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diff --git a/28170.txt b/28170.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80ac0c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/28170.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8589 @@ +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 + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves + South Carolina Narratives, Part 4 + +Author: Work Projects Administration + +Release Date: February 24, 2009 [EBook #28170] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Library of Congress, +Manuscript Division) + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + This text is mainly written in dialect. As such, the majority of the + spelling, grammar, and punctuation irregularities have been preserved, + with the exception of a number of typographical errors. A full list of + them can be found at the end of the text.] + + + + + 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 + + _Illustrated with Photographs_ + + WASHINGTON 1941 + + + + + VOLUME XIV + + SOUTH CAROLINA NARRATIVES + + PART 4 + + Prepared by + the Federal Writers' Project of + the Works Progress Administration + for the State of South Carolina + + + + +INFORMANTS + + + Raines, Mary 1 + Range, Frank 3 + Rawls, Sam 5, 7 + Renwick, Ellen 9 + Rice, Anne 10 + Rice, Jessie 12 + Rice, Phillip 17 + Richardson, Martha 19 + Riley, Mamie 23 + Riser, Susie 25 + Roberts, Isom 26 + Robertson, Alexander 31 + Robinson, Charlie 35 + Rosboro, Al 38 + Rosboro, Tom 42 + Rosborough, Reuben 45 + Rose, William 48 + Russell, Benjamin 51 + Rutherford, Joe 55 + Rutherford, Lila 57 + Rutledge, Sabe 59, 65 + Ryan, Henry 71, 74 + + Satterwhite, Emoline 75 + Scaife, Alexander 76 + Scantling, Eliza 78 + Scott, Mary 81 + Scott, Nina 88 + Scurry, Morgan 89 + Simmons, Ransom 91 + Sligh, Alfred 92 + Smith, Dan 95 + Smith, Hector 100, 105 + Smith, Jane 110 + Smith, Mary 112 + Smith, Prince 116 + Smith, Silas 119 + Sparrow, Jessie 121, 125, 130, 136, 141 + Starke, Rosa 147 + Stewart, Josephine 151 + Suber, Bettie 155 + Swindler, Ellen 156 + + Taylor, Mack 157 + Thompson, Delia 160 + Toatley, Robert 163 + + Veals, Mary 167, 169 + + Walker, Manda 170 + Walker, Med 174 + Waring, Daniel 181 + Washington, Nancy 184 + Watson, Charley 188 + White, Dave 191, 194 + White, Tena 196 + Williams, Bill 199 + Williams, Jesse 202 + Williams, Mary 206 + Williams, Willis 208 + Wilson, Emoline 213, 215 + Wilson, Jane 216 + Woodberry, Genia 218 + Woodberry, Julia 227, 232, 237, 242 + Woods, George 247 + Woodward, Aleck 253 + Woodward, Mary 257 + Worth, Pauline 260 + Wright, Daphney 266 + + Young, Bill 270 + Young, Bob 273 + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=MARY RAINES= + +=_EX-SLAVE 99 YEARS OLD._= + + +Mary Raines is the oldest living person, white or black, in Fairfield +County. If she survives until next December, she will have attained her +century of years. She lives with her widowed daughter, Fannie +McCollough, fifty-seven years old, and a son, Joe Raines, aged 76 years. +They rent a two-room frame house, on lands of Mrs. Sallie Wylie, Chester +County, S.C. Joe, the son, is a day laborer on nearby farms. Fannie +cooks for Mrs. W.T. Raines. Old Mother Mary has been receiving a county +pension of $5.00 per month for several years. + +"How old would Marse William Woodward be if he hadn't died befo' I gwine +to die? A hundred and twenty, you say? Well, dat's 'bout de way I +figured my age. Him was a nephew of Marse Ed, de fust Marse Ed P. +Mobley. Him say dat when him 'come twenty-one, old marster give him a +birthday dinner and 'vite folks to it. Marse Riley McMaster, from +Winnsboro, S.C., was dere a flyin' 'round my young mistress, Miss +Harriett. Marse Riley was a young doctor, ridin' 'round wid saddlebags. +While they was all settin' down to dinner, de young doctor have to git +up in a hurry to go see my mammy. Left his plate piled up wid turkey, +nice dressin', rice and gravy, candy 'tatoes, and apple marmalade and +cake. De wine 'canter was a settin' on de 'hogany sideboard. All dis him +leave to go see mammy, who was a squallin' lak a passle of patarollers +(patrollers) was a layin' de lash on her. When de young doctor go and +come back, him say as how my mammy done got all right and her have a gal +baby. Then him say dat Marse Ed, his uncle, took him to de quarter where +mammy was, look me all over and say: 'Ain't her a good one? Must weigh +ten pounds. I's gwine to name dis baby for your mama, William. Tell her +I name her, Mary, for her, but I 'spects some folks'll call her 'Polly', +just lak they call your mama, 'Polly'. + +"I was a strong gal, went to de field when I's twelve years old, hoe my +acre of cotton, 'long wid de grown ones, and pick my 150 pounds of +cotton. As I wasn't scared of de cows, they set me to milkin' and +churnin'. Bless God! Dat took me out of de field. House servants 'bove +de field servants, them days. If you didn't git better rations and +things to eat in de house, it was your own fault, I tells you! You just +have to help de chillun to take things and while you doin' dat for them, +you take things for yourself. I never call it stealin'. I just call it +takin' de jams, de jellies, de biscuits, de butter and de 'lasses dat I +have to reach up and steal for them chillun to hide 'way in deir little +stomaches, and me, in my big belly. + +"When Joe drive de young doctor, Marse Riley, out to see Mass Harriett, +while Marse Riley doin' his courtin' in de parlor, Joe was doin' his +courtin' in de kitchen. Joe was as smart as de nex' one. Us made faster +time than them in de parlor; us beat them to de marriage. Marse Riley +call it de altar, but Joe always laugh and say it was de halter. Many is +de time I have been home wid them sixteen chillun, when him was a +gallavantin' 'round, and I wished I had a got a real halter on dat +husband of mine. + +"I b'longs to de Gladden's Grove African Methodist 'Piscopal Church. Too +old to shout but de great day is comin', when I'll shout and sing to de +music of dat harp of 10,000 strings up yonder. Oh! Won't dat be a joyful +day, when dese old ailin' bones gonna rise again." (Then the old darkey +became suffused in tears, lapsed into a silence and apathy, from which +she couldn't be aroused. Finally she slumbered and snored. It would have +been unkind to question her further.) + + + + + =Project 935= + =Hattie Mobley= + =Richland County= + +=FRANK RANGE= + +=CIVIL WAR SERVANT and HERO= + + +At the age of one hundred and three, Frank Range is a familiar figure on +the streets of Greenville, talking freely of pre-Civil and Civil War +days, and the part he played in the war. + +Frank, the oldest of nine children, was born of slave parents, Lenard +and Elizabeth Herbert, on the plantation of Mr. Jim Boler, Newberry, +South Carolina. He was sold several times, and is known by the name of +one of his owners, John Range. + +During the Civil War his master, Mr. Jim Herbert, carried him to the war +as a cook, and when necessary, he was pressed into service, throwing up +breast-works; and while he was engaged in this work, at Richmond Va. a +terrific bombardment of their lines was made, and a part of their +breast-works was crushed in, and his master buried beneath it. Frantic +with fear for the safety of his master, Frank began to move the dirt +away; finally he was able to drag him to safety. Though shot and shell +were falling all around him, he came out unscathed. + +Frank Range returned to Newberry at the close of the war, after which he +moved to Greenville County in 1901, and into the city in 1935. He is +never happier than when, in the center of a group of willing hearers, he +is reciting in a sing-song tone the different periods of his life. + +He attributes his longevity to the fact that he has never tasted +whiskey, never chewed tobacco; never had a fight; toothache and +headache are unknown to him; the service of a physician has never been +needed; he does not know one playing card from another. He can walk five +or more miles with seeming ease; is jovial and humorous. + +He receives a state pension of twenty five dollars annually. His place +of residence is 101 Hudson St. Greenville, S.C. + + + References; + + Mr. Guy A. Gullick, + Probate Judge, Greenville County. + + Frank Range (information given concerning himself) + 101 Hudson St. Greenville S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =June 15, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born in 1835 in Lexington County, S.C. I know I was 12 years old +de last year of de war. I belonged to John Hiller in Lexington County, +near Columbia, S.C. Old Marse Hiller was strict to his slaves, wasn't +mean, but often whipped 'em. I thought it was all right then. When de +Yankees come through burning, killing and stealing stock, I was in +marse's yard. Dey come up whar de boss was standing, told him dere was +going to be a battle, grabbed him and hit him. Dey burned his house, +stole de stock, and one Yankee stuck his sword to my breast and said fer +me to come wid him or he would kill me. O' course I went along. Dey took +me as fer as Broad River, on t'other side o' Chapin; then turned me +loose and told me to run fast or they would shoot me. I went fast and +found my way back home by watching de sun. Dey told me to not go back to +dat old man. + +"De slaves never learnt to read and write. If any o' dem was caught +trying to learn to read or write, dey was whipped bad. I kotched on to +what de white chilluns said, and learnt by myself to say de alphabet. + +"We went to de white churches atter de war, and set in de gallery. Den +de niggers set up a 'brush harbor' church fer demselves. We went to +school at de church, and atter school was out in de atternoon, we had +preaching. + +"Befo' freedom come, de patrollers was strong dere, and whipped any +niggers dey kotched out without a pass; wouldn't let dem go to church +without a pass. + +"Lots of hunting round dere, dey hunted rabbits, squirrels, foxes and +'possums. Dey fished like dey do now. + +"De white folks had old brick ovens away from de house, and wide +fireplaces in de kitchens. Dey cooked many things on Saturdays, to last +several days. Saturday afternoons, we had off to catch up on washing and +other things we wanted to do. + +"I 'member de Ku Klux and de Red Shirts, but don't 'member anything dey +did dere. + +"We had corn-shuckings and cotton pickings, when de white people would +have everybody to come and help. Us niggers would help. Dey had big +suppers afterwards. + +"We had plenty to eat from de garden of de boss, a big garden dat +furnished all de slaves. Den de boss killed hogs and had other things to +eat. Most o' de things raised in de garden, was potatoes, turnips, +collards and peas. + +"Some of us had witches. One old woman was a witch, and she rode me one +night. I couldn't get up one night, had a ketching of my breath and +couldn't rise up. She held me down. In dem days, was lots o' fevers with +de folks. Dey cured 'em and other sickness wid teas from root herbs and +barks. + +"Abraham Lincoln was a good man. He said you folks ought to let dem +niggers loose and let dem go to work. He come wid his two men, Grant and +Sherman, and captured de slave bosses. Jeff Davis was one o' de +forerunners of de war. Don't know much about him. Booker T. Washington +is a good man. Think he is in office fer a good purpose. I been married +four times, Was young man when I married first time. Gussie Gallman, my +last wife, is living wid me." + + + Source: Sam Rawls (84), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (6/9/37) + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Oct. 13, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I live wid my fourth wife and she is much younger dan me. I am unable +to work and have to stay in bed lots of de time. My wife works at odd +jobs, like washing, ironing and cooking. We rent a two-room house from +Miss Ann Ruff. + +"I belonged to John Hiller. He was a good master but he worked his +slaves hard. Dat was in Lexington County. + +"I heard dat Gen. Grant said de slaves ought to get 40 acres of land and +a mule so dey could go to work; but dey never got any dat I knows of. +Atter Freedom dey worked as wage earners and share-croppers. Some went +to other farms to get jobs. Dat's about what dey do now, but some of dem +saved a little money and bought farms and some started little businesses +of deir own. + +"De Ku Klux didn't have much influence wid de slaves or ex-slaves. As +soon as de war broke, dey went riding up and down de public roads to +catch and beat niggers. My brother run off when dey got atter him. He +went to Orangeburg County and stayed down dere. + +"I voted twice den, once at Prosperity and again at Newberry. I was a +Republican, of course. Some of de Niggers of dis state was elected to +office, but dey was not my kinfolks nor special friends. I think niggers +ought to vote so dey could vote fer good white folks; and dey ought to +run fer office if dey could be elected by good white folks. + +"I was sixteen years old when de Yankees come through dis country. Dey +caught me in de road and made me go wid dem to Broad River where dey +camped one night. Den dey turned me loose and told me to git. I run as +fast as I could. I followed de setting sun, de road running towards de +sun all de time, and got home about night. + +"Since freedom is come de niggers have worked mostly on farms as +share-croppers; some as renters wid deir own crops to raise. + +"De present generation of niggers ain't got much sense. Dey work when +dey want to, and have deir own way about it. De old niggers was learned +to work when dey was little. + +"I don't know nothing about de Nat Turner Rebellion. I never know'd but +one old nigger dat come from Virginia, old Ellen Abner. She lived below +Prosperity fer a long time, in de Stoney Hills. + +"Yes sir, I tries to live right and git along wid everybody." + + + Source: Sam Rawls (80), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. 8/23/37. + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =District #4= + =May 31, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Martha Ritter= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born on Capt. John P. Kinard's place. My mammy and pa was Lucy +and Eph Kinard who belonged to Marse Kinard. Marse Kinard was good to +his slaves--didn't whip them much. He whipped me a little. When I was a +little girl I slept in the big house in the room with my mistress and +her husband, and waited on them. I worked when I got old enough, in the +field, and anywhere around. When I wouldn't work good, my mammy whipped +me most. + +"I 'member the folks cooked in skillets over an old fireplace. + +"After the war was over and freedom come we stayed on with Capt. Kinard, +'till I married and then went over to Dock Renwick's place where my +husband worked. I married Tom Renwick. We went to the church of the +colored folks after the war, and had preachings in mornings and evenings +and at night, too. We didn't have no nigger schools, and we didn't learn +to read and write. + +"The white folks had corn-shuckings, cotton pickings at night, when the +mistress would fix a big dinner for all working." + + + SOURCE: Ellen Renwick (79), RFD, Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: Mr. G. Leland Summer, 1707 Lindsey St., + Newberry, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =June 7, 1937= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born in Spartanburg County, S.C., near Glenn Springs. I can't +'member slavery or de war, but my ma and pa who was Green Foster and his +wife, Mary Posey Foster, always said I was a big gal when the war +stopped, when freedom come. + +"We belonged to Seth Posey who had a big farm there. He was a good man, +but sure made us work. I worked in the fields when I was small, hoed and +picked cotton, hoed corn. They didn't give us no money for it. All we +got was a place to sleep and a little to eat. The big man had a good +garden and give us something from it. He raised loads of hogs, to eat +and to sell. He sold lots of them. The young fellows hunted rabbits, +possums, squirrels, wild turkeys, partridges, doves, and went fishing. +The Master's wife, Miss Nancy, was good to us. She had one son, William. + +"Yes, I 'member my ma telling us 'bout the padder-rollers. They would +ride around, whipping niggers. + +"My ma said her step-mother sold her. Sometimes they would take crowds +of slaves to Mississippi, taking away mothers from their infant babies, +leaving the babies on the floor. + +"We always shuck corn and shell it at night, on moon-light nights we +pick cotton. On Saturday afternoons we had frolics, sometimes frolics +'till Sunday daylight, then sleep all day Sunday. + +"When we got sick all the medicine we took was turpentine--dat would +cure almost any ailment. Some of the niggers used Sampson snake weed or +peach leaves boiled and tea drunk. + +"I joined the church when I was 12 years old 'cause the other girls +joined. I think everybody ought to join a church to get their souls +right for heaven: + +"I married Charley Rice in Spartanburg County, at a colored man's house, +named Henry Fox, by a colored preacher named 'Big Eye' Bill Rice. I had +four children, and have five grand-children. I have been living in +Newberry about 35 years or more. I worked as a wash-woman many years. + +"When freedom come, my folks stayed on with Capt. Posey, and I washed +and ironed with them later when I was big enough. I done some cooking, +too. I could card and spin and make homespun dresses. My ma learned me. + +"I don't know much about Abraham Lincoln and Jeff Davis but reckon dey +was good men. I never learned to read and write. Booker Washington, I +reckon, is a good man." + + + SOURCE: Anne Rice (75), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G. Leland Summer, 1707 Lindsey St., + Newberry, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Jan. 17, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"My people tells me a lot about when I was a lil' wee boy. I has a clear +mind and I allus has had one. My folks did not talk up people's age like +folks do dese days. Every place dat I be now, 'specially round dese +government folks, first thing dat dey wants to know is your name. Well, +dat is quite natu'al, but de very next question is how old you is. I +don't know, why it is, but dey sho do dat. As my folks never talked age, +it never worried me till jes' here of late. So dey says to me dat last +week I give one age to de man, and now I gives another. Soon I see'd dat +and I had to rest my mind on dat as well as de mind of de government +folks. So I settled it at 80 years old. Dat gives me respect from +everybody dat I sees. Den it is de truth, too, kaise I come along wid +everybody dat is done gone and died now. De few white folks what I was +contemperment (contemporary) wid, 'lows dat I is 80 and dey is dat, too. + +"You know dat I does 'member when dat Sherman man went through here wid +dem awful mens he had. Dey 'lowed dat dey was gwine to Charlotte to git +back to Columbia. I never is heard of sech befo' or since. We lived at +old man Jerry Moss's in Yorkville, way back den. Yes sir, everyone said +Yorkville, den, but dey ain't never called Gaffney like dat. Stories +goes round 'bout Sherman shooting folks. Some say dat he shot a big rock +off'n de State House in Columbia. My Ma and my Pa, Henry and Charity +Rice, hid me wid dem when Sherman come along. Us never see'd him, Lawd +God no, us never wanted to see him. + +"Folks allus crying hard times dese days, ain't no hard times now like +it was atter Sherman went through Yorkville. My ma and pa give me ash +cake and 'simmon beer to eat for days atter dat. White folks never had +no mo', not till a new crop was grow'd. Dat year de seasons was good and +gardens done well. Till den us nearly starved and we never had no easy +time gitting garden seed to plant, neither. + +"Yes sir, if I's handy to locust I makes locust beer; den if I's handy +to 'simmons, why den I makes 'simmon beer. Now it's jes' for to pass de +time dat us does dat. But gwine back to de war; den it was for +necessity. Dese young'uns now don't know what hard times is. Dey all has +bread and meat and coffee, no matter how poor dey is. If dey had to live +for days and weeks on ash cake and 'simmon beer, as us did den, and work +and wait on a crop wid nothing but dat in deir bellies; den dey could +grumble hard times. I allus tells 'em to shut up when dey starts +anything like dat around me. + +"When dat crop come along, we sho did fall in and save all us could for +de next year. Every kind of seed and pod dat grow'd we saved and dried +for next spring or fall planting. Atter folks is once had deir belly +aching and growling for victuals, dey ain't never gwine to throw no +rations and things away no mo'. Young folks is powerful wasteful, but if +something come along to break up deir good time like it did to us when +dat man Sherman held everything up, dey sho will take heed, and dey +won't grumble 'bout it neither, cause dey won't have no time to grumble. + +"Things passes over quicker sometimes dan we figures out dat dey will. +Everything, no matter how good it be or how hard, passes over. Dey jes' +does like dat. So dem Yankees went on somewhars, I never know'd whar, +and everything round Yorkville was powerful relieved. Den de +Confederate soldiers started coming across Broad River. Befo' dey got +home, word had done got round dat our folks had surrendered; but dem +Yankees never fit (fought) us out--dey starved us out. If things had +been equal us would a-been fighting dem till dis day, dat us sho would. +I can still see dem soldiers of ours coming across Broad River, all +dirty, filthy, and lousy. Dey was most starved, and so poor and lanky. +And deir hosses was in de same fix. Men and hosses had know'd plenty +till dat Sherman come along, but most of dem never know'd plenty no +more. De men got over it better dan de hosses. Women folks cared for de +men. Dey brewed tea from sage leaves, sassafras root and other herb +teas. Nobody never had no money to fetch no medicine from de towns wid, +so dey made liniments and salves from de things dat grow'd around about +in de woods and gardens. + +"I told you 'bout how small I was, but my brother, Jim Rice, went to +Charleston and helped to make dem breastworks down dar. I has never +see'd dem, but dem dat has says dat dey is still standing in good +conditions. Cose de Yankees tore up all dat dey could when dey got dar. + +"Lots of rail fences was made back in dem days. Folks had a 'no fence' +law, dat meant dat everybody fenced in deir fields and let de stock run +free. Hogs got wild and turkeys was already wild. Sometimes bulls had to +be shot to keep dem from tearing up everything. But folks never fenced +in no pasture den. Dey put a rail fence all around de fields, and in dem +days de fields was never bigger dan ten or fifteen acres. Logs was +plentiful, and some niggers, called 'rail splitters', never done nothing +else but split rails to make fences. + +"If I recollects right, Wade Hampton broke down fence laws in dis +country. I sho heard him talk in Yorkville. Dey writ about him in de +Yorkville Inquirer and dey still has dat paper over dar till now. De Red +Shirts come along and got Wade Hampton in. He scared de Yankees and +Carpetbaggers and all sech folks as dem away from our country. Dey went +back whar dey come from, I reckon. + +"De Ku Klux was de terriblest folks dat ever crossed my path. Who dey +was I ain't never know'd, but dey took Alex Leech to Black's Ford on +Bullet Creek and killed him for being a radical. It was three weeks +befo' his folks got hold of his body. + +"Dr. Bell's calves got out and did not come back for a long time. Mrs. +Bell fear'd dat dey was gitting wild, so she sent de milk girl down on +de creek to git dem calves. Dat girl had a time, but she found 'em and +drove 'em back to de lot. De calves give her a big chase and jumped de +creek near a big raft of logs dat had done washed up from freshets. All +over dem logs she saw possums, musrats and buzzards a-setting around. +She took her stick and drove dem all away, wid dem buzzards puking at +her. When dey had left, she see'd uncle Alex laying up dar half e't up +by all dem varmints. + +"She know'd dat it must be him. When she left, dem buzzards went back to +deir perch. First thing dey done was to lap up deir own puke befo' dey +started on uncle Alex again. Yes sir, dat's de way turkey buzzards does. +Dey pukes on folks to keep dem away, and you can't go near kaise it be's +so nasty; but dem buzzards don't waste nothing. Little young buzzards +looks like down till dey gits over three days old. You can go to a +buzzard roost and see for yourself, but you sho better stay out'n de way +of de old buzzard's puke. Dey sets around de little ones and keeps +everything off by puking. + +"Pacolet used to be called Buzzard Roost, kaise in de old days dey had a +rail outside de bar-room dat de drunks used to hang over and puke in a +gully. De buzzards would stay in dat gully and lap up dem drunkards' +puke. One night a old man went in a drunkard's sleep in de bar-room. De +bar tender shoved him out when he got ready to close, and he rolled up +against dis here rail dat I am telling you about. He 'lowed dat next +morning when he woke up, two buzzards was setting on his shirt front +eating up his puke. He said, 'You is too soon', and grabbed one by de +leg and wrung his head off. But befo' he could git its head wrung off it +had done puked his own puke back on him. He said dat was de nastiest +thing he ever got into, and dat he never drunk no more liquor. Dem days +is done past and gone, and it ain't nobody hardly knows Pacolet used to +be called Buzzard Roost. + +"Lawd have mercy, white folks! Here I is done drapped plumb off'n my +subject; but a old man's mind will jes' run waa'ry at times. Me and Joe, +Alex's son, went to see de officer 'bout gitting Joe's pa buried. He +'lowed dat Alex's body was riddled wid bullets; so we took him and put +his bones and a little rotten flesh dat dem buzzards had left, in de box +we made, and fetched it to de site and buried him. Nobody ever seed Alex +but me, Joe, and dat gal dat went atter dem calves. Us took shovels and +throw'd his bones in de box. When we got de top nailed on, we was both +sick. Now, things like dat don't come to pass. I still thinks of de +awful days and creeps runs all over me yet. + +"All my brothers, sisters, mother and father is done gone. And I is +looking to leave befo' a great while. I is trying every day to git +ready, Lawd. I been making ready for years. Smart mens tries to make you +live on, but dey can't git above death. Tain't no use." + + + Source: Jesse Rice (80), Littlejohn St., Gaffney, S.C. + Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 1/8/38 + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =June 15, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I'm living on Mr. Russel Emmitt's place. I never did nothing but drive +cows when I was a little boy growing up. Miss Cum and Miss Lizzie Rice +was Marse Alex's sisters. Marse Alex done died, and dey was my mistress. +Dey tuck and sold de plantation afo dey died, here 'bout twenty years +ago. Dat whar my ma found me and den she died. + +"My grandparents, Jane and Peter Stevens, brung me up. I was a little +farm boy and driv cows fer de overseer, Jim Blalock. Miss Cum was really +Miss Ann. Miss Ann had a hundred niggers, herself, and Miss Lizzie had +might nigh dat many, asides dem what Marse Alex done left 'em. De +overseer try to act rough out o' Miss Ann's sight, and she find it out +and set him down a peg. + +"Miss Jane have our shirts made on de looms. She let us wear long shirts +and go in our shirt tails, and us had to keep 'em clean, too, 'cause +Miss Jane never like no dirt around her. Miss Jane have charge of de +whole house and everything along wid it. + +"Us had three hundred hogs to tend to, two hundred yellings and heifers, +and Lawdy knows how many sheep and goats. Us fed dem things and kept 'em +fat. When butchering time come, us stewed out the mostest lard and we +had enough side-meat to supply the plantation the year round. Our wheat +land was fertilized wid load after load of cotton seed. De wheat us +raised was de talk of de country side. 'Sides dat, dare was rye, oats +and barley, and I ain't said nothing 'bout de bottom corn dat laid in de +cribs from year to year. + +"Our smokehouse was allus full o' things to eat, not only fer de white +folks but fer de darkies as well. And our barns carried feed fer de +cattle from harvest to harvest. + +"De fattest of all de hosses, was Miss Ann's black saddle hoss called, +'Beauty'. Miss Ann wo' de longest side-saddle dress dat hung way down +below her feets. Somebody allus had to help her on and off Beauty, but +n'ary one of her brothers could out-ride Miss Ann." + + + Source: Phillip Rice (75), Kelton, S.C. RFD + Interviewed by: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (5/7/37) + + + + + =Project #1655= + =Stiles M. Scruggs= + =Columbia, S.C.