de Secess War. If he was a livin' now he would be 110 years +old, he bin ded 'round fifteen year." + +No I'se done believe in no ghosts hants or anything of that kind my +white folks being "quality". I'se been raised by "quality"! Why I'se +"quality nigger". "Wen any of my folks git sick or eny of my white folks +de doctor would always bee sent foh." (Her address is: R.R. #2, +Hopkinsville, Ky.) + + + +Nannie Eaves: + + +Nannie Eaves, age 91, born in McLain County, Ky. being a slave of +William Eaves, never sold, address now R.R. #2, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. + +"I guess I was about twenty one years old wen I was freed." I'se was +neber once treated as a slave cause my Massa was my very own Daddy. Ben +Eaves my husband was a slave en chile of George Eaves my Massa's +brother. He ran away from his Massa en his Daddy en jins the U.S. Army +during the Secess War en I'se now drawing a pension from Uncle Sam. I'se +sho glad dat he had sense nuff ter go dis way or I'd be jes like dese +old niggers dat is now on de Government. + +"Course I never sweep de trash out de house after sun down jest sweep +hit in de corner of de room cause hit is bad luck ter sweep out de door +after dark. Lawd yes squeech owls en dogs howling under de house shi God +means dar is going ter be a death in de family. Wen I hears one I'se git +trembly all ober, hit makes me hot en den cold both de same time." + +"Ho I haint neber seed a ghost or hant but I sho don wanter see one +neither. I'se always fraid I will seed one. Sho de dead can hant you if +war not good to dem wen dey is livin'. Signs en sech things is going out +of style now but Lor wen I was a chile why seems like things war better +cause of dem." + +Nannie is a tall bright negro holding herself very straight, with real +white long hair. Her hair is very fine and wavy. Her cabin home was +immaculate, furnished very neatly in the now prevailing style. + + +Slave Trades: "We had two slave traders in this town. They were Judge +Houston and his son-in-law, Dr. Brady. They gathered up all the slaves +that were unrully or that people wanted to trade and housed them in an +old barn until they had enough to take to New Orleans on a boat. They +traded them down there for work in the cotton fields. + + + +Mary Wright: + + +Mary Wright, 204 W. Fourth St., Born August 1, 1865. + +"I was born at Gracey, Kentucky on Mr. James Colemans far, in a log +cabin wid a dirt floor en a stick chimney. + +"Folks uster weat wat dey calls a "Polanaise". Hid wat kinder like a +wrapper made of calico made wid tight in de waist en wide in de bottom. +Den I've remembers de basque waist on de over skirts dese war made real +tight waists wid a point in de back en ober de stomach. De skirt wer +real full dem a skirt ober dis ter de knees wid a big pucker on de +hips." + +"My Mammy bound me out to Miss Puss Graham ter learn ter work, foh my +vittals en cloes. Miss Puss gave me a pair of red morocco shoes en I was +made so happy, I'se neber fohgot dese shoes. + +"I heard my Mammy talk of "De Nigger Risin". De Klu Klux uster stick de +niggers head on er stake alongside de Cadiz road en dar de buzzards +would eat them till nuthin' was left but de bones. Dar war a sign on dis +stake dat said "Look out Nigger You are next". Us chilluns would not go +far way from dat cabin. I'se tells you dat is so. I jes knowed dat dis +Ku Klux would do dat to us sho if weuns had been catched. + +"I remember wen Hopkinsville had jest a few stores en ole jew by name of +Shyer bought bones an iron en rags. Once us chilluns found some bones on +de creek bank en took dem things and wanted ter sell dem to Mr. Shyer en +he said 'take dem things way dey stink, dey aint cured up yet. Bury dem +things den bring dem back to me. Us Chilluns bed a hard time gittin home +cause we stunk so bad.' + +"I remember wen we uster hev big time quilting on dem days we sho had a +big time fore we start in de morning wid a water melon feast, den weuns +quilt erwhile den a big dinner war spread out den after dinner we'd +quilt in the evening den supper and a big dance dat night, wid de banjo +a humming en us niggers a dancing, "Oh, Lawdy wat good days dem war." + +"Wen we were young we uster hev parties called "Dideoos", de banjo +would play en den de girls would line up on one side of de cabin en de +boys on de tother side while the folks war a clappin en er playing why +de boys en girls wuld choose dar parrners den weuns sing: + + "Ole Brer Rabbit, + Shake it, shake it, + How I love you, + Shake it, shake it. + +I'd ruther play dat game dan to eat." + +"We uster tap maple trees en hev big gathering foh ter make maple sugar +dat war while I lived at Gracey. + +"De stage coach day war big days, wen de stage coach war a comin thru +why us little niggers would try ter keep up wid de horses en run erlong +side de coach en sometimes a man or woman would drop us a penny den dar +was sho a scramble." + +"I remember wen we uster wash cloes wid a paddle. You wet dese cloes en +put soft soap in dem, the soap war made outer ash lye en grease den dese +cloes war spread on a smooth stump an beat wid paddles till dey war +clean. Den come de wooden wash board, hit war jes a piece of wood wid +rough places or ridges chiseled in hit. Wen we uster wash quilts we +uster cyt a nikasses varrek ubter eb dat made de tub deb my Mammy would +put water in dese tubs den soft soap de quilts den us chilluns would git +in de tubs in our Bare foots en tromp de dirt out." + +"We uster use grease lamps, dese war made outer iron, wid a piece of +cotton rope down in de grease on dis jes send out a puny smelly light. +Dem de brass lamp came erlong hit war a little lamp wid a wich wid a +handle in er stem, no burner or nuthin hit burned coaloil but had no +chimney." + +"Hee, Hee, Hee, I remember arbout a story Mary Beard told ter me erbout +a slave woman dat war foolish. Her Massa couldn't git no body ter buy +her, hee, hee, hee, so he dresses her up nice en buys her a thimble en +gives her a piece of cloth ter sew on. It war right here in Hopkinsville +in front of de court house dat de block war en he sold dis woman as a +"sewing slave", en her war foolish en couldn't take er right stitch en +she sho brought a good price en wen her new Massa found out she war +foolish he sho war mad. He tried ter sell her but pshaw he bought +something he couldn't git rid of, Hee, Hee." + +"Dese ole nigger slave traders uster so my Mammy said, steal de niggers +from one Massa and dey would leave at night en stay in "Campbells Cave" +den dey would take dese niggers wid a promise of freedom to Clarksville, +Tenn., sell dem again on "Mr. Dunk Morr's" slave market. Sometimes dese +niggers if dey got a new Massa dat war mean would run erway en come back +tar dar ole Massas." + +"Yes I believe you can be hauted, I aint neber seed one tho but I'se +heard dem en I jest git creepy en I no's dey is around." + +"Cos dreams come tru, I dont remember one now but if I'se had one ergin +I will try ter remember en tells you." + +"No I aint neber seed a ghost. I feels dem sometimes en I jis shot my +eyes en pray de "Good Lawd" ter send dat ghost away." + +"If youse find a horse shoe er put eber de door you will sho has good +luck." + +"Thirteen has always been my lucky number. Dats follish ter thing +'Thirteen is unlucky'. Seben is lucky ter me ter. I always win when I +think of a seben." + +"Of cos now if youse breakes a mirror you cant keep from having bad +luck. Nuthin you do will keep you from hit." + +"Sho is bad luck ter meet a cross-eyed pusson er blue gummed niggers is +pizen cause if one bites you youse will sho ter die." + +"My Mammy sho did hev a big wedding my Pappys Massa ask my Mammy Massa +foh her en den my Mammy Massa give her a big infair dat cost him $200.00 +wid de bridal supper en all." + +"Dey uster do niggers pretty bad erbout dat funerals. Wen a nigger did +die why de rest of de niggers hed ter work en one nigger made de box +whiler ernother nigger dug de grave en the nigger war jes civered up en +den on de Fourth Sunday in August ebery year all de colored folks would +take a basket dinner ter de church en each family dat had buried a +nigger would pay de preacher ter preach the sermon foh dat darkie dat +died. We ate dinner en supper at de church en sometimes the funeral foh +some fo de darkies wouldn't git preached till next August. We went to +dis funeral why we had big time talking wid our neighbors en of de +dead." + +"Dogs howling meand bad luck if he howls under de house why someone is +goin ter die." + +"If er owl come around de house on holler a death will happen in de +family fore de next day." + +"I remembers I wat a sitting in de house en er peckerwood war a pecking +on de house 'Pure bad luck.'" + +"I was working once foh Mrs. Shelton wen a little wren kept trying ter +git in de house an I kep a shosin hit arway wen he got in somehow jes as +soon as hit did Mrs. Shelton called me en I had a telegram from Chicago +my neice war dead. She by dat I nos dat am bad luck. I dont like wrens +any how." + +"Wenn a cow loses hits cud, jes giv hit an old dirty dish rag en den de +cow will ding her cud again." + +"Sometimes a cow gits sich en lay down en if you will fell her tail on +de end it is all soft, 'Dat cow hot holler tail, en less you split dat +tail en fill de holler wid salt den bind hit up dat cow will sholy +die.'" + +"I asked Mary if she was superstitious and she said 'no, cos niggers are +edicatted dese days en dey don believe in all dat tom-foolery. Dey neber +would benn so foolish if de white folks did not tell us all dat rot.'" +Mary neither reads or writes and is not superstitious according to her +admission. What do you think of it. I am afraid that I do not agree +with. M.D.H.) + + + + +CLAY CO. +(Pearl House) + +Sophia Word: + + +The following story of slave days is the exact words of one who had the +bitter experience of slavery. Sophia Word, who is now ninety-nine years +of age, born February 2, 1837. She tells me she was in bondage for +nineteen years and nine months. I shall repeat just as she told the +story: + +"I wuz here in time of Mexican War and seed 'em get up volunteers to go. +They wuz dressed in brown and band played 'Our Hunting Shirts are +Fringed with Doe and away We march to Mexico'. + +"My grandmother came straight from Africa and wuz auctioned off and +bought by William Reide Father. When he died William Reides inherited my +mother. Mother married a Bates and had ten of us children. + +"Our Master didn't auction off his slaves as the other masters would for +he was a better master than most of them. When he started to sale one of +us he would go out and talk to the old slave trader like he wuz g'wine +to sale a cow or sometin and then he would come back to git the slave he +wanted. This wuz the way my mothers' brother and sister wuz sold. When +the other masters at other places sold a slave they put the slave on the +auction block and the slave trader had a long whop that he hit them with +to see if they could jump around and wuz strong. The largest and brought +the money. + +"I wuz a slave nineteen yeahs and nine months but somehow or nuther I +didn't belong to a real mean pet of people. The white folks said I was +the meanest nigger that ever wuz. One day my Mistress Lyndia called fer +me to come in the house, but no, I wouldn't go. She walks out and says +she is Gwine make me go. So she takes and drags me in the house. Then I +grabs that white woman, when she turned her back, and shook her until +she begged for mercy. When the master comes in, I wuz given a terrible +beating with a whip but I did'nt care fer I give the mistress a good'un +too. + +"We lived off to the back of the masters house in a little log cabin, +that had one winder in the side. We lived tobly well and didn't starve +fer we had enough to eat but we didn't have as good as the master and +mistress had. We would slip in the house after the master and mistress +wuz sleeping and cook to suit ourselves and cook what we wanted. + +"The Mistress had an old parrot and one day I wuz in the kitchen making +cookies, and I decided I wanted some of them so I tooks me out some and +put them on a chair and when I did this the mistress entered the door, I +picks up a cushion and throws over the pile of cookies on the chair and +mistress cane near the chair and the old parrot cries out, Mistress +burn, Mistress burn, then the mistress looks under the cushion and she +had me whupped but the next day I killed the parrot, and she often +wondered who or what killed the bird. + +"I've seen whole pigs roasted before open fire place and when it wuz +done we would put a nice red apple in its mouth and the big white folks +company that come would eat of this delicious dish. Sometimes we had to +bake pies for a week to supply the company that wuz invited to our +masters and mistresses house. They served elaborate dinners and hundreds +of guest were invited. + +"My master wuzn't as mean as most masters. Hugh White was so mean to his +slaves that I know of two gals that killt themselfs. One nigger gal +sudie wuz found across the bed with a pen knife in her hand. He whipped +another nigger gal most to death fer fergiting to put onions in the +stew. The next day she went down to the river and fer nine days they +searched fer her and her body finally washed upon the shore. The master +could never live in that house again as when he would go to sleep he +would see the nigger standing over his bed. Then he moved to Richmond +and there he stayed until a little later when he hung himself. + +"Our clothes wuz made from cotton and linsey. Cotton wuz used in the +summer and linsey fer the winter. Sometimes our clothes wuz yeller +checked and most time red. Our stockings wuz made of coarse yarn fer +winter to wear with coarse shoes. We had high topped shoes fer Sunday. + +"I've seed ten thousand of the Union Soldiers and a great many of the +rebel soldiers. The Rebel soldiers would take everything they could get +their hands on but I never did know of the Union Soldier taking +anything. The rebels have stole my masters cows and horses and we would +have to hide the meat in a box and bury it in the ground." + + + + +BOYD CO. +(Carl F. Hall) + + +The Commonwealth of Kentucky, having for a northern boundary the Ohio +River--the dividing line between the northern free states and the +southern slave states has always been regarded as a southern state. As +in the other states of the old south, slavery was an institution until +the Thirteenth Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States gave +the negro freedom in 1865. + +Kentucky did not, as other southern states, secede from the Union, but +attempted to be neutral during the Civil War. The people, however, were +divided in their allegience, furnishing recruits for both the Federal +and Confederate armies. The president of