= + +=_THE POT OF GOLD._= + + +Martha Richardson, who tells this story, lives at 924 Senate Street, +Columbia, S.C. Her father was an Indian and her mother a mulatto. She +was born in Columbia in 1860 and was five years old, when General W.T. +Sherman's Federal troops captured and burned the city in 1865. + +"When I gits big 'nough to pick up chips for de cook stove, we was +livin' in de rear of Daniel Gardner's home, on Main Street, and my mammy +was workin' as one of de cooks at de Columbia Hotel. De hotel was run by +Master Lowrance, where de Lorick & Lowrance store is now. + +"My daddy, like de general run of Indians, love to hunt but de game not +bring much cash in. My mammy often give him some change (money) and he +not work much but he always good to mammy and she love him and not fuss +at him, much. I soon learn dat if it had not been for mammy, we wouldn't +a had much to eat and wear. We go 'long lak dat for a good while and my +mammy have friends 'nough dat she seldom had to ask for a job. + +"De game was so scarce dat my daddy sometimes make a little money a +showin' people how to make Indian medicine, dat was good for many +complaints, how to cover deir houses, and how to kill deir hogs, +'cordin' to de moon. He tell us many times 'bout de great Catawba +Indians, who make all deir own medicines and kill bears and dress in +deir skins, after feastin' on deir flesh. He was a good talker. + +"You know, I sees so much 'skimpin', to make ends meet at home, as we go +'long dis way, dat I has never married. My mammy tell me: 'Honey, you a +pretty child. You grow up and marry a fine, lovin' man lak your daddy, +and be happy.' I kinda smile but I thinks a lot. If my daddy had worked +and saved lak my mammy, we would be 'way head of what we is, and my +brudders say so, too. But we fond of our daddy, he so good lookin' and +all. + +"What de most 'citin' thing I ever see? Well, I think de Red Shirt +campaign was. You never see so much talkin', fightin', and fussin' as +dat. You know de Yankees was still here and they not 'fraid, and de +Hampton folks was not 'fraid, so it was a case of knock down and drag +out most of de time, it seem to me. Long at de end, dere was two +governors; one was in de Wallace House and one in de Capitol. Men went +'bout town wid deir guns. + +"Mammy keep busy cookin', nussin', and washin', and us chillun help. You +know I had two brudders older than me and a little baby brudder 'bout a +year old, when my mammy rent a small farm from Master Greenfield, down +at de end of Calhoun Street, near de Broad River. We plant cotton. I was +then eleven years old and my brudder was twelve and thirteen. My mammy +help us plant it befo' she go to work at de hotel. + +"She was home washin', one day, when my brudders and me was choppin' +cotton. We chop 'til 'bout eleven o'clock dat mornin' and we say: 'When +we gits out de rows to de big oak tree we'll sit down and rest.' We +chillun lak each other and we joke and work fast 'til we comes to de end +of de rows and in de shade of de big oak. Then we sets down, dat is, my +oldest brudder and me, 'cause my young brudder was a little behind us in +his choppin'. As he near de finish, his hoe hit somethin' hard and it +ring. Ha rake de dirt 'way and keep diggin', light lak. + +"What you doin', brudder?' I say. He say: 'Tryin' to find out what dis +is. It seem to be a pot lid.' Then we jump up and go to him and all of +us grabble dirt 'way and sho' 'nough it was a pot lid and it was on a +pot. We digs it out, thinkin' it would be a good thing to take home. It +was so heavy, it take us all to lift it out. + +"It was no sooner out than we takes off de lid and we is sho' s'prised +at what we see. Big silver dollars lay all over de top. We takes two of +them and drops them together and they ring just lak we hear them ring on +de counters. Then we grabble in de pot for more. De silver went down +'bout two inches deep. Twenty dollar gold pieces run down 'bout four +inches or so and de whole bottom was full of big bundles of twenty +dollar greenbacks. + +"We walks up to de house feelin' pretty big and my oldest brudder was +singin': + + 'Hawk and buzzard went to law, + Hawk come back wid a broken jaw.' + +"Mammy say widout lookin' at us: 'What you all comin' to dinner so soon +for?' Then she looked up and see de pot and say: 'Land sakes, what you +all got?' Then we puts de big pot down in de middle of de floor and +takes off de lid, and mammy say: 'Oh! Let's see what we has!' She begin +to empty de pot and to count de money. She tell us to watch de door and +see dat nobody got in, 'cause she not at home! + +"She say de money 'mount to $5,700, and she swear us not to say nothin' +'bout findin' it. She would see what she could find out 'bout it. Weeks +after dat, she tell us a big white friend tell her he hear a friend of +his buried some money and went to war widout tellin' anybody where it +was. Maybe he was killed and dat all we ever hear. + +"My mammy kept it and we all work on just de same and she buy these two +lots on Senate Street. She build de two-story house here at 924, where +you sittin' now, and de cottage nex' door. She always had rent money +comin' in ever since. By and by she die, after my Indian pappy go 'way +and never come back. Then all de chillun die, 'ceptin' me. + +"I am so happy dat I is able to spend my old days in a sort of ease, +after strugglin' most of my young life and gittin' no learnin' at +school, dat I sometimes sing my mammy's old song, runnin' somethin' lak +dis: + + 'Possum up de simmon tree + Sparrow on de ground + 'Possum throw de 'simmons down + Sparrow shake them 'round'." + + + + + =Project#-1655= + =Phoebe Faucette= + =Hampton County= + + =Approx. 416 words= + +=MAMIE RILEY= + +=Ex-Slave= + + +"Aunt Mamie's" hair is entirely white. She lives in a neat duplex brick +house with one of her husband's relatives, a younger woman who is a cook +for a well established family in Estill, S.C. When questioned about the +times before the war, she replied: + +"Yes'm, I kin tell you 'bout slav'ry time, 'cause I is one myself. I +don' remember how old I is. But I remember when de Yankees come through +I bin 'bout so high. (She put her hand out about 3-1/2 feet from the +floor.) We lived on Mr. Henry Solomons' place--a big place. Mr. Henry +Solomons had a plenty of people--three rows of house, or four. + +"When de Yankees come through Mr. Solomons' place I wuz right dere. We +wuz at our house in de street. I see it all. My ma tell me to run; but I +ain't think they'd hurt me. I see 'em come down de street--all of 'em on +horses. Oo--h, dey wuz a heap of 'em! I couldn't count 'em. My daddy run +to de woods--he an' de other men. Dey ran right to de graveyard. Too +mucha bush been dere. You couldn't see 'em. Stay in de woods three days. + +"Dey went to my daddy's house an' take all. My daddy ran. My mother an' +my older sister wuz dere. My ma grab a quilt off de bed an' cover +herself all over wid it--head an' all. And set in a chair dere by de +fire. She tell us to git in de bed--but I ain't git in. And she yell out +when she hear 'em comin': 'Dere's de fever in heah!' Six of 'em come to +de door; but dey say dey ain't goin' in--dey'll catch de fever. Den some +more come along. Dey say dey gwine in. Dey ain't gwine to take no fever. +Fill two sack of 'tatoes. White man ask to search all trunk. Dey take +two of me Ma's good dresses out. Say to wrap 'tatoes in. I start to +cryin' den, an' dey say, 'Well, git us some sacks den.' I knowed where +some sacks wuz. I git 'em de sacks. Dey do 'em right. Dey bid 'em +goodbye, an' ax 'em where de man wuz. Dey give me 'leven or twelve +dollars. I wuz little an' ain't know. My mother never give it to me. + +"I stay right on dere after freedom, until after I married." + + Source: Mamie Riley, Negro about 80 years old, Estill, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 24, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born near Broad River in de Dutch Fork of Newberry County. I was +a slave of Cage Suber. He was a fair master, but nothing to brag about. +I was small at slavery time and had to work in de white folks' house or +around the house until I was big enough to go to de field and work. + +"Old Marse Cage always made me fan flies off of him when he lay down to +take a nap. The fan was made out of brushes. + +"De white folks had cotton-pickings, corn-shuckings and quiltings. Dey +allus had something to eat at the frolics and I had to help wid 'em. + +"I married John Riser. I moved to town several years ago." + + + Source: Susie Riser (80), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C., May 17, 1937. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =Henry Grant,= + =Columbia, S.C.= + +=ISOM ROBERTS= + +=_EX-SLAVE 80 YEARS OLD_= + + +Isom Roberts rents one room at 1226 Waverly Street, Columbia, S.C., and +lives alone. However frail he appears, he is able to support himself by +working in the yards about the city. + +"Well, sir, white folks, I is eighty years old, or leastwise I is so +close to it, dat it don't make much difference. But even if I is dat +old, it don't seem so long since I was a little boy. Years flies by +mighty fas' to old folks, 'cause deir 'memberance is shorter, while +young folks 'members everything, and in dat way months and years drags +'long slower to them. + +"I was a very small boy when de Civil War was gwine on. It seems like I +knows all 'bout Sherman's army comin' through dis State, a burnin' +Columbia and destroyin' and takin' away everything what folks had. I has +heard so much 'bout slavery and all them times, from my mammy and daddy, +dat it 'pears to me dat I 'sperienced it all. I 'spects knowin' 'bout +things is just 'bout as good and true as seein' them. Don't you? + +"My daddy and mammy b'long to Marster Sam Louie, who had a big +plantation over in Calhoun County. He had 'bout fifty or more grown +slaves, 'sides many chillun of de slaves. Old marster was a good farmer; +raised big crops and saved what he made. He sho' was a fine business man +but he was mighty hard on everybody he had anything to do wid. He told +his slaves to work hard and make him a heap of money and that he would +keep it, in case of hard times. Times was all de time hard wid old +marster but de niggers never got no money. When news spread 'round dat +de Yankees was comin' to free de niggers, he called all de slaves up in +de yard and showed them a big sack of money, what they had made for +him, and told them dat he was gwine to kill all of them befo' de Yankees +set them free and that they wouldn't need no money after they was done +dead. All de slaves was mighty sad and troubled, all dat day, when old +marster made dat speech to them. But somethin' happened. It most makes +me tremble to talk to you 'bout it now. Providence, or some kind of +mercy spirit, was sho' walkin' 'round dat plantation dat night. Sometime +in de night it was whispered 'round amongst de slaves dat old marster +done took de smallpoxes and was mighty sick. Mammy said he must have +been terrible sick, 'cause they buried him two days after dat. + +"After old marster flew away, everything was different on de plantation. +Miss Nancy, dat was old marster's wife, told de slaves dat when de +Yankees freed them, they could stay right there and work on shares or by +the day, which ever way they wanted. Many stayed on de plantation after +freedom while others went away. Me and my folks stayed on wid Miss Nancy +until she die. Then us moved on another plantation in de lower side of +de county. I stayed dere until my wife died, seventeen years ago. + +"Does I 'member anything 'bout how de slaves was treated in slavery +time? Well, I 'members a little myself and a heap of what others told +me. Wid dis I has done told you, I believes I want to stop right dere. A +low fence is easier to git over than a high one. Say little and you +ain't gwine to have a heap to 'splain hereafter. Dere is a plenty of +persons dat has lost deir heads by not lettin' deir tongues rest. +Marster Sam Louie is dead now. He can't disturb nobody in his grave. He +had his faults and done many things wrong but show me dat person what +don't mis-step sometimes. All of us, both white and black, is prone to +step aside now and then. To tell de truth, old marster never knowed what +Sunday was. Everybody on de plantation worked on dat day as same as any +other day. + +"But Boss, if my old marster was rough and hard and break de Sabbath and +all dat, he was no worser than what young white folks and niggers is +dese days. You can see them any time, floppin' 'bout in dese +automobiles, a drinkin' and a carryin' on. Sich stuff is abomination in +de sight of a decent person, much less dat One up yonder. (He pointed +upward). + +"I's gwine to tell you boss, dat slavery time was better for de average +nigger than what they is gittin' now. Folks say dat slavery was wrong +and I 'spose it was, but to be poor like a heap of niggers is now, is de +worse thing dat has ever come upon them, I thinks. Dis gittin' something +wrong, ain't right. De North had no business sellin' niggers to de South +and de South had no business buyin' them from de North and makin' slaves +of them. Everything went on pretty nice for awhile, then de North got +jealous of de South and de South got 'spicious of de North. I believes +dat if you can't go over and you can't go under, then you should try to +go 'round. If de big men up North and here in de South had been good +'nough and smart 'nough, they might could a gone 'round dat terrible +Civil War. I believes dat. + +"I marry Lucy Nelson when I was 'bout thirty years old. She was a bright +skin nigger, much brighter than I is. She was high tempered and high +spirited, too. She was sho' smart, and de best cook I has ever seen. +Just plain corn bread, dat she cooked in de hot ashes of de fireplace, +taste sweeter and better than de cake you buy now. But de least thing +would git her temper 'roused. I has knowed her to complain wid de old +hound dog us had, 'cause he didn't run some rabbits out de woods for me +to shoot. Fuss wid de cats, 'cause they didn't ketch de mouses in de +house. Quarrel wid de hens, 'cause they eat, cackled, scratched and +wallowed holes in de yard and wouldn't lay. Told de old rooster many +times dat she was gwine to chop his head off if he didn't crow sooner +and louder of mornin's and wake me up so I could go to work. All dis +sounds foolish I knows but you see how bent my back is. Well, I 'spects +it was bent from totin' so many buckets of water from de spring for her +to wash wid soon of mornin's, so I could then do a day's work. + +"My wife thought she was doin' right by workin' like she did. She +thought dat she was helpin' me make a livin' for our big family of eight +chillun. Yes sir, I knows now she was right, but hard work broke her +health and brought her to her bed where she lingered 'bout one year and +then she went away from me. All dis took place seventeen years ago and, +from then to dis, I ain't seen no woman I would have for a wife, 'cause +I ain't gwine to find no woman Lucy's equal. All my chillun are dead, +'cept two, and I don't know where they is. + +"Does poor folks have any blessings and pleasure? Well, yes sir, in a +way. You see they don't have no worriments over what they has, like rich +folks. They can sleep as hot as they want to in de summer time and raise +as big families as anybody. Sho', poor folks, and especially niggers, +has a good time on hog-killin' days. In early summer come them juicy +brierberries dat they enjoy so much. They last until watermelon season. +Then they has 'possum and 'tators in de fall. Most all livin' beings has +deir own way of doin' things and deir way of existin'. De hog roots for +his, de squirrel climbs for his, de chickens scratches for deirs, and de +nigger, well, if dere ain't nobody lookin', I reckon they could slip +deirs right handy. + +"I sho' has enjoyed talkin' to you dis evening and now, if you will +'scuse me, I's gwine home and cook me a pot of turnips. I can almost +taste them now, I is so hungry." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=ALEXANDER ROBERTSON= + +=_EX-SLAVE 84 YEARS OLD._= + + +Alexander Robertson lives as a member of the household of his son, +Charley, on the General Bratton plantation, four miles southeast of +White Oak, S.C. It is a box-like house, chimney in the center, four +rooms, a porch in front and morning glory vines, in bloom at this +season, climbing around the sides and supports. Does Alexander sit here +in the autumn sunshine and while the hours away? Nay, in fact he is +still one of the active, working members of the family, ever in the +fields with his grandchildren, poke around his neck, extracting fleecy +cotton from the bolls and putting it deftly into the poke. He can carry +his row equally as well as any of the six grandchildren. He has a good +appetite at meal time, digestive organs good, sleeps well, and is the +early riser in the mornings. He says the Negro half of his nature +objects to working on Saturday afternoon, and at such times his tall +figure, with a green patch cloth over the left eye, which is sightless, +may be seen strolling to and fro on the streets of Winnsboro. + +"Well, well! If it ain't de youngun dat use to sell me sugar, coffee, +fat back and meal, when he clerk for Calvin Brice & Company, at +Woodward, in '84 and 'long dere. + +"I hopes you is well dis mornin'. I's told to come to Winnsboro and gits +blanks for a pension. Andy Foster, man I knows, d'rect me up dese steps +and bless God I finds you. You wanna ask me some questions? Well, here I +is, more than glad to answer, if I can. Where I born? Strange as it +seems, I born right here in Winnsboro. My name set down in a book: +'Alexander-boy-mother, Hannah, wench of James Stewart'. Dat de way it +was read to me by Dr. Beaty, dat marry a Miss Cherry and live in Rock +Hill. If slavery had never been done 'way wid, dat would be my master +today, 'cause him lak hound dogs and I lak a hound dog. Dat kind of +breed got a good nose and make good 'possum dog. Marster Jim tell me one +time, dat de first dog sprung from a wolf, and dat fust dog was a hound +dog. Dat out dat fust dog, (must to a been a bitch, don't you reckon?) +come all dogs. I follow his talk wid belief, 'bout de setters, pointers, +and blood hounds, even to de fices, but it strain dat belief when it git +to de little useless hairy pup de ladies lead 'round wid a silver collar +and a shiney chain. Well, you don't care to hear anymore 'bout dat? What +is de question? + +"My master at de fust, was Marster Jim Stewart and my mistress was his +wife, Mistress Clara. They have two chillun. I 'member Marster Jim and +Miss Lizzie; they live in a fine house befo' de war, 'round yonder close +to Mt. Zion College. My mother was de cook and I was de house boy. They +had a big plantation 'bout two miles out, sorta southwest of Boro, I +mean Winnsboro, of course, but de country people still call it Boro. + +"On dat plantation was many two-room houses, brick chimneys in de +middle, for de plantation slaves. In de growin' season I go wid marster +every day, not to drive, too small for dat, just to hold de hoss, when +him git out and then I run errands for him, 'round de house and in de +fields. + +"My mother had another child, Willie Finch. A colored man name of Finch +is his father but her and de white folks never tell me who my father +was. I have to find out dat for myself, after freedom, when I was +lookin' 'round for a name. From all I hear and 'pear in de lookin' +glass, I see I was half white for sure, and from de things I hear, I +conclude I was a Robertson which have never been denied. Maybe it best +just to give no front names. Though half a nigger, I have tried to live +up to dat name, never took it in dat court house over yonder, never +took it in dat jail or dat calaboose. I's paid my debts dollar for +dollar and owe no man nothin' but good will. + +"What de Yankees do when they come? Let other people tell dat, but seem +lak they lay de whole town in ashes, 'cept de college and our house +close to it, dat they use for de officers while they was in Boro. Why +they hear sumpin' bout de Davis name techin' de St. John 'Piscopal +Church and they march 'round dere, one cold February Sunday mornin', set +it afire, and burn it up. Mother and me went to de plantation and stayed +dere 'til they left. + +"When freedom come, I was twelve years old. Mother marry a Finch; Bill +was de name of him. Our nex' move was to Dr. Madden's place, just north +of Boro. Us farm up dere and I do de hoein'. I live dere thirteen years. +I got to feelin' my oats and tired of workin' for a plum black nigger, I +did. Maybe I ought to been more humble but I wasn't. + +"I ask myself one night: 'What you gonna do, stay here forever for your +vittles and clothes?' Then come over my mind I old 'nough for to marry. +Who I gwine to marry? It pop right in dis head, Sarah was de gal for me. +I rode old Beck down dere de nex' Sunday; dat was in December. I come +right to de point wid her and de old folks. They 'low they have no +objections if I could take care of her. I say I try to. They say: 'Dat +ain't 'nough, 'range yourself for another year and then come and git +her'. + +"De Lord directs me. I's down here payin' my poll, too. Marster Tom +Shanty Brice come in as us come out. I ask him if he need a hand for +nex' year. He look me up from top to bottom and say: 'What's your name?' +I show him my tax receipt. He hire me than and dere. I go right straight +to Sarah and us tell de old folks. Rev. Gordon marry us de 29th of +January, 1879. Us has seven chillun. Alex, dat's de one name for me, is +in Tampa, Florida. Carrie marry a Coleman and is in Charlotte, N.C. +Jimmie is dead. Thomas is in Charleston, S.C. Emma marry a Belton and +lives wid her husband in Ridgeway, S.C. I stay wid my son, Charley, up +de country. + +"I voted one time in 1876, for Gov. Chamberlain, but when I moved to +Marster Tom Brice's I thought so much of him, I just quit voting. I +would lak to vote one more time to say: 'I have vote one time wid de +black part of my nature, dis time I votes wid de white side of my +nature.' What you laughin' 'bout? If it was de call of dark blood de +fust time, maybe it's de call of de white blood dis time. You have no +idea de worry and de pain a mulatto have to carry all his eighty-four +years. Forced to 'sociate wid one side, proud to be related to de other +side. Neither side lak de color of your skin. I jine de Methodist church +here in Boro and 'tend often as I can and as I hear my preacher Owens +preach, dat dere will be no sex in hebben, I hopes and prays dat dere'll +be no sich thing as a color line in hebben. + +"Who de best white men I ever know? Mr. Tom Brice, Mr. W.L. Rosborough, +Mr. Watt Sinonton, and Mr. August Nicholson. Master Bill Beaty, dat +marry my young mistress, Elizabeth, was a fine man. + +"What I think of Abe Lincoln? What I think of Mr. Roosevelt? Dere de +color come up again. De black say Mr. Lincoln de best President us ever +have; de white say us never have had and never will have a President +equal of Mr. Roosevelt." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=CHARLIE ROBINSON= + +=_EX-SLAVE 87 YEARS OLD._= + + +Charlie Robinson lives nine miles northwest of Winnsboro, S.C., on lands +of Mr. R.W. Lemmon. There is one other occupant in the four-room house, +John Giles, a share cropper. The house has two fireplaces, the brick +chimney being constructed in the center of the two main rooms. The other +two rooms are shed rooms. Charlie ekes out a living as a day laborer on +the farm. + +"They been tellin' me to come to de social circle and see 'bout my +pension but I never is got dere. It been so hot, I hate to hotfoot it +nine miles to Winnsboro and huff dat same distance back on a hot summer +day. + +"Glad you come out here but sorry of de day, 'cause it is a Friday and +all de jay-birds go to see de devil dat day of de week. It's a bad day +to begin a garment, or quilt or start de lye hopper or 'simmon beer keg +or just anything important to yourself on dat day. Dere is just one good +Friday in de year and de others is given over to de devil, his imps, and +de jay-birds. Does I believe all dat? I believes it 'nough not to patch +dese old breeches 'til tomorrow and not start my 'simmon beer, when de +frost fall on them dis fall, on a Friday. + +"You wants me to set down so you can ask me sumpin'? I'll do dat! Of +course I will! (He proceeded to do so--wiping his nose on his sleeve and +sprawling down on the doorsill). My pappy name George, black George they +call him in slavery time, 'cause dere was a small yallow slave on de +place, named George. My mammy name Ca'line. My pappy b'long to de +McNeals and my mammy b'long to Marse Joe Beard. His wife was my +mistress. Her name Miss Gracie. 'Nitials? Dat sumpin' not in my lingo, +Boss. You want to know what my pappy's old marster name? Seem to me they +call him Marse Gene, though it been so long I done forgot. When my +marster went to de war him got a ball through his leg. Bad treatment of +dat leg give him a limp for de balance of his days. White folks call him +'Hoppin' Joe Beard' and sometime 'Lopin' Joe'. + +"Marster and mistress have two chillun. I play marbles wid them and make +mud pies. Deir names was Marse Willie and Miss Rhoda. + +"My brudders and sisters was Jeff, Roland, Jane and Fannie. All dead +'cept Fannie. Her marry a big, long nigger name Saul Griffin. Last I +heard of them, they was livin' in Columbia, S.C. + +"I start workin' in de field de second year of de war, 1862. It sho' +made me hungry. I 'members now, how I'd git a big tin cupful of pot +liquor from de greens, crumble corn bread in it at dinner time and 'joy +it as de bestest part of de dinner. Us no suffer for sumpin' to eat. I +go all summer in my shirt-tail and in de winter I have to do de best I +can, widout any shoes. Ever since then, I just lak to go barefooted as +you sees me now. + +"My pappy git a pass and come to see mammy every Saturday night. My +marster had just four slave houses on de place. 'Spect him have 'bout +eight women, dat men come from other places to see and marry them and +have chillun. I doesn't 'member nary one of de women havin' a husband +livin' wid her every night. + +"Who do de plowin'? Women and boys do de plowin'. Had good 'nough +houses, though they was made of logs, 'cup and saddled' at both ends, +and covered wid white oak board shingles. Had stick and mud chimneys. + +"De Yankees made a clean sweep of everything, hosses, mules, cows, hogs, +meat and 'lasses. Got so mad when they couldn't find any salt, they burn +up everything. Pull Marse Joe's beard, just 'cause him name Beard. De +one dat do dat was just a smart aleck and de cap'n of de crowd shame +him and make him slink 'way, out de house. + +"When freedom come, Marse Joe stay one year, then leave. Sell out and +move to Walhalla and us move to pappy on de McNeal place. Dat year us +all jined de church, Union Church. I now b'longs to New Hope Methodist +Church. Us nex' move to Mr. Bill Crawford's place. Mr. Crawford got to +be school commissioner on de 'publican ticket and white folks call him +scalawag. Him have pappy and all de colored folks go to de 'lection box +and vote. Ku Klux come dere one night and whip every nigger man they +could lay deir hands on. Things quiet down then but us no more go to de +'lection box and vote. + +"'Bout dis time thoughts of de gals got in my head and feets at de same +time. I was buyin' a biled shirt and celluloid collar, in Mr. Sailing +Wolf's store, one Saturday, and in walked Ceily Johnson. I commence to +court her right then and dere, befo' I ever git inside dat shirt and +collar. Her have dark skin and was good to look at, I tell you. I +de-sash-shay 'bout dat gal, lak a chicken rooster spread his wing 'round +a pretty black pullet, 'til I wear out her indifference and her make me +happy by marryin' me. Her was too good lookin' and too bad doin', +though, for me. She left by de light of de moon when us was livin' on de +Cummings place, 'bove town. Excuse me now, dat's still a fresh subject +of torment to me. Let's talk 'bout chances of gittin' dat pension, when +I can git another clean white shirt, lay 'round de white folks again, +and git dis belly full of pot liquor." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon.= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=AL ROSBORO= + +=_EX-SLAVE 90 YEARS OLD._= + + +Al Rosboro, with his second wife, Julia, a daughter, and six small +grandchildren, lives in a three-room frame house, three hundred yards +east of the Southern Railway track and US #21, about two miles south of +Woodward, S.C., in Fairfield County. Mr. Brice gives the plot of ground, +four acres with the house, to Al, rent free. A white man, Mr. W.L. +Harvey does the ploughing of the patches for him. Al has cataracts on +his eyes and can do no work. Since this story was written he has +received his first old age pension check of eight dollars from the +Social Welfare Board in Columbia, S.C. + +"Does I know what a nonagenarian is? No seh, what dat? Old folks? Well, +dats a mighty long name and I been here a mighty long time. Glad you say +it's a honor and a privilege by de mercy of de Lord. I's thankful! You +wants to know where I was born and who my white folks then? + +"I was born just one and a half mile b'low White Oak, S.C., on de old +Marse Billie Brice place. My pappy b'long to old Miss Jennie Rosboro, +but mammy b'long to Marse William Brice. Her name Ann. My old mistress +name Mary, daughter of de Simontons, on Dumpers Creek. + +"You wants de fust thing I 'members, then travel 'long de years 'til I +come to settin' right here in dis chair. Well, reckon us git through +today? Take a powerful sight of dat pencil to put it all down. + +"Let me see. Fust thing I 'members well, was a big crowd wid picks and +shovels, a buildin' de railroad track right out de other side of de big +road in front of old marster's house. De same railroad dat is dere +today. When de fust engine come through, puffin' and tootin', lak to +scare 'most everybody to death. People got use to it but de mules and +bosses of old marster seem lak they never did. A train of cars a movin' +'long is still de grandest sight to my eyes in de world. Excite me more +now than greyhound busses, or airplanes in de sky ever do. + +"I nex' 'members my young misses and young marsters. Dere was Marse +John; he was kilt in de war. Marse Jim, dat went to de war, come back, +marry, and live right here in Winnsboro. Marse Jim got a grandson dat am +in de army a sailin' air-ships. Then dere was Marse William; he moved +off. One of de gals marry a Robertson, I can't 'member her name, tho' I +help her to make mud pies many a day and put them on de chicken coop, in +de sun, to dry. Her had two dolls; deir names was Dorcas and Priscilla. +When de pies got dry, she'd take them under de big oak tree, fetch out +de dolls and talk a whole lot of child mother talk 'bout de pies, to de +Dorcas and Priscilla rag dolls. It was big fun for her tho' and I can +hear her laugh right now lak she did when she mince 'round over them +dolls and pies. Dere was some poor folks livin' close by and she'd send +me over to 'vite deir chillun over to play wid her. They was name +Marshall. Say they come from Virginny and was kin to de highest judge in +de land. They was poor but they was proud. Mistress felt sorry for them +but they wouldn't 'cept any help from her. + +"Well, when I git twelve years old, marster give me to his son, Marse +Calvin, and give Marse Calvin a plantation dat his son, Homer, live on +now. I 'member now old marster's overseer comin' to de field; his name +was McElduff. Him say: 'Al, Marse William say come to de house'. I goes +dere on de run. When I git dere, him 'low: 'Calvin, I wants you to take +Al, I give him to you. Al, you take good care of your young marster'. I +always did and if Marse Calvin was livin' he'd tell you de same. + +"I forgit to tell you one thing dat happen down dere befo' I left. Dere +was a powerful rich family down dere name Cockrell; I forgits de fust +name. Him brudder tho', was sheriff and live in Winnsboro. Dere was a +rich Mobley family dat live jinin' him, two miles sunrise side of him. +One day de Cockrell cows got out and played thunder wid Mr. Mobley's +corn. Mr. Mobley kilt two of de cows. Dat made de Cockrells mad. They +too proud to go to law 'bout it; they just bide deir time. One day Marse +Ed Mobley's mules got out, come gallopin' 'round and stop in de Cockrell +wheat field. Him take his rifle and kill two of them mules. Dat made Mr. +Mobley mad but him too proud to go to law 'bout it. De Mobley's just +bide deir time. 'Lection come 'round for sheriff nex' summer. No +Cockrell was 'lected sheriff dat time. You ask Mr. Hugh Wylie 'bout dat +nex' time him come to de Boro. Him tell you all 'bout it. + +"Dat call to my mind another big man, dat live 'bove White Oak then, +Marse Gregg Cameron. He was powerful rich, wid many slaves. Him lak to +bar-room and drink. Him come by marster's house one day, fell off his +hoss and de hoss gallop on up de road. Dat was de fust drunk man I ever +see. Marster didn't know what to do; him come into de house and ask +Mistress Mary. Him tell her him didn't want to scandal de chillun. She +say: 'What would de good Samaritan do?' Old marster go back, fetch dat +groanin', cussin', old man and put him to bed, bathe his head, make Sam, +de driver, hitch up de buggy, make West go wid him, and take Marse Gregg +home. I never see or hear tell of dat white man anymore, 'til one day +after freedom when I come down here to Robinson's Circus. Him drop dead +dat day at de parade, when de steam piano come 'long a tootin'. 'Spect +de 'citement, steam, and tootin', was too much for him. + +"Niggers never learn to read and write. It was 'ginst de law. White +folks fear they would write deir passes and git 'way to de free states. + +"Us slaves 'tend Concord Church, tho' Marse Calvin jine de Seceders and +'tend New Hope. Why us go to Concord? 'Cause it too far to walk to New +Hope and not too far to walk to Concord. Us have not 'nough mules for +all to ride, and then de mules need a rest. I now b'longs to Bethany +Presbyterian Church at White Oak. Yes sah, I thinks everybody ought to +jine de church for it's de railroad train to git to hebben on. + +"Marse Calvin went to de war. Him got shot thru de hand. Yankees come +and burn up everything him have. Wheeler's men just as bad. + +"After freedom I got mannish. Wid not a drop of blood in me but de pure +African, I sets out to find a mate of de pure breed. 'Bout de onliest +place I could find one of dis hatchin', was de Gaillard quarter. I marry +Gabrielle. Live fust years at de Walt Brice McCullough place, then move +to de Vinson place, then to de preacher Erwin place. Dat was a fine +preacher, him pastor for Concord. Him lak to swap hosses. When him come +down out de pulpit him looks 'round, see a hoss him lak, soon as not him +go home to dinner wid de owner of dat hoss. After dinner him say: 'If it +wasn't de Sabbath, how would you trade dat hoss for my hoss?' More words +pass between them, just supposin' all de time it was Monday. Then Mr. +Erwin ride back dere nex' day and come back wid de hoss him took a fancy +for. + +"Mr. Erwin move when he git a call to Texas. I moves to de Bob Sinonton +place. From dere I goes to de Jim Brice place, now owned by young Marse +James Brice. I been dere 32 years. Gabrielle and me generate thirteen +chillun, full blooded natural born Africans, seven boys and six gals. +Then Gabrielle die and I marry Julia Jenkins. Us have five chillun, one +boy and four gals. I's done a heap for my country. I wants Mr. Roosevelt +to hear 'bout dat; then maybe him make de country do sumpin' for me." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=TOM ROSBORO= + +=_EX-SLAVE 79 YEARS OLD._= + + +Tom Rosboro lives with his daughter, Estelle Perry, in a three-room +frame house, on Cemetery Street, Winnsboro, S.C. The house stands on a +half-acre plot that is used for garden truck. Estelle owns the fee in +the house and lot. Tom peddles the truck, eggs, and chickens, in the +town and the suburban Winnsboro mill village. + +"My pappy was name Tom, just lak I is name Tom. My mammy was name Sarah +but they didn't b'long to de same marster. Pappy b'long to old Marse +Eugene McNaul. Mammy b'long to old Marse John Propst. De ownership of de +child followed de mammy in them days. Dat throwed me to be a slave of +old Marse John Propst. + +"My young marsters was name Marse Johnnie, Marse Clark, Marse Floyd, and +Marse Wyatt. I had two young misses. Miss Elizabeth marry a McElroy and +Miss Mamie marry a Landecker. You know Marse Ernest Propst dat run dat +ladies' garment store and is a member of de Winnsboro Town Council? Yes? +Well, dat is one of Marse Floyd Propst chillun. + +"I hear mammy say dat daddy's mistress was name Miss Emma but her +mistress and my mistress was name Miss Margaret. My daddy have to have a +pass every time he come to see mammy. Sometime they give him a general +pass for de year. Sometime him lose de pass and then such a gwine on you +never did see de lak. Make more miration (hullabaloo) over it than if +they had lost one of de chillun. They was scared de patarollers +(patrollers) would come ketch him, and lay de leather whip on his naked +back. He wouldn't dare stay long. Him would go back soon, not on de big +road but through de woods and fields, so as not to meet de patarollers. + +"Who was my brothers and sisters and where is they? Brother Ben and +Sister Mamie is dead and in glory. Dat's all de chillun mammy had a +chance to have, 'cause she was a good woman and would never pay any +'tention to de men slaves on de Propst place. Her was faithful to pappy +through thick and thin, whichever it be. + +"I doesn't 'member much 'bout de Yankees, though I does 'members de Ku +Klux. They visit pappy's house after freedom, shake him, and threaten +dat, if him didn't quit listenin' to them low-down white trash scalawags +and carpetbaggers, they would come back and whale de devil out of him, +and dat de Klan would take notice of him on 'lection day. + +"When I was 'bout seventeen years old, I come to de Boro (Winnsboro) one +Saturday evenin' and seen a tall willowy gal, black she was but shiny, +puttin' them foots of her'n down on de pavement in a pretty gamecock +pullet kind of way, as if to say: 'Roosters look at me.' I goes over to +Mr. Landecker's store, de Mr. Landecker dat marry Miss Mamie Propst, and +I begs him to give me a cigar. I lights dat cigar and puts out after +her. I ketches up wid her just as she was comin' out of Mr. Sailing +Wolfe's Jew store. I brush up 'ginst her and say: 'Excuse me lady.' Her +say: 'I grants your pardon, Mister. I 'spects smoke got in your eyes and +you didn't see me.' I say: 'Well, de smoke is out of my eyes now and +they will never have sight for any other gal but you as long as I live.' +Black as she was, her got red in de face and say: 'Who is you?' I say: +'Tom Rosboro. What might be your name, lovely gal?' Her say: 'My name is +Mattie Nelson.' I say: 'Please to meet you, Sugar Plum.' Her say: 'I +live down at Simpson's Turnout. Glad to have you come down to see me +sometime.' After dat us kep' a meetin' in Winnsboro, every Saturday, +'til one day us went 'round to Judge Jno. J. Neils' law office and him +married us. Me and Mat have our trials and tribulations and has went up +and down de hills in all kind of weather. Us never ceased to bless dat +day dat I run into her at Mr. Sailing Wolfe's store. + +"How come I name Rosboro? I just picked it up as a mighty pretty name. +Sound better than Propst or McNaul and de Rosboro white folks was big +buckra in dat time. + +"Us had lots of chillun; raise some and lost some. I have a son, +Charlie, dat's a barber in Washington, D.C. Lucy, a daughter, marry Tank +Hill. Nan marry Banks Smith. Estelle marry Jim Perry but her is a widow +now. Her bought a house and lot wid de insurance money from Dr. McCants. +She has a nice house on Cemetery Street, wid water and 'lectric lights. +Her got four chillun. When my wife die, two years ago, I move in wid +Estelle and her four chillun. Her make money by washin' and ironin' for +de white folks. Me and de chillun picks cotton and 'tends to de makin' +and de peddlin' of garden truck and sich lak. Ah, us is a happy family +but I ain't 'bove usin' some of dat old age pension money, if I can git +it." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + + =INTERVIEW WITH + REUBEN ROSBOROUGH, RIDGEWAY, S.C.=, + =_EX-SLAVE--82 YEARS, 3 MONTHS OLD_= + + +"No sir, I can 'member nothin' 'bout de State of Verginny, where pappy +said us was born. He told me, when I was 'bout two years old he and +mammy Kitty was took from somewhar in dat state to Richmond, wid de +understandin' to sell us as a family, and to give a man name Johnson, de +preference. He say de trader couldn't find de man Johnson, and sold us +to my marster, John Rosborough. My pappy name William, my brothers, Tom +and Willie and my sisters, Mary and Alice. + +"My marster was a kind and tender man to slaves. You see a man love +hosses and animals? Well, dat's de way he love us, though maybe in +bigger portion, I 'low. Marster John never marry. Set down dere dat he +was good enough to buy my old gran' mammy Mary, though she never could +do much work. + +"Us knowed dat our gran'pappy was a white man back in Verginny, but dat +was her secret, dat she kept locked in her breast and carried it wid her +to de grave. You say I's very light color myself? So I is, so was she, +so was pappy. Ease your mind, us had none of de white Rosborough in us. +Us come on one side from de F.F.V's. I's proud of dat, and you can put +down dere dat deres no poor white trash blood in dese old veins, too. + +"De last part of de war I worked some in de field, but not enough to +hurt. My Marster was a Presbyterian, b'longed to Aimwell Church. Two or +three acres in cemetery dere now, but they done move de church into de +town of Ridgeway. + +"Money was not worshipped then like it is now. Not much use of it. +Marster raised all we eat and made all we wear right dere on de place, +'bout five miles north of Ridgeway. + +"I guess Marster John had forty slaves. Us live in two-story log house +wid plank floor. Marster John die, us 'scend to his brother Robert and +his wife Mistress Mary. I played wid her chillun. Logan was one and +Janie the other. My marster and mistress was good to me. I use to drive +de mules to de cotton gin. All I had to do was to set on de long beam +and crack my whip every now and then, and de mules would go 'round and +'round. Dere was three hundred and seventy-six acres in dat place. I own +part of it today. I b'longs to Good Hope Church. I sure believes in de +Lord, and dat His mercies is from everlastin' to everlastin' to them dat +fears Him. + +"'Member but little 'bout de war for freedom, 'cept dat some of de +slaves of marster was sent to de front to use pick and shovel to throw +up breast works, and things of dat nature. My pappy was de foreman and +stayed at home, carry on whilst Marster Robert go. + +"'Deed I recollects 'bout de Yankees. They come and ask my pappy, de +foreman, where was de mules and hosses hid out? Pappy say he don't know, +he didn't carry them off. They find out a boy dat knowed; make him tell, +and they went and got de mules and hosses. They took everything and +left. + +"Doctor Scott was our doctor. Dere was in them days lots of +rattlesnakes; had to be keerful of them. Then us hear lots and had lots +of chills and fever. They found de remedy, but they was way off 'bout +what make them come on you. Some 'low it was de miasma dat de devil +bring 'round you from de swamp and settle 'round your face whilst you +sleep, and soon as he git you to snore you sniffed it to your liver, +lights and gall, then dat make bile, and then you was wid de chills a +comin' every other day and de fever all de day. Marster Doctor Hayne +done find out dat de skeeter bring de fever and de chills, and funny, +he 'low dat it is de female skeeter bite dat does de business. You +believe dat? I didn't at first, 'til old Doctor Lindor tell me dat it +was no harder to believe than dat all disease come into de world when a +female bite a apple in de garden of Eden. + +"I think Mr. Lincoln was raised up by de Lord, just like Moses, to free +a 'culiar people. I think Mr. Roosevelt is de Joshua dat come after him. +No president has done as much for de poor of both races as de one now +president. God bless him and 'stain him in his visions and work to bring +de kingdom of heaven into and upon de earth." + + + + + =Project #-1655= + =C.S. Murray= + =Charleston, S.C.= + + =Approx. 430 Words.= + +=GOING DOWN TO DIE= + +(=FOLKLORE=) + +=STORY TOLD BY EX-SLAVE= + + +Boss Man, you talk about de brave soldier who been in de last big war +and how dey look death in de eye and spit on him. I ain't see dat war. +It been 'cross de water. But I know sump'en 'bout de Civil War. I been +young lad when de big gun shoot and de Yankee pile down from de north. + +Talk 'bout being brave. De bravest thing I ever see was one day at +Ashepoo junction. Dat was near de end of de war. Grant was standing up +before Richmond; Sherman was marching tump-tump through Georgia. I was a +stripling lad den and boy-like I got to see and hear everything. One day +more than all, de overseer sent my pappy to Ashepoo junction to get de +mail. I gone 'long wid him. Seem like I jest had to go dat day. + +I member dat morning well. When I get to de junction de train start to +come in. What a lot of train! De air fair smoke up wid dem. They come +shouting in from Charleston, bound up-country. + +I stand wid my pappy near de long trestle, and see de train rock by. One +enjine in front pulling one in de back pushing, pushing, pushing. De +train load down wid soldier. They thick as peas. Been so many a whole +ton been riding on de car roof. They shout and holler. I make big amaze +to see such a lot of soldier--all going down to die. + +And they start to sing as they cross de trestle. One pick a banjo, one +play de fiddle. They sing and whoop, they laugh; they holler to de +people on de ground, and sing out, "Good-bye." All going down to die. + +And it seem to me dat is de most wonderful sight I ever see. All them +soldier, laughing light, singing and shouting dat way, and all riding +fast to battle. + +One soldier man say in a loud voice: "Well, boys we going to cut de +Yankee throat. We on our way to meet him and he better tremble. Our gun +greeze up, and our bayonet sharp. Boys we going to eat our dinner in +hell today." + +I turn to my pappy and ax him how can man act like dat when they going +down to die. He answer me: "Dat ain't nutting. They n'use to dat. Ain't +you know soldier different?" + +But I say: "Pappy, you hear dem talk 'bout eat dinner in hell?" + +He answer me back: "They been in de army 'long time. They don't study +hell anymore." + +De train still rumble by. One gang of soldier on de top been playing +card. I see um hold up de card as plain as day, when de luck fall right. +They going to face bullet, but yet they play card, and sing and laugh +like they in their own house ... All going down to die. + +De train pull 'cross de trestle. I stand up and watch um till he go out +of sight 'round de bend. De last thing I hear is de soldier laugh and +sing ... All going down to die. + + + SOURCE: Interview with William Rose, 80, ex-slave of Edisto Island, + S.C., in 1936. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=BENJAMIN RUSSELL= + +=_EX-SLAVE 88 YEARS._= + + +"I was born fourteen miles north of Chester, S.C. the property of Mrs. +Rebecca Nance. After eighty-eight years, I have a vivid recollection of +her sympathy and the ideal relations she maintained with her slaves. + +"My father was just Baker, my mother just Mary. My father was bought out +of a drove of slaves from Virginia. I have been told my mother was born +on the Youngblood place. (Youngblood name of my mistress' people in York +County.) My father was a slave of a Mr. Russell and lived two or three +miles from the Nance place, where mother lived. He could only visit her +on a written pass. As he was religiously inclined, dutiful and faithful +as a slave, my mother encouraged the relation that included a slave +marriage between my father and mother. My mother in time, had a log +house for herself and children. We had beds made by the plantation's +carpenter. As a boy I remember plowing from sun to sun, with an hour's +intermission for dinner, and feeding the horses. + +"Money? Yes, sometimes white folks and visitors would give me coppers, +3-cent pieces, and once or twice dimes. Used them to buy extra clothing +for Sundays and fire crackers and candy, at Christmas. We had good food. +In the busy seasons on the farm the mistress saw to it that the slaves +were properly fed, the food cooked right and served from the big +kitchen. We were given plenty of milk and sometimes butter. We were +permitted to have a fowl-house for chickens, separate from the white +folks. We wore warm clothes and stout brogan shoes in winter; went +barefooted from April until November and wore cotton clothes in summer. +The master and some of the women slaves spun the thread, wove the cloth +and made the clothes. My mother lived in a two-story farm house. Her +children were: William, Mattie and Thomas. We never had an overseer on +the place. Sometimes she'd whip the colored children, but only when it +was needed for correction. + +"Yes, sir, I went with my young master, William, to Chester Court House, +and saw slaves put on a block and auctioned off to the highest bidder, +just like land or mules and cattle. Did we learn to read and write? We +were taught to read, but it was against the law to teach a slave to +write. The Legislature passed an act to that effect. A number of cases +in which slaves could write, the slave would forge a pass and thereby +get away to free territory. They had a time getting them back. On one +occasion I run in on my young master, William, teaching my Uncle Reuben +how to write. They showed their confusion. + +"All slaves were compelled to attend church on Sunday. A gallery around +the interior of the church, contained the blacks. They were permitted to +join in the singing. Favorite preacher? Well, I guess my favorite +preacher was Robert Russell. He was allowed sometimes to use the white +folks school, which wasn't much in those days, just a little log house +to hold forth in winter. In summer he got permission to have a brush +arbor of pine tops, where large numbers came. Here they sang Negro +spirituals. I remember one was called: 'Steal away to Jesus.' + +"Runaway slaves? Yes, we had one woman who was contrary enough to run +away: Addie, she run off in the woods. My mistress hired her out to the +McDonald family. She came back and we had to pelt and drive her away. + +"How did we get news? Many plantations were strict about this, but the +greater the precaution the alerter became the slaves, the wider they +opened their ears and the more eager they became for outside +information. The sources were: Girls that waited on the tables, the +ladies' maids and the drivers; they would pick up everything they heard +and pass it on to the other slaves. + +"Saturday afternoons? These were given to women to do the family +washing, ironing, etc., and the men cut fire wood, or worked in the +garden, and special truck crops. Christmas? Christmas was a holiday, but +the fourth of July meant very little to the slave people. Dances? There +was lots of dancing. It was the pastime of the slave race. The children +played shimmy and other games, imitating the white children, sometimes +with the white folks. + +"The master and mistress were very particular about the slave girls. For +instance, they would be driving along and pass a girl walking with a +boy. When she came to the house she would be sent for and questioned +something like this: 'Who was that young man? How come you with him? +Don't you ever let me see you with that ape again. If you cannot pick a +mate better than that I'll do the picking for you.' The explanation: The +girl must breed good strong serviceable children. + +"No, I never saw a ghost, but there was a general belief among the race +in ghosts, spirits, haunts and conjuration. Many believe in them yet. I +can never forget the fright of the time my young master, William was +going off to the war. The evening before he went, a whippoorwill lighted +on the window sill and uttered the plaintive 'whip-poor-will.' All the +slaves on the place were frightened and awed and predicted bad luck to +Master Will. He took sick in war and died, just wasted away. He was +brought back in rags toward the end of the struggle. + +"Mistress always gave the slaves a big dinner on New Year's Day and +talked to us out of the catechism. She impressed on us after dinner that +time, that we were free. Some were sorry, some hurt, but a few were +silent and glad. I and many of the others had been well treated. When we +were sick she visited us and summoned a doctor the first thing, but the +remedies those days were castor oil, quinine, turpentine, mustard +plaster and bleeding." + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =May 29, 1937= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVE= + + +"I was born about 1846, 'cause I was in de war and was 19 years old when +de war was over. I went to Charleston with my master, Ros Atwood, my +mistress's brother. My mistress was Mrs. Laura Rutherford and my master +at home was Dr. Thomas Rutherford. We was on Morris Island. + +"My father was Allen Rutherford and my mother Barbara Rutherford. My +daddy had come from Chili to this country, was a harness maker, and +belonged awhile to Nichols. We had a good house or hut to live in, and +my work was to drive cows till I was old 'nough to work in de fields, +when I was 13. Then I plowed, hoed cotton, and hoed corn 'till last year +of war and den went to Charleston. + +"Master paid us no money for work. We could hunt and fish, and got lots +of game around there. We had dogs but our master didn't like hounds. + +"Col. Daryton Rutherford, doct's son, had me for a 'pet' on the place. +They had overseers who was sometimes bossy but they wouldn't allow dem +to whip me. One old nigger named 'Isom', who come from Africa, was +whipped mighty bad one day. The padderollers whip me one night when I +went off to git a pair of shoes for an old lady and didn't git a pass. I +was 16 years old then. + +"Doctor Rutherford had several farms--I reckon around 2,000 acres of +land. We didn't have church nor school but sometimes we had to go to de +white folks church and set in the gallery. We didn't learn to read and +write. The mistress learnt some of de nigger chaps to read and write a +little. + +"We had Saturday afternoons off to wash up and clean up. When Christmas +come the doctor would give us good things to eat. When we was sick he +give us medicine, but some of de old folks would make hot teas from root +herbs. + +"We had old time corn-shuckings before and after freedom. We made sure +enough corn den and lots of it--had four cribs full. When freedom come, +the old man had fallen off a block and was hurt, so one of de overseers +told us we was free and could go if we wanted to. Some of dem stayed on +and some got in the big road and never stopped walking. Then we worked +for 1/3 share of the crops; had our little patch to work, too. + +"I was 31 years old when I married first time. Was living in Mollohon. +Her name was Leana and she belonged to Madison Brooks's family, as +waiting girl. I was married twice, but had 13 children all by my first +wife. I have 14 grandchildren, and so many great-grandchildren I can't +count them. + +"When de Ku Klux was in dat country I lived wid a man who was one of +them. The first I knew about it was when I went down to de mill, de mule +throwed me and de meal, and down de road I went to running and met a Ku +Klux. It was him. + +"I think Abe Lincoln and Jeff Davis good men, but don't know much about +dem. + +"I join de church when I was 68 years old 'cause God sent me to do it. I +believe all ought to join church." + + SOURCE: Joe Rutherford (92), Newberry, S.C.; Interviewer: G. Leland + Summer, Newberry, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =June 7, 1937= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVE= + + +"I was born about 1849 in the Dutch Fork section of Newberry County, +S.C. I was slave of Ivey Suber and his good wife. My daddy was Bill +Suber and my mammy was Mary Suber. I was hired by Marse Suber as a nurse +in the big house, and I waited on my mistress when she was sick, and was +at her bed when she died. I had two sisters and a brother and when we +was sold they went to Mr. Suber's sister and I stayed with him. + +"My master was good to his slaves. He give them plenty to eat, good +place to sleep and plenty of clothes. The young men would hunt lots, +rabbits, possums, and birds. My white folks had a big garden and we had +eats from it. They was good cooks, too, and lived good. We card and spin +and weave our own clothes on mistress's spinning wheels. + +"Marse Suber had one overseer who was good to us. We went to work at +sun-up and worked 'till sun-down, none of us worked at night. We +sometimes got a whipping when we wouldn't work or do wrong, but it +wasn't bad. + +"We never learned to read and write. We had no church and no school on +the plantation, but we could go to the white folk's church and sit in +the gallery. Some of us was made to go, and had to walk 10 miles. Of +course, we never thought much about walking that far. I joined the +church because I was converted; I think everybody ought to join the +church. + +"The patrollers rode 'round and ketched slaves who ran away without +passes. They never bothered us. When our work was over at night, we +stayed home, talked and went to sleep. On Saturday afternoons white +folks sometimes give us patches of ground to work, and we could wash up +then, too. We raised corn on the patches and some vegetables. On Sunday +we just rested and went to neighbor's house or to church. On Christmas +we had big eats. + +"Corn-shuckings and cotton-pickings always had suppers when work was +done. Master made whiskey up at his sister's place, and at these suppers +he had whiskey to give us. + +"When we was sick we had a doctor--didn't believe much in root teas. + +"I married when I was 15 years old at a white man's place, Mr. Sam +Cannon's. A negro man named Jake Cannon married us. Supper was give us +by Mr. Sam Cannon after it was over. + +"When freedom came, my mother moved away, but I stayed on. + +"I think Abraham Lincoln was a good man, and Jeff Davis was a good man. +I don't know anything about Booker Washington." + + + SOURCE: Lila Rutherford (86), Newberry, S.C., RFD + Interviewer: G. Leland Summer, 1707 Lindsey St., + Newberry, S.C. + + + + + =Project #-1655= + =Mrs. Genevieve W. Chandler= + =Murrells Inlet, S.C.