the Union, Abraham Lincoln, and +the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, both were born in +this state. + +Boyd County was formed in 1860 from parts of Lawrence, Greenup and +Carter Counties, and we are unable to find any records, in Boyd County, +as to slave holders and their slaves, though it is known that many well +to do families the Catletts, Davis, Poages, Williams and others were +slave holders. + +Slaves were not regarded as persons, had no civil rights and were owned +just as any other chattel property, were bought and sold like horses and +cattle, and knew no law but the will of their white masters and like +other domestic animals could be, and were, acquired and disposed of +without regard to family ties or other consideration. + +Usually, as each slave represented a large investment of money, they +were well cared for, being adequately fed, clothed and sheltered, having +medical attention when sick. + +As, along the border in Kentucky, there were no large plantations where +field workers could be used, most of the slaves in this region were +house servants, who were housed in wings of the master's house, where +the plantations were large enough to need many slaves, they were +furnished one, or two, rooms cabins close by the mansion on the master's +estate. + +As educated people are apt to be able to figure out ways to improve +their lot, learning among the negroes was not encouraged, in fact it was +illegal to teach them. In some instances an enlighted and humane master +would teach a servant, and often they could find some one who would +teach them secretly. As a race, however, they were, at the time they +were set free, without any education at all. + +Tales are told of cruel masters who overworked, flogged and otherwise +mistreated their helpers and slaves; these masters, however, seem to +have been an exception to the rule and considering that they were +generally well provided for, many slaves were better off economically +than the laborer of today who is a victim of misfortunes such as +sickness, disability and old age. + +One reason why slaves were better treated here than further south, was +that Kentucky was a border state, and throughout Ohio and other northern +states, was an organization known as the "Underground Railroad." This +was a sort of secret society whose members were sworn to assist escaped +slaves to run away to Canada where they would be free. When a run-away +slave crossed the Ohio River he would be met by some one of this +organization and taken where he could remain in hiding by day, then by +traveling by night, could reach another place of concealment by morning, +where he would be fed and hidden until darkness permitted him to reach +the next haven. By this means many were successful in reaching freedom, +though they were hunted by officers, armed with guns, and assisted by +fierce dogs especially trained for this work. + +Negroes who were unruly, or were caught attempting to escape, were +usually sold to planters in the far south where they could not hope to +escape, and were forced to end their days in unremitting toil in the +cotton and cane fields, forever separated from relatives and friends. + +It was the barbarism practiced by cruel masters, so vividly portrayed in +such books as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and songs like "Nellie Gray," that +awakened the nation's conscience and brought about the bloody "Civil +War" which resulted in the race being set free. + +Just before the war, George Davis, a mulatto, son of his master and a +black servant girl, was in Cincinnati and was accosted by two white men +who offered to use the good offices of the "Underground Railroad" to +help him to get away to Canada. Being well treated, as a trusted servant +of his white father and master, he did not avail himself of this +opportunity to escape and stayed on as a slave until Freed by the war, +after which he went to Ohio and settled and prospered until his death. + +Another slave, Asberry Parker, did escape, and traveling by night hiding +by day, reached safety in Canada where he worked and saved until he +became wealthy. After the war, when he could safely return to the United +States, he moved to Ironton, Ohio, where he made his home for the rest +of his life. He belonged in his days of slavery, to a Williams family, +in Carter County, Kentucky. + +Another slave, George McVodie, belonging to the Poage family, of Boyd +Co., escaped and went to Canada, no [TR: missing word?] as to whether he +ever came back later. + +A sister of George Davis was sold to a planter in Louisiana where she +lived until 1877, when she returned to Boyd County as a free woman. + +As negroes, in slavery days, were regarded as beasts of burden not much +interest was taken in the welfare of their souls. Some kind hearted +masters would allow them the privilege of meeting in religious service, +where some one of their race in spite of the conditions of the times, +could read and explain the Bible, would preach. Other masters would not +allow this to be done. A negro would become, in character much like the +family who owned him, i.e., an honest, moral and kindly master would +have slaves of like qualities, while a cruel, dishonest master would +usually affect his slaves so that they would be tricky and unreliable. + +Where the master did not personally supervise his slaves and left them +to the mercies of a hired "over-seer," their lot was usually much worse, +as these task-masters were almost always tyranical and were not +restrained by a sense of ownership from abusing the helpless creatures +under their authority as were the master's, whose money was invested in +them. + +On one occasion, a young negro saw his own sister stripped naked and +unmercifully whipped by one of these over-seers. He gathered up all of +his small belongings and tied them in a bundle and securing a club of +wood, laid in wait for the cruel 'boss' until dark, when he killed him +with the club. He then escaped, via the "Underground Railroad." + +One thing he was careful to do, was to avoid all telegraph poles, as +that he thought the wires could detect and betray him, the telegraph was +a mystery to his ignorant mind. He succeeded in making his way to +Canada and freedom where he stayed until after the war, when it was +safe to return. + +The slave trade of importing slaves into the United States, being +forbidden after about 1820, cut off the supply to such an extent that +strong, healthy negroes became very high in price. Many Kentucky slave +owners raised slaves for this market just as we today raise live stock +on our farms. + +Only the strong healthy slave women were allowed to have children, and +often were not allowed to mate with their own husbands, but were bred +like live stock to some male negro who was kept for that purpose because +of his strong phisique, which the master wished to reproduce, in order +to get a good price for his progeny, just like horses, cattle, dogs and +other animals are managed today in order to improve the stock. Often the +father of a comely black woman's child, would be the master himself, who +would heartlessly sell his own offspring to some other master, without +regard for his welfare. + +Many of the aristocratic women of the master class, to keep from the +burdensome task of caring for their own children, and to assure +themselves a life of leisure would delegate to one of the negro slave +women the care of their own children. + +Many of the upper class white children were cared for by these faithful +black "Mammies" fed by the milk from their breasts. Countless stories +are told of the love and devotion of the black "Mammy" for the white +child who was brought to their 'grown up' years by her care. + +A marriage between negroes, before freedom, had no legal standing; a +negro couple, wishing to marry, had to get a permit from each master and +were united in marriage by a ceremony with a preacher of their own race +officiating. After the war, when they were made citizens with civil +rights, many former slaves who had been married in this way, hastened to +legalize their union by obtaining licenses and having a legal ceremony +performed. + +While the four years of Civil War, between the North and South resulted +in the freedom of the slaves, the negro is yet restricted in many ways +in the south. In many states, separate schools are maintained, the negro +churches are separate, social equality is not recognized. + +In Kentucky, intermarriages between the races are not allowed. Separate +coaches are provided on railway trains, hotels, restaurants, theaters +and other places of amusement, which cater to white customers, do not +permit negro patrons. Many towns and cities have zoning ordinances +forbidding negroes to live in white localities. In many southern states +the negroes is prevented from voting by local regulations, in Boyd +County colored people go to the polls and vote just like anyone else. + +Negroes make good house servants, and are extensively used for that +purpose today. White families employ them as chauffeurs, butlers, house +boys, child nurses, maids and cooks, preferring them to white servants +who are not so adaptable to such subordinate positions in life. + +Colored men work in barber shops, in restaurants as waiters, and are +largely employed as porters in hotels and on railway coaches. Colored +women work in hotels as cooks, chamber maids, and are commonly employed +as elevator operator in hotels and office buildings. + +Not many negroes are in business locally, as race prejudice prevents +white folks from trading at colored stores, and the local colored +population is too small to provide many customers of their own race. +Many ambitious colored folks have left here and gone to the large cities +of the north, and made conspicious successes in business. Some have +succeeded in the professions as doctors, lawyers, actors, and writers +and other vocations. + +All in all, the race has progressed to an astonishing degree since being +set free a generation ago. + +Politics: Formerly, the negro, attributing his freedom to the efforts +of Abraham Lincoln in his behalf, voted almost solidly for the +Republican Party. Now, however, the Democrats have, by remembering the +race when passing out jobs, gained recruits among the colored people, +and some negro Democrats are found here. The negro has been accused of +voting for money, but it is doubtful if as a race, he is any more prone +to this practice than his white fellow citizens among whom this abuse +seems to be growing. + + + + +BELL CO. +(Nelle Shumate) + +Mandy Gibson: + + +There were auction-blocks near the court houses where the slaves were +sold to the highest bidders. A slave would be placed on a platform and +his merits as a speciman of human power and ability to work was +enomerated the bidding began. Young slave girls brought high prices +because the more slave children that were born on one's plantation the +richer he would be in the future. Some slaves were kept just for this +purpose, the same as prize thorough-bred stock is kept. In many +instances slaves were treated like brutes and their places to sleep were +like barn sheds with only a little straw, on which to sleep. Mrs. +Neikirk's mother said that she distinctly remembered that the slaves she +knew of had only the roughest of food such as: corn bread molasses, and +scraps from their owner's table. Their clothing was such as their owners +saw fit to give them and the cheapest. + +An old negro woman, Aunt Mandy Gibson by name, died last month, Sep. in +Middlesboro and I have heard her tell about coming here from Alabama +when the town of Middlesboro was first founded. When asked about her old +home people she would go to great lengths to explain about her people +having been slaves, but she would always add that they did not mind +slavery as they at that time knew nothing of the outdoor life and +therefore desired nothing better. She also said that the family that +owned her was a kind nature and was good to slaves. + +Some of the citizens of Middlesboro today can recall stories that their +parents told them about the days when slaves were bought and sold in the +United States. Among these is one Mrs. Martha Neikirk, a daughter of an +old Union soldier now deceased. Mrs. Rhuben Gilbert, Mrs. Neikirk's +mother said that: "Once my mother and I were out in the woods picking +huckle-berries and heard a noise as of someone moaning in pain. We kept +going toward the sound and finally came to a little brook. Near the +water was a negro woman with her head bent over to the ground and +weeping as if her heart was broken. Upon asking her what had caused her +agony she finally managed to control her emotions enough to sob out her +story. The negro woman said then that her master had just sold her to a +man that was to take her far away from her present owner and incidently +her children. She said this couldn't be helped but she could ask the +good Lord to let her die and get out of the misery she was in. + +It seems that such incidents were common in those days. Mrs. Sarah +Sloan, now residing in Middlesboro tells the stories her mother has told +her and she remembers one story in particular about old Aunt Suzy, an +old negro slave who, after the close of the Civil War lived near Mrs. +Sloan's mother. Aunt Suzy was the property of the Southern plantation +owner and had lived on this plantation until she had raised a large +family. One day a northern buyer came there and said he wanted to buy +some slaves as cheap as possible so, aunt Suzy was getting old and not +able to work as she once had, her owner naturally thought that while he +had the chance he should sell her but he wanted to keep her children as +they were young and able to do hard work. So poor old Aunt Suzy was sold +along with some others and taken North. Here she was bought by another +trader and sold to a new master. It seems this new master was kind to +her and felt sympathy for her in her distress. She told him how she had +lived on the old plantation so long and how she had never thought that +when she became old and lonely that she would forever be separated from +her children so the new [TR: owner?] said he would see what he could do, +if anything. He made a trip to her former home and had a talk with the +owner of the plantation. The plantation owner said that he had a bad +crop year and heavy losses and much as he needed all the help possible +to put in more crops he could not afford to buy more slaves, much less +one that was unable to work. At this, Aunt Suzy's new owner being a +generous, kind-hearted man, decided to give the old lady back to him. He +knew he could not get much money for her if he did sell her, for no one +wanted an old slave that was unable to work. Aunt Suzy after all her +traveling got to return to her old