= + =Georgetown County= + + =FOLKLORE= + + =Uncle Sabe Rutledge= + + (=Testimony given by old man born 1861, The Ark Plantation. + Horry County--owned by Mr. John Tillman=) + + +"Fust thing I realize to remember, I nuster cry to go to the old +boss--old Massa--for sugar. Massa say: + +"'Martha, what Newman (he call me that) crying for?' Ma say, 'Wanter +come to you for sugar!' + +"'Bring the boy here, Martha!' + +"He gi'e me sugar. + +"Boil salt? Pump! Pump! Pump it! Had a tank. Run from hill to sea. Had a +platform similar to wharf. And pump on platform. Fetch good high. Go out +there on platform. Force pump. My Grandmother boil salt way after +Freedom. We tote water. Tote in pidgin and keeler--make out of cedar and +cypress. No 'ting to crove 'em (groove 'em) compass. Dog-wood and oak +rim. Give it a lap. (This was his description, with pantomime, of the +way pidgin and keelers were made by plantation carpenters) + +"My Grandmother had two pots going. Boil all day and all night. Biling. +Boil till he ticken (thicken) Cedar paddles stir with. Chillun eat with +wooden spoons. Clay pot? Just broken piece. Indian had big camping +ground on beach near the Ark. After big blow you can find big piece of +pot there. I see Indian. Didn't see wild one; see tame one. + +"Indigo? Old man Lashie Tillman nuster plant indigo. Seed lak a flax. +Put myrtle seed in with indigo to boil. Gather and boil for the traffic. +All the big folkses plant that fore the rice. Rice come in circulation, +do way with indigo. Nuster (used to) farm indigo just like we work our +corn. Didn't have nothing but ox. And the colored folks--they came next +to the ox--Hill keep advancing out. Reckon you wouldn't blieve it, but I +ken cummember (Uncle Sabe stutters a bit) when all that beach been +cultivate field. Must be nature for sand hill to move. Time most got too +fast now for the people to live. + +"Storm? Oh my Lord! Flagg Storm? Sea naturally climb right over that +hill like it wasn't nothing. Water come to King Road. Reckon it would a +come further if the wind didn't shift. + +"Calls this 'The Ridge.' Why? I first man settle here. Oak Ridge. (It is +the highest land between the Waccamaw river and the ocean.) Just name it +so. + +"Member the shipwreck. Two men and lady come to the Ark. Stormy time. +Massa take them to town. Old anchor there now. Come a blow you kin see +it. Water rise over it high tide. + +"Ma tell me bout they had the to-do. Blockade at Inlet. Had 'em out to +drill (The Yankees came to shore to drill.) Old man John Tillman lose +all he China-a-way! (chinaware.) Every bit of his china and paints +(panes of glass) out the window. Yankee gun boat sojer (soldier) to +Magnolia to drill. They tack 'em (attacked 'em) to cut 'em off. When +Rebs tack 'em, small boats gone back. She had to brace 'em. Shoot dem +shell to brace. (Gun boat fired to frighten Rebs who were cutting +Yankees off from escape) I hear old man Frank Norris--lived right beyond +Vettrill Deas--I hear him (nuster come home to the Ark and trap)--I hear +him say lot of 'em bog. (Ella, Agnes and Johnnie Johnson fadder been +there) Bomb shell hit the hill and bury them in the sand. Had to dig +out. + +"Old man John Tillman my boss. Sho treat his people good. Don't see why +his folks (slaves) went to blockade (tried to escape and join Yankee +gun-boats). Sho treat his colored folks good. My Grandfather, Rodrick +Rutledge, driver from a boy. Time he big nuff to handle it till Freedom. + +"Couldn't marry widout consent of boss." (Remark from Uncle Sabe's +sister, Mom Jane, who is quite acid. All her information inherited--she +Freedom child) Mom Jane: "Been to devil and come back now!" + +(Comparing slavery to the lower regions) + +Uncle Sabe--continuing: + +"Have sick house; have chillun house." (All in this section tell great +tales of the 'chillun house.' Sounds a lot like the nurse houses in +Russia today. All the babies were in this day nursery in care of the +older women, too old for field work.) "Corn. Meat--pig, beef, +fish--plenty milk." (Some cow 'coffee cow'--that is give just enough +milk for the coffee.) + +"Any rice?" + +Aunt Jane: (interrupting) "Pick you teet (teeth) to find the rice! Great +God! Now I can buy my rice!" + +Uncle Sabe: "Could plant up-land rice to Ark. (This on coast away from +fresh water) + +"Ash cake? Meal, salt, water. Not a grease! Not a grease! See Mudder +cook it many a hundred day!" + +Mom Jane: "Put it in the stove today,--nothing! Rather have it any day!" + +Sabe: "Wrap it in brown paper, mostly. Cows free in woods. Alligator +tail good. Snail built up just like a conch (whelk). They eat good. +Worms like a conch. Bile conch. Git it out shell. Grind it sausage +grinder. Little onion. Black pepper. Rather eat conch than any kind of +nourishment out of salt water." + +Mom Jane: "Conjur? Wouldn't turn a hucks bread for 'em." (Give a +crust.) + +Sabe: "What God got lot out for a man he'll get it." + +"Flat boat full up (with slaves trying to escape) gone down Waccamaw. +Uncle Andrew Aunt the one got he eye shoot out (by patrollers) took 'em +to camp on North Island. Never see so much a button and pin in my life! +Small-pox in camp. Had to leave 'em. + +"Captain Ben and Captain Tom fadder--look how he die! Looker the blood! +Looker the people! Looker the blood! His boat call 'The Bull River.' Up +and down Pee Dee river. Meet flat! Bore hole in flat and women and +chillun go down! Take men off. He COME TO THIS COUNTRY. (Came down from +North before Civil War) Them darnish Yankee very percruel. (Peculiar?) + +"My Great-grandmother Veenia, pirate captured and took all they money in +English war. (Revolution) Dem day Ladies wear bodkin fastened to long +gold chain on shoulder--needle in 'em and thimble and ting. Coming down +from New York to get away from English. My great grandmother little +chillun. Pirate come to her Missus. Take all they money--come cut bodkin +off her shoulder. Grandmother ma gone on the boat and twiss herself in +Missus' skirt. Pirate put 'em off to Wilmington. Come on down settle to +Pitch Landing near Socastee. Keep on till they get to Ark. + +"My Great-Grandma Veenia didn't have a teet in her head--one hundred +ten years old and could eat hard a bread as any we." + + + Uncle Sabe Rutledge + Burgess, S.C.--P.O. + Horry County + Age 76 (Born 1861) + Ark Plantation. + + + + + =Project 1655= + =Genevieve W. Chandler= + =Georgetown County, S.C.= + + =FOLKLORE= + +=UNCLE SABE RUTLEDGE= + +=(EX-SLAVE STORY)= + + +"They call him Rogerick Rutledge for shortness. My Grandpa REAL name +Jim. First time I big enough to realect (recollect) him he have on no +pants but something built kinder like overall and have a apron. Apron +button up here where my overall buckle and can be let down. All been dye +with indigo. Have weave shirt--dye with blue indigo boil with myrtle +seed. Myrtle seed must-a-did put the color in. Old brogan shoe on he +foot. Old beaver hat on he head. Top of crown wear out and I member he +have paste-board cover over with cloth and sew in he hat crown. My +Grandmother wear these here gingham cloth call gingham twill. + +"Now the chillun! I member I was a big boy grown when I get my first +pants. All boy chillun wear a shirt----long down to knee and lower. Have +belt round the middle--just like you belt to hold 'em. Chillun have not +a shoe! Not a shoe for chillun on us plantation to the Old Ark. First +shoe I have, Pa get a cow hide and tan it. And a man name Stalvey make +my first pair of shoes. I was way near bout grown. Make the sole out the +thickness of the cow hide. Short quarter. No eye--just make the hole. +Last! Yes man! Yes man! Yes man! Keep 'em grease! Them shoe never wear +out! + +"We raise all we get to eat. Hominy, cornbread, peas, potatoes, rice. +Morest we plant this here yellow corn. I cry many a day bout that yellow +corn! We say, 'Pa, this here yellow corn make hominy look like he got +egg cook in 'em; red corn look like hominy cook in red molasses!' + +"But yellow corn stronger feed! Stronger feed! And Pa know 'em. + +"Sunday come go to church in that same blue shirt! Little old pole +church--(gone now)--call 'Dick Green Bay Church'. (Named for a local +character.) When we go to church before freedom, Mudder and them have to +have the ticket. + +"Old man John Tilghman at the Ark Plantation have no overseer--have +'Driver'. Most folks on Waccamaw have overseer and 'Driver'. My Pa been +the Ark 'Driver.' + +"Old man Zachariah Duncan been the preacher. That the same man build the +first 'Heaven Gate' church after freedom. He got drift lumber on the +river and on the beach. Flat 'em--make a raft and float 'em over to the +hill and the man haul 'em to 'Heaven Gate' with ox. Yes. 'Heaven Gate' +built outer pick up lumber. + +"Before freedom Parson Glennie--he was 'Piscopal--he would come give us +a service once a month on the plantation--so mother said. + +"Patches of indigo all through the woods. You know cow eat indigo. Us +have too much ox! Have to haul rail all the time keep up the old fence. +Woods full up with cow. Cattle loose--free. When you want beef have to +hunt for 'em like we hunts deer now. I member some ox I helped broke. +Pete, Bill, Jim, David. Faby was a brown. David kinder mouse color. We +always have the old ox in the lead going to haul rail. Hitch the young +steer on behind. Sometimes they 'give up' and the old ox pull 'em by the +neck! Break ox all the time. Fun for us boys--breaking ox. So much of +rail to haul! + +"(You can't tell me bout this pension? Look like to me somebody trying +to smother something. Letters come. Cards come. My name on outside +alright. Tell me to put my name on cards and hand 'em out to my friends. +Say send twenty-five cents. Next time say 'Send thirty-five cents'. He +cool off then and another man--Mr. Pope come in. Got two letter from him +and he tell me be still till I hear from him again. J.E. Pope. Last +blank I got from Mr. Pope he say not to look for more than thirty or +thirty-two dollars a month. Say there ain't going to be no two hundred a +month.) + +"How come I know all these Buh Rabbit story, Mudder spin you know. Have +the great oak log, iron fire dog. Have we chillun to sit by the +fireplace put the light-wood under--blaze up. We four chillun have to +pick seed out the cotton. Work till ten o'clock at night and rise early! +Mudder and Father tell you story to keep you eye open! Pick out cotton +seed be we job every night in winter time--'cept Sunday! When we grow +bigger, Mudder make one card. One would spin and then Mudder go to +knitting. Night time picking these cotton seed out; day time in winter +getting wood! + +"Fall----harvest peanut, peas, 'tater! + +"I member all them Buh Rabbit story! Mudder tell 'em and we laugh and +wake up! They was one bout Buh Rabbit and Buh Patridge. You know Buh +Patridge the onliest one get the best of Buh Rabbit! + +"Buh Rabbit bet Buh Patridge (Buh Rabbit think he so sharp you know!) He +bet Buh Patridge if he fly off down the road a piece and lit Buh Rabbit +can find 'em.--Buh Patridge bet him he can't! So Buh Patridge take off +and fly down the road a piece and lit--like a Patridge will do--lit and +turn up on he back and rake the leaves over him and kiver (cover) his +body all 'cept he two foots sticking up like stick! + +"Now Buh Rabbit come! He hunt and he hunt and he hunt! Couldn't find 'em +and he get so hot he take off he coat and hang it on Buh Patridge foots! + +"He go on hunting and after while he call out, + +"'Well I can't find Buh Patridge! Can't find Buh Patridge!' + +"And Buh Patridge sing out, + +"'Well, Buh Rabbit, here I is! You hang you coat on my feet!' + +"Buh Rabbit have to pay the bet! (I don't member what the bet was). So +Buh Patridge was the onliest one I ever hear bout could get the best of +Buh Rabbit! + +"When Father and Mudder tell them story we chillun noddin'! Some cackle +out and all jump up and go back to picking out cotton seed! + +"There is another one bout Buh Bear. They goes out my head. I'll think +them Buh Rabbit up fore you come back Missus!" + +And Uncle Sabe, who was sitting on the 'LOOK OUT' at the Floral Beach +Fishery, continued to let his eyes play all over the sea like +searchlights, ready to wave the black flag and march down toward the +fishery holding it aloft keeping himself in a line with the fish if fish +were sighted. Since way before what he called 'the big war' he and his +people have eaten mullet and rice for the three fall months. His home +was visited before Uncle Sabe was located and children and +grand-children, wife, sister and neighbors were found seated and +standing all over the kitchen floor and piazza floor and steps----each +one with a generous tin plate of rice and fresh, brown, hot 'spot'----a +fish not so valuable in summer but choice in fall and winter. Two hounds +and a large cat worked around among the feasters for their well chewed +bones. + + + SOURCE: Uncle Sabe Rutledge, The Ridge, Burgess, S.C., (Horry County) + Born first year of the Civil War. + + (He owns his house and land,----some twenty-five acres under + cultivation. This is located on what appears to be a 'height of land' + lying between the Waccamaw and the Atlantic. Locally it is known as 'The + Sand Ridge'.) + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =May 31, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Martha Ritter= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born in Edgefield county, S.C., about 1854. I was the son of +Larkin and Cheny Ryan who was the slaves of Judge Pickens Butler who +lived at Edgefield Courthouse. I has some brothers and sisters, but +don't remember them all. We lived in a log house with but one room. We +had good beds to sleep in, and always had plenty to eat. Old Judge +Butler was a good man. I was 10 years old when he died. Before then I +worked in and around the house, and freedom come I stayed with the +Butler family two years, then went to Dr. Maxwell's. + +"In slavery time we had extra patches of ground to work for ourselves +which we sometimes worked on Saturday afternoons as we had dat time off. +Judge Butler used to give us a little money, too, before freedom come, +for our work. We bought clothes and things we had to have. We had a big +plantation garden dat the overseers planted for all on de place to eat +out of. + +"We used to hunt 'possums, rabbits, squirrels, wild turkeys, doves, +partridges, and set traps for partridges and set box gums for rabbits. +We had good food then, plenty peas, cornbread, and wild game. When +winter time come we put on wool clothes and heavy shoes. + +"Old Marse Butler and his mistress was good, de best folks in de +country. They lived in a big house, had a girl and a boy, and over 1000 +or maybe 2,000 acres of land, on several farms. One was on Saluda River. +His overseers some was no good, but master wouldn't let them treat +slaves cruel, just light whipping. + +"We used to have to wake up at sun-up and work till sundown. We didn't +learn to read and write; but we had a prayer house on de plantation +where we could go to sometimes, until freedom come, then we went on to +it just the same. Old man Bennefield, a nigger preacher, talked to us +there. I can 'member one of de favorite songs we sung: + + 'Show pity, O Lord, forgive, + Let e'er repentant sinner live; + Are not thy mercies large and free, + May not a sinner trust in Thee.' + + 'My crimes are great, and can't surpass, + + ---------------------------------------' + +"None of Major Pickens Butler's slaves ever went away from him, but some +in de neighborhood did run away, and day never heard of dem again. + +"The paderrollers would catch a nigger if he didn't have a pass. Some +would pass and re-pass in the road, and maybe get catched and such +scuffling would go on! + +"We worked on Saturday afternoons unless boss give time off to work our +own little patches or do some other work we had to do. But some would +frolic then and wash up for Sunday, or set around. On Sunday we went to +church and talked to neighbors. On Christmas we celebrated by having a +big dinner which the master give us. We had three days holiday or +sometimes a week. We had New Year's Day as a special day for working, +'cause it was a sign if we worked good dat day, we would work good all +de year. The white folks had corn-shuckings and cotton pickings in +slavery and after freedom, too. Den would have big supper. Some +neighbors walk ten miles, like walking to church or to school. Didn't +think anything of walking dat far. + +"Some of de games played by children were marbles, jump-rope. + +"Once an old man had his dog trained to say his prayers. The dog was fed +but wouldn't be allowed to eat until he put his paws in front and bow +his head on dem; de old man say to him, 'No, no, you die and go to hell +if you don't say your prayers.' + +"Once another fellow, a nigger, said he was going to his wife's house to +see her; but he had to pass his old partner's place on de way, who was +dead. When he got opposite the partner's place something, maybe a ghost, +came to him and wrestled with him and wouldn't let him go on to see his +wife, so he come back to his master's house and stayed. + +"When the slaves got sick they had doctors, and used old herbs. +'Jerusalem Ore' was a kind of herb for children, to build them up, and +there was field grass roots and herb roots which was boiled and tea +drunk for fevers. And 'Primer-rhine' tea which was drunk, too. Sometimes +they would hang garlic around small boys and girls necks to keep away +any kind of sickness. + +"We didn't have schools; started them the second year after freedom. Old +General Butler give us old slaves a home each and a small patch to work. + +"I married when I was 21 years old, the first time in Edgefield County, +now called Saluda County. I have six children, nine grand-children, and +four great-grand-children. + +"I think Abe Lincoln was good man and he was Providential arrangement. I +think Jeff Davis was good man, same. Booker T. Washington is good man, +done lots for young niggers. I rather like it now, and not slavery time. +I joined church when I was 18 to turn from evil ways and to live a +better life." + + + SOURCE: Henry Ryan (83), Newberry, S.C.; by G. Leland Summer, Newberry, + S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Oct. 11, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I live in a rented three-room house with my daughter. I am too old to +do much work, but I work where I can get little jobs that I can do. + +"The slaves did not expect anything after Freedom, for the South was in +such a bad fix. They just got jobs where they could find them. Most of +them worked as share-croppers or wage hands on the farms, and have +worked like this since that time. Some few have rented farms. When any +moved to town they got jobs where they could. + +"I never thought much about Reconstruction. Some slaves voted at first, +but when Wade Hampton was elected they didn't get to vote much. + +"I think the younger generation has too much freedom and doesn't stay +home enough. They want to have their own way. + +"Over in old Edgefield where I was raised we had plenty to eat; plenty +peas, corn bread, turnips and other things. We hunted wild game, too. I +was a slave of Major Pickens Butler. He was a good man and sometimes +gave us a little money for our work. Our master gave us a small patch of +land to work for ourselves and plant anything we wanted. + +"No, I never think anything about voting. I am satisfied just to get +along." + + + Source: Henry Ryan (N--83), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. 8/18/37. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 25, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I am bad-sick woman, in bed and can't hardly talk and can't 'member +much. I was born near Broad River in de Blair section. I belonged in +slavery to de Blair family. My mudder and papa was Grace and Samuel +Blair, and dey belonged to Capt. Blair. When dey was sold, I was put in +de house wid a good free nigger woman to raise me and to stay 'till de +war was over. Den I come to de Blair house, and helped around de house. +My sisters could card, spin and weave, and I helped dem wid it. I didn't +have but one dress. When it got dirty, I went down to de creek and +washed it and put it against de lims to dry, but I had to put it back on +before it got good dry. + +"When I got old enough, I worked in de field, hoeing and picking +cotton." + + + Source: Emoline Satterwhite (82), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. May 19, 1937 + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Sept. 9, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES OF EX-SLAVES= + + +"Marster Charner Scaife a-laying on his bed of death is 'bout de first +thing dat stuck in my mind. I felt sorry fer everybody den. Miss Mary +Rice Scaife, his wife, was mean. She died a year atter. Never felt sad +nor glad den; never felt no ways out of de regular way, den. + +"Overseers I recollects was, Mr. Sam Hughes, Mr. Tom Baldwin, and Mr. +Whitfield Davis. Mr. Baldwin was de best to me. He had a still-house out +in a field whar liquor was made. I tote it fer him. We made good corn +liquor. Once a week I brung a gallon to de big house to Marster. Once I +got happy off'n it, and when I got dar lots of it was gone. He had me +whipped. Dat de last time I ever got happy off'n Marster's jug. + +"When I was a shaver I carried water to de rooms and polished shoes fer +all de white folks in de house. Sot de freshly polished shoes at de door +of de bed-room. Get a nickle fer dat and dance fer joy over it. Two big +gals cleaned de rooms up and I helped carry out things and take up ashes +and fetch wood and build fires early every day. Marster's house had five +bedrooms and a setting room. De kitchen and dining-room was in de back +yard. A covered passage kept dem from getting wet when dey went to de +dining-room. Marster said he had rather get cold going to eat dan to +have de food get cold while it was being fetched to him. So he had de +kitchen and dining-room jined, but most folks had de dining-room in de +big house. + +"It took a week to take de cotton boat from Chester to Columbia. Six +slaves handled de flat-boat. Dere was six, as I said, de boatman, two +oarsmen, two steermen and an extra man. De steermen was just behind de +boatman. Dey steered wid long poles on de way up de river and paddled +down de river. De two oarsmen was behind dem. Dey used to pole, too, +going up, and paddling going down. Seventy-five or eighty bales was +carried at a time. Dey weighed around three hundred pounds apiece. In +Columbia, de wharfs was on de Congree banks. Fer de cotton, we got all +kinds of supplies to carry home. De boat was loaded wid sugar and coffee +coming back. On Broad River we passed by Woods Ferry, Fish Dam Ferry, +Hendersons Ferry and Hendersons Island and some others, but dat is all I +recollect. We unloaded at our own ferry, called Scaife Ferry. + +"I split rails fer fences. On Christmas we had coffee, sugar and biscuit +fer breakfast." + + + Source: Alexander Scaife (82), Box 104, Pacolet, S.C. + Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. + + + + + =Project #-1655= + =Phoebe Faucette= + =Hampton County= + + =FOLKLORE= + +=ELIZA SCANTLING EX-SLAVE= + +=87 Years= + + +"If you wants to know about de slavery times," said old Aunt Eliza, +"you'se sure come to de right person; 'cause I wuz right dere." The +statement was easy to believe; for old Aunt Eliza's wrinkled face and +stiff, bent form bore testimony to the fact that she had been here for +many a year. As she sat one cold afternoon in December before her fire +of fat lightwood knots, in her one-room cabin, she quickly went back to +her childhood days. Her cabin walls and floor were filled with large +cracks through which the wind came blowing in. + +"I gits along pretty good. My chillun lives all around here, and my +granddaughter that's a-standin' at the window dere, takes care of me. +Den de government helps me out. It sure is a blessing, too--to have sech +a good government! And 'Miss Maggie' good to me. She brought me dis +wood. Brought it in her truck herself. Had a colored man along to handle +it for her. But I so stiff I sometimes kin hardly move from me waist +down. And sometimes in de morning when I wake, it is all I kin do to get +up an' wash me face. But I got to do it. My granddaughter bring me my +meals. + +"I is 87 years old. I know 'cause I wuz so high when de war broke out. +An' I plowed my January to July de year 'fore peace declare. I remember +dat. I wuz a good big girl; but jes' a child--not married yet. Yes'm I +plowed a mule an' a wild un at dat. Sometimes me hands get so cold I +jes' cry. But dey all say I 'wuz a nigger what wuz a nigger!' + +"In May peace declare. De first president of de country wuz Lincoln. He +took his seat in March. But I work for de white people 'fore dat. On a +Friday mornin' our Massa, Mr. Richard Davant come an' told us peace +declare. He come an' told us hisself. I wuz in de cornhouse a-shuckin' +corn to go to de mill on Saturday. After freedom all de niggers left +'cept my Mamma. My father brought us back here to Col. Alex Lawton's +place at Robertville. He used to belong to Col. Lawton. Many years atter +dat Col. Lawton moved to Savannah; but when he died dey brought him back +here an' buried him at Robertville. + +"My young Missus was de daughter of Mr. Sam Maner, my old Massa; so when +she marry Mr. Davant I went wid her. Dey had bought a place in Screven, +Georgia. Seven year 'fore peace declare we went to Georgia. On a Monday +mornin' a colored man come along an' tell Miss Anna de Yankees had took +Waynesboro. We all went to see it. De fire had left de place clean. +Could pick up a pin behind it. Other than dat I see nothin'. I never see +no house burn down. I never hear no gun fire. I jes' see de uniform, an' +see 'em kill de hog an' sling 'em 'cross de saddle. Den when we come +back to Robertville, we see de destruction left behind. + +"After I git of size I mind de birds off de corn an' rice an' sech like. +Den I'd take care of de turkeys. An' we'd sweep de yards. Carry de +leaves off to de stable in a wheelbarrow. + +"Both my missus wuz good to me. De last missus I own treat me jes' de +same as her own child. I stayed right dere in de house wid her, an' if I +wuz sick or anything she'd take care of me same as her own chillun. I +nurse one of her chillun. An' dat child would rather be wid me than wid +her own mother!" + + Source: Elisa Scantling, Scotia, S.C. age 87 years. + + + + + =Code No. 390166= + =Project No. 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Mrs. Lucile Young & H. Grady Davis= + =Place, Florence, S.C.= + =Date, May 25, 1937= + =Typed by M.C., N.Y.A.= + + =No Words_______________= + =Reduced from ____ Words= + =Rewritten by= + +=Mary Scott= + +=Gourdin, S.C.