plantation and when the slaves were +freed she lived with one of her children until her death. + + + + +BREATHITT CO. +(Margaret Bishop) + +As told by Scott Mitchell, a former slave: + + +Scott Mitchell, claims his age as somewhere in the 70's but his wool is +white on the top of his head. Negroes don't whiten near as quickly as +white people, evidently he is nearly 90, or there-a-bouts. + +"Yes'm I 'members the Civil Wah, 'cause I wuz a-livin' in Christian +County whah I wuz bohn, right wif my masteh and mistress. Captin Hester +and his wife. I wuz raised on a fahm right wif the, then I lef there. + +"Yes, Cap'n Hester traded my mother an my sister, 'Twuz in 1861, he sent +em tuh Mississippi. When they wuz 'way from him 'bout two years he bot +em back. Yes, he wuz good tuh us. I wuz my mistess' boy. I looked afteh +her, en she made all uv my cloes, en she knit my socks, 'cause I wuz her +niggah. + +"Yes, I wuz twenty yeahs old when I wuz married. I members when I wuz a +boy when they had thet Civil Wah. I members theah wuz a brick office +wheah they took en hung colohed folks. Yes, the blood wuz a-streamin' +down. Sumtimes theah hung them by theah feet, sometimes they hung them +by theah thumbs. + +"I cum tu Kentucky coal mines when I wuz 'bout twenty years old. I +worked for Mistah Jenkins. I worked right here et the Davis, the R.T. +Davis coal mine, en at the Bailey mine; that was a-fore Mistah Bailey +died. + +"When I worked for Mistah Davis he provided a house in the Cutt-Off, +that's ovah wheath the mine's at. We woaked frum 7 o'clock in the +mawnin' til 6 'clock at night. Yes, I sure liked tuh woak for Mistah +Davis. I tended fuahnaces some, too. I sure wuz sorry wen Mistah Davis +died." + + + + +UNION CO. +(Ruby J. Girten) + +A Bill of Sale: + + +This indenture, made and entered into this 5th day of June 1850, by and +between Joseph W. Cromwell and Martha Cromwell, his wife, of the first +part, and Wm. C. Hamner of the second part, all of the County of Union +and State of Kentucky, Witnesseth: That the said Joseph W. Cromwell and +Martha his wife, for, and in consideration of the sum of $550.00, in +hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, have given, +granted, bargained and sold and by these present to grant bargain, sell +and deliver unto the said Wm. C. Hamner a certain negro woman called +Milly, about 29 years old, and her child, called James, about 18 months +old which negroes together with their increase, and the said Joseph W. +Cromwell and Martha Cromwell for themselves, their heirs and assigns, +will, warrant, and defend unto the said Wm. C. Hamner, his heirs and +assigns forever, against the claims of themselves, their heirs, and +against the claims of all and every person or persons whatever. Said +Cromwell and wife further warrant said negro woman, Milly, to be sound +and healthy, and slaves for life. In testimony whereof, the said Joseph +W. Cromwell and Martha Cromwell, his wife, have hereunto set the hands +and affixed their seals, the day and date first written. + +Joseph W. Cromwell +Martha L. Cromwell + +(Recorded in Deed Book on Page 155 at Morganfield, Kentucky.) + + + + +WILL--Nancy Austin: + + +In the name of God, Amen. I, Nancy Austin of sound mind and disposing +memory, but weak in body, do make and publish this as my last will and +Testament. + +In the first place I give to my Grandsons, Fielding Jones and Isaac +Vanmeter Jones, a negro girl of the name of Margaritte, and negro boy by +the name of Solomon to be equally divided between them when the arrive +at the age of 21 years or without lawful issue, then and in that case my +will and desire is that the survivor have the aforesaid negroes with +their increase and should both die without lawful issue, then and that +case my will and desire is that the aforesaid negroes and their increase +go to my three children and their lawful heirs. + +Secondly, I give to my daughter, Harriet Lapham, a negro girl of the +name of Mahala, and a boy of the name of Washington, and girl of the +name Julian. + +Thirdly, I give to my son, Daniel Vanmeter, a negro boy of the name of +Alexander, and a negro woman of the name of Teresa, and the horses he +claims being 3 in number, and 3 steers, and the hogs he claims, and one +bed and furniture. + +Fourthly: I give to my daughter, Helen Jones, a negro girl of the name +of Sarah, and a boy of the name of John, and a girl of the name of +Amanda, and two of the choice of my cows, and one bed a furniture. + +Fifthly: My will and desire is that the house and lot I now live on be +sold on a 12 months credit with my personal property not heretofore +disposed of by my Executor hereafter named or such of them as may +qualify, and such as qualify are hereby authorized to convey said house +and lot whenever the purchase money is paid to the prchaser[TR: sic] of +said house and lot. + +Sixthly: My will and desire is that all my just debts be paid and then +the balance of the money arising from the sale to be equally divided +between my three children and my 2 grandsons, Fielding and Isaac, they +taking one fourth of the money between them. + +Seventhly: My will and desire is that my faithful servants, Amanda, be +free at my death and if she should not be able to support herself then +out of the hire or services of the negroes I have given to them. Lastly, +I appoint Samuel Casey, Gibson B. Taylor and William Grundy executors of +this my last will and Testament as witness my hand this 26th day of May, +1837. + +Nancy Austin + +Witness: Nathaniel Ashby, C.C. Jones, Tabitha Wilson. + +(Will Book B., P.9, at Morganfield, Kentucky.) + + + + +ROCKCASTLE CO. +(Robert Mullins) + + +The years 1843 to 1845 worked the development of the systematic enticing +away, or stealing of slaves from Kentucky slave owners, and the passing +them to Canada by a cordon of posts, or relays, which came to be known +as the "Underground Railroad". A number were stolen and carried away on +horses. The abductors traveled with the slaves at night and concealed +them during the day. The old McFerron house in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky was +used as a relay post to hide slaves enroute to Ohio, Michigan and +Canada. The slaves in these parts were locked in the old McFerron +cellar which was situated under the ground, and they were concealed +under the cover until night, when they would travel again. + +There were never at any time any slaves sold from auction blocks in this +county. It is reported that the life of the slave in Rockcastle County +was a happy lot. Their masters built them cabins to live in, furnished +with bunks, tables, stoves, and other necessities. Their masters gave +them chickens, cows and other stock and gave them plenty to eat. + +There are no slaves living in Rockcastle at this time. + + + + +CLARK CO. +(Mayme Nunnelley) + + +The first records of Slaves in Clark County was given by a descendant of +one of the members of the little band of resolute Revolutionary +soldiers who had been comrades and mess mates throughout the long bloody +war. These fifteen families, some from Virginia and others from +Maryland, started westward in the early spring of 1783 for Kentucky. +They bought with them some horses, a few cattle, thirty or forty slaves +and a few necessary household articles. + +After many hardships and trials, borne heroically by both men and women, +they halted on the banks of the Big Stoner, in what is now the eastern +part of Clark County. Two years later another group of families with +their slaves came to join this little settlement. + +In some cases the owners were good to their slaves had comfortable +quarters for them at a reasonable distance from the main house. Their +clothing was given them as they needed it. In most instances the +clothing was made on the plantation Material woven, and shoes made. The +cabins were one and two rooms, maybe more if the families were large. +The slaves ate their meals in the kitchen of the main house. + +A cruel and inhuman master was ostrazied and taught by the silent +contempt of his neighbors a lesson which he seldom failed to learn. In +1789 the general assembly passed an act in which good treatment was +enjoined upon master and all contracts between master and slaves were +forbidden. The execution of this law was within the jurisdiction of the +county courts which were directed to admonish the master of any ill +treatment of his slave. If presisted in the court had option and power +to declare free the abused slave. + +Few traders came to Clark County as the slaves were not sold unless they +were unruly. There was no underground railroads through this area. + +Among some of the old wills compiled by Dr. George F. Doyle of +Winchester, we find wills as follows: + +"John Briston in his will dated April 27, 1840 frees his negroes, the +executor to go to Todd County and buy land and divide it between the +negroes and they were given a cow, three horses and he expressed a +desire for them to go to Liberia. They were to be given a certain amount +to defray their moving expenses, and buy them provisions and each negro +was given his blanket." + +"Henry Calmes, in his will dated 1831, divides his slaves among his wife +and children." (B7--p654) + +"John Christy in his will 1848 says at the death of his wife all his +land and slaves are to be sold and the proceeds divided among his +children." (B11--p346). + +"In some old wills enough slaves are to be sold said all outstanding +debts paid and those left to be divided among his heirs." + +"A will dated 1837 says at the expiration of eight years after his death +all negroes above those bequeated are to be offered to the Colonization +Society, if they are of age, to be transported to Liberia and those not +of age to continue to serve the persons to whom they are allotted until +they come of age, boys 21 and the girls at 18 when they are to be +offered to the Colonization Society to be transported to Liberia. None +of them are to be forced to go. Those that do not go to Liberia are to +continue to serve the persons to whom they are allotted until they are +willing to go. Three persons by name to be hired out the seventh year +after the death and the money arising from said hire to be given to +those that first go to Liberia, $10.00 a piece if there should be so +much and the balance given to the next ones to go." + +"In the will of Robert Lewis, February 20, 1799, he sets three of his +slaves free and gives them the use of 200 acres of the northwest of the +Ohio, their life time. There were to be five hired out until their hire +amounts to 120 pounds each, then they were to be freed. As the other +younger slaves become of age, they are to be freed." + +From the following will dated June 22, 1840 it shows the slaves were +able, to accumalate an estate: + +"Allan, Charles June 22, 1840 Oct 26, 1840 + +"A free man of color. Estate to be sold and the proceeds distributed as +follows: To Ester Graves, a woman of color belonging to the heirs of +Rice Arnold, $100.00; balance of money to be divided equally between the +children 'I claim to be mine'. Jerrett, Charles, Ester, Carolina, +Granvill and Emile; all children of aforesaid. Charlotte Arnold and all +belonging to the heirs of Rice Arnold and also Sally, Alfred, Mary, +Lucy, Hulda, Catharine, and Maud, children of Ester Graves aforesaid, +slaves of Bengamine Graves; also two children of Mary Allan, a slave +belonging to Patsey Allan names Lesa and Carolina, the sixteen children +to receive an equal share of the money arising from the sale of his +estate." + +Clark County did not have an auction block or slave market but every +New Years day in front of the Courthouse owners would bring their +slaves to be hired. It was told by one of the old citizens a few years +ago, (died two years ago) that he walked nine miles one bitter cold day +to hire some slaves. These could be hired for a definite time or until +they brought certain amounts of money. + +In 1812-1814 Winchester, the County Seat of Clark County boasted of a +weekly newspaper, issued every Saturday. From the advertisement column +of this paper we learned that Dillard Collins was willing to pay $10.00 +to get his run away slave, Reuben, and a similar reward was offered for +one "Scipio" who had taken French leave from his master, (donned) in his +master's new clothes. Another ad in this paper ways[TR: says?] one +Walter Karrick offered to trade a negro woman for "whiskey", cyder and +flour. + +"A story is told of a slave "Monk Estill" who helped or rather belonged +to Col. James Estill of Madison County. In 1782 in a battle known as +Estill's defeat, which occured on the grounds where Mt. Sterling now +stands in Montgomery County, Col. Estill and twenty-five men attacked a +party of Wyandotte Indians by whom the slave was taken prisoner. + +"In the thickest of the fight, Monk called out in a loud voice; 'Don't +give way, Marse Jim, there's only twenty-five Indians and you con whip +all of them.' + +"Col. Estill was killed and the men retreated. Monk escaped from his +captors and after many hardships joined the white comrades. + +"On his shoulder he carried a wounded soldier twenty-five miles to +Estill Station. His young master gave him his freedom in recognition for +his bravery and supported him in comfort the rest of his life." + +In Clark County are many small negroe settlements formed by the old +freed slaves after the war. Some had accumalated a little and brought a +small piece of land and others had homes given to them by their owners. + +Mr. Archilles Eubank was the largest slave holder of his day, Mr. Colby +Quisenberry was second, in Clarks County. + +"The story is told that at the time of General Morgan's last raid on +Winchester, an old faithful slave of Dr. Hubbard Taylor, (a noted +Physician all over this portion of Kentucky at this time) who was always +careful of his master's interests, and without the consent of his +master, saved his very fine riding horse, "Black Prince" from being +pressed into service of the Confederates. Ab (the slaves name) learned +that Morgan's men were good judges of horse flesh and had taken several +horses just as the Federals did when they needed them and he determined +to conceal prince, whose groom he was. He put him there in the smoke +house along with the meat, but Prince pawed and made disturbances until +he took him out and took him to the cellar persuading him to descend the +steps and left him there. He came up to hear that several horses had +been taken from the cellars of the men, then he hastened back to get +Black Prince. He brought him out of the cellar and took him to the +Laundry room and sat there with him conversing him to keep him quite +until all danger passed. When Prince became restless and wanted to paw +his way out, old Ab would say, "Now Prince, you quit dat you's in danger +of being taken by