= + +=Ex-Slave, About 90 years old= + + +"Where and when were you born?" + +"On Gaston Gamble place, between here and Greeleville. In da Gamble's +Bible is my age. Don't know my age. Pretty much know how old, I bout 90. +I wuz little girl when freedom come." + +"Give the names of your father and mother." + +"Father, John Davis. Mother, Tina Davis. Belonged to last mausa. Darby +Fulton. Gamble sold mama and three children to Fulton. Belonged to Davis +after freedom. Father belonged to Davis. Take first mausa's name. Sold +to Arnold Mouzon. Didn't take Mouzon name." + +"Where did your father and mother come from?" + +"Right where Grandma go, Gamble place." + +"Did you have any brothers and sisters?" + +"James and Benjamin. All ded." + +"Describe the beds and where you slept." + +"Had plenty slaves. I don't know exactly how many. In dem times you +know, we had to get ticket to go to see dere family." + +"What kind of house did you have to live in?" + +"Better dan dis. Better dan dis. Good house. Sleep on wooden bed. Straw +and feather mattress." + +"Do you remember anything about your grandparents or any stories told +you about them?" + +"I ain't know my grandmother, grandfather either." + +"What work did you do in slavery times." + +"Didn't do no kind of work. Mother milked, tended to de butter." + +"Did you ever earn any money?" + +"No money." + +"What did you eat and how was it cooked?" + +"Boil meat and put peas or greens, rice cooked dry, take up in plate and +eat. One girl get done and wash dishes and put dem up." + +"Did you ever eat any possums?" + +"Yes, my brother catch possum and raccoon." + +"Fish?" + +"Fishing in de branch." + +"Did the slaves have their own gardens?" + +"Yes, sir, plant big garden, no use plant, go to dere garden and get +it." + +"What clothes did you wear in cold weather?" + +"Thick. I could weave it with stripes and put one check one way and +nother strip nother way." + +"Hot weather?" + +"In winter warm clothes and shoes. Had Sunday clothes. I had a green +worsted dress." + +"Did the slaves have a church on your plantation?" + +"Go to white people church and sit out of doors and wait till dey come +out and den we go in and have preaching." + +"White or colored preacher?" + +"White preacher." + +"Was your master a good man?" + +"Mr. Gamble like to drink liquor but still good people. All who I +talking about good people." + +"What was Mr. Gamble's name?" + +"Mr. Gamble name Gastron Gamble. Son living in dat big house and grandson +living down dere." + +"How many children did Mr. Davis have?" + +"He had some not many. Mr. Gamble had some too." + +"What kind of house did Mr. Gamble live in?" + +"Medium size house. All had just common house, two-story." + +"What about the overseer?" + +"Overseer he see dat you work soon. Driver go in de field and stay 'til +12 o'clock." + +"How many acres in the plantation?" + +"Don't know how many acres." + +"What time did the overseer wake the slaves up?" + +"Wake dem up soon. Blow horn." + +"Did you have to work hard?" + +"Work 'til sundown." + +"Did you see any slaves punished?" + +"Some punished, but I ain't never see none whip. I heard stick strike de +ground and tie hands and feet. Paddle on dis side and den paddle on de +other side 'til sore." + +"Did you ever see any slaves sold or auctioned off?" + +"My mother and us sold. Mrs. Gamble died left my mama for a daily gift. +She wouldn't allow dem to whip me. I ain't know when we be sell, I wuz a +baby." + +"Did you see slaves in chains?" + +"No chains." + +"Did the slaves have a church on your plantation?" + +"Yes, de Gambles make us to go to Sunday school and learn us the Sunday +school lessons. I could plow. We went to white church and set down till +white people go out and de old man dat tend to de church and open up de +church and say come in, can't stay outside." + +"Who preached for you all?" + +"My uncle, Jefferie Pendergrass, mother's brother. If colored people +want preacher preach, he go in dere and made de children be quiet and +preach a nice sermon and have watch night but not in de church." + +"Do you know any spirituals?" + +"I forgets dem things. I use to be good singer but I ain't got no teeth. +I ain't been looking fer dis. If you hadn't come, I'd been gone." + +"Where would you have gone?" + +"Just to walk about. All gone to de field and de children so bad." + +"Tell about baptizing." + +"Baptized by de white people." + +"Did the slaves run away to the North?" + +"I ain't know 'bout dat." + +"What about patrollers?" + +"No patarollers. Have to get ticket, whip dem if dey didn't get it. +Colored people do more than white people allow. Caused dem to whip dem. +My sister, my sister-in-law and girl went and tell dem dey gwine have +play in white kitchen. Mr. Sam Fulton boss wouldn't go to war. My +sister, sister-in-law run up in de loft and tell dem come down and dey +come down and jump off de window and land in de mud hole wid dere best +dress on. Mr. Fulton let dem have it in de quarters." + +"Did you hear of any trouble between the master and the slaves?" + +"My grandmother went off and wouldn't come back. She write that she get +everyday what she could get fer Sunday." + +"Did you work on Saturday evenings?" + +"Some of de white people made dem work on Saturday evening. I had a +uncle when white people come by going to church he hoeing his rice. Dey +didn't want him work on Sunday. Miss Elizabeth Gamble tell dem he gwine +to chop his rice on Sunday." + +"What did you do on Sunday?" + +"Go to church." + +"Christmas day?" + +"I don't remember what dey give on Christmas day. My family got +clothes." + +"What did you do at a wedding or funeral among the slaves?" + +"Just say got a wife, ain't married. If anybody ded everything stop." + +"What games did you play as a child?" + +"I don't know what all I played." + +"Do you know any funny stories?" + +"No, sir, I used to tell my grands things." + +"Did you ever see any ghosts?" + +"I ain't believe in it, but I see dem. Jest pass by and dey want bother +you. Don't know where dey come from. Dey look like people." + +"You don't believe in them?" + +"No, sir, but I know one thing, dey say fox gwine mad. Say cat gwine mad +but dat ain't so. I ain't scared of nothing." + +"You are not scared at night?" + +"When de moon shining. Moon ain't shine might fall and cripple. When we +holler voice way back dere." + +"When the slaves became sick, who tended to them?" + +"White people tended to dem. Use medicine." + +"Do you make medicine out of herbs?" + +"No, sir, don't make it." + +"Did you ever see anybody wear a ten-cent piece around the ankle?" + +"I see dem wear it, but I ain't know what fer." + +"What do you remember about the war that brought you freedom?" + +"I know just as good when peace declared. Gun rolled in dat direction. +Must be guns. Cook say roll thunder roll and I say de sun shine it ain't +gwine rain. I wuz too little to know but my sister say every man and +every woman got to work for demselves." + +"What did your master say?" + +"I ain't know what master say, he single man and didn't talk much." + +"Did you stay with him the year after freedom?" + +"No, he didn't treat my mother right." + +"Any schools for Negroes?" + +"Pretty good time before schools." + +"Did the slaves buy any land?" + +"No land bought." + +"Do you remember your wedding?" + +"I member jest as good 'bout my wedding. I married on Thursday night. +Some white people from Kingstree and different ones come and pile it up +and when I get all dem presents some one stick fire and burn it all +down." + +"Whom did you marry?" + +"John Scott." + +"Do you have any children?" + +"One gone in de field and dis one." + +"What are they doing?" + +"Working on farms. Jane got killed in de wreck." + +"Who is Jane?" + +"My daughter. She wuz coming to see me. Train wreck and kill her coming +from Norfolk." + +"How long ago was that?" + +"'Bout two years ago." + +"What do you think of Abraham Lincoln?" + +"I see picture of dem. Picture in dere of Lincoln." + +"Now that slavery time is ended, what do you think of it?" + +"I believe colored people do better in de slavery than now." + +"Do you belong to the church?" + +"Yes, Promise Land Baptist church." + +"Why do you think people ought to go to church?" + +"To have some protection and when you go in a church dat is a place for +you to be taken care of. Dey ain't got no religion." + +"Was the overseer 'poor white trash?'" + +"I could hear de people talk 'bout him. Some like him and some don't. If +I got a wife over yonder, I got to get ticket before I could go to see +her. Had to work hard too." + +"Let us see the picture of Lincoln." + +"Dis is it." (Granddaughter shows us Aunt Mary's picture) + +"Is that the one?" + +"Yea, I think so." + +"Let me see, dat ain't de one. Here is." (Aunt Mary showed us a picture +which looked to be taken from some New York newspaper. It was probably a +screen star). + +"Who told you that was Lincoln?" + +"Some preacher or somebody come here and tell me." + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg--Dist. 4= + =May 18, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"Aunt" Nina Scot sat on her front porch. She was drinking some liquid +from a bottle which she said would help her trouble. Being short of +breath, she was not able to talk very much. She said that she was very +small at the time she was set free. "My Marster and his folks did not +treat me like a nigger," she said, "they treated me like they did other +white folks." She said that she and her mother had belonged to Dr. +Shipp, who taught at Wofford College, that they had come here from +Chapel Hill, N.C. and that she was a tarheel negro. She said that white +people in slavery days had two nurses, one for the small children and +one for the older ones. "Yes sir, those were certainly fine people that +lived on the Campus during those days. (Wofford Col. Campus) When the +'raid' came on, people were hiding things all about their places." She +referred to the Yankee soldiers who came to Spartanburg after the close +of the Civil War. "My mother hid the turkeys and told me where she had +hidden them." Dr. Shipp came up to Nina one day and asked her where the +turkeys were hidden. She told him they were hidden behind a clump of +small trees, and pointed them out to him. "Well," he said, "tell your +mother to go and hide them somewhere else and not to tell you about it. +You would tell the Yankees just where those turkeys were hidden." Aunt +Nina recalls that Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Duncan (formerly of Wofford College) +had a habit of getting a slice of bread and butter for all the +neighboring children (black or white) whenever their nurses brought them +to their home. + + + SOURCE: "Aunt" Nina Scott, 260 N. Converse St., Spartanburg, S.C. + Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg Office, Dist. 4 + (May 17, 1937) + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 25, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES OF EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born in Newberry County, near the Laurens County line, above +Chappells Depot. My father and mother were Tom and Francis Scurry and +belonged as slaves to the Drury Scurry family. Dr. Drury Scurry bought +them from Col. Cooper of Laurens County. He was a fine man and mighty +good to his slaves. I worked around the house as a boy, and in the +fields when I got old enough. Some of the nigger boys hunted 'possums, +rabbits and squirrels. Dr. Scurry had 100 acres in woods. They were just +full of squirrels and we killed more squirrels than you can count. + +"The slaves didn't have a garden, but after the war, we stayed on wid +Marse Scurry. When freedom come, he come to us in the yard where we had +congregated and told us we was free and could go anywhere we wanted, but +if any wanted to stay on wid him, he would pay wages. All of us stayed +on wid him. He give us a one-acre patch of ground to raise anything we +wanted to raise. He had white overseers during slavery, but none ever +whipped us 'cause the master wouldn't let them. He had a plantation of +about 300 acres and 40 or 50 slaves. They got up at sun-up and worked +'till sun-down each day, but had Saturday afternoons off when dey could +do anything dey wanted to. + +"There wasn't much time for learning to read and write. The white folks +sometimes had niggers to go to their church and set in the back of +gallery. In our neighborhood, niggers had their own church dat they made +of poles and brush, and called it, 'Brush Harbor'. They made seats from +small logs sawed off of rough plank. + +"On Christmas day, the master would have a big dinner for his slaves and +spread it out in the yard. Corn shuckings were popular and so were +cotton pickings, where big eats were prepared for those who helped. +They had big feasts at marriages, and even the slaves had feasts at +their marriages, the master and his family taking part in the +ceremonies. I was married in 1887, and at that time I was living with +Mr. Renwick, and my girl with Dr. Tom Brown. Dr. Brown had us to marry +in his yard in the grove, and over 200 persons was there to see it. The +next day, he give us a big 'infair' with all kinds of good things to +eat, presents and dances. We never had any children. After we moved to +town, my wife was a nurse or midwife among some of the white families +for a long time. + +"In Ku Klux times, I met five or ten of them in the road one night. They +never bothered me. They had long white sheets over them and the horses. +Slits were cut for the head, eyes, nose and mouth. + +"The niggers had an old field song: 'Give me dat good ole time religion' +which they sang most of the time. There was another song they sang: +'Dark midnight is my cry--Give me Jesus, You may have all this world, +but give me Jesus.' + +"Some old-time cures for the sick was--barks of cherry tree, dogwood, +and olive bush, made into tea and drunk. + +"I thought Abe Lincoln was a fine man, done mighty good and saved the +country. Jeff Davis was a good man. Booker Washington was a great man. I +think slavery was bad; yet our white folks was good to us, but some +white masters was mean. I think everybody should belong to the church +and be a Christian." + + + SOURCE: Morgan Scurry (78), Newberry, S.C.; interviewed by: + G.L. Summer. Newberry, S.C. May 19, 1937. + + + + + =S-260-264-N= + =Project #935= + =Hattie Mobley= + =Richland County= + =South Carolina= + +=Uncle Ransom Simmons= + +=Richland County, South Carolina.= + + +Uncle Ransom is one of the few remaining slaves who still lives and +whose mind is still clear and active. He has just passed his one-hundred +and fourth birthday, was born in Mississippi, and brought to South +Carolina by his master Wade Hampton, the father of the illustrious +General Wade Hampton, before the Civil War. + +When the war broke out and General Wade Hampton went to war Uncle Ransom +cried to be allowed to follow his young master. He went and served as a +body guard. Uncle Ransom learned to read the Bible while attending a +night school held for slaves before freedom, and it was only in recent +years that he was taught to write his name. + +This old man lives alone in a shack at Taylor, a little village on the +outskirts of Columbia. He is furnished with all the milk and ice cream +he can eat by the Columbia Dairy. He purchases a little food with the +state pension of twenty-five dollars a year paid to Negroes who served +the Confederacy in some military capacity. + +Uncle Ransom says his master was the kindest man in the world, and that +as far as he is concerned, he has never had a worry in his life, and as +he said this, his face radiated with a broad and satisfied smile. + + + Reference: + Personal interview with Ransom Simmons age 104. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =Stiles M. Scruggs= + =Columbia, S.C.= + +=ALFRED SLIGH= + +=_EX-SLAVE 100 YEARS OLD._= + + +Alfred Sligh, who lives in a rented house at 1317 Gregg Street, says he +was born in Newberry County, South Carolina, in 1837. His hair is white +and he is feeble. He goes about the city, on fair days, collecting small +sums of money from his white friends and sometimes from his own race. In +this way he earns most of his income. + +"My folks was slaves of the Sligh family for many years, befo' I was +born. My mammy and daddy and me b'long to Butler Sligh, at de time I +begin to do chores and take notice of things. I be nearly half grown +when my young master, Butler Sligh, am just four years old. He die, four +or five years ago. I guess you 'member, 'cause he was a powerful +well-known white man. He was seventy-five years old when he die. + +"De young master, he name for my old master. De old master and 'most all +de white men of de neighborhood, 'round 'bout us, march off to de war in +1861. One day I see them ridin' down de big road on many hosses and they +wavin' deir hats and singin': 'We gwine to hang Abe Lincoln on a sour +apple tree!' and they in fine spirits. My young master, Butler, who they +call Junior at de time, he am too young to go with them so we stay home +and farm. I go with him to de fields and he tell de slaves what to do. +Durin' de war I see much of de soldiers who say they not quit fightin' +'til all de damn-Yankees am dead. Dis was so, durin' de first two years. +After dat I see more and more of de damn-Yankees, as they pass through +'flictin' punishment on 'most everybody. + +"Sho' we hear dat all Negroes am free in 1863, but dat rumor not affect +us. We work on, 'til Sherman come and burn and slash his way through de +state in de spring of 1865. I just reckon I 'member dat freedom to de +end of my life. + +"We gang up at my grandmother's cabin and she tell us it am so. We look +scared, lak mules in de midst of a hornet nest, as we stood dere. We +didn't wait long, for old Mistress Sligh she come 'long and say: 'Sho' +it am so, you am free.' Many of de slaves, 'cludin' me, tell her we love +to stay on and work as usual 'til de big white folks come. She smile and +say: 'All right, maybe we be able to feed and clothe you, and when your +old master git back from Virginia, maybe he will hire you!' + +"When I first marry, which was at de start of de war, I marry Sarah, a +slave gal on de Sligh plantation. We has several chillun, befo' she die, +which was soon after we move to Columbia. De chillun, at least two boys +and two gals, all git grown, but they go North a long time ago, and I +never hears from them. + +"When I come to Columbia in 1866, I find work on houses, and building +was plentiful then. I git 'long pretty well, then, 'cause if I did not +land a job, I could go to de Freedman's Aid Office at Assembly and +Gervais streets and git rations and a little cash for my family. After +de Freedman's Aid left town I had no trouble findin' work. And soon I +was pretty prosperous. I kept that way, so long as I was able to do my +share of de work. + +"It was in 1913, as I was walkin' 'long Hampton Street, dat I see my +present wife, Sadie. She pass by me, and smile and look and I smile and +look, and she slow up a little and say: 'What's happen, big boy?' I am +so tickled, I say: 'I just have to tell you: + + 'De rose am red, + De violet's blue, + No knife can cut + My love in two.' + +"She say; 'Pretty good, big boy, pretty good! Come 'round and see me +sometime.' I answer: 'I sho' will, Peaches and Cream'. And dat am just +what I did. We got married dat same year, and we have been happy, 'til I +git too old and feeble to work much. She work now to de best of her +ability and we somtimes has a big squeeze to pay de rent. Dat is why I'm +hopin' to get de old age pension, made possible by de greatest President +of them all. + +"Does I recall de 'sassination of de first President dat died dat way? +Yes sir, I sho' do. De first one was Abraham Lincoln, a little after de +close of de war. He was shot while sittin' in a seat in de theater at +Washington. James A. Garfield, was de nex' one. He was shot in de depot, +at Washington. De nex' one was McKinley. He was shot while at a show +place, in Buffalo." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon,= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=DAN SMITH= + +=_EX-SLAVE 75 YEARS._= + + +Dan Smith lives in one room, rent free, of a three-room frame house, the +property of his son-in-law, Jim Cason. It is situated on the southeast +corner of Garden and Palmer streets in the town of Winnsboro, S.C. He is +tall, thin and toothless, with watery eyes and a pained expression of +weariness on his face. He is slow and deliberate in movements. He still +works, and has just finished a day's work mixing mortar in the +construction of a brick store building for Mr. Lauderdale. His boss +says: 'The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.' There is nothing +organically wrong with Dan but he appears, in human anatomy, as Doctor +Holmes's One Horse Shay must have looked the day before its final +collapse. + +"You been here once befo' and now here you is again. You say you wanna +git additions? Well, I's told you dat I was born in Richland County, a +slave of Marse John Lever and on his plantation, January de 11th day, +1862, when de war was gwine on. How I know? 'Cause my mammy and pappy +told me so. They call my pappy Bob and my mammy Mary. Strange as it +seem, my mistress name Mary, just de same as my mammy, tho' marster +wasn't name Bob, lak pappy. Him name Marster John and de young marster, +an only child, was name Marse Jim. You better stop right dere 'til I +tell you pappy no b'long to de Levers. Him b'long to de Smiths. Him name +Bob Smith, after freedom. Dat's how come I be dis day, Dan Smith. You +ketch de p'int? Well dats de way it was. + +"Befo' pappy take a shine to mammy in slavery time, her got mixed up +wid one of old Marse Burrell Cook's niggers and had a boy baby. He was +as black as long-leaf pine tar. Her name him George Washington Cook but +all him git called by, was Wash Cook. My full brudders was Jim, Wesley, +and Joe. All of them dead and gone long ago. + +"Us chillun slept on de floor. Mammy had some kind of 'traption or +other, 'ginst de wall of de log house us live in, for her and de baby +child to git in at night. Us have plenty to eat, sich as: peas, 'tatoes, +corn bread, 'lasses, buttermilk, turnips, collards and fat meat. + +"De only thing I 'member 'bout my mistress is: One day her come down to +de house and see my brudder Joe sucking his thumb. Mammy tell her, her +can't make him quit it. Mistress go back to de big house and come +runnin' back with quinine. Her rub Joe's thumbs wid dat quinine and tell +mammy to do dat once or twice a day. You ought to see dat baby's face de +first time and heard him squall! It sho' stopped him sucking his thumbs! + +"Clothes? Didn't need no clothes in de summer time but a shirt. In de +winter, us just stood 'bout de fire. I'm talkin' 'bout us chillun, don't +'member 'bout old folks. + +"Master and Mistress lived in a big white house, two stories high, tall +brick chimneys at de gable ends, and wide front and back piazzas de full +length of de dwelling. Us chillun had no shoes. Mammy had two pair all +de time but they had wooden bottoms. Dere was no white overseers 'round, +but patarollers (patrollers) ketched my pappy once, in de house, jerk +him out and whup him, while mammy and us chillun yell and cry and beg +them to stop. + +"When de Yankees come, mammy hide us chillun under her bed 'traption. +They act mighty nice to her, so she say. + +"What kinda work mammy do? Her was one of de weavers. Heard her tell +'bout how they make de thread and de cloth. They had spinnin' wheels. +Person turn de wheel wid de hand and walk back'ards and for'ards, +drawing out de thread. Dis kind of thread, her say, was rough. Later +they got a thing de spinners operate wid deir foots, settin' by de wheel +and workin' it wid deir foots, sorta lak a sewing machine is run. Her +'low de thread dat come to her in de weave-room from dis kind of +spinnin' was smoother and more finer than de other kind. After de yarn +was spin, it was reeled off de spools into hanks and then took to de +warper. Then she woofed it, warped it, and loomed it into cloth. Her +make four yards in a day. + +"After freedom, pappy come and take mammy and all us chillun to a farm +on Cedar Creek, in dis county, Fairfield. I works dere 'til 1872, I +thinks. I gits concerned 'bout dis time wid two things, jinin' wid de +Lord, and jinin' wid de woman. De fust was easy. All I had to do was go +to de Methodis' revival, shout a little, and jine up befo' de preacher. +I just had to be convicted and convinced, but mind you, I was de one to +be convinced, de other was not so easy. De Lord was easy to find and +quick to take me, but de gal was hard to find and was slow to take me, +'cause she was de one to be convinced dis time, you see. + +"I looks all 'round Cedar Creek. De ones I could git, I wouldn't have, +and de ones I would have I couldn't git. So dere it was. I mounts old +Betsy, dat was pappy's mule, one Sunday and come to Winnsboro. I spied a +gal at church, 'bout de color of a ripe pumpkin after de big frosts done +fall on it, hair black as a crow and meshed up and crinkled as a cucker +burr. Just lookin' at her made my mouth water. Me and old Betsy raise de +dust and keep de road hot from Cedar Creek to Winnsboro dat summer and +fall, and when us sell de last bale of cotton, I buys me a suit of +clothes, a new hat, a pair of boots, a new shirt, bottle Hoyt's cologne +and rigs myself out and goes 'round and ask her to marry me. Her name +Ida Benjamin. Did her fall for me right away? Did her take me on fust +profession and confession lak de Lord did? No sir-ree bob! Her say: 'I +got to go to school some more, I's too young. Got to see papa and mama +'bout it. Wait 'til you come nex' time and I'll tell you.' I was +confused then, I gits up, gives her de cologne bottle, and mounts old +Betsy, spurs her in de side, gallops, and cusses all de way back to +Cedar Creek. I confess to mammy. Her laugh and say: 'Dan, you knows +nothin' 'bout women and gals. Why it's mighty plain she gonna say yes, +nex' time.' Just lak her say, Ida did, and us got married de end of de +nex' school term, in May. + +"Us had ten chillun. Dan, name for me, is at Concord, N.C. Oscar is in +Concord, N.C. Lucinda marry a Haltiwanger and is comfortable in +Baltimore, Md. Aurelia marry a Williams and is in Baltimore. Henrietta +marry a Sawney and is in Charlotte, N.C. Lilly marry Jim Cason and live +right in Winnsboro, in de house I have a room in. + +"I got lots of gran'childs, too many to mention, They take after dere +grandma, lak to go to school and read de Bible and go to church and +Sunday School. + +"Whut I have on my mind now is a pension. When a man git seventy-five +years old, (I hear folks talk 'round me) dat man should not be 'lowed to +work on de Supreme Court, him should be give a pension of $15,000.00 and +made to stop work. Him may have chillun dat can support him, all de +same, dat jedge gits his pension. Then in de name of goodness, why don't +they make me quit mixing mortar when I is seventy-five years old and +give me $240.00 a year? Sauce for de fat goose Supreme Court Jedge, +oughta be sauce for de mortar mixer poor gander, I 'low. It look lak +jestice for de rich jedge and mix more mortar for poor Dan." + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, July 22, 1937= + + =No. Words=________ + =Reduced from______words= + =Rewritten by= + _______________________ + +=HECTOR SMITH= + +=Ex-Slave, 79 Years= + + +"I born down here in Wahee Neck. Easter Avant, dat was my mammy en my +father name Hector Smith. Coase I ain' never see him cause he die fore I +was born, but dat what dey tell me. Dat was a pretty rough time wid de +people den. I don' recollect so much bout de times back dere cause in +dat day en time chillun didn' have de heap of knowledge dey have dis day +en time, but I remembers seein de Yankees en de people gwine to de war. +Oh, dat was a tough time cause dey use de whip in dem days. Oh, yes'um, +my Massa whip my gran'mammy wid a leather strap. You see she had a knack +of gwine off for some cause or another en meetin de boat what run up en +down dat big Pee Dee river en bring fertilizer en all kind of goods to +de peoples. Massa Randall had told her not to go nowhe' bout dat boat, +but some people is sorta high strung like en dey go off anyhow no matter +bout de whip. Oh, yes'um, he sho whip her like he didn' have no soul to +save." + +"I couldn' tell you nothin bout how many slaves Massa Randall Davis had, +but I know dat he had a right smart of them. I know it cause he had so +many field hands dey didn' none of em never have to work every day in de +field. Oh, dey just knock bout our Massa house en see after de stock en +such things as dat what time dey didn' have to work in de field." + +"You knows when a thing happen so long back dere, it does vanish from a +person's remembrance some of de time en den it'll wander back to you +when you ain' thinkin bout it. I does recollect dat dere wasn' nothin +much more for de colored peoples in dat day en time den what dey got to +eat en de clothes dey had to wear. My Massa give everyone of he colored +family a peck of meal en a quart of syrup en so much of meat every week +en 'low em all to have a garden of dey own. Oh, dey work dey garden by +de moonshine en fore light good in de mornin cause dey had to turn dey +hand to dey Massa work when daylight come here. I tellin you corn bread +was sweet to me in dat day en time as pound cake ever been. Wasn' never +noways pickin' en choosin bout nothin. Oh, I forget bout all dem possums +en rabbits dat eat right smart in dem days. Use to catch em when dey had +swells of de water en dey come out de woods to hunt dry land. It just +like dis, dey couldn' conceal demselves in de open fields en dat +how-come we catch em so easy. Run em down wid de dogs en make em take to +de water. Dat how we catch em. Dat sho was sweet eatin in dem days." + +"Den we had a log house to stay in what never had but just one room en +de furniture we had was worser den de house. Us beds was made wid four +stumps for de corners dat had boards lay cross em to put de mattress on. +Some of de colored peoples had bag mattress stuff wid hay en de others +had homespun mattress what was stuff wid dis here gray moss you see in +de woods. En I remembers all bout when de peoples had to cook in de +fireplace cause dere wasn' much stoves in circulation in dat day en +time." + +"Well, I don' know so much bout dem things peoples call ghost, but I +know dat I has seen things. I knows once long time back I was gwine long +de road late on a evenin drivin me ox what I had hitch up to de cart en +a ghost or somethin or another cause dat cart wheel to go right in de +ditch. Well, de ox, he pull en he pull, but wid all me help, he couldn' +never pull dat cart out. I ax some of dem people bout dere what dey +reckon dat was en dey say all dey know to compare it to was a hant or a +ghost. No 'mam, didn' see it, just hear it cause it come right to my +back en knocked. It had been rainin en soon as it quit, de moon shine +out bright as ever was day en dat when de hant turn de cart loose." + +"De next thing I see was one time when me en another fellow was sleepin +in de swamp. I couldn' tell whe' de moon rise den en when I come to my +senses, dere was one of dem things just a danglin in de air like dese +things show people have. Some people say dat was a ghost." + +"Oh, de peoples didn' never worry bout no doctor den. Dey doctor was in +de field in dat day en time. I gwine tell you just like I know it, all +de older peoples use to get de herbs out de old fields for dey remedies. +My Massa en my Missus was de ones what doctor mostly in dem times. Use +to get old field ringdom, what smell like dis here mint, en boil dat en +let it steep. Dat what was good to sweat a fever en cold out you. Den +dere was life everlastin tea dat was good for a bad cold en cherry bark +what would make de blood so bitter no fever never couldn' stand it. Dem +what had de rheumatism had to take dat lion's tongue or what some +peoples calls wintergreen tea en some of de time, dey take pine top en +mix wid de herbs to make a complete cure. Oh, dey make it bad as dey +could so as to weaken de case. Another thing dat been good for de +rheumatism was dat red oak bark dat dey use to bathe de limbs wid. +Willow tea was somethin good for chill en fever en catnip en sage tea +was de thing for babies." + +"It like I tell you de colored peoples never get no learnin but what +little dey catch from de plantation men in dem night schools. Oh, dey +give everyone of us a slate en slate pencil en we study dere in de +quarter in de night time by de light of de fire. Studied dem Blue Back +Websters. Dat was de text we know bout den." + +"I tell you de truth I live so much in darkness den dat I think dat time +was bout good as dis time. Didn' know no better sense den. I tell you +just like I been know it, de peoples was coward like in dem days. +Couldn' never pluck up no ambition to do a heap of things de people do +dis day en time. Dat how-come I rather live in dis go round." + + + _Source_: Hector Smith, ex-slave, age 79, Wahee section of + Marion Co., S.C. + Personal interview, July 1937. + + + + + =Code No. 390144= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, July 14, 1937= + + =No. Words________= + =Reduced from_____words= + =Rewritten by= + ______________________ + +=HECTOR SMITH= + +=Ex-Slave, 79 years= + + +"I studied en studied what songs would suit, but dem old familiar hymns +bout all I know dese days. You see dem old familiar hymns what de spirit +sings. It just like I tell you, I put all dem other kind of songs away +when I is change to a better way of livin. I does remember first one en +den de other of dem frolicksome song dat my grandparents learnt me." + +NOBODY BUSINESS BUT MINE + + I. Rabbit in de hollow, + I ain' got no dog, + How can I catch em? + I do know! I do know! + O Me! O Mine! + Sorry dat if I leave my home, + I gwine to my shack + Wid de chicken on my back, + Nobody business but mine. + + (_Continued on next page._) + + II. Rabbit in de hollow, + Ain' got no dog, + How can he catch em? + I do know! I do know! + O Me! O Mine! + Let every nigger have his way, + Gwine to his shack + Wid he chicken on his back, + Nobody business but his. + + + _Source_: Hector Smith, ex-slave, 79 years., + Wahee section of Marion Co., S.C. + Personal interview, July 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, July 14, 1937= + + =No. Words______7____= + =Reduced from_____words= + =Rewritten by= + ________________________ + +=_WAY DOWN IN DE LONESOME VALLEY_= + + + I. De mockin birds a singin so sweetly, + So sweetly, so sweetly. + De mockin birds a singin so sweetly, + So sweetly, so sweetly. + Way down in de lonesome valley. + + II. Dey tell you one thing en dey mean another, + Mean another, mean another. + Dey tell you one thing en dey mean another, + Mean another, mean another. + Way down in de lonesome valley. + + III. Some say, what make de young girls so deceivin? + So deceivin, so deceivin? + Some say, what make de young girls so deceivin? + So deceivin, so deceivin? + Way down in de lonesome valley. + +"Dat go way back dere. De peoples didn' have nothin more den a mouth +organ to make music wid in dem times." + + + _Source_: Hector Smith, age 79, ex-slave., Wahee section + of Marion Co., S.C. + Personal interview, July 1937. + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, July 14, 1937= + + =No. Words____8______= + =Reduced from_____words= + =Rewritten by= + ________________________ + +=_HOLD DE DEAL_= + + + I. Kitty, Kitty died O--O, + Kitty had a man. + Rather kiss a monkey, + Den to kiss a nigger man. + Hold de deal! Hold de deal! + I'm gwine to get drunk again. + + II. Nigger on de horseback, + Thought he was de king. + Come along alligator, + En let de nigger in. + Hold de deal! Hold de deal! + I'm gwine to get drunk again. + + + _Source_: Hector Smith, age 79, ex-slave, Wahee section + of Marion Co., S.C. + Personal interview, July 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, July 14, 1937= + + =No. Words____9______= + =Reduced from_____words= + =Rewritten by= + ________________________ + +=Hector Smith= + +=ex-Slave, 79 years.