the bad soldiers." Old Prince would stop instantly and +listen to his groom." + + + + +MONTGOMERY CO. +(Gladys Robertson) + + +In this community most of the slaves were kept on farms and each family +was given a well constructed log house. They were fed by provisions +given them by their white masters and they were plentiful. They were +clothed by their masters. These clothes were made by the colored women +under the direction and supervision of their mistress, the white woman +cut the clothes for both men and women, and the colored women did the +sewing of the garments. The men did the manual labor on the farm and +the women the domestic. Each white woman and girl had a special servant +for her own use and care and each white man had his colored man or +valet. + +There are no records of a big slave trade in this county. When a slave +was sold it was usually to a friend or neighbor and most masters were +very considerate and would not sell unless a family could go together. +For instance from the diary of Mrs. Wliza[TR: Eliza?] Magowan 1853-1871, +we read this: "Lina and two children Scott and Dulcina sold to J. +Wilkerson". Also another item: "Violet married to Dennie" showing that +care was taken that marriages were made among the negroes. + +The darkies had suppers in their own quarters and had much merrymaking +and laughter. + +Illness among the darkies were cared from among themselves but under the +watchful eye of the master and mistress. + +The darkies were deeply religious and learned much of the Bible from +devout mistresses who felt it their holy duty to teach these ignorant +people the word of God. An extract from Mrs. Magowan's diary on July 25, +1856: "Old Aunt Becky was baptised on the 20th; she being upwards of 70 +years of age. A considerable interest on the subject of religion is +manifest among the negroes, several have joined may they be kept by the +power of God unto Salvation. The redemption of the soul is precious". +This is quoted to show that the Negro was considered as a human being +and treated as such. + +Also taken from Mrs. Magowan's diary: "Dove sold to Mr. Van Thompson. O +slavery, thorn art a bitter draught! tho' thousands have tasted of thee, +thou art none the less bitter." + +The Underground Railroad did not run through this county. No slaves were +carried away on any such thing. The older people interviewed about this +say they do not believe such a railroad ever existed as it would be a +feat of engineering even in this day and time. + +The rosters of the Independent company which Ge. John S. Williams +organized in this county and led to Mexico is in the possession of his +grandson Mr. John S.W. Hollaway, Winchester, Kentucky. + +Mrs. Allie R. Robertson has in her possession the suit worn home from +the war, by her father Joe Arrasmith. He was in the company of Morgan's +men. It is made of coarse cotton and was in a most deplorable condition +when he came home. + + + + +MONROE CO. +(Lenneth Jones) + +(Uncle) Edd Shirley: + + +I am 97 years and my name is Uncle Edd Shirley and I am still working as +janitor and support my family. My father was a white man and my mother +was a colored lady. I was owned three different times, or rather was +sold to three different families. I was first owned by the Waldens; then +I was sold to a man by the name of Jackson, of Glasgow, Kentucky. Then +my father, of this county, bought me. + +I have had many slave experiences. Some slaves were treated good, and +some were treated awful bad by the white people; but most of them were +treated good if they would do what their master told them to do. + +I onced saw a light colored gal tied to the rafters of a barn, and her +master whipped her until blood ran down her back and made a large pool +on the ground. And I have seen negro men tied to stakes drove in the +ground and whipped because they would not mind their master; but most +white folks were better to their slaves and treated them better than +they are now. After their work in the fields was finished on Saturday, +they would have parties and have a good time. Some old negro man would +play the banjo while the young darkies would dance and sing. The white +folks would set around and watch; and would sometimes join in and dance +and sing. + +My colored grandfather lived to be 115 years old, and at that age he +was never sick in his life. One day he picked up the water bucket to go +to the spring, and as he was on his way back he dropped dead. + + + +The Story of Mrs. C. Hood: + + +Once upon a time during the Civil War my grandmother was alone with just +one old faithful servant. The Union troops had just about taken +everything she had, except three prize saddle horses and one coal black +mare which she rode all the time. She was very fond of the mare and +valued it very much. One night my grandmother heard a noise, and called +old Joe to go to the barn and see what was the matter. As he was nearing +the barn someone yelled "Halt"; and Joe being a black man and a servant, +stopped just where he was. My grandmother, who had also heard the +command, paid no attention whatsoever; she went straight through the +dozen or more Union soldiers who were stealing her stock to the one who +appeared to be the leader. He was holding her mare; she jerked the +briddle from his hand, led her mare back to the kitchen door, where she +held her the remainder of the night. + + +A Story: + +When my mother was a girl she was staying with some kinfolks for one +month. These people owned several slaves and among them was one old +man-servant who was very old and had served out his usefulness. It was +war time and food was scarce even for the white folks. The younger and +stronger slaves got most of the food, and old Tom was always hungry. My +mother finding this out, and feeling sorry for him would slip him bread +and other food through a hole in the kitchen floor. A short time after +this, my mother married and moved to a home of her own. Old Tom never +forgot her kindness; and finally persuaded his master to give him to my +mother, who kept him until his death. + + + + +ESTILL CO. +(Evelyn McLemore) + +Story of Peter Bruner, a former slave: + + +Peter Bruner, was born in Winchester, Kentucky, Clark Co., in 1845. His +master was John Bell Bruner, who at that time treated him fairly well. +When Peter was 10 years of age his master brought him and his sister to +Irvine. After arriving in Irvine, Peter's master was very cruel to him. +They got only cornbread, fat meat and water to eat. If his master's +hunger was not satisfied, he would even take this little from them. +The[TR:?] were tables to eat from. + +Once Peter, was taken into his master's house to nurse the children and +was made to sleep on the floor with only a ragged quilt to lie on and +one thin one over him. + +Often he was whipped because his mistress said the washing was not +clean, when it was. On one occasion when he was beaten his master took a +piece of sole leather about 1 foot long and 2 inches wide, cut it full +of holes and dipped it in water that was brined. He then took the +leather and lashed the poor slave's back. + +Joe Bruner, was a better master to his slaves than John. Once when Peter +stole some sugar and flour, that he and his sister might have a pound +cake, Joe caught him. He did not whip him however, because he knew that +Peter did not often have enough to eat. + +Peter, endured torture as long as he could and finally decided to +escape. He went to Richmond, Kentucky on to Lexington. On his way he +made a contract with a man to drive his horses to Orleans, but was +caught while in Lexington. On his way they caught him and took him to +jail and he remained until his master came for him. This did not down +him, for just as soon as he could he escaped again, and this time got as +far as Xenia, Ohio, but was again caught and brought back. This time he +was severely beaten for three hours. + +When 17 years old, Peter was hired out to Jimmy Benton, who was more +cruel than John Bruner, but was again brought back. It was then that he +tried again to escape. This time he went through Madison Co. near Sugar +Creek. This was about the year 1861, when the war had begun. Again he +was caught and taken back, but this time by Joe Bruner. He escaped +several times, but never could seem to get anywhere. Once when he and +another slave, Phil, escaped they were caught and made to walk the +entire distance barefoot. After this Peter, was chained each night to a +chair. One morning while eating his breakfast he heard a knock at the +door and on opening it he found a troop of Union Home Guards. Jim Benton +and John Bruner were taken to prison. After this Peter went to Miller's +Creek and worked at odd jobs for awhile. + +When John Bruner was taken from Prison, he was much better to Peter. +Soon after John was released from Prison, Peter escaped again. This time +he had joined a regiment in the war. He went through hardships, cold, +hunger and illness. + +Often when they were awaken in the morning they would find their +blankets frozen to the ground. He was sick several times. His feet +frozen and other things would go wrong such as having fever and once he +had Variloid. After serving for awhile he was mustered out and returned +to Winchester, where his mother lived. He stayed a short time and then +went to Oxford, Ohio. Here he went to school, but soon decided he was +not learning anything so decided to get married. In the spring he was +married to Nannie Proctor. Again he made a mistake and during this time +suffered hardships trying to keep a roof over their heads and food +enough to eat. He worked at odd jobs, but could not find much to do and +got very much in debt. He then went to Hamilton, Ohio and asked Mr. John +Frye to loan him some money. He had asked Mr. Roberts for some and he +would not loan it. However, John Frye did loan him the money and Peter +paid himself out of debt and bought a stone quarry from his +mother-in-law. He sold a lot of stone from it, but finally sold this and +took a job as engineer at Oxford, College. Dr. Walker was president at +that time. It was here that Peter celebrated his 25th wedding +anniversary. The teacher, faculty and seniors made this a happy day for +him. He got a job as janitor under Dr. Thompson at Miami University. He +worked here for 13 years under President Taft. He is a member of Bethel +A.M.E. Church and has been for over 50 years. In 1918 he and his wife +celebrated his golden anniversary. + +Peter Bruner is still living (1936) but his eyesight is impaired. He is +91 years of age. + + + + +CHRISTIAN CO. +(Mamie Hanbery) [HW: Ky 3] + +Story of Easter Sudie Campbell, + (age about 72, Webber St., Hopkinsville, Ky.) + + +Born in Princeton, Caldwell Co., Kentucky, her parents were slaves, the +property of Will and Martha Grooms of Princeton. + +Aunt Easter as she is called has followed the profession of a mid-wife +for forty years. She is still active and works at present among the +negroes of Hopkinsville. + +"Yes, sho, I make my own medicines, humph, dat aint no trouble. I cans +cure scrofula wid burdock root and one half spoon of citrate of potash. +Jes make a tea of burdock root en add the citrate of potash to hit. +Sasafras is good foh de stomach en cleans yer out good. I'se uses yeller +percoon root foh de sore eyes. + +"Wen I stayed wid Mrs. Porter her chaps would break out mighty bad wid +sores in de fall of de year and I'se told Mrs. Porter I'se could core +dat so I'se got me some elder berries en made pies out of hit en made +her chaps eat hit on dey war soon cored. + +"If twont foh de white folks I sho would hev a hard time. My man he jes +wen erway en I haint neber seed him ergin en I'se had five chilluns en +de white folks hev heped me all dese years. Dese trifling niggers dey +wont hepe dey own kind of folks. If youse got de tooth ache I makes a +poultice of scrape irish pertatoes en puts hit on de jaw on de side de +tooth is aching en dat sho takes de fever out of de tooth. I'se blows +terbacco smoke in de ear en dat stops de ear ache. + +"Wen I goes on er baby case I jest let nature hev hits way. I'se alays +teas de baby de first thing I does is ter blow my breath in de baby's +muff en I spanks it jes a little so hit will cry den I gives hit warm +catnip tea so if hit is gwine ter hev de hives dey will break out on +hit. I alays hev my own catnip en sheep balls foh sum cases need one +kind of tea en sum ernother. I give sink field tea ter foh de colic. Hit +is jes good fuh young baby's stomach. I'se been granning foh nigh unter +forty year en I'se only lost two babies, dat war born erlive. One of +dese war de white man's fault, dis baby war born wid de jaundice en I +tolds dis white man ter go ter de store en git me sum calomel en he +says, "whoeber heard of givin a baby sech truck", an so dat baby died. + +"Of course youse can tell wheder the baby is gwine ter be a boy er girl +fore tis born. If de mother carries dat child more on de left en high up +dat baby will be a boy en if she carries hit more ter de middle dat will +be a girl. Mothers oughter be more careful while carrying dar chilluns +not ter git scared of enthing foh dey will sho mark dar babies wid +turrible ugly things. I knows once a young wooman war expecting en she +goes black-berry hunting en er bull cow wid long horns got after her en +she was so scairt dat she threw her hands ober her head en wen dat baby +boy war born he hed to nubs on his head jes like horns beginning ter +grow so I'se hed her call her doctor en dey cuts dem off. One white +wooman I'se waited on like hot choclate en she alays wanted more she +neber hed nuff of dat stuff en one day she spills sum on her laig en it +jes splotched en burned her en wen dat gal war born she hed a big brown +spot on her laig jes like her Mammy's scar frum de burn. Now you see I +noes yer ken mark de babies. + +"Dar war a colored wooman once I'se waited on dat hed to help de white +folks kill hogs en she neber did like hog liver but de white folks told +her ter take one home en fix hit foh her supper. Well she picked dat +thing up en started off wid hit en hit made her feel creepy all ober en +dat night her baby war born a gal child en de print of er big hog-liver +war standing out all ober one side of her face. Dat side of her face is +all blue er purplish en jes the shape of a liver. En hits still dar. + +"I'se grannied ober three hundred chilluns en I noes wat I'se talking +about. + +"Hee! Hee! Hee! One day dar war a circus in Hopkinsville en er black +wooman I'se war ergoing ter wait on war on de street to watch foh de +parade en wid de bands er playing en de wild varmits en things dis woman +give birth ter dat girl chile on de corner of Webber and Seventh St. Dat +gal sho got er funny name 'Es-pe-cu-liar'. (I did not get the drift of +the story so I asked her what was so funny about the name. Of course it +is a name I have never heard before so the following is what the girls +Mother said about it to Aunt Easter. M.D. Hanbery) + +"Well the gals Mammy thought hit war jes peculiar dat, dat happened wen +she war er looking at the parade. (So this woman Especuliar is still in +Hopkinsville and her story is known in quite a few of the older +circles.) + +"Yah! Yah! I sho remember how de ole folks uster dress. De women wore +hop skirts en de men wore tight breeches. De night gowns war made on er +yoke aufull full en big long sleeves wid a cuff at de hand en a deep hem +at de bottom of de gown, dese gowns war made of domestic en wen dey war +washed en starched en ironed dey wur be so stiff dey could stand +erlone." De men en de women both wore night caps. If de gown war a dress +up gown why dey war home made knit en crochet lace in de front en lots +en lots of tucks some of dem had deep ruffles on dem at the bottom. + +"Wen my Pappy kum home from de war, he war on de "Govmint" side he brung +a pistol back wid him dat shot a ball dey hed caps on hit en used dese +in de war. De Ku Klux jum after him one night en he got three of dem wid +dis pistol, nobody eber knowed who got dose Kluxes. + + +Ghosts---- + +"Sho dar is ghosts. One night es I war going home from work de tallest +man I eber seed followed me wid de prettiest white shirt on en den he +passed me, en waited at de corner I war a feeling creepy en wanter run +but jes couldn't git my laigs ter move en wen I'se git ter de corner war +he war I said 'Good Ebening' en I seed him plain es day en de did not +speak en jes disappeared right fore my eyes. + +"Den ergin I went ter de fish pond one day fishing en cotched two or +three big fish wen I went home thot I'd go back dat night en I begun to +dig sum fishing worms en my boss he saw me en axed, 'Wot I doing'. I +told him I war ergoing ter de pond ter fish dat night. He said 'don you +go ter dat pond ternight Easter foh if you does something will run you +erway.' I jes laughed at him en dat night I en my boy wese goes ter de +pond en as we war er standing in dar quiet like we heared something +squeeching like er new saddle en er horses er trotting. We listened en +waited wen something wen inter dat pond right twixt us liker er ball er +fire. Weums sho did leave dar an de next morning my boss axed me if we +cotched enthing en we told him wot we saw en he said he knowed weums +would be run erway foh he war run erway hisself. + +"Course dar is hainted houses dese haints in dese places jes wont leave +you erlone. Wen I'se war er living in Princeton, Uncle Lige my Mammy's +brother en I'se moved in er cabin one Christmas day en war ergoing ter +stay dar en dat night we war er setting bore de fire en de fire light +war es bright as day, wen I looks up at de wall foh I hears er +scratching noise en dar war er big white cat on de wall wid all he's +hair standing on dat cat jos jumps from wall ter de nother en Uncle Lige +en me jes open dat cabin door en started ter de tother cabins on de +place en we deed dat thing dat war bigger den eny cat I eber seed jes +come thru dat door in de air en hit de front gate, dis gate hed er iron +weight on hit so hit would stay shot en dis thing hit at de top den wen +erway. No I neber seed whar hit went. Dis gate jes banged en banged all +night. We could heat from de tother cabin. Uncle Liga en me moved erway +next day en other people moved in dis cabin en dey saw de same thing en +nobody would stay dar. Dem some time after dis diz cabin war torn down. + +"Once I hed a dream I knowed I ner bout saw hit. I alays did cook ebery +night er pot er beans on de fire foh de chilluns ter eat next day while +I war at work en Lizzie my daughter uster git up in de night en git her +some beans en eat dem en dis dream war so real dat I couldn't tell if +hit war Lizzie er no but dis wooman jes glided by my bed en went afore +de fire en stood dar den she jes went twixt my bed en went by de wall. I +jes knowed wen I woke up dat my child was sick dat lived erway from home +en wanted my son ter take me ter see her. He said he would go hisself en +see so he wen en wen he come back he hed a headache en fore morning dat +nigger war dead. So you see dat war de sign of da dream. I war jes +warned in de dream en didn't hev sense nuff ter know hit." + + + +[Story of Uncle Dick:] + + +Uncle Dick, a negro servant of one of the Hendersons, was the fiddler +of the neighborhood at weddings, husking parties and dances. Dick's +presence was essential. Uncle Dick was fully aware of his own +importance, and in consequence assumed a great deal of dignity in his +bearing. Before setting out he always dressed himself with the greatest +nicety. At the appointed time he was at the place with all the weight of +his dignity upon him. Woe to the "darkies" who violated any of the laws +of etiquette in his presence. + +On a certain evening there was to be a grand wedding festival among the +colored gentry on a farm about 6 miles from Uncle Dick's residence. He +was, of course called upon to officiate as master of ceremonies. He +donned his long-tailed blue coat, having carefully polished the +glittering gilt buttons; then raised his immense shirt collar, which he +considered essential to his dignity, and, fiddle in hand, sallied forth +alone. The younger folk had set out sometime before; but Uncle Dick was +not to be hurried out of his dignity. + +The narrow path led, for the greater part of the way, through a dense +forest, which was as wild as when roamed by the Indians. A heavy snow +lay on the ground, on which the moonbeams were shining whenever they +could force a passage through the trees. + +The dreary solitude of the way made no impression on the mind of Uncle +Dick. He was anxiously hurrying on to reach the scene of operation, +having spent a little too much time in polishing his gilt buttons. + +On he dashed, heedless of the black shadows and hideous night cries of +the deep forest. Wolves were howling around him; but he paid no +attention to sounds so common, thinking only of the feet that were +waiting his arrival to be set in motion. + +Soon, however, the howling began to approach nearer than was agreeable, +The wolves continued to become more and more noisy, till, to his +indescribable horror, he heard them on each side of the crackling +bushes. + +Very soon the woods seemed to the old man to be alive with the yelling +pack. Wolves are cautious about attacking human beings; they usually +require some little time to work themselves up to the point. Every few +moments a dark object would brush past poor old Dick's legs with a +snapping sound like that of a steel trap, while the yelling and +crackling increased with terrible rapidity. + +Dick new that to run would mean instant death, as the cowardly pack +would all rush on him the moment he showed fear. His only chance of +safety consisted in preserving the utmost coolness. A short distance +before him lay some open ground; and he hoped that on reaching this they +would leave him, as they do not like to make an attack in such a place. + +He remembered, too, that in the middle of the open space there stood an +old cabin, in which he might be able to find refuge. But now the wolves +rushed at him more and more boldly, snapping in closer and closer +proximity to his legs. + +Snap! Snap! Nearer and nearer! Instinctively he thrust out his fiddle at +them. The jarring of the strings made than leap back. Hope returned. He +drew his hand violently across the strings--twang, twang! Instantly the +wolves sprang back as if he had fired a gun among them. + +He was now at the edge of the open space. He twanged his fiddle--the +wolves recoiled. Dick rushed toward the hut with all his speed, raking +the strings more violently at every jump, till they rang again. + +The astonished wolves paused for a moment on the edge of the open +ground, with tails between their legs. But the sight of his flying form +renewed their savage instincts. With a loud burst of yells they darted +after him at full speed. He reached the hut just as the jaws of the +foremost wolf opened to seize him. + +He rushed in, and the closing door dashed against the nose of the +nearest beast. The door was too rickety to keep the enemy out; but Dick +had time to push himself through the broken roof and get on top of the +cabin. The wolves were now furious. Rushing into the hut, they jumped +and snapped at him, so that Dick almost felt their teeth. It required +the greatest activity to keep his legs out of their reach. + +Notwithstanding his agonizing terror, he still clung to his fiffle. Now, +in desperation, as he was kicking his feet in the air to avoid their +steel like fangs, he drew his bow shrieking across the strings. The +yells instantly ceased. Dick continued to make the most frightful spasms +of sound, but the wolves could not long endure bad fiddling. As soon as +the first surprise was over the attack was renewed more furiously than +ever. + +A monstrous head was now thrust up between the boards of the roof, only +a few inches from Dick. He gave himself up for lost. But the excess of +terror seemed to stimulate him, so that almost of their own accord his +fingers began to play "Yankee-Doodle." Instantly there was complete +silence! The silence continued as long as he continued to play; but the +moment he ceased the listeners again became furious, and rushed on with +increased ferocity. + +Uncle Dick's pride as a fiddler was flattered. He entered for awhile +completely into the spirit of the thing. But never before had he played +to an audience so fond of music. They permitted no pause. His enthusiasm +began to give way to cold and fatigue. He was tired to death and almost +frozen. + +What was to be done? There sat the listeners with tongues lolling and +ears pricked up, allowing not a moments pause, but demanding an +uninterrupted stream of music. Several weary hours passed, and Uncle +Dick was almost exhausted. + +But all this while the wedding company had been anxiously expecting +their musician. Becoming at last impatient or alarmed, some of them set +out in search for him. They found him on top of the hut, still sawing +away for for life. The wolves were driven away and Uncle Dick was +relieved from his unwilling efforts to charm listeners who got more +music than they paid for. + + +Last Wolf: [HW: KY4] + +On January 20, 1910, a famous gray wolf was seen in Christian County and +killed by a man named Tyler. This wolf seemed to be the last wolf seen +in this County. It had terrorized the farmers in the Sinking Fork +neighborhood, and a party organized by Charles L. Dade formed to hunt +and kill this wolf which was done on the above date. The wolf measured +48 inches from tip to tip and stood 24 inches high. + + +Negro Holiness Meetings: + +Once a year a group of 200 or 300 negroes give a religious Camp Meeting +in a field on the Canton Pike about one mile southeast of Hopkinsville. +There is quite a settlement of negroes call themselves or their church +the Holiness Church. They claim to be sanctified and cannot sin. A few +nights ago I was invited to attend one of these meetings, the negroes +reserve some benches under the tent for white people. + +The night that I attended there were two preachers and it seems as +though it is the duty of these preachers to bring their discourse to +such a point as to play on the emotions of their congregation. The order +of service begun with a hymn by the choir. The music for this consisted +of a piano, banjo guitar and numerous tambourines. The negroes being +naturally born with a great sense of rhythm the songs were not in the +same tempo as the songs of the whites but were of a jazz tempo and with +the banjo and tambourines it makes one think of the stories of the +African jungles. The services start around 7:30 P.M. and usually break +up around midnight. + +The negroes in about one hour after the services start being[TR: begin?] +to testify and then after each testimony someone offers a prayer then by +this time someone in the congregation will be worked up to the pitch of +shouting "Glory Hallelulah". "When this shout starts the tambourine +players will begin shaking the tambourines and shortly the majority of +the congregation would be shouting, moaning or praying. The tambourines +players bounce around in time to the music. There were some excellent +untrained voices, in the choir and the congregation. The mourners bench +was always full of mourners and when one of the Mourners would begin to +shout the "Workers" would then let the congregation know that this +brother or sister had repented by saying "Lets pray for Bro. or Sister +----, for he or she had "Come Through". The congregation would begin +clapping their hands while this prayer was in progress and general +moanings with one or both of the preachers praying at the same time why +this brother or sister is taken in to the flock to sin no more. + +While the above is in progress there are other workers talking and +singing to the rest of the mourners and when two or three "Come Through" +at once there is great shouting rejoicing, clapping of hands and the +tambourines continue to clang and the choir members dance and this +process continues for hours or until the preachers become so exausted +with their exhortations and contortions that the meeting is adjourned. + + +Superstitions of the Negro Race: + +In interviewing the different negroes in this community I have not found +a single negro that could admit if I asked the direct question that they +are the least bit superstitious. The following story happened in my +experience with this race about ten years ago. + +Fifteen years ago I purchased a farm from the estate of a gentleman that +had committed suicide. It seems as though the gentleman took his gun and +told the family that he was going to the tobacco barn to shoot rats. +This barn was located a short distance from the main dwelling on the +farm and then on the other side of this barn were three negro tenant +houses. + +My first trouble with negroes superstition was to get a tenant to +inhabit the house nearest the barn. This cabin was in better repair and +larger than the other two cabins and the hardest thing to do was to get +a tenant or negro cropper to take this cabin. + +They would give every excuse imaginable but the direct answer until +finally one man I was trying to make a trade with admitted that "De +cabin war ter clos ter de barn Mr. ---- killed himself in." Finally I +prevailed on this man to move in by giving him a different garden spot, +hog-pen and cowpen as these were still nearer the barn. In fact I moved +those buildings thinking I would have an easier time gettin a tenant the +next year. + +Everything went along beautifully until time came to House the tobacco +and not a negro cropper would use this barn for his tobacco. So I had my +individual