= + + +"I use to holler a heap in late years but after I lay it down, all dat +leave me." + + Bulldogs a barkin, + Howl! Howl! + Bulldogs a barkin, + Howl! Howl! + Bulldogs a barkin, + Howl! Howl! + Ah--oodle--oodle--ou, + Ah--oodle--oodle--ou, + Ah--ou--ah--ou, + Ah--oodle--ou, + Ah--ou--ah--ou, + Ah--oodle--oodle--ou. + + + _Source_: Hector Smith, 79 years, ex-slave, Wahee section + of Marion Co., S.C. + Personal interview, July 1937. + + + + + =Project 1885-(1)= + =Folk Lore= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =District No. 4= + =May 28, 1937.= + + =Edited by:= + =R.V. Williams= + +=STORIES OF EX-SLAVES= + + +"Aunt" Jane Smith, 80 years old, says that she was only eight years old +when the war ended, and that her recollections are very meagre as to +conditions during slavery. + +Her mother belonged to John Snoddy, who owned a farm a few miles west of +Spartanburg. Her father was owned by Dr. Miller of a nearby plantation. +She stated that she was old enought to rock the cradle for the white +babies during slavery. + +She stated that she could remember seeing some of the slaves being +whipped on their bare backs with a plaited hickory stick, or thong. She +never received any whippings. She said that a man once cut at her with +his thong, but that she escaped the blow by dodging. + +She said she remembered seeing a small child with a piece of bread in +its hand when a hog entered the house and in snatching at the bread, +caught the child's hand near the thumb with its tusks. When running off, +the hog carried the child with it, dragging it along into the field. All +the other children and some men ran after the hog and caught it. The +other colored children were whipped, but by staying in the house and +watching the babies, keeping them safe from other pigs which had also +entered the house, she was not whipped. + +Aunt Jane said that when the Yankee soldiers came to the house, they +were just as thick as the "fingers on her hands." She held up her hands +for inspection to illustrate how thick the soldiers stood in the ranks. +She said they did not take anything, but that they crawled under the +house to get the hen eggs. One soldier, she said, came to the house and +asked if there were any horses on the farm. A colored woman told him +that there were no horses on the place, but just at that time, one of +the horses in a nearby stable neighed, and the soldier threatened the +woman's life for lying to him. She says she doesn't remember whether the +soldier took the horses but thinks that he did. + +The soldiers told the colored people that they free, but she said that +didn't signify much to her mind. Some time afterwards, she said her +father came and carried her and her mother to his master's place. Later, +she came to Spartanburg and got a job as a cook and washerwoman. + +When asked if she knew anything about conjuring, she stated that she had +heard of it but didn't know anything about it. When asked if she had +ever seen a ghost, she said, "No, but I heard one once." She said that +one night after her master had killed "hisself" in the barn with a +pistol, she heard the doors being shut, the windows being slammed, and +the chairs rocking on the front porch all by themselves. She declared +that the wind was not blowing and that a "ghost was doing all dem +things." + +She stated that she had been married twice; had reared a houseful of +children; had adopted some and reared them, but that she didn't have +anybody to work for her now but "him," referring to her husband who was +sitting on a trunk. + +"Thank the Lord for coming to see me," she said, as the writer left. + + + SOURCE: Jane Smith, Concord St., Spartanburg, S.C. Interviewer: F.S. + DuPre + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Nov. 9, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I liked to went crazy when my brother, Bob, went to Arkansas. Den Marse +George Young wrote our names in a book and give it to my ma. It was jes' +a small mem'randum book. We kept it till Miss Addie, dat is Mrs. Billy, +give ma de Bible storybook, and den she copied our names in dat one. De +little book was about wore out den; so it was burned up when Miss Addie +had done finished writing our names in de storybook. Us gwine to keep +dat book and hand it down atter we done left dis earth. Ma been dead now +over fifty years. + +"I sho nu'sed Marse George's chilluns fer him, when I was a little gal. +Jimmie, Willie, Conquest, Jack, Katie and Annie was Marse's chilluns. +Conquest dead now. Marse George had a great big house. He was a jes'tice +of de peace or something or 'nother den. I don't know what year my ma +died, but Marse had her buried at New Chapel. Dat same year we raised a +big crop of corn, cotton and peanuts, and had plenty hogs. Marse let us +have all we wanted. He let us hang our meat in his smokehouse dat year. + +"Befo' ma died and I was a little gal, a terrible thing happened to us. +Across de Enoree on another place, de Miller place, Fannie Miller run +away. Dey couldn't find her fer a long time. Dey told my marster to git +her. One Sunday my ma got ready to dress me fer Sunday school. She +bathed me and when she looked in de drawer she couldn't find my clothes. +All of her clothes was gone, too. I cried 'cause I couldn't go to Sunday +school. Maude, de woman what lived next to us, went to church. She saw +Fannie dar wid all ma's clothes on. She told Marse about it and he sont +out and had Fannie caught. She had come to our house and got de clothes +on Saturday evening. She had dem hid in a old house on our place. Dey +put her in jail, and den her marster come and whupped her and sont de +clothes back to ma. She never tried to run off agin. + +"Jack Gist, a slave of Gov. Gist, run away once and lived in a cave fer +five months befo' de white folks found him. He went down on 'de forest' +and dug a cave near de road in sight of de Harris Bridge which still +spans de Fairforest Creek at dat p'int. De cave wasn't dug on Governor +Gist's land, but on a place know'd den as de old Jackson place. In de +mid hours of night Jack come to see his friends and dey give him things +to eat. When dey got him he had a hog, two geese, some chickens and two +middles of meat. Cose de hog and de middles was stole. + +"One night he was crossing de Fairforest Creek on a foot-log and he met +Anderson Gist, one of de Governor's slaves. Dey talked fer awhile. Next +morning, Anderson come wid his marster to de cave whar Jack was. Dey +took all his things on to de big house, and he was whupped and put back +to work. Governor Gist and our marster was good to deir slaves and dey +didn't punish 'em hard like some of 'em did. We had lots more den dan we +has had ever since. + +"I never went to de field till atter freedom come. Dey wasn't hard on us +in de fields and I liked to work. We worked mostly from sun-up till it +was too dark to work. Marster's youngest girl, Mary Jane Young, married +Mr. Dave Lane. Dey didn't have a wedding. + +"My grandpa was a African and he talked real funny. He was low, chunky, +fat and real black. He went around a lot befo' he died. He was de father +of my mother, Clora. Granny, his wife, was called 'Fender' and she died +de first year of freedom. She was sold and lived on a neighboring +plantation. We went to see her every Saturday. Ma would always take us +to see her, and if we didn't git to go, she come to see us. We liked to +go, and Marse always give us a pass. De patrollers watch us like a hawk, +but we had our passes and we told dem if dey bothered us our marster +would handle 'em. He would, too, 'cause dat was 'de law'. Granny Fender +was good looking. She wore purty beads, earrings and bracelets, and +wrapped her head up in a red cloth. Her eyes and teeth flashed and she +was always jolly. Sometimes we stay all night, but most de time we come +back home. When she come to see us she always stay all night. All de old +folks had real religion den, and it kept 'em happy. Folks now are too +fancy fer religion and it ain't real. I has real religion and nothing +don't worry me. I feels happy all de time over it. + +"My marster give my mother de spot of ground and de lumber fer our +church which was named New Chapel. De second church is on de same spot. +De first preaching was had under a oak tree, or arbor. Uncle Tony Murphy +was de first preacher. He was my favorite of all de preachers. Marse +read de Bible to us, but sometimes others read it to us, too. His son, +Bud, dat was killed in de first battle, used to come to de quarters and +read de Bible to us. + +"Alex Hall was de minister dat immersed us all. We was all Methodists, +but out dar dey baptized everybody in de Fairforest no matter what +church dey went to. Dar was fifty people baptized de day dat I was. +Milly Bethane made me a big white robe to be baptized in. When I got out +I had a white dress to put on. Dey had a tent fer us to go in to change +our clothes. We was baptized in de Fairforest jes' above de Harris +Bridge. Everybody sung while we was going under de water. Some of 'em +shouted, too. It took de earthquake to shake religion in my husband. He +was Emanuel Gist, de first one. + +"Dat night, de people was hollering and woke me up. My husband called +me. 'What dat?' he 'low. 'I don't know,' I says. He got up and run out. +Soon he come back home and he was shaking all over. He fell on de bed. +When de chimney started to fall, I told him to git up. He said he was +too scared to git up. I pulled him up and he was so scared dat he shook +all over. I opened de door. He was too scared to stand up. Next day he +couldn't work; so he went off. I looked fer him till way in de night. +When he did come home, he was rejoicing. He was wid religion and he +never give it up. Dat was on de night of de earthquake. You could hear +people hollering fer miles around." + + + Source: Mary Smith (N, 84), Buffalo St., Union, S.C. + Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (9/14/37) + + + + + =S-260-264-N= + =Project: #1885= + =Augustus Ladson= + =Charleston, S.C.= + +=EXPERIENCES OF AN EX-SLAVE ON WARDMALAW ISLAND= + +=_Massa Wus Kind to Slaves_= + + +Prince Smith, a man who is said to be over a hundred years of age, has +lived on Wardmalaw Island practically all of his life. His experiences +during slavery are very interesting and true to life. An interview with +him revealed the following: + +"I was bo'n an' raise' on dis island and was only frum here when de +Civil War had begun. W'en Fort Sumter wus fired on mossa carried seventy +of us to Greenville, South Ca'lina on account of its montanous sections, +which was believed would have prevented the Yankees invasion in regard +to their hide-out." We stayed een Greenville nearly four years. Durin' +dat time mossa planted his fa'm an' we wurk as if we wus right here. + +"The Yankees had gunboats," he continued, "but dey didn' help dem atoll +fur dey couldn' make any a'tack dat dis place is so unsuited fur water +battles. But forest' battles wus fight on Beaufort Island and Port +Royale. We een Greenville didn' know enyt'ing 'bout whut wus goin' on +except what wus brought to us collud people by dose who wus sent to da +town. Mossa didn' tell us eny ting. Fur almos' four 'ears we stayed een +Greenville w'en suddenly one Chuesday mornin' bright an' early, Sheridan +came into Greenville on horse backs en' order ebery body to sarrendar. +Colonels an' Gen'rals came een de city widout de firin' of a gun. We +stayed dere 'til harvestin' time by de orders of Master Osland Bailey +who saw to it dat we wus given money as a share fur our wurk. + +"Mossa's custom at de end of de week wus to give a dry peck o' corn +which you had to grin' on Sat'day ebenin' w'en his wurk wus done. Only +on Chris'mus he killed en give a piece o' meat. De driber did de +distribution o' de ration. All young men wus given four quarts o' corn +a week, while de grown men wus given six quarts. All of us could plant +as much lan' as we wuld fur our own use. We could raise fowls. My master +wus a gentleman, he treat all his slaves good. My fadder an' me wus his +favorite. + +"Some o' de slaves had to wurk on Sunday to finish dere week's wurk. If +dey didn' de dribber who wus a Negro would give a lashin' varyin' frum +fifteen to twenty five chops. Only high-class massas had Negro +dribbters, de crackers had white overseers. + +"Like odder slaves had to hide frum dere mastas to hab meetin', us could +hab ours any night we want to even widout his consent. When masta went +to town any o' his slaves could ax him to buy t'ings for dem een +Cha'leston. When Jews en peddlers came with clothes an' gunger to sell, +we as chillun would go to him an' ax fur money to buy whut we want. + +"He had about four hund'ed acres of land which he divided in two half by +a fence. One 'ear he would plant one an' let de cattles pasture on de +oder. We could also raise hogs 'long wood his but had to change pasture +w'en he did. De people on his plantation didn' hab any need to steal +from him fur he didn' 'low us to want fur any thing. + +"Dere wus three kinds of days wurk on de plantation: One is de whole +tas', meanin' a whole han' or a person een his prime. He wus given two +tas' fur dis day's wurk. A tas' carried frum twenty four to twenty five +rows which wus thirty-five feet long en twenty five feet wide. De shree +fourth han' wus given one whole tas' which consists of twelve rows. All +de young chillun wus included in dis group. De half han' was de old +slaves who did a half tas' for dere day's work. When it was time to pick +cotton, de shree fourth han' had to pick thirty pound' an' de half han' +twenty fur dere day's wurk. Dose who attended to the gin only include de +three fourth han'. + +"Massa had shree kinds o' punishment fur dose who disobeyed him. One wus +de sweatbox. It wus made de height of de person an' no larger. Jus' +large 'nough so de person woodn' hab to be squeezed in. De box is +nailed an' een summer is put een de hot sun; een de winter it is put in +de coldest, dampest place. De next is de Stock. Wood is nailed on floor +with de person lyin' on his back wid hans an' feet tied wood a heavy +weight on de chest. De shird is de Bilboa. You are place on a high +scaffold fur so many hours an' if you don' try to keep a level head, +you'll fall an you will surely hurt yourself if your neck isn't broken. +Most o' de time dey were put dere so dey could break dere necks." + + + _SOURCE_ + + Information from an interview with Mr. Prince Smith, who is supposed to + be over a hundred years of age, Wardmalaw Island, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Nov. 29, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"Lawsey, honey chile, how does I know jes' when I was born. All sech as +dat don't mean nothing to us old slave time darkies. De mis'tus say, +'Silas, you sho was thirteen years old when dat 'Federate War wound up! +Dat's all I knows and dat's what I goes by. De white folks is worrying +'bout my age being in sech and sech a year and all de like of dat. No +sech as dat don't worry Silas, kaise he sho don't give it no mind, dat I +doesn't. + +"Mis'tus call us all to set down on de side steps wid our hats in our +hands. She read dat paper. When she git through, us still sets, kaise no +writing never aggrevated us niggers way back dar. She wait a few +minutes; den she 'low: 'It means dat you all is free, jes' as free as I +is.' 'Dumpling Pie' jumped up and started crying. We all looked at him, +kaise he was a fat lazy thing dat laid around like dumplings a-laying +over kraut, and we axed him what he was crying for. He say, 'I ain't +gwine to be no free nigger, kaise dat brings in de Issue, and I wants to +keep my ma and pa, and what is I'm gwine to do widout Marse Dusey?' + +"Dat woke us up. Didn't narry nigger on dat entire plantation know what +to do widout his marster. It was de awfulest feeling dat everything in +dem quarters laid down wid dat night, de new feeling dat day was free +and never had no marster to tell dem what to do. You felt jes' like you +had done strayed off a-fishing and got lost. It sho won't no fun to be +free, kaise we never had nothing. + +"Next morning Mis'tus low, 'Silas, I wants you to keep on being my house +boy.' Dat sound de best to me of any news dat I had got. She hired me +and I jes' kept on den as I had been gwine befo'. De quarters broke up, +kaise Marse Dusey couldn't keep all dem niggers, so Mis'tus low'd. Marse +was at de war and Mis'tus took things on. + +"Dat left only a few in de quarter. In de meantime, carpetbaggers and +scalawags had put devilment in some of dem ig'nant niggers and dey +thought dat if dey leave, de U.S. gwine to give dem a plantation atter +de war had ceased, and plenty mules to make dem rich, like quality white +folks. So by dat time dey was a-raring to git moved off. But I stay on +wid Miss Sallie, as I called her den. + +"One dark, rainy cold day a stranger come riding up on a po' hoss and +fetched a note of sorrow. Marse Dusey had done died somewhars, and +Mis'tus was widowed to de ground. I stayed on, and in a year she died. +Mr. Thomas Smith of Hickory Grove is de onliest chile living of my +mis'tus, and he is 71 years old. + +"Atter Mis'tus died, I went to live wid my pa on Mr. 'Baby' John Smith's +place. He had been my pa's marster. Way back den it was so many John +Smiths. 'Pears like it was mo' den dan now. Dat why dey call Mis'tus' +husband 'John Dusey'. Each John had a frill to his name so dat folks +could keep dem straight in deir minds whenever dey would speak of dem. +Mis'tus sho was good to me. I 'members her chilluns' names well; Misses +Aurita and Amenta. Miss Amenta married Mr. Sam Jeffries. Miss Rachael, +Mis'tus other daughter, married Mr. John Morrow. Her 'Baby' John married +a lady whose name I jes' disremembers, anyway dey had a son called +'Jeff'. He lived between Hickory Grove and Broad River. All dese Smiths +which I gives you renumeration of is de Hickory Grove Smiths. You jes' +has to keep dem straight yet." + + + Source: Silas Smith (N, 85), Gaffney, S.C. + Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (11/27/37) + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, May 17, 1937= + + =No. Words _____= + =Reduced from ____ words= + =Rewritten by= + =_____________= + +=MOM JESSIE SPARROW= + +=Ex-Slave, 83 years.= + + +"Honey, my white folks been well-to-do peoples. Dey ain' been no poor +white trash. Dey hab 'stonishing blood in dey vein. I been b'long to +Massa Sam Stevenson wha' lib right down dere 'cross Ole Smith Swamp. Dey +ain' hab no chillun dey own, but dey is raise uh poor white girl dere, +Betty. Dey gi'e (give) she eve'yt'ing she ha'e en dey school she too." + +"De ole man, he mind ain' been zactly right when he die. Dey say he bury +some o' he money down dere on he place jes 'fore he die. Coase I dunno +nuthin 'bout it, but dats wha' dey tell me. Dey say dey never is find +dat money a'ter he been dead. Reckon it dere yet, I dunno. Peoples +use'er aw de time be plough up kegs en box full o' money en va'uables +wha' de well-to-do folks been hide dere." + +"De white peoples use'er bury dey silver en dey money en aw dey +va'uables late on uh evenin' er early on uh mornin' when de Yankees come +'bout. De Yankees 'stroy aw us white peoples va'uables wha' dey is see. +Um----dem Yankees sho' was 'structive whey dey is went." + +"My ole mammy been Sally Stevenson 'fore she marry en den she wuz Sally +Bowens. My ole Missus take she 'way from her mammy when she wuz jes uh +little small girl en never wouldn't 'low her go in de colored +settlement no more. She been raise up in de white folks house to be de +house girl. Never didn't work none tall outside. She sleep on uh pallet +right down by de Missus bed. She sleep dere so she kin keep de Missus +kivver (cover) up aw t'rough de night. My mammy ain' never do nuthin but +been de house girl. My Missus larnt (learned) she how to cut en sew so +she been good uh seamstress is dere wuz anywhey. She help de Missus make +aw de plantation clothes en dere ain' never been no better washer en +ironer no whey den my ole mammy wuz." + +"When I wuz uh little small girl, us lib right dere in my ole Missus +yard. Dey le' us chillun play aw us wanna den. Never did hadder do none +hard work tall. My Massa is some uh time send we chillun in de field to +scare de crow offen de corn. Ain' never been no hoe hand in me life. +When dey send we to scare de crow 'way, we is go in de field when fuss +(first) sun up en we is stay dere aw day. Coase we is come to de house +when 12 o'clock come en ge' we sumptin uh eat. Dese white folks 'round +here don' hab no chillun to scare de crow offen dey corn nowadays. Dey +has aw kind o' ole stick sot (set) 'bout in de field wid ole pant en +coat flying 'bout on dem to scare de crow 'way. Dere be plenty crow +'bout nowadays too. I hears em hollerin aw 'bout in dis sky 'round 'bout +here." + +"I 'member when I use'er nu'se de white folks baby. I al'ays did lub to +nu'se de babies, but I didn't never lub to nu'se no ug'y baby. I lub to +hab uh pretty baby to nu'se. Didn't lak no boy baby neither. Don' lak +boy baby nohow. Lubbed little girl baby. Lubbed to take de little girls +en dress em up in dey pretty clothes en carry dem out under de trees to +'muse dem whey dere wuz plenty peoples 'bout to see em. Mammy al'ays 'ud +fuss at me 'bout puttin' on dey best clothes, but I ain' never do lak +dese nu'se do nowadays. I take care o' my babies, didn't never 'low em +wallow in de dirt lak yunnah see dese nu'se do 'bout here dese day en +time." + +"I 'members one time I been nu'se little boy baby en I is larnt he hair +to curl jes uz pretty. I bresh he hair eve'y morning en twist it 'round +me finger en he is had pretty curl uz dere wuz anywhey. Never lak de +Missus to cut my baby hair off neither when I had larnt it to curl." + +"I been lub to wash little baby clothes too. I is primp em up so nice. +Never did put no starch much in em. I do me best on em en when I ge' +t'rough, dey been look too nice to le' de child muss up." + +"Honey, I can' stand no chillun fuss 'round me no more dese days. Don' +hab no chillun fuss 'round me peaceful little place. I tell aw me +chillun en grandchillun en great-grandchillun dat I can' stand no +chillun fuss 'round me no more. My Sammie, he marry three times en I ax +him why he wanna marry so many time. I ain' never see no man I is wan' +since my ole man die." + +"I ain' wha' I use'er to be, child. I ain' able to do nuthin more now +but dem little bit o' clothes wha' Miss Betty hab. Coase she clothes +ain' hard to wash. Miss Betty mighty clean, honey, she mighty clean. She +don' strip she bed but eve'y udder week en den de sheet ain' dirty one +speck. She does wash she self eve'y day en de sheet don' ge' de crease +out dem from one time dey wash till de next. I say I gwinna wash Miss +Betty clothes jes uz long uz de Massa'll le' me em." + + + _Source_: Personal interview with Mom Jessie Sparrow, + age 83, colored, Marion, S.C., May 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date. May 24, 1937= + +=MOM JESSIE SPARROW= + +=Ex-Slave, 83 years.= + + +"I dunno, child, I don' 'member nuthin more den I tell yuh de udder +time. Is yuh been to see Maggie Black yet? I dunno how old she, but I +know she been here. No, child, Maggie ain' dead. She lib right down dere +next Bethel Church. She move 'way from Miss Mullins house when Gus die. +Coase I ain' ne'er been in she house a'ter she move dere, but dey say +she hab uh mighty restful place dere. Dat wha' dey tell me. Maggie +oughta could tell yuh aw 'bout dem times. I ain' know nuthin more to +tell yuh. Don' tell yuh aw I know." + +"Who my mammy wuz? My mammy been Sallie Stevenson 'fore she marry en den +a'ter she marry, she waz Sallie Bowens. Don' know whey dey ge' de Bowens +from cause my pa been b'long to be uh Evans. Dat how come Miss Betty +know so much 'bout me. She say we mighty nigh de same age. Coase I don' +never 'spute Miss Betty word, but I don' t'ink so." + +"No, child, I dunno. Dunno how many chillun my mammy is hab. Dey aw been +die sech uh long time dat I don' forgot. Coase George, de carpenter, my +brother. He been train up by uh good carpenter man en Henry, wha' paint +aw dese house 'bout here, b'long to be annuder one uv we. It jes lak +'bout my own chillun, I ain' 'member how many dey wuz. I know dere 'bout +t'ree uv dem bigguns dead, but aw dem babies, Lawd, I ain' 'member how +many dere wuz. Can' never recollect nuthin 'bout how many dere been come +here." + +"My mammy been de house girl in my white folks house. She marry when she +ain' but 13 year old. Dat wha' she tell me. She say she marry to ge' +outer de big house. Dat how come she to marry so soon. Say de white +folks take she way from she mammy when she won' but uh little small girl +en make she sleep right dere on uh pallet in de Missus room aw de time +'fore she marry. Coase a'ter she marry, she been de house girl right on +but she never stay in de Missus house when night come. Us chillun ain' +been 'low to stay in de big house. Dey hab uh room put on de kitchen fa +my mammy en she family to lib in. We chillun stay right dere in de yard +whey my mammy could look a'ter us in en 'round. My mammy hadder stay +'bout my ole Missus aw de day en help she cut en sew de plantation +clothes en wash en iron. Den she hadder help make quilts outer aw de +scrap dat been left o'er a'ter de garment was cut out." + +"Us chillun been fed from de table right dere in de Missus kitchen en +some uv de time my mammy 'ud bring us sumptin to eat, wha' wuz cook in +de Missus kitchen, en le' us eat it in she room. Dey'ud gi'e us hominy +en milk en meat fa us break'ast. My white folks hadder uh lot uv cows en +dey'ud gi'e us chillun plenty milk en clabber to eat. We is hab milk en +clabber eve'y day en dey is gi'e us plenty meat to eat, so dey is dat. +Child, I ain' know no slack eatin' 'round my ole Missus. Some uv de time +we hab hoecake en den annuder time dey'ud gi'e us obben (oven) bread. +Dey cook eve'yt'ing on de fireplace in dem days, eve't'ing. Jes hab rods +put 'cross de fireplace in de kitchen wid pot hang on it. Dat whey dey +cook us ration. Dey'ud gi'e us t'ings lak peas en collards en meat fa we +dinner. Den dey'ud gi'e us uh big bowl uv corn bread en clabber late in +de evenin' cause jes lak I is call to yuh jes now, dey is use milk right +smart in dem days. I lak eve'yt'ing wha' dey is hab to eat den. Dey +never eat lak dese peoples eats nowadays. I won' larnt to lak aw kind uv +t'ing. Dey use'er cook poke salad wha' been season wid meat. Don' yuh +know wha' dat? Poke salad is come up jes lak dose weed out dere en dey +is cut de top offen dem en take aw de hard part outer em en den dey is +boil em uh long time wid meat. Dey is eat right good too. Don' lak +spinach en aw dat sumptin en don' lak celery neither. Don' lak butter +put in nuthin I eats. I laks me squash fried down brown lak wid grease +in de pan. I laks me beets wid uh little vinegay on em en season wid +some sugar sprinkle on em. Don' lak em jes wid nuthin but uh little salt +en butter smear aw o'er dem lak some uv dese peoples 'bout here eat em +nowadays." + +"Yas'um, we use'er eat plenty uv em possum. Eve'y one dey is ketch, us +parent cook it. Us eat aw kinder wild animal den sech uz coon, possum, +rabbit, squirrel en aw dat. Hab plenty uv fish in dem days too. Hab pond +right next de white folks house en is ketch aw de fish dere dat we is +wan'. Some uv de time dey'ud fry em en den some uv de time dey'ud make +uh stew. Dey'ud put uh little salt en onion en grease in de stew en +anyt'ing dey been ge' hold uv." + +"Massa Sam been hab uh heap uv colored peoples 'sides we, but dey lib up +on de hill in de quarters. My Missus, she see to it she self dat dey hab +good bed wha' to sleep on en plenty sumptin uh eat. She docker (doctor) +em when dey ge' sick too en she be mighty anxious ef dey sick mucha. Us +hab good clothes en shoes den too. Coase de peoples'ud wear more clothes +den, en dey'ud put on more undey shirt in de winter den dey wear in de +summer. My white folks'ud make de plantation clothes outer gingham en +jeanes cloth mostly. Dat jeanes cloth be wha' dey make little coat en +pant outer. Dat sumptin jes lak homespun." + +"No, child, dey ain' ne'er gi'e us no money den. Never need no money +den. My Massa been provide eve't'ing us hab, honey, eve'yt'ing. We ain' +lak fa nuthin den. We chillun ain' been big 'nough to do nuthin but +scare de crow offen de corn en some uv de time my ole Missus'ud hab we +chillun sweepin' outer in de yard when she be out dere wid us." + +"Yas'um, honey, my white folks al'ays'ud see dat dey colored peoples'ud +go to chu'ch (church) eve'y Sunday. We hadder walk dere to de white big +Methodist Chu'ch up de road en sot en de gallery. Yas'um de white folks +is stay down en we is go up. Ef we chillun never go, my ole Missus'ud +teach us de catechism right dere in de back yard. Hadder wash us face en +hand en come dere to she. Yas'um, I 'members dat aw right." + +"My white folks'ud ride to chu'ch in dey big ole carriage en dey +driver'ud hab dey big black hosses bresh jes uz shiny. I forge' de +driver name. Dey hab uh pair uv dem black hosses wha' been match hosses +en dey is look jes lak. En den one day de ole Yankees is come t'rough +dere en dey is carry one uv dem 'way. A'ter dat dey hadder use one uv de +plantation hoss in de place uv dis carriage hoss. De Missus'ud al'ays +take my mammy in de carriage wid she too. Never left her home, so she +tell me. Jes stuff she down dere 'tween de seats somewhey." + + + _Source_: Mom Jessie Sparrow, age 83, colored, Marion, S.C. + Personal interview, May 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project No. 