crop housed in this barn. As the type of tobacco mostly grown +at that time was bark fired someone had to stay at the barn night and +day to attend the fires and watch that a stick of tobacco did not drop +in the blaze and burn the barn and contents. As long as my husband or +myself stayed in or around the barn we did not have trouble with these +darkies but sometimes it to attend to other matters on this farm and had +to leave a hired negro in charge and as soon as we would get out of +sight of the barn the negro would desert his post. It became evident +that one or the other of us stay at this barn night and day until firing +season was over. The same thing happened when the stripping season +began. These conditions continued until a wind storm blew this barn +down. Still I hoard some of the negroes express their thoughts. + +Mr. G---- sho had no tention of dat barn standing. I had the tenants +separate this lumber for different uses on the farm and the scrap lumber +was to be taken to the cabin or the main dwelling to be used as +kindling and not a negroe would use this kindling. One negro a tall +black man around seventy years old said, "No dat wood wont burn". I +asked, "Why"? He said, "Mr. G---- would sho hant me if I teched a single +piece of dat wood ter burn." So naturally the main dwelling had a +bountiful supply of kindling. + +This farm was watered by a big spring and branch that ran along behind +the stables and near this particular barn and this branch run into a big +sink hole and then through a small crevice underground. Once cold and +disagreeable winter something blocked this crevice and the waters soon +overflowed the sink hole and extended all over the lowlands near. The +winter was severely cold and this water began to moderate and a light +drizzle of rain was falling and most of the tenants on the farm had +retired for the night when suddenly this ice on the stream broke up and +in some manner the crevice had been opened and the sound from this water +going in its course underground was terrific. My family as well as +myself were very much frightened. No one can imagine the commotion that +existed at the cabins on the tenant row near the stream. Negroes poured +from the cabins in all manners of dress or undress even the cold weather +did not tempt them to take time to don shoes and hose but came to the +back door of my house some crying and moaning and praying, and if there +is such a thing as a pale negro these darkies were certainly pale, eyes +rolling and the majority of them wanting to leave the farm before +daybreak or by that time anyway or else staying in our home all night. +Fires were made in the kitchen and they congregated there and most of +them remained there all night. One old negro said or acted as spokesman +for the crowd. "Dat all this crowd of niggers need dat Mr. G---- was +afer dem and meant foh dem to move or git." + +My husband took one or two of the older men with lanterns and made an +investigation. When they reached the branch the overflow was gone and +there was no evidence that there had been any water over these fields +except for the large blocks of ice that was lying in the field. + +With much persuading and cajoling the majority of these negroes went to +their cabins that night and the most skeptical stayed in my kitchen all +the rest of the night. But peace and quiet reigned once more and from +that day as long as these tenants remained with me I did not have any +trouble with them being superstitious but each time the tenants were +changed the same superstitions had to be met with and their fears had to +be quieted. + + +Negro Folk Songs: (Contributed by William Warfield, Col.) + +These songs more commonly called plantation melodies, originated with +the negroes of the South during the days of slavery. They habe been +somewhat collected and written about. + +These songs have for the Negro the same value that the folk songs of any +people have for that people. In the days of slavery they furnished an +outlet for aching hearts and anguished souls. Today they help to foster +race pride and to remind the race of the "rock from which it was hewn". +Some of these folk songs represented the lighter side of the slave's +life, as for example, + + "Heave away! Heave away! + I'd rudder co't a yallar gal + Dan work foh Henry Clay + Heave away, yaller gal, I want to go." + +or: + + "Ole Massa take dat new brown coat, + And hang it on de wall; + Dat darkey take dat same old coat, + And wear it to de ball, + Oh, don't you hear my tru lub sing?" + +It was in their religious song, however that they poured out their +souls. Three things are especially emphasized in these song. First this +life is full of sorrow or trouble: + + "Nobody knows da truble I sees, + Nobody but Jesus." + +Second, religion is the best thing in the world. It enables you, though +a slave, to have joy of the soul, to endure the trials. Future life is +happy and eternal: + + "We'll walk dem golden streets, + We'll walk dem golden streets, + We'll walk dem golden streets, + Wear pleasure nebber dies." + +or: + + "Oh! I'se a-gwine to lib always, + Oh! I'se a-gwine to lib always, + Oh! I'se a-gwine to lib always, + Wen I git in de kingdom." + + + +Annie Morgan: + + +Story of Annie Morgan: (age 65, 207 W. 2nd St., Hopkinsville, Ky.) Annie +was born of slave parents. Her mother and father were slaves of the +Payne family. + +Ques: Annie can you give me or rather tell me of some of your earlier +life with your parents, or what your mother and father has told you of +things before and after the Civil War. + +Ans: Wal, wal, I do declare it has ben so long I'se jes don't remember. +I'se seem to remember de big days we uster hav on Proclamation Day wen +we used ter go to Grandmums who lived in Trigg County. Foh days befur +weuns would git redy ter go in a wagon and as dar was a heap of chilluns +it tuk quite a time an weuns would start by day break and dem wen we got +dar why all de rest of the daughters en sons of dar chilluns was alredy +that, den weun's hev a big time wid watermullins and ebything good to +eat. Some times Uncle Ben brot hid bajo and us chilluns would dance. + +Ques: Annie did you ever have a dream to come true? Or do you believe in +dreams? + +Ans: Sho does, sho does, why chile all my dream come true. I recollect +one wen my son was sick, I felt he wont gwine to git well. I asked him, +"Was he right with God", he says, "Dar is nuthin between me and de +Lawd". Den afterwards, I begin to worry gin about dis boy, I prays "De +Lawd" and ax him ter let me drem a drem bout him an nite time I did, I +could see dis boy jist as plaincrossing "Judgment Stream" and I says to +him in my drem, I say, "You come my son, he's crossin Judgment Stream, I +says ter ole man go in and hep him" and my son says to me, "I'm crossing +Judgment Stream, Mammy, and I got to cross it myself". I says "I no you +are cold now". I dreamed I spread a rug round him den he disappeared, +inter de building, by dat time I woke up so happy. Oh, Lawd, ter no my +boy was in Heben. I am sho I would not dremed dat drem unless "De Lawd" +tended me ter no my boy was saved. I sho nos dis boy is in Heben. + +"Wen me an my man was married all de colored folks in the neighborhood +come to ma's and weums my husband and me jumped o'er the broom stick an +we was been married, ebery since. In dese days hit were too far ter go +git a preacher an most colored folks married dat way." + + + +Story of Cora Torian: (217 W. 2nd St., Hopkinsville, Ky.--Age 71.) + + +Bell Childress, Cora's Mother, was a slave of Andrew Owen. He purchased +Belle Childress in the Purchase and brought her to Christian County. +Cora was born in Christian County on Mr. Owen's farm and considered +herself three years old at the end of the Civil War. She told me as +follows: + +"I has dreamed of fish and dat is a sure sign dat I would git a piece of +money, an I always did. Dreamed of buggy and horse an it was a sign of +death in family and I no's hits tru. Dream of de ded hit always rains. +My Mistus and Marster fed and clothed us good and we lived in a little +log cabin of one room and cooked on an open fire. Some Marsters wud +whoop ther slaves til the blood would run down daw backs dese slaves +would run away sometimes den sum would come to Ise Marse and would have +to send dem back to dar own marsters and how my ole marster hated to see +dem go. + +"I hang horse shoes oer my door to keep the Evil Spirits away. My Mammy +always wore and ole petticoat full gather at de waist band wid long +pockets in dem and den to keep peace in de house she would turn de +pocket wrong side out jes as she would go to somebodys elses house. + +"I sho do no dar is ghosts, I seed one oncet hit was a man wid no head +on standin in my house and pullin the crammin out of de house and puttin +hit on de table. Oooh I no's dat is so cause I seed hit wid my own eyes. + +"My Mammy had a woman dat lived wid us and she died, and sometimes +afterwards, she called me and I looked in de room and dis woman was +sitting on de side of de bed and wen i spoke to her she slowly ris up +and went thru a crack about two inches wide. now dats a fak! + +"Humph, no I'se not gwine ter go near no hainted house, much less stay +in one. I'se scairt. + +"Hee, hee, sho you can find things by spitting in yer han and de way the +spit goes if youse will go dar you will be sho to find hit. + +"Aint got no time for fortune tellers, don believe in dem, day don't do +nuthin. + +"Wen de moon changes if youse see hit thru de bresh you sho will have +bad luck, but if youse sees hit and nuthin to hinder youse from lookin +at hit straight and make a wish it who will come true. I'se no's cause +my son was way down South an I woant to seed him and I looks at de moon +and hit was changing and I wished de would come home and looked up de +road and "Lawd daw he were. + +"Youse plants de pertatoes by de moon. Irish pertatoes planted on de +light of de moon will go ter vine and der neber will be a tater on de +vine. If youse plant dem by de dark of de moon yourall's pertatoes will +be plentiful. + +"If youse maks soap it must be made by de light of de moon or de soap +will all turn to grease. + +"If youse sneeze wen you eats you will shorely die. + +"If youse see a blue gummed negro be shore one don bite you foh dey are +shore pizenous. + +"If youse have yer year to ring, sho sing of death. + +"Move on Friday, "Good Lawd No", youse would sho have bad luck. + +"One tru sign of death, if a dog howls at midnight, you will sho to die. +If you dreams of you teeth falling out is a tru sign of death and if +youse dreams of a marriage is nuther tru sign of death. + +"If I dream of a naked purson I'se is sho to die. No cat mus come in wen +dar is a ded body for de cat will sho eat de body. + +"If a cat crosses youse path to de left some kind of bad luck is sho to +overtake on yer journey. + +"If a peckerwood pecks on de roof of youse house you will sho lose some +member of youse family. Dey is pizen. + +"No I'se jes ter scairt ter go whar day call up Spirits." + + + +Tale of Mary Wooldridge: (Clarksville Pike--Age about 103.) + + +"Mary and her twin sister were slaves born in Washington County, +Kentucky, near Lexington, belonging to Bob Eaglin. When Mary was about +fourteen years old she and her sister was brought to the Lexington slave +market and sold and a Mr. Lewis Burns of the same County purchased her. +Mary doesn't know what became of her sister. Five or six years later she +was again put on the block and sold to a Negro Trader but Mary does not +remember this traders name. While here she was kept in a stockade and it +was several years before she again was bought by a white man. Mr. Thomas +McElroy near Lexington bought her and she remained his slave until the +slaves were freed. Mary looks her age. She is a tall gaunt black Negro +with white hair about one inch long and very kinky, and still she +dresses as the older slave woman dressed in the past days. She wears an +old bodice with a very full skirt that comes to her ankles and this +skirt has very long deep pockets and when I asked her why she had such +pockets in her skirt her answer was, "Wal you sees honey I jes am used +ter dis dress and thar is no way foh youse to had me git shud of hit, +dese pockets is powerful venient foh weh I goes inter some ones house +why I turns dose pockets wrong side out and dat always brings me good +luck. + +Mary contends that she always wears three petticoats. + +"Marse Thamos lived in a big log house wid a big plantation all around +hit. He had three hundred slaves on de two plantations. Marse Thamos sho +was good ter us niggers. No nigger mus whoop his stock wid a switch. +"I'se heared him say many time don't youse niggers whoop dese mules. How +would you like to have me whoop you det way?" And he sho would whoop dem +dem niggers if he cotched dem. Lawd have mercy who whould haw thot I'd +be here all dis time. I'd thot I'd be ded and gone. All dese ole niggers +try to be so uppity by jes bein raised in de house and cause dey was why +dey think is Quality. Some of dese nigger gals was raised in de house +but most of dem was made work ebery whar on de plantation. My Massa has +his nigger gals to lay fence worms, mak fences, shuck corn, hoe corn en +terbacco, wash, iron, and de missus try to teach de nigger gals to sew +and knit. But shucks niggers aint got no sense nuf ter do fancy things. +Sometimes I tended de chilluns. + +"Yah, yah, I sho do member Abraham Lincoln. My Missus and Massa did not +like Mr. Lincoln, but pshaw, all de niggers did. I member him, I seed +him once, soon after I was freed. + +"Pshaw, dey was hard times durin de war, my Missus and sum of de nigger +gals and de chilluns hae to stay in the woods several days ter keep way +from de soldiers. Dey eat all de chickens and kilt the cows and tuk de +horses and we sho scairt out dar wid dem varmints roving roun. + +"Nigger aint got no business being sot free, niggers still oughter be +slaves. Us niggers did not hev to bother bout de victuals sor nuthin. + +"Wen my Missis called us niggers gether and told us we was free I was as +happy as a skinned frog but you seed I didn't have any sense. All +niggers are fools. Now she says, she did, you can all stay here en work +en we will pay you foh your work, or you can work foh some body else, +but I hev raised you hones, and don't you steal, and work foh nuf money +so you wont hev to steal it if youse gits hongry and haint got no money +to buy vittals jus you ask de white folks foh hit and dey will giv hit +to youse. Oh how I miss my Missis and Massa so much. Wish I hed dem now. + +"Shucks on dese niggers and dar ways now. I lef de plantation my old +Missus and Massa home and got on a steam boat on de Ohio Ribber and +nursed de chillun foh de Captain and he's wife on dat boat foh about two +year. An den He, He, He, a nigger don got much sense, Miss Fannie an Mr. +Harry Campbell whot paid me foh my work on de boat gives Five Dollars +foh de work en I'se didn't hev sense nuf ter know what ter do wid dis +money. So I goes ter de store en buys me a cedar tub and filled hit wid +candy. Miss Fannie gave me back de money foh de tub an den I ate nuf +candy ter git sick and den Miss Fannie took de candy back to de store +and she got my money back, she did. + +"But shucks, I did not no whot ter do wid de money. Wen I lef Miss +Fannie I rode to Henderson on a log raft en wen I got dar dey was a big +circus and sum one was sayin, "de perade be here directly, He, He, He, I +didn't no whot dey meant, big ignorant fool dat I was and still is, en +wen I seed de elephants and de uther varmints I ran like a big pop-eyed +fool nigger cause I never seed such things. Dat day on de road in town I +met my ole Missus McElroy en she had me ter help her wid de chilluns and +tuk me ter de circus and wen I got in de tent and saw all de cages and +things I was sho scairt of ebery thing till I seed dem babboons dem I +felt all right and at home cause I jes knowed dey was my first cousins. +I stayed in Henderson foh sometime working foh furst one and tother en +den Mr. Henry Shackleford hired me en brung me to Christian County. Not +long fore I was married ter Albert Wooldridge we sho had a big wedding. +Zack Major a nigger preacher of de Baptist faith did de ceremony right +here in Hopkinsville. + +"Yes, sho I has ben a mid-wife or granny. All dese high falutin things +dey is doin now in child birth is tommy-rot dey oughter hev jes grannies +now. I livered more babies den most doctors sometimes de white folks had +doctors but I don't take no stock in dese doctors. De furst thing you +does wen a new baby is born is ter let hit lay twenty minutes den cut de +cord and dan grease a scortched rag wid lard jes hog lard en den put de +belly band on den grease de baby all over. Neber wash de baby till tis +over a week ole. Wen de babies had colic I'd take dirt dobber nest and +make a tea, den giv did ter de baby. Sometimes If I couldn't fin no dirt +dobber nes I would git a spider web and make a tea den giv dis or else +jes shake de baby by de heels. If folks would tend ter babies like dey +uster why dese people now wouldn't hev heart trouble. + +"Sho I seed a ghost once, I soed Miss Annie Wooldridge after she died up +here on Main St. I was jes settin on de back porch steps jes a lookin +while da white folks was er eatin supper. Miss Annie allways got de eggs +en I seed her dat day. She jes come thru de hen house door en hit was +locked en den thru de pantry door and hit was locked en I jes called her +daughter and I knowed I seed her, sho, I did, it who was Miss Annie. + +"Of course dar is hanted houses. De ole Sharp house were dat er way and +all de Sharps were ded but dis house were empty. You neber did see +anything but I sho had heared de doors slam en de silver rattle en at +night in my cabin near to hit I'd sees lights bob up en down. Any body +in dis town can tell you dats so foh dey tore dis house down ter run de +hants eraway. + +"People don bother bout de moon much now but if dey would lissen ter de +ole niters dey would always hev good crops. Now if you plant pertatoes +by de dark of de moon you will always hev good crops en if you plant dem +on de light of de moon den you hes all vine. Corn planted on de light de +moon den you has a good crop. I'se knows cause I ken member fore de +niggers wore freed you could jes plant by de moon and plant anything in +God's ground en by de moon en de crops would grow. Now dey jes buther up +God's ground en put ole stinky messy fertilizer on hit en de crops jes +burn up. Nobody oughter mess wid God's ground. + +"I'se a Publican who ever heared of a Democrat nigger. Nigger neber did +own enything so dey cant be Democrats en if dey vote a Democrat ticket +dey is jes votin a lie. Cause no nigger neber did own slaves only the +old nigger slave traders and dey werent nuthin but varmints anyway. Ye +jes has to hev owned slaves to vote a Democrat ticket en den no nigger +eber did own slaves er hed nothing." + +(Mary lives in Clarksville, Pike R.R. #1, Hopkinsville, Kentucky) + + + + +CALDWELL CO. +(Mary E. O'Malley) [HW: Ky 6] + + +Coal Mine Slaves: In 1836 large numbers of slaves were brought into +Caldwell and worked by the owners of the ore mines, which necessitated +extra patrols, interfered with local workmen, and so on. The taxpayers +complained to the Legislature and an extra tax was allowed to be levied +for the benefit of the county. In other books we find that the owners of +the slaves who worked in these mines was President Andrew Jackson who +brought his slaves from Nashville to the iron and lead mines in Caldwell +and Crittenden counties; he is said to have made several trips himself +to these mines. + + +The Missing Man: + +"In 1860 Mr. Jess Stevens owned a negro slave, and his wife. Jess +Williams, who lived in the north end of the county, bought the old +slave, but did not buy his wife. + +"One day one of Jess William's boys went to Edward Stevens and an +argument followed, causing Mr. Stevens to shoot him in the arm. Later +Jess Williams took the old negro and went to the field where Edward +Stevens and the boy were planting corn. They hid behind a tree and the +negro was given the gun and was told to shoot when Stevens came down the +road by them. + +"He came by slowly covering corn but the negro did not shoot. Williams +said, "Why didn't you shoot?" and the negro replied, "Massie, I just +didn't have da heart." Williams said, "If you don't shoot next time, I'm +going to shoot you." When Stevens started by the negro shot and killed +him, tearing his hoe handle into splinters. + +One day a salesman, who rode a fine horse and had a beautiful saddle +came to Princeton and later went to the Williams home. Several days +later his people got anxious about him, and after checking up they found +that he was last seen going into the Williams home. Several days later +his people found his hat floating upon a pond near the house, and a few +weeks later one of the Williams boys came to town riding the saddle that +the salesman had ridden a few months before. + +The old negro slave went to Mr. Stevens to visit his wife, and while he +and Mr. Stevens were in the field a spy was hidden in the ambush +listening to the conversation about the salesman. When the old slave +returned home he was tied to the tail of a young mule, which was turned +loose in a new ground and was dragged, bruised and almost killed. Edward +Williams, son of Jess Williams, found the old slave and cut him loose. +His father and brother found it out and started out to hunt him, +intending to kill him, but he managed to dodge them. + +Mr. Jess Stevens was walking along a path the next morning and heard a +mournful groan, and after looking for awhile found the old slave. The +worms had eaten his face[HW:?] and he was almost dead. The people +brought him to the courthouse and began ringing the bell to let the +people know that some injustice had been done. When one became tired +another took his place. The bell rang both night and day until most of +the citizens of the county came to see what was wrong. A number of men +went in daytime, without mask or disguise, to the Williams home and hung +Jess Williams. They intended to hang the two boys but they got away. + + + + +BALLARD CO. +(J.R. Wilkerson) [HW: Ky 7] + +[Tinie Force and Elvira Lewis:] + + +During the period of slavery in the Purchase Region, buying and selling +slaves was carried on at irregular intervals. The trading usually took +place at the home of the slave owner. The prices paid for slaves was +dependent upon certain conditions. In case of a full grown, robust negro +boy the price was sometimes as much as one thousand dollars. The prices +paid was varied according to the age, the general health and other +conditions of the individual. + +At times pathetic scenes prevailed in the selling of slaves; namely, the +separation of mother and child. Often, a boy or girl would be sold and +taken away from his or her mother. In many cases the parting would be +permanent and the child and its mother would never see each other again. + +The slave owner maintained separate housing quarters for his slaves. In +some cases the living quarters of slaves was comfortable and agreeable; +in other cases, living conditions of slaves was anything but agreeable; +Some masters were reasonably gentle to their slaves, while others were +cruel. + +One of the saddest, darkest and most pathetic conditions that existed +during the period of slavery was the intimate mingling of slave owners, +in fact many white men, with negro women. It has become known that very +often a slave was sold who was the direct offspring of his or her owner. +This practice prevailed to some extent in the Purchase Region, but was +not universal. When the emancipation proclamation became effective and +the slaves were given freedom, some of them prefered to remain with +their masters, while others started out into the world for themselves. +Very often, some of the slaves, who had anticipated that liberty meant +more to them than anything else, and who went out into the cold world of +indifference, soon returned to their old masters. They found that their +former home was a much better place to abode than anything outside of +it. + + +Recreations of slaves: + +The following is an old fashion ballad that was sung during the period +of slavery and which was very common throughout the Purchase Region: +"Jeff Davis rode a big white horse, but Lincoln rode a mule--Jeff Davis +was a fine, smart man, and Lincoln was a fool. Jeff Davis had a fine +white; Lincoln only had a mule--Jeff Davis was a wonderful man and +Lincoln was a fool". + +Ring dancing was largely practiced during the slavery period. Especially +was this participated in throughout the Purchase Region. This was a +rather primative kind of dancing and was performed mostly by negro +children. The general procedure was to draw a ring on the ground, +ranging from 15 to 30 feet in diameter. The size of the ring to be used +was determined by the number of persons who were engaged in the dancing +ring. The youngsters would congregate within the ring and dance to the +rhythmic hand clapping and rhythm of the tambourine, which was performed +by the white people in the community. + +Sometimes large congregations witnessed these primitive affairs, and +they became a great Saturday evening entertainment for the community at +large. During the periods of intermission, the youngsters, who had +engaged in the dancing would be given a kind of feast on barbecued meat +and cider drinking. At the conclusion of this brief festivity, they +would continue in their dancing, and very often this hilarity would be +carried on well into the evening. + +Another kind of entertainment, which was practiced during the period of +slavery, was the singing of negro folk songs and spirituals. The darkies +would hold gatherings of this kind at the homes of individuals or +members, and engage in singing their favorite songs. These singings were +generally held during the evenings, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, +and not only afforded a favorite pass time for the darkies; but also for +white people. Most always, the singings were attended by a large +audience of white people, men, women and children. Those gatherings grew +with increasing popularity, until they became one of the most favorite +classes of amusement. + +Also, the darkies were very fond of sports, such as were common to the +period, and many of them were very dexterous in the leading sports of +the day. One of the most common of those was hurdle racing. Here, the +contestants would leap over hurdles that were placed at regular +intervals apart. At time, numerous participants would engage in these +races, and the sport would extend over the entire day. There was a kind +of jumping too, which was called hurtling. In the sport, the contestants +made use of a hurtling pole, which was a small rigid-pole about 12 feet +in length. The jumper would take a long running start, which would +enable him to take on additional momentum; and with the assistance of +the hurtling pole, would leap over a hurdle that was placed a +considerable elevation above the ground. The chief object in this kind +of jumping was leaping over a high hurdle. The contestant, who made the +highest leap, was awarded the highest honors of the contest. A second, +third and fourth honors were awarded too. + +Another kind of contest was called "A free for all". Here a ring was +drawn on the ground which ranged from about 15 ft. to 30 ft. in diameter +depending on the number of contestants who engaged in the combat. Each +participant was given a kind of bag that was stuffed with cotton and +rags into a very compact mass. When so stuffed, the bags would weigh on +an average of 10 pounds, and was used by the contestants in striking +their antagonist. Each combatant picked whichever opponent he desired +and attempted to subdue him by pounding him over the head with the bag, +which he used as his weapon of defense. And which was used as an +offending weapon. The contest was continued in this manner till every +combatant was counted out, and a hero of the contest proclaimed. Some +times two contestants were adjudged heroes, and it was necessary to run +a contest between the two combatants before a final hero could be +proclaimed. Then the two antagonist would stage a battle royal and would +continue in the conflict till one was proclaimed victorious. + +Sometimes these Free-For-All battles were carried on with a kind of +improvised boxing gloves, and the contests were carried on in the same +manner as previously described. Very often, as many as 30 darkies of the +most husky type were engaged in these battles, and the contests were +generally attended by large audiences. Being staged during the period of +favorable weather, and mostly on Saturday afternoon; these physical +exhibitions were the scenes of much controversial conflict, gambling, +excessive inebriation and hilarity. + +Banjo and guitar playing were practiced by the many darkies of the +slavery period also. These were on the order of concerts; and many +darkies although they had no scientific training, became rather +accomplished musicians in this respect. Melodious music might be heard +at these old fashion contests, as most darkies, who acquired knowledge +in the playing of these instruments were familiar with nearly all the +melodies and folks songs that were common to the period. + +(The foregoing is copied verbatim from conversation with Tinie Force, +and Elvira Lewis, LaCenter, Ky. These 2 negro women are very familiar +with the slavery period, as they were both slaves, and many of the facts +common