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, September 7, 1937= + +=MOM JESSIE SPARROW= + +=Ex-Slave, 83 Years= + +=Marion, S.C.= + + +"No, honey, dere ain' not a soul live here but me. Man stay in dat other +room dere just to be a little bit of company for me when night come. He +ain' not a speck of kin to me, not a speck. Oh, he pay me a little +somethin, but it not much. Mostly, I does want him for protection like. +Ain' got but just dis one room for myself cause dat part out dere does +be just like out in de yard. Dis Miss Mary Watson house en she tell me +stay on here dat de house ain' worth no fixin. Don' know how long I be +here. No, honey, I ain' got no property only just myself. Ain' got not a +bit. Ain' got nothin, child. I can' do no work dese days but dat little +bit of washin dat Miss Betty have en dat ain' nothin to depend on. Just +try to do a little somethin to help myself along. Nothin worth to speak +bout though." + +"Miss Betty say we bout one age. My daddy belonged to Miss Betty father +en dat how-come she know dere ain' much difference in us age. My mammy +was de house 'oman on old man Sam Stevenson plantation en dat whe' I was +born. When we was freed, I was a little small girl en my daddy moved us +up here in town right over dere on de Gibson place. Fore den, when he +have a mind to see us, he had to come cross de swamp dere to old man Sam +Stevenson place en dat de reason he move us. He say it take too much +pains to keep dat gwine back en forth. I remembers I finished growin +right up here in dis town over dere on de Gibson place. My mammy have +task to cook dere en my daddy been de butler man, but I was small den. +Can' recollect much bout it. Reckon I wouldn' hardly know de place whe' +I was born if I go back dere now. De old man Sam Stevenson had nice +house, but it burn down long time back. Dey tell me dat de first court +de peoples in Marion did ever know bout meet right dere on dat same +spot. Coase I don' know nothin bout it, but dat what I hear dem say." + +"My Massa had a big plantation, honey, a big plantation wid heap of +colored people house. I remember dey call up dat way from de house on de +hill en all de servants house set up dere. So I hear my mammy say she +know bout some white folks dat didn' half feed dey colored people en +didn' half clothe dem in de winter neither, but our white folks always +treat us mighty good. Put shoes on all us feet in de winter en give us +abundance of ration all de time." + +"Honey, I hear dem talkin bout dat war, but I can' tell you nothin bout +dat. I recollects I see dem Yankees when dey come through my Massa +plantation en took his best carriage horse. Had two of dem big black +carriage horses dat was match horses en dem Yankees carry one of dem +away wid dem. I hear dem say de white folks would bury dey silver en +money in pots en barrels to hide dem from de Yankees. Oh, dem fiddlin +Yankees ax nobody nothin. Just go in de house en take dat what dey +wanted. Go right in de house en plunder round en take de peoples best +things. Wouldn' take no common things. Wasn' right, but dey done it. I +hear talk dat a man plowed up a chest or somethin another de other day +full of money, so dey tells me. I hear plenty peoples plow up all kind +of things dese days in old fields dat ain' been broke up or throwed out +for years. I hear so, but I know I ain' never found none though." + +"I sho been here when dat shake come here, child. I been married ever +since I was a grown 'oman en I was stayin right over yonder in dat house +dere. My son Henry was de baby on me lap den en he tell me de other day +dat he was bout 50 now. It come like a wind right from dat way. Some +people tell me de ground was just a shakin en a mixin up, but I don' +know how de ground was doin cause I never go on it. I hear de +lumberation comin or dat what I calls it en it come long en hit de side +of de house so hard dat all de dishes was just a rattlin. Every time de +earth commence shakin, dem dish start jinglin. It come bout de early +part of de night. I didn' know what to think it was till somebody come +dere en say it been a earthquake. Say de ground was just a workin up. I +tell you I ain' know what it was to be scared of, but dere been de old +Ark (boarding house) standin cross de street den en dem people was +scared most to death. Dey thought it was de Jedgment comin on. Reckon I +would been scared worser den I was, but I didn' get on de ground. No, +honey, I reckon de house dat was standin up in dat day en time was +substantial like en it didn' worry none of dem." + +"Is you seen Maggie Black any more? She been right sick, but she better +now. Yes, she been right puny. Don' know what ail her." + +"Honey, what can you tell me bout dat white man dat been shoot up bout +Mullins de other day. I hear people talk bout a man been shot by another +man, but I ain' know nothin more den dat. Ain' hear none of de details +only as dey tell me dey catch de man dat got away next Dillon tryin to +get back home. I tell you it a bad place up dere in Mullins durin dis +tobacco time. Dey tell me dere be such a stir up dat people be rob en +shoot all bout dere. Dat de reason I stay back here whe' ain' nobody to +worry me. Some of dem be seekin for you when you sleep en den another +time dey get you when you gwine long de road. I don' like so much fuss +en rousin en mix up round me. Dat de reason I does stay here by myself." + +"De people just livin too fast dis day en time, honey. You know some of +dese people, I mean my race, dey got a little bit of education en ain' +got no manners. I tell dem if dey ain' got no manners, dey ain' got +nothin cause manners carries people whe' a dollar won' carry you. Dis +education don' do everybody no good. It get some of dem standin on de +top of dey heads. Dat what it done to dem. Coase dey say everybody +chillun got to go to school dis year en dat a good thing cause dere be +so many runnin round makin mischief when dey ain' in school. I used to +tell my chillun I buy dey book en satchel en keep plenty meat en bread +for dem to eat en dey portion been to go dere en get dey learnin. If dey +get whippin at school, I tell dem go back en get more. Didn' never +entice dem to stay home." + +"All I know bout Abraham Lincoln was dat he Abraham Lincoln en he de one +cause freedom. I recollect dey used to sing song bout him, but I done +forget it now. Say dey hung Abraham Lincoln on de sour apple tree or old +Jeff Davis or somethin like dat. Honey, dat all I know. Can' recollect +nothin more den dat bout it." + +"Child, dis a pretty bad time de people got dese days, I tell you. Coase +I thankful don' nobody worry me. All treats me nice, both white en +black, what knows me. I be gwine down de street en folks come out de +courthouse en say, 'Ain dat Mom Jessie? Mom Jessie, don' you remember +me?' I say, 'I know your favor, but I can' call your name.' Dey tell me +en laugh en let me lone. It just like dis, child, I puts my trust in de +Lord en I lives mighty peaceful like. I ain' got a enemy in de world +cause everybody speaks appreciatively of me. Dere somebody bringin me +somethin to eat all de time en I don' be studyin bout it neither. First +one en den de other bring me a plate en somethin another. Don' want me +to do no cookin. Say I might fall in de fire. Honey, de lady come by +here de other day en tell me I gwine get de old 'oman money pretty soon +now dat dere been so much talk bout. I be thankful when it get here too, +child, cause I wants to get first one thing en de other to do some fixin +up bout my house." + +"Well, honey, I tired now cause I ain' much today nohow. Can' recollect +nothin else dis mornin. Don' know what you want to hear bout all dem +things for nohow." + + + _Source_: Mom Jessie Sparrow, age 83, ex-slave, Bond Street, + Marion, S.C.--Third Report. + + Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Sept., 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, December 7, 1937= + +=MOM JESSIE SPARROW= + +=Ex-Slave, 83 Years= + + +"No, I ain' cold. I settin in de sun. Miss Ida, she went by here just +now en call at me bout de door been open en lettin dat cold wind blow in +on my back wid all de fire gone out. I tell her, it ain' botherin me +none, I been settin out in de sun. Well, I don' feel much to speak bout, +child, but I knockin round somehow. Miss Ida, she bring me dis paper to +study on. She does always be bringin me de Star cause she know dat I +love to see de news of Marion. It right sad bout de Presbyterian +preacher, but everybody got to die, I say. Right sad though. We hear dat +church bell here de other evenin en we never know what it been tollin +for. I holler over dere to Maggie house en ax her how-come de church +bell tollin, but she couldn' tell me nothin bout it. Reckon some chillun +had get hold of it, she say. I tell her, dat bell never been pull by no +chillun cause I been hear death note in it. Yes, honey, de people sho +gwine horne (grieve) after Dr. Holladay." + +"I say, I doin very well myself en I thankful I ain' down in de bed. +Mighty thankful I ain' down in de bed en can set up en talk wid de +people when dey comes to see me. I ain' been up dere on your street in a +long time. Can' do much walkin dese days cause I ain' got no strength to +speak bout. Ain' been up town dere in bout two months. Mr. Jervey ax +John Evans what de matter dat I ain' been comin to de store to get my +rations en John Evans tell him I been under de weather. Somehow another, +dey all likes me up dere en when dey don' see me up town on Saturday, +dey be axin bout me. Mr. Jervey, he come here de other day en bring me +some tobacco en syrup en cheese en some of dem other things what he know +dat I used to buy dere. He tell me dey all was wantin to see me back up +dere again. I say, I can' go up dere cause I give way in my limbs en +just comes right down whe' I don' have nothin to catch to. Got dis old +stick here dat I balances myself on when I goes out round bout de house +here. Cose I don' venture to steady myself no far ways on it." + +"No, child, I ain' been up your way in a long time. I wash for Miss +Betty all my best days, but I ain' been up to de house in many a mornin. +Miss Betty like myself now, she old. I tell dem up dere to de house, de +last time I talk wid dem, don' mind Miss Betty cause her mind ain' no +good. I say, just gwine on en do what you got to do en let Miss Betty +rest. You see, Miss Betty always would have her way en dis ain' no time +to think bout breakin her neither. Cose I don' know nothin bout it, but +Miss Betty say we bout one age." + +"I reckon Miss Betty got plenty pecans dis year cause she does rake dem +up by de tubfuls bout dis time of de year. I got my share of dem last +year, but I ain' got no mind dat I gwine get any dis year less I go up +dere. Yes, mam, I got my share last year cause when I went to carry +Miss Betty washin home, I could pick up all I wanted while I come +through under de trees. My Lord, Miss Betty, she had a quantity of dem +last year, but I ain' hear what de crop doin dis year. I don' care +though cause I wouldn' eat dem nohow widout I beat dem up en I ain' in +no shape to go to all dat trouble. I loves peanuts good as anybody, but +I couldn' never chew dem widout dey was beat up." + +"Honey, my child en her daughter comin from de northern states dis +Christmas to see me. Her name Evelyn, but dey call her Missie. She write +here dat she want to come en I tell my Sammie to send word dey is +welcome. Cose dey gwine stay wid my son, Sammie, cause dey got more room +den I is en dey got a cookin stove, too, but she gwine be in en out here +wid her old mammy off en on. Yes'um, I wants to see her mighty bad since +it be dat she been gone from here so long. When she first went up dere, +she worked for a white family dere to Hartford, Connecticut, but it won' +long fore she got in a fidget to marry en she moved dere to +Philadelphia. Dat whe' she livin now, so my Sammie tell me." + +"Den dere another one of my chillun dat I say, I don' never 'spect to +see no more on dis side of de world. Evelina, she get married en go way +out west to live. She de one what used to nurse Lala up dere to Miss +Owens' house. My God, honey, she been crazy bout Lala. Don' care what +she been buy on a Saturday evenin, she would save some of it till +Monday to carry to dat child. My Evelina, she always would eat en she +used to bring Lala here wid her a heap of times to get somethin to eat. +She would come in en fetch her dat tin plate up dere full of corn bread +en molasses en den she would go to puttin dem ration way. Would put her +own mouth full en den she would cram some of it down Lala's mouth in de +child's belly. You see, I always would keep a nice kind of syrup in de +safe cause I don' like none dese kind of syrup much, but dis here ribbon +cane syrup. My Lord, dat child would stand up dere en eat just as long +as Evelina poke it down her. Oh, Lala been just a little thing plunderin +bout en I tell Evelina dat she ought not to feed dat child dem coarse +ration, but she say, 'Lala want some en I gwine give it to her cause I +loves her.' No, child, Miss Owens never didn' worry her mind bout whe' +Evelina been carry dat child. You see, she been put trust in Evelina." + +"I don' know what to tell you, honey. I bout like Miss Betty now. My +'membrance short dese days. Oh, I hear talk bout all kind of signs de +people used to worry over en some of dem still frets bout dem, too. Hear +talk dat you mustn't wash none on de New Years' Day. It bad luck, so a +heap of dem say. Den some folks say it a sign of death to hear a owl +holler at night. Some people can' bear to hear dem, but don' no owls +worry me, I say. Lord, Maggie, dis child ax me how a owl holler when it +a sign of death. Well, dey does holler a right good space apart. Don' +holler right regular. I ain' hear one holler now in a long time, but I +used to hear dem be hollerin plenty times out dere somewhe' another in +dem trees. Say, when some people been hear dem holler on a night, dey +would stick a fire iron in de fire en dat would make de owl quit off. I +hear talk bout a lot of people would do dat. Den dere another sign de +people does have bout de New Years' Day. Reckon dat what dey call it, I +don' know. No, mam, I don' understand nothin bout it, but I does hear +people speak bout dey craves to get a cup of peas en a hunk of hog jowl +on de first day of de year. Say, dem what put faith in dem kind of +victuals on de New Years' Day, dey won' suffer for nothin no time all de +next year. Cose I don' know, but I say dat I eats it cause I loves it." + +"Well, child, dat bout all I know to speak bout dis evenin. It gettin so +cold, I don' know whe' I can manage here much longer or no. Cose my +Sammie, he want me to go stay dere wid him, but I can' stand no chillun +fuss round me no more. I tell him dese people bout here be in en out to +ax bout me right smart en I think bout I better stay here whe' dere ain' +nobody to mind what I do. You see, honey, old people is troublesome en I +don' want to be noways burdensome to nobody. Yes, mam, I gwine be right +here waitin, if de Lord say so, de next time I see you makin up dat +path." + + + _Source_: Mom Jessie Sparrow, age 83, colored, Marion, S.C. + Personal interview by Annie R. Davis, Dec., 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, October 11, 1937= + +=MOM JESSIE SPARROW= + +=Ex-Slave, 83 Years= + + +"Good morning, honey, I ain' much today. How you is? No, I can' talk +nothin bout dem times today. Ain' know no more den I done tell you. I +doin very well considerin I can' get bout like I wants to. Doin very +well, honey. Peoples mighty nice to me, white en black. Cose I don' +venture to get far off de lot, I be so poorly dese days. Ain' been bout +up town dere in a month since Saturday." + +"Well, my chillun say for me to go live wid dem, but I don' want to go +down to dat other far end of de town. I tell dem dey worry me so dat I +think I rather be here in dis piece of house. See, I has such good +neighbors bout me here en dere be so much a fightin en gwine on in dat +other end of town. All de peoples speaks well of me, both white en +black, of dem dat knows me. Yes, mam, Miss Ellen tell me fore she die +for me to stay right here in dis house long as I live en ain' nobody is +gwine worry me neither. No, child, Miss Mary Watson don' worry me, not +one speck bout dis house. Miss Mary de only child dat Miss Ellen got +left here. No, honey, I ain' studyin bout gwine nowhe' yet. Cose de +house may fall down on me cause dat dere old kitchen over dere was good +when I come here, but it rot down. Dat how-come I ain' got no stove. De +kitchen rot down en de rain come in on de stove en rust it out. No, dey +don' worry me none. I tell dem I ain' got nothin, but I settin here just +as satisfied like. Cose I may get a little pension soon, but don' know +when it gwine get here. I ain' hear tell of nobody gettin it yet. I +tell lady dat come here if I get it, it be all right en if I don' get +it, dat be all right too." + +"Big sale on today, ain' dere, child? I hear talk bout dey gwine sell +all de Witcover property en all dat, but I don' know. Dey sho got a +pretty day for it. I had on my old thick sweater, but it too hot. I had +to pull it off en put on dis here thin jacket. Can' go bout too naked, +honey." + +"Yes'um, I know it was you come here de other night. Cose I can' see so +good, but I can hear de people voice en tell who dere time I hear dem +comin up dat path. You see, I don' light my lamp first night nohow, dere +be so much grass round here de mosquitoes comes in en worries me right +smart." + +"Miss Foxworth en dem fixin to plant dey turnips over dere. Miss +Foxworth, I likes her very well to speak. She good-hearted, kind en +clever. She comes over en talks wid me often cause us been friends ever +since fore de old man been gone. Dey ain' got no kind of garden yet, but +dey fixin to plant a fall garden out dere." + +"No, child, I done put Miss Betty clothes down. Tell her I ain' able to +wash no more en my Lord, Miss Betty sho hate to hear me say dat. Won' +dat Miss Betty clothes was so hard, but it was de totin dem back en +forth en den dere be so little bit of money in dem, didn' pay to hire +nobody to carry dem. Cose she didn' pay me nothin worth much cause she +didn' never have nothin much, but a little changin of underclothes en +bout one dress. Just had to starch bout one petticoat en one dress, but +I can' hardly wash for myself dese days en I wouldn' never venture to do +hers no more. No, honey, my conscience wouldn' allow me to overpower +Miss Betty for dem little bit of somethin en dey ain' dirty neither. You +see, since Miss Emma been stayin dere, she in charge de house en uses +all her tablecloths en such as dat. Miss Emma, she mighty nice to me. +Every time I go up dere en I ain' been doin nothin for her neither, she +see can she find a cup of fresh milk or somethin another to hand me." + +"Reckon I gwine be lonesome right bout dis side next week cause all de +colored schools gwine be open up Monday. You see, dere be so many school +chillun en teacher livin on dis here street. Dat child over dere say she +gwine be home right sharp after she be finish pickin cotton next week. I +say I ain' be obliged to leave dis country cause my white folks wouldn' +never venture to come dere to dat other end of town to see me. All dese +chillun bout here mighty good to me. Don' never let me suffer for +nothin. Dey caution me not to risk to cook nothin over dat fireplace +cause dey say I might tumble over en can' catch myself. No, dey tell me +don' do no cookin, I might fall in en burn up. No, child, I ain' chance +to cook none on dat fireplace since I been sick. Different ones brings +me somethin dis day en dat day. Don' suspicion nothin bout it till I see +dem comin. Celeste over dere brings me breakfast en dinner every day en +I don' never bother wid no supper cause I lays down too early. Den dey +keeps me in plenty bread en rolls en I keeps a little syrup on hand en +eats dat if I gets hungry. Dere Marguerite all de time bringin me +somethin, if it ain' nothin but a pitcher of ice. You see, dey makes dey +ice en it ain' costin her nothin. When I see her turn out dat piazza, I +know she comin here. I ain' see her today, but I lookin for her. Used to +wash for dem too. Honey, I done a lot of work bout dis town en I don' +suffer for nothin. All de people bout here be good to me." + +"No, mam, I ain' gwine let you take no more pictures. Ain' gwine take no +more. If Miss Montgomery say she comin here to take more pictures, tell +her I ain' gwine take no more. No, child, I ain' studyin bout no +pictures. I don' want no more. I got one big one up dere on de wall dat +show me en my mammy en my son, Sammie, settin in a automobile. Dat my +picture settin up dere wid de white blouse on. I tell dem I look like +somethin den, but I too old en broke up now. My daughter, she want a +picture en she kept on after us till we went up dere to whe' de carnival +was. Carnival man had a automobile dat he take your picture in en we get +in en set down en he snap de picture. I tell dem dey got one now en dat +ought to be sufficient. Dat my mammy settin dere by me. She was sho a +fine lookin woman. Lord, Lord, honey, dem chillun love dem pictures, but +I ain' studyin bout wantin my picture scatter all bout de country." + +"Yes, child, I sleeps all right. Go to bed early too fore anybody else +round here do. Yes, mam, I goes to bed early en don' never get up none +till I see day shine in dem cracks. I was figurin somebody else ax me +dat de other day. Believe it was Dr. Dibble. My Sammie, he a mammy +child. He never stop till he send de doctor here to see could he find +out de ailment dat seem like was eatin me way. Dr. Dibble come here en +set down in dat chair en ax me a heap of questions. Den he test my blood +en give me a tonic dat he say would hope me. Yes, mam, dat my Sammie +doctor en he goes to see him often, he does have such a misery in his +head. Dat de first time Dr. Dibble ever been here, but I likes he manner +mighty well. Dr. Zack was a good doctor too. Cose dat what dey tell me, +but I ain' know nothin bout it. No, child, I been healthy all my days en +I ain' had to worry bout no doctor. I tells dem when I falls down, I +won' last long cause I been hearty all my days." + +"Your sister still in Dr. Dibble store (office), ain' she? Is she got a +cook yet? Dat it, I glad she got somebody to depend on cause dese young +people, can' tell bout dem. Dey be one place today en den dey apt to be +another place de next day. I used to cook dere to lady house cross de +street, but I never didn' cook no Sunday dinner dere. Dat lady been take +in sewin en she would sew en press right on de big Sunday. I tell her +dat a sin en she say she had to get finish somehow dat de folks was +pushin her for dey clothes. I say, 'Well, dat you, ain' me.' I go dere +on Sunday mornin en cook breakfast en clean up en put wood in de +kitchen. Den I would go to church en left dem to cook what dinner dey +get. Dat de reason I won' cook for none dese white folks dis day en time +cause when dey pays you dat little bit of money, dey wants every bit +your time. I been proud when dat lady move from here cause I was tired +walkin de road back en forth. People come here en beg me to cook for +dem, but I tell dem I gwine stay right here en do my bit of washin. +Gwine get along somehow wid it." + +"Bethel, down dere on de other side de jail, de only church I ever been +a member of. We got to fix us church twixt now en next year. It need +fixin bad. You see, it right on de Main street gwine down en does be +right public out to de people. I was fixin to go to church Sunday gone, +but my child never come after me. My son, Sammie, never show up, but he +come Sunday evenin laughin. Say, 'Ma, I know if I come by your house, +you would want to go wid me.' No, I ain' been so I able to go in four +Sundays." + +"Child, you ought to had brought your parasol wid you cause you been +settin here so long, you gwine be late gettin whe' you started. Dis here +another hot day we got come here." + +"Well, good-day, child. Speak bout how you is find Maggie Black to me +when you pass back long dat street dere." + + + _Source_: Mom Jessie Sparrow, ex-slave, 83 years, Marion, S.C. + Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, October, 1937. + + + + +=Project #1655= +=W.W. Dixon= +=Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=ROSA STARKE= +=_EX-SLAVE 83 YEARS OLD._= + + +Rosa's grandfather was a slave of Solicitor Starke. Although she has had +two husbands since slavery, she has thrown their names into the discard +and goes by the name of Rosa Starke. She lives in a three-room frame +house with her son, John Harrison, two miles south of Winnsboro, S.C., +on the plantation of Mrs. Rebecca V. Woodward. She still does farm work, +hoeing and picking cotton. + +"They say I was six years old when de war commence poppin' in +Charleston. Mammy and pappy say dat I was born on de Graham place, one +of de nineteen plantations of my old marster, Nick Peay, in 1854. My +pappy was name Bob and my mammy name Salina. They had b'longed to old +Marse Tom Starke befo' old Marse Nick bought them. My brudders was name +Bob and John. I had a sister name Carrie. They was all older than me. + +"My marster, Nick Peay, had nineteen places, wid a overseer and slave +quarters on every place. Folks dat knows will tell you, dis day, dat +them nineteen plantations, in all, was twenty-seven thousand acres. He +had a thousand slaves, more or less, too many to take a census of. Befo' +de numerator git 'round, some more would be born or bought, and de +nominator had to be sent 'round by Marse Nick, so old Miss Martha, our +mistress, say. Her never could know just how many 'twas. Folks used to +come to see her and ask how many they had and her say it was one of them +sums in de 'rithmetic dat a body never could take a slate and pencil and +find out de correct answer to. + +"Her was a Adamson befo' her marry old marster, a grand big buckra. Had +a grand manner; no patience wid poor white folks. They couldn't come in +de front yard; they knowed to pass on by to de lot, hitch up deir hoss, +and come knock on de kitchen door and make deir wants and wishes knowed +to de butler. + +"You wants me to tell 'bout what kind of house us niggers live in then? +Well, it 'pend on de nigger and what him was doin'. Dere was just two +classes to de white folks, buckra slave owners and poor white folks dat +didn't own no slaves. Dere was more classes 'mongst de slaves. De fust +class was de house servants. Dese was de butler, de maids, de nurses, +chambermaids, and de cooks. De nex' class was de carriage drivers and de +gardeners, de carpenters, de barber, and de stable men. Then come de +nex' class de wheelwright, wagoners, blacksmiths and slave foremen. De +nex' class I 'members was de cow men and de niggers dat have care of de +dogs. All dese have good houses and never have to work hard or git a +beatin'. Then come de cradlers of de wheat, de threshers, and de millers +of de corn and de wheat, and de feeders of de cotton gin. De lowest +class was de common field niggers. A house nigger man might swoop down +and mate wid a field hand's good lookin' daughter, now and then, for +pure love of her, but you never see a house gal lower herself by +marryin' and matin' wid a common field-hand nigger. Dat offend de white +folks, 'specially de young misses, who liked de business of match makin' +and matin' of de young slaves. + +"My young marsters was Marse Tom, Marse Nick, and Marse Austin. My young +misses was Miss Martha, Miss Mary, and Miss Anne Eliza. I knows Marse +Nick, Jr. marry a Cunningham of Liberty Hill. Marse Tom marry a Lyles +and Marse Austin marry and move to Abbeville, after de war. Old marster +die de year befo' de war, I think, 'cause my mammy and pappy fell in de +division to Marse Nick and us leave de Graham place to go to de home +place. It was called de Melrose place. And what a place dat was! 