to that time were witnessed by them.) + + + + +LAWRENCE CO. +(Edna Lane Carter) + + +Extract from the Civil War diary kept by Elphas P. Hylton, a Lawrence +Co. volunteer in the Union Army. "On 17th of July (1864) I was detailed +for picket duty and saw three thousand negro soldiers on a grand review, +a black cloud to see. On the 18th I was relieved of duty. Here I became +dissatisfied as a soldier on account of the negro, negro, negro. On the +23rd we began to get ready to leave this negro hole and on the 24th, to +our great joy and gladness, we were sent into camp near Danville." + + + + +LESLIE CO. +(Viola Bowling) + + +McIntosh was a very progressive farmer and had a large supply of food, +being a Rebel of the Rebel Army camped at the mouth of this creek near +his home where they could secure food. He had a slave called "Henry +McIntosh" who was drafted into the Union Army. He did not want to go but +his master told him, "Well Henry you will have to go, do not steal, nor +lie and be good and when you get out come on back." He did come back and +stayed here until he died, he later married and was the father of "Ben +McIntosh (colored) who later lived in Hyden for years. McIntosh did not +have any help on his farm after this slave was taken away from him. So +he let the youth of 16 years Mr. Wooton, come to his home and help him +get wood and work about the place. McIntosh had another slave but gave +him to his son-in-law John Hyden, who then lived one mile up Cutushin +from the Mouth of McIntosh. He had a small store which was the first +store in that community. + + + + +GARRARD CO. +(Sue Higgins) + + +Myth: Notions about nature when the stars fell in 1833. + +At the Old Thomas Kennedy farm (Uncle Tom's Cabin), young Tom and some +more boys were playing cards in one of the negro cabins. One of the +slaves went to the cabin door and called loudly, "Mas'r Tom! Come quick, +the whole heavens is falling." He continued to call. After much +persuasion and repeated calls from the old negro, young Tom said, "I'll +go and see what the D---- old negro wants". Young Tom went to the door +and saw the stars raining down. He ran to the big house and jumped on a +feather bed, and prayed loudly for help. + + + +[Mrs. Jennie Slavin:] + + +When she was a child, Mrs. Slavin was our nearest neighbor. She said her +father used to tell her these tales. William Kavanaugh was her father. + + + + +WEBSTER CO. +(J. Dunbar) + + +Slaves were brought and sold in Clay at one time. A large, stout negro +woman in good health sold for $300 to $500. A large stout negro man sold +for $1,000. Children were sold for $150 to $200. Mr. Tom Johnson, who is +living now, states his father was a slave trader and was the chief +sheriff of Webster Co. The runaway slaves were usually caught in this +part of the country. The reward was usually $100.00. + + + + +CALDWELL CO. +(Mary E. O'Malley) + +Esther Hudspeth: + + +The following story was given by a colored woman, Esther Hudespeth, who +was once sold as a slave. It was told to her by her slave mother in +1840. + +"A long time ago there lived a rabbit and a coon. They lived so close +together. One morning Mr. Coon came by after Mr. Rabbit, and wanted him +to go over to see some girls with him. So Mr. Rabbit agreed and went +with Mr. Coon. Mr. Coon and the girls had some fun making fun of Mr. +Rabbit's short tail. Mr. Rabbit was very glad when the time came for him +to go home, because he was tired of being talked about. Mr. Coon had to +go get a drink of water, and Mr. Rabbit told the girls that Mr. Coon was +his riding horse and he would ride him when he came back. By the time he +got thru telling the girls, Mr. Coon called to Mr. Rabbit that he was +ready to go. Mr. Coon had enjoyed himself so much, while Mr. Rabbit had +not. + +The next day Mr. Coon came by for Mr. Rabbit to go with him to see the +girls. Mr. Rabbit played sick. I am too sick to walk over there, he +said. Mr. Coon said, I will carry you on my back if you want to ride. +No, said Mr. Rabbit, I cant ride on your back. I will fall off. + +Mr. Rabbit said, If you will let me put this saddle and bridle on you, I +will go. So Mr. Coon agreed to let Mr. Rabbit put the saddle and bridle +on Mr. Coon. So they went along thru the woods. When they got in sight +of the House, Mr. Coon told Mr. Rabbit to get off--that he did not want +the girls to see him on his back. Mr. Rabbit pulled out a whip and began +to whip Mr. Coon, hollowing so the girls would see him, and made Mr. +Coon go up to the hitching rack. There Mr. Rabbit hitched Mr. Coon and +went in the house and enjoyed himself with the girls, while Mr. Coon +pawed the ground. Mr. Rabbit bade the girls goodbye, and never did Mr. +Coon come after Mr. Rabbit to go to see the girls with him. + + + + +ANDERSON CO. +(Mildred Roberts) + + +Many of the following stories were related by Mr. W.B. Morgan who at one +time owned and operated a livery barn. He hired several negroes to look +after the horses and hacks, and remembers many funny tales about them +and others: + +"Kie Coleman, one of my employees, was standing without the livery +stable smoking a two-fer cigar that some one had given him. Another +negro walked up to chat with him, and he reared back and said "Get away +nigger, nothing but the rich can endure life." + +"I was hauling grain for the distillery. One morning I came down to the +barn, and Kie was too drunk to take his team out. I gave him a good +going over about wasting his money that way instead of saving it for a +decent funeral. This is one of the best ways to appeal to a darkey +because if there is any thing they like it is a big funeral. + +"He just kinda staggered up to me and said "Boss, I don't worry a bit +about dat. White folks don't like to smell a live nigger and I'se knows +good and well da hain't gwine to lebe no dead nigger laying on top of de +groun'." + + +"I furnished the horses for the hearse, and one night I tole the boys to +leave it in the stable because we were going to have another funeral the +next day. + +"Each night one of the boys had to sleep in the office, and this +particular night it was Bill's turn. Bill was an old, one-legged negro +and very superstitious. He said: + +"Boss, this is my night to stay here, and you know, boss, I sho likes to +work for you, but I jest tells you now there jest hain't room in this +here house fer me and that black wagon at night." I moved the hearse." + + + + +KNOX CO. +(Stewart Carey) + + +Some slaves were owned in Knox Co., most of them being in Barbourville +where they served as house-servants. The negro men worked around the +house and garden, while the women were cooks and maids. The slaves +usually lived in small one-room houses at the rear of their masters +home, and were generally well fed and clothed. + +There was some trading of slaves among the Barbourville and Knox County +owners, and few were sold at Public Auction. These public sales were +held on Courthouse Square, and some few slaves were bought and sold by +"Negro Traders" who made a business of the traffic in blacks. +Occasionally a negro man would be sold away from his family and sent +away, never to see his people again. + + + + +CLARK CO. +(Mayme Nunnelley) + + +Most Kentucky superstitions are common to all classes of people because +the negroes originally obtained most of their superstitions from the +white and because the superstitions of most part of Kentucky are in +almost all cases not recent invention but old survivals from a time when +they were generally accepted by all germanic peoples and by all +Indo-Europeans. + +The only class of original contributions made by the negroes to our +stock of superstitions is that of the hoodoo or voodoo signs which are +brought from Africa by the ancestors of the present colored people of +America. On the arrival of the negro in America, his child like mind was +readily receptive to the white man's superstitions. + +The Black slave and servants in Kentucky and elsewhere in the South have +frequently been the agents through which the minds of white children +have been sown with these supernatural beliefs, some of which have +remained permanently with them. Nearly all classes of superstitions find +acceptance among the negroes. The most widely prevalent are beliefs +concerning haunted houses, weather signs, bad luck and good luck signs, +charm curse and cures and hoodoo signs. Their beliefs that the date of +the planting of vegetables should be determined by the phases of the +moon is unshaken. + + + + +CASEY CO. +(R.L. Nesbitt) + + +While slavery existed in Casey Co., as in other counties of the State, +before the Civil War, there are no negroes living the the county today +who were born into slavery; and very few white people who can remember +customs, incidents, or stories of the old slavery days. It is known that +the first slaves in the county were those brought here from Virginia by +the early white settlers of the county; and that until they were given +their freedom, the slaves were well cared for and kindly treated. They +lived in comfortable cabins on the lands of their owners, well fed and +clothed, given the rudiments of spiritual and educational training, +necessary medical attention in sickness; and it was not unusual for some +slave owners to give a slave his or her freedom as a reward for +faithful or unusual services. If there was any of the so-called +"Underground Railway" method used to get slaves out of the state, as was +the case in many counties, there are no current stories or legends +relative to such to be heard in the county today. It is thought that the +slaves of Casey County were so well cared for and so faithful and loyal +to their masters that very few of them cared to leave and go to +non-slavery states in the North. So there was little, if any, call for +any secret methods to provide for their escape. Even after they were +given their freedom, many slaves refused to leave their masters and +spent the remainder of their lives in the service and as charges of +their former owners. The present generation of course knows nothing of +slavery, and even the older people know only what was told them by the +forebears, and no especially interesting stories or legends are current +in the county today relative to slaves, or the customs of the old +slavery days before the War between the States. + + + + +CHRISTIAN CO. +(Mamie Hanbery) + +HOO-DOOISM + + + A snake head an' er lizard tail, Hoo-doo; + Not close den a mile o' jail, Hoo-doo; + De snake mus' be er rattlin' one, + Mus' be killed at set uv sun, + But never while he's on de run, Hoo-doo. + + Before you get de lizard cot, Hoo-doo; + You mus' kill it on de spot, Hoo-doo; + Take de tail an' hang it up, + Ketch de blood in a copper cup, + An' be sure it's uv a pup, Hoo-doo. + + Wait until sum stormy weather, Hoo-doo; + Put de head an' feet together, Hoo-doo; + In a dry ol' terrapin shell, + Let 'em stay fer a good long spell, + But don't you ever try to sell, Hoo-doo. + + De rattlers mus' be jus' seben, Hoo-doo; + But mus' not be ober leben, Hoo-doo; + He mus' be curl'd up fix'd to fight, + But see dat you don' let him bite, + Den you hit w'en de time is right, Hoo-doo. + + Ef you do, it's power is dead, Hoo-doo; + 'Cause it is all right in de head, Hoo-doo; + Save de head and de buttons, too, + Fer de work you'll have ter do, + You will need 'em till you're thru, Hoo-doo. + + Ketch a live scorpen wid you han', Hoo-doo; + Drown in mare's milk in a pan, Hoo-doo; + Den dry it on a pure lime rock, + Ninety-nine minutes by de clock, Hoo-doo. + + Den git a hand which is a bag, Hoo-doo; + Made uv any sort uv rag, Hoo-doo; + An' let de top be color'd blue, + Den git de hair frum out de shoe, Hoo-doo. + + Now we'n you find de folks ain't well, Hoo-doo; + An' dey wants you to move de spell, Hoo-doo; + Git your gredients together, + Ster dem up wid a goose feather, + In sum dark an' cloudy weather, Hoo-doo. + + Den put 'em in de hoo-doo bag, Hoo-doo; + In dat little blue top rag, Hoo-doo; + Den slip 'em in between de ticks, + Ef you want de conjure fixed, + Is de way you do de tricks, Hoo-doo. + + Ef dey wants you to git 'em well, Hoo-doo; + Dat is de han' dat moves de spell, Hoo-doo; + Take it out before der eyes, + An' you mus' be awful s'prised, + And dey will think dat you is wise, Hoo-doo. + + Den lay right down on your back, Hoo-doo; + Ef you hear de timbers crack, Hoo-doo; + Den yer kno's yer trick has won, + Den you'll ast er-bout de mon, + For you kno's yer work is done, Hoo-doo. + + Now ef you wants de conjure fixt, Hoo-doo; + All you do is to turn de tricks, Hoo-doo; + Jes git dat bottle what you had, + An' to make your patient glad, + Is but to make de conjurer mad, Hoo-doo. + + + + +HOPKINS CO. +(M. Hanberry) [TR: also spelled Hanbery.] + + +In this county practically no one owned more than one or two slaves as +this was never a county of large plantations and large homes. These +slaves were well housed, in cabins, well clothed and well fed, not +overworked and seldom sold, were in closer touch with the "white folks" +and therefore more intelligent than farther south where slaves lived in +quarters and seldom came in contact with their masters or the masters' +families. When a gentleman wished a slave he usually went to +Hopkinsville and bought slaves there. Occasionally one slave owner would +buy one from another. "If there was ever a slave market in Madisonville +or Hopkins County I do not remember it or ever heard of it," says J.M. +Adams, book-keeper of Harlen Coal Company, age 84, Madisonville, Ky. + + + + +MARTIN CO. +(Cullen Jude) + + +In the year 1864, during the conflict between the North and South, a new +citizen was added to the town of Warfield. His name was Alfred +Richardson, a colored man. Heretofore the people would not permit +negroes to live in Warfield. + +Richardson was in a skirmish at Warfield and was listed among the +northern people as missing. His leg was injured and he was in a serious +condition. The good people living at Warfield had their sympathies +stirred up by his condition and took him in and gave him food and +medical attention until he was able to work. + +At first the people thought they had done a Samaritan Act, but as soon +as Alf had a chance to prove himself, he was considered a blessing and +not a curse. He became the paper hanger for the town. Then someone +wanted to have his hair cut and Alf proved to be an excellent barber. + +He rented a shop and went into the barber business and made a success. +He owned considerable land, and other property when he died. He lived +and died at Warfield, Ky., and was considered one of its most up to date +citizens. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of +Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, +by Work Projects Administration + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11920 *** |