'Twas +on a hill, overlookin' de place where de Longtown Presbyterian Church +and cemetery is today. Dere was thirty rooms in it and a fish pond on +top of it. A flower yard stretchin' clean down de hill to de big road, +where de big gate, hangin' on big granite pillars, swung open to let de +carriages, buggies, and wagons in and up to de house. + +"Can I tell you some of de things dat was in dat house when de Yankees +come? Golly no! Dat I can't, but I 'members some things dat would +'stonish you as it 'stonished them. They had Marseille carpets, linen +table cloths, two silver candlesticks in every room, four wine +decanters, four nut crackers, and two coffee pots, all of them silver. +Silver castors for pepper, salt, and vinegar bottles. All de plates was +china. Ninety-eight silver forks, knives, teaspoons and table-spoons. +Four silver ladles, six silver sugar tongs, silver goblets, a silver +mustard pot and two silver fruit stands. All de fireplaces had brass +firedogs and marble mantelpieces. Dere was four oil paintin's in de +hall; each cost, so Marse Nick say, one hundred dollars. One was his ma, +one was his pa, one was his Uncle Austin and de other was of Colonel +Lamar. + +"De smoke-house had four rooms and a cellar. One room, every year, was +filled wid brown sugar just shoveled in wid spades. In winter they would +drive up a drove of hogs from each plantation, kill them, scald de hair +off them, and pack de meat away in salt, and hang up de hams and +shoulders 'round and 'bout de smokehouse. Most of de rum and wine was +kep' in barrels, in de cellar, but dere was a closet in de house where +whiskey and brandy was kep' for quick use. All back on de east side of +de mansion was de garden and terraces, acres of sweet 'taters, water +millions (watermelons) and strawberries and two long rows of beehives. + +"Old marster die. De 'praisers of de State come and figure dat his +mules, niggers, cows, hogs, and things was worth $200,000.00. Land and +houses I disremember 'bout. They, anyhow, say de property was over a +million dollars. They put a price of $1,600.00 on mammy and $1,800.00 on +pappy. I 'member they say I was worth $400.00. Young Marse Nick tell us +dat the personal property of de estate was 'praised at $288,168.78.[A] + +"De Yankees come set all de cotton and de gin-house afire. Load up all +de meat; take some of de sugar and shovel some over de yard; take all de +wine, rum, and liquor; gut de house of all de silver and valuables, set +it afire, and leave one thousand niggers cold and hongry, and our white +folks in a misery they never has got over to de third generation of +them. Some of them is de poorest white folks in dis State today. I weeps +when I sees them so poor, but they is 'spectable yet, thank God. + +"After de war I stuck to de Peay white folks, 'til I got married to Will +Harrison. I can't say I love him, though he was de father of all my +chillun. My pappy, you know, was a half white man. Maybe dat explain it. +Anyhow, when he took de fever I sent for Dr. Gibson, 'tend him faithful +but he die and I felt more like I was free, when I come back from de +funeral, than I did when Marse Abe Lincoln set us free. My brudder, Bob, +had done gone to Florida. + +"I nex' marry, in a half-hearted way, John Pearson, to help take care of +me and my three chillun, John, Bob, and Carrie. Him take pneumonia and +die, and I never have a speck of heart to marry a colored man since. I +just have a mind to wait for de proper sort, till I git to heaven, but +dese adult teachers 'stroy dat hope. They read me dat dere is no +marryin' in heaven. Well, well, dat'll be a great disappointment to some +I knows, both white and black, and de ginger-cake women lak me. + +"Is I got any more to tell you? Just dis: Dere was 365 windows and doors +to Marse Nick Peay's house at Melrose, one for every day in de year, my +mistress 'low. And dere was a peach tree in de orchard so grafted dat +dat peach tree have ripe peaches on it in May, June, July, August, +September, and October." + + +[A] Probate records of Fairfield County. See Roll 110 of the Judge of +Probate for Fairfield County. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=JOSEPHINE STEWART= + +=_EX-SLAVE 85 YEARS OLD._= + + +Phinie Stewart, as she is known in the community where she lives, is a +small, black negress, who shows her age in appearance and movements. She +lives with Robert Wood, a hundred yards back of the Presbyterian Church +manse at Blackstock, S.C. Robert Wood married Phinie's niece, who is now +deceased. Phinie has no property, and depends entirely on the charity of +Robert Wood for her support. + +"Does you know where de old Bell House is, about a mile de other side of +Blackstock, on de Chester road? Yes? Well, dere is where I was borned, +in May, 1853. + +"I doesn't know who my pappy was. You know in them times folks wasn't +particular 'bout marriage licenses and de preacher tying de knot and all +dat kind of thing. But I does know mammy's name. Her name was Celie. +Dese eyes of mine is dim but I can see her now, stooping over de wash +tub and washing de white folks' clothes every Monday and Tuesday. + +"Us belonged to Marster Charlie Bell and his lady, Miss Maggie Bell, our +mistress in them slavery days. Does I 'member who Miss Maggie was befo' +her married Marster Charlie? Sure I does. Mistress was a daughter of +Miss Anne Jane Neil, who lived to be a hundred and five years old, and +its writ on her tombstone in Concord Cemetery. I 'spect you has seen it, +ain't you? Old Miss Anne Neil was a Irish lady, born in Ireland across +de ocean. She had a silver snuff box; I seen it. She'd take snuff out +dat box, rub it up her nose and say: 'De Prince of Whales (Wales) give +me dis box befo' I come to dis country, and I was presented to his ma, +Queen Victoria, by de Duke of Wellington on my sixteenth birthday.' Old +Miss Anne Neil claims she was born over dere de very night of de battle +of Waterloo. And she would go on and 'low dat when de duke took her by +de hand and led her up to de queen, him say: 'Your Majesty, dis young +lady was born on de night of our great victory at Waterloo.' + +"My young mistress was named Miss Margaret. She married Marse Wade +Brice. I was give to them when I was 'bout five years old and I went +along with them to Woodward, S.C. My mammy was give to them, too, at de +same time. Us lived in Marse Wade's quarter, to de east of de white +folks' house. Dere was a row of log houses, 'bout ten I think. Mammy and +me lived in one dat had two rooms. De chimney was made of sticks and +mud, but de floor was a good plank floor. De bed was a wood bedstead wid +a wheat straw tick. Dere was no windows to de house, so it was warm in +de winter time and blue blazing hot in de summer time. + +"My white folks was mighty good to us; they fed us well. Us had wooden +shoes and no clothes a-tall in de summer, 'cept a one-piece slip on. My +mistress die 'bout a year after her marry, and then Marster Wade marry +Miss Tilda Watson, a perfect angel, if dere ever was one on dis red +earth. She take a liking to me right at de jump, on first sight. I +nussed all her chillun. They was Walter, Ida, Dickey, Lunsford, Wade, +Mike, and Wilson. Then I nussed some of her grandchillun. Mr. Brice +Waters in Columbia is one of them grandchillun. + +"Marse Wade went off to de war and got shot in de hip, but he jined de +calvary (cavalry) soon after and was away when de Yankees come through. +De Yankees burned and stole everything on de place. They took off all de +sheep, mules, and cows; killed all de hogs; cotch all de chickens, ducks +and geese; and shot de turkeys and tied them to deir saddles as they +left. De gin-house made de biggest blaze I ever has seen. Dere was short +rations for all de white folks and niggers after dat day. + +"In 1870 I was still dere wid Marse Wade and Miss Tilda, when de devil +come along in de shape, form, and fashion of a man. He was name Simon +Halleg. I was young then, and a fool, when I married dat no 'count +nigger. Us had two chillun, a boy, Allen, and a girl, Louise. Louise +sickened and died befo' she was grown. Allen married and had one child, +but him and de child are dead. My husband run away and left us. + +"About de time of de great cyclone, Miss Tatt Nicholson, a cousin of +Miss Tilda, come down and took me to Chester, to be a maid at de +Nicholson Hotel. I liked de work, but I got many a scare while I was +dere. In them days every hotel had a bar where they would mix whiskey +and lemons. Men could just walk up, put deir foots on de brass rail of +de bar counter and order what they want, and pay fifteen cents a drink. +Sometimes they would play cards all night in de bar. One night an old +gent stopped his wagon, dat had four bales of cotton on it, befo' de +hotel. He come in to get a drink, saw a game going on and took a hand. +Befo' bed time he had lost all his money and de four bales of cotton +outside. + +"No, I didn't work in slavery times. Chillun didn't have to work. De +only thing I 'members doing was minding de flies off de table wid a +brush made out of peacock tail-feathers. + +"All de slaves had to go to church at Concord twice every month and +learn de Shorter Catechism. I has one of them books now, dat I used +seventy-five years ago. Want to see it? (She exhibits catechism printed +in 1840 for slaves.) + +"I left de hotel and come back to Miss Tilda Brice. I married Jacob +Stewart then, and he was a good man. Us had no chillun. He been gone to +glory eight years, bless God. + +"Yes, sir, I 'members de earthquake. It set a heap of people to praying +dat night. Even de cows and chickens got excited. I thought de end of de +world had come. I jined de Red Hill Baptist Church then, but my +membership is now at de Cross Roads Baptist Church. Brother Wright, de +pastor, comes to see me, as I'm too feeble to gallivant so far to +church. + +"Dis house b'longs to Joe Rice. My nephew rents from him and is good +enough, though a poor man, to take care of me. + +"Please do all you can to get de good President, de Governor, or +somebody to hasten up my old age pension dat I'm praying for." + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 24, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born near old Bush River Baptist Church in Newberry County, S.C. +This was the white folks' church, but the colored folks have a Bush +River church in that section now. I was grown when the war started. I +was a slave of Bonny Floyd. He was a good man who owned several slaves +and a big farm. I was the house-girl then, and waited on the table and +helped around the house. I was always told to go to the white folks' +church and sit in the gallery. + +"When the Patrollers was started there, they never did bother Mr. +Bonny's slaves. He never had any trouble with them, for his slaves never +run away from him. + +"The Ku Klux never come to our place, and I don't remember seeing them +in that section. + +"We took our wheat to Singley's Mill on Bush River to be ground. We made +all our flour and grain. We plowed with horses and mules. + +"I am an old woman, sick in bed and can't talk good; but glad to tell +you anything I can." + + + Source: Bettie Suber (96), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (5/18/37). + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =May 25, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born on the Enoree River in Newberry County. Tom Price was my +master. I married Nathan Swindler when I was about grown. My father and +mother was Dave and Lucy Coleman. I had a brother and several sisters. +We children had to work around the home of our master 'till we was old +enough to work in de fields, den we would hoe and pick cotton, and do +any kinds of field work. We didn't have much clothes, just one dress and +a pair of shoes at a time, and maybe one change. I married in a ole silk +striped dress dat I got from my mistress, Miss Sligh. We had no +'big-to-do' at our wedding, just married at home. In cold weather, I had +sometimes, heavy homespun or outing dress. When Saturday afternoons +come, we got off from work and do what we want. Some of us washed for de +week. We had no schools and couldn't read and write. Sometimes we could +play in our yards after work was over or on Saturday afternoons. On +Christmas the master give us something good to eat. We didn't have +doctors much, but de ole folks had cures for sickness. Dey made +cherry-bark tea for chills and fever, and root-herb teas for fevers. +Lots of chills and fevers then. To cure a boil or wart, we would take a +hair from the tail of a horse and tie it tight around both sides of the +sore place. I think Abe Lincoln was a great man, and Jeff Davis was a +good man too. I think Booker Washington was a great man for de colored +race. I like it better now than de way it was in slavery time." + + + Source: Ellen Swindler (78), Newberry. S.C. Interviewed by: + G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C., May 20, 1937. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon,= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=MACK TAYLOR= + +=_EX-SLAVE 97 YEARS._= + + +Mack Taylor lives six miles southeast of Ridgeway, S.C., on his farm of +ninety-seven acres. The house, in which he resides, is a frame house +containing six rooms, all on one floor. His son, Charley, lives with +him. Charley is married and has a small family. + +"Howdy do sir! I sees you a good deal goin' backwards and forwards to +Columbia. I has to set way back in de bus and you sets up to de front. I +can't ketch you to speak to you, as you is out and gone befo' I can lay +hold of you. But, as Brer Fox 'lowed to Brer Rabbit, when he ketched him +wid a tar baby at a spring, 'I is got you now.' + +"I's been wantin' to ask you 'bout dis old age pension. I's been to +Winnsboro to see 'bout it. Some nice white ladies took my name and ask +me some questions, but dat seem to be de last of it. Reckon I gwine to +get anything? + +"Well, I's been here mighty nigh a hundred years, and just 'cause I +pinched and saved and didn't throw my money away on liquor, or put it +into de palms of every Jezabel hussy dat slant her eye at me, ain't no +valuable reason why them dat did dat way and 'joyed deirselves can get +de pension and me can't get de pension. 'Tain't fair! No, sir. If I had +a knowed way back yonder, fifty years ago, what I knows now, I might of +gallavanted 'round a little more wid de shemales than I did. What you +think 'bout it? + +"You say I's forgittin' dat religion must be thought about? Well, I can +read de Bible a little bit. Don't it say: 'What you sow you sure to +reap?' Yes, sir. Us niggers was fetched here 'ginst our taste. Us fell +de forests for corn, wheat, oats, and cotton; drained de swamps for +rice; built de dirt roads and de railroads; and us old ones is got a +fair right to our part of de pension. + +"My marster, in slavery times, lived on de Wateree River. He had a large +plantation and, I heard them say, four hundred slaves. He was a hard +marster and had me whipped as many times as I got fingers and toes. I +started workin' in de field when I was a boy fifteen years old. De work +I done was choppin' de grass out of de cotton and pickin' de cotton. +What's become of them old army worms dat had horns, dat us chillun was +so scared of while pickin' cotton? I never see them dese days but I'd +rather have them than dis boll weevil I's pestered wid. + +"My marster's name was Tom Clark. My mistress was a gentle lady, but +field niggers never got to speak to her. All I can say is dat de house +slaves say she was mighty good to them. I saw de chillun of de white +folks often and was glad they would play wid us colored chillun. What +deir names? Dere was Marse Alley, Marse Ovid, Marse Hilliard, and Miss +Lucy. + +"Old marster got kilt in de last year of de war, and Miss Margaret, dat +was our Mistress, run de place wid overseers dat would thrash you for +all sorts of things. If they ketch you leanin' on your hoe handle, +they'd beat you; step out of your task a minute or speak to a girl, +they'd beat you. Oh, it was hell when de overseers was around and de +mistress nor none of de young marsters was dere to protect you. Us was +fed good, but not clothed so good in de winter time. + +"My pappy didn't b'long to de Clarks at de commencement of de war. Old +marster done sold him, 'way from us, to Col. Tom Taylor in Columbia. +After de war, he run a shoe repair shop in Columbia many years befo' he +died. His name was Douglas Taylor and dat is de reason I took de name, +Mack Taylor, when I give in my name to de Freedman's Bureau, and I's +stuck to it ever since. + +"I members de Yankees. Not many of them come to Miss Margaret's place. +Them dat did, took pity on her and did nothing but eat, feed deir +horses, and gallop away. + +"Us was never pestered by de Ku Klux, but I was given a warnin' once, to +watch my step and vote right. I watched my step and didn't vote a-tall, +dat year. + +"Mr. Franklin J. Moses was runnin' for governor. Colored preachers was +preachin' dat he was de Moses to lead de Negroes out of de wilderness of +corn bread and fat grease into de land of white bread and New Orleans +molasses. De preachers sure got up de excitement 'mongst de colored +women folks. They 'vised them to have nothin' to do wid deir husbands if +they didn't go to de 'lection box and vote for Moses. I didn't go, and +my wife wouldn't sleep wid me for six months. I had no chillun by her. +She died in 1874. After Nancy die, I marry Belle Dawkins. De chillun us +had was George, Charley, Maggie and Tommy. Then Belle died, and I +married Hannah Cunningham. Us had no chillun. After she died, I marry a +widow, Fannie Goings, and us had no chillun. + +"My son, George, is in Washington. My daughter, Maggie, is dead. Tommy +was in Ohio de last I heard from him. I is livin' wid my son, Charley, +on my farm. My grandson, Mack, is a grown boy and de main staff I lean +on as I climb up to de hundred mile post of age. + +"I b'longs to de Rehovah Baptist Church. I have laid away four wives in +deir graves. I have no notion of marryin' any more. Goodness and mercy +have followed me all de days of my life, and I will soon take up dis old +body and dwell in de house of de Lord forevermore." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=DELIA THOMPSON= + +=_EX-SLAVE 88 YEARS OLD._= + + +"I's heard tell of you, and sent for you to come to see me. Look lak I +can no more git 'bout on dese under pins lak I use to. Dere's de swing +you can set in or chair right by me, now which you rather? I's glad you +takes de chair, 'cause I can keep steady gaze more better on dat face of +your'n. Lord! I been here in dis world a long time, so I has. Was born +on de Kilgo place near Liberty Hill, don't know what county 'tis, but +heard it am over twenty-five miles from dis town. + +"My old marster name Jesse Kilgo, so he was, and Mistress Letha Kilgo, +dats his wife, good to him, good to me, good to everybody. My young +mistress name Catherine, when her marry Marster Watt Wardlaw, I was give +to them for a housemaid, 'cause I was trim and light complected lak you +see I is dis very day a setting right here, and talking wid you. +'Members how 'twas young missie say: 'You come go in my room Delia, I +wants to see if I can put up wid you'. I goes in dat room, winter time +mind you, and Miss Charlotte set down befo' de fire, cook one of them +pretty foots on de dog, don't you ketch dat wrong, dat it was a lap dog +which 'twasn't but one of de fire-dogs. Some persons calls them andy +irons (andiron) but I sticks to my raisin' and say fire-dogs. Well, she +allowed to me, 'Delia, put kettle water on de fire'. So I does in a +jiffy. Her next command was: 'Would you please be so kind as to sweep +and tidy up de room'? All time turnin' dat lovely head of her'n lak a +bird a buildin' her nest, so it was. I do all dat, then she say: 'You is +goin' to make maid, a good one!' She give a silvery giggle and say: 'I +just had you put on dat water for to see if you was goin' to make any +slop. No, No! You didn't spill a drop, you ain't goin' to make no +sloppy maid, you just fine.' Then her call her mother in. 'See how +pretty Delia's made dis room, look at them curtains, draw back just +right, observe de pitcher, and de towels on de rack of de washstand, my +I'm proud of her!' She give old mistress a hug and a kiss, and thank her +for de present, dat present was me. De happiness of dat minute is on me +to dis day. + +"My pappy name Isom then, but when freedom come he adds on Hammond. His +pappy was a white man, and no poor white trash neither. My mammy name +Viny. Us live in a log house close up in de back yard, and most all time +I was in de big house waiting on de white folks. + +"Did us git any 'ligion told us? Well, it was dis way, mistress talk +heap to us 'bout de Lord, but marster talk a heap to us 'bout de devil. +'Twist and 'tween them, 'spect us heard most everything 'bout heaven and +all 'bout de devil. + +"Yankees dat come to our house was gentleman, they never took a thing, +but left provisions for our women folks from their commissary. + +"My first husband was Cupid Benjamin. My white folks give me a white +dress, and they got de white Baptist preacher, Mr. Collins to do de +grand act for us. Cupid turned out to be a preacher. Us had three +chillun and every night us had family worship at home. I's been no +common nigger all my life; why, when a child I set up and rock my doll +just lak white chillun, and course it was a rag doll, but what of dat. +Couldn't I name her for de Virgin Mary, and wouldn't dat name cover and +glorify de rags? Sure it would! Then I 'sociate wid white folks all +slavery time, marry a man of God and when he die, I marry another, Tom +Thompson, a colored Baptist preacher. You see dat house yonder? Dats +where my daughter and grandchillun live. They is colored aristocracy of +de town, but they has a mighty plain name, its just Smith. I grieve over +it off and on, a kind of thorn in de flesh, my husband used to say. But +both my husbands dead and I sets here twice a widow, and I wonders how +'twill be when I go home up yonder 'bove them white thunder heads us can +see right now. Which one them men you reckon I'll see first? Well, if it +be dat way, 'spect I'll just want to see Cupid first, 'cause he was de +only one I had chillun by, and them his grandchillun out yonder." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=ROBERT TOATLEY= + +=_EX-SLAVE 82 YEARS OLD._= + + +Robert Toatley lives with his daughter, his son, his son's wife, and +their six children, near White Oak, seven miles north of Winnsboro, S.C. +Robert owns the four-room frame house and farm containing 235 acres. He +has been prosperous up from slavery, until the boll weevil made its +appearance on his farm and the depression came on the country at large, +in 1929. He has been compelled to mortgage his home but is now coming +forward again, having reduced the mortgage to a negligible balance, +which he expects to liquidate with the present 1937 crop of cotton. + +Robert is one of the full blooded Negroes of pure African descent. His +face, in repose, possesses a kind of majesty that one would expect in +beholding a chief of an African tribe. + +"I was born on de 'Lizabeth Mobley place. Us always called it 'Cedar +Shades'. Dere was a half mile of cedars on both sides of de road leading +to de fine house dat our white folks lived in. My birthday was May 15, +1855. My mistress was a daughter of Dr. John Glover. My master married +her when her was twelve years old. Her first child, Sam, got to be a +doctor, and they sho' did look lak brother and sister. When her oldest +child, Sam, come back from college, he fetched a classmate, Jim +Carlisle, wid him. I played marbles wid them. Dat boy, Jim, made his +mark, got 'ligion, and went to de top of a college in Spartanburg. Marse +Sam study to be a doctor. He start to practice and then he marry Miss +Lizzie Rice down in Barnwell. Mistress give me to them and I went wid +them and stayed 'til freedom. + +"My childhood was a happy one, a playin' and a rompin' wid de white +chillun. My master was rich. Slaves lived in quarters, 300 yards from de +big house. A street run through the quarters, homes on each side. Beds +was homemade. Mattresses made of wheat straw. Bed covers was quilts and +counter-panes, all made by slave women. + +"My mammy's pappy was a slave brick-mason, b'longin' to a white family +named Partillo, from Warrington, Virginia. He couldn't be bought 'less +you bought his wife and three chillun wid him. + +"Never had any money; didn't know what it was. Mammy was a house woman, +and I got just what de white chillun got to eat, only a little bit +later, in de kitchen. Dere was fifty or sixty other little niggers on de +place. Want to know how they was fed? Well, it was lak dis: You've seen +pig troughs, side by side, in a big lot? After all de grown niggers eat +and git out de way, scraps and everything eatable was put in them +troughs; sometimes buttermilk poured on de mess and sometimes potlicker. +Then de cook blowed a cow horn. Quick as lightnin' a passle of fifty or +sixty little niggers run out de plum bushes, from under de sheds and +houses, and from everywhere. Each one take his place, and souse his +hands in de mixture and eat just lak you see pigs shovin' 'round slop +troughs. I see dat sight many times in my dreams, old as I is, +eighty-two years last Saturday. + +"'Twas not 'til de year of '66 dat we got 'liable info'mation and felt +free to go where us pleased to go. Most of de niggers left but mammy +stayed on and cooked for Dr. Sam and de white folks. + +"Bad white folks comed and got bad niggers started. Soon things got +wrong and de devil took a hand in de mess. Out of it come to de top, de +carpetbag, de scalawags and then de Ku Klux. Night rider come by and +drap something at your door and say: 'I'll just leave you something for +dinner'. Then ride off in a gallop. When you open de sack, what you +reckon in dere? Liable to be one thing, liable to be another. One time +it was six nigger heads dat was left at de door. Was it at my house +door? Oh, no! It was at de door of a nigger too active in politics. Old +Congressman Wallace sent Yankee troops, three miles long, down here. Lot +of white folks was put in jail. + +"I married Emma Greer in 1879; she been dead two years. Us lived husband +and wife 56 years, bless God. Us raised ten chillun; all is doin' well. +One is in Winnsboro, one in Chester, one in Rock Hill, one in Charlotte, +one in Chesterfield, one in New York and two wid me on de farm near +White Oak, which I own. I has 28 grandchillun. All us Presbyterians. Can +read but can't write. Our slaves was told if ever they learned to write +they'd lose de hand or arm they wrote wid. + +"What 'bout whuppin's? Plenty of it. De biggest whuppin' I ever heard +tell of was when they had a trial of several slave men for sellin' +liquor at da spring, durin' preachin', on Sunday. De trial come off at +de church 'bout a month later. They was convicted, and de order of de +court was: Edmund to receive 100 lashes; Sam and Andy each 125 lashes +and Frank and Abram 75 lashes. All to be given on deir bare backs and +rumps, well laid on wid strap. If de courts would sentence like dat dese +days dere'd be more 'tention to de law. + +"You ask me 'bout Mr. Lincoln. I knowed two men who split rails side by +side wid him. They was Mr. McBride Smith and Mr. David Pink. Poor white +people 'round in slavery time had a hard tine, and dese was two of them. + +"My white folks, de Mobleys, made us work on Sunday sometime, wid de +fodder, and when de plowin' git behind. They mighty neighborly to rich +neighbors but didn't have much time for poor buckra. I tell you poor +white men have poor chance to rise, make sump'n and be sump'n, befo' de +old war. Some of dese same poor buckra done had a chance since then and +they way up in 'G' now. They mighty nigh run de county and town of +Winnsboro, plum mighty nigh it, I tell you. It makes me sad, on de other +side, to see quality folks befo' de war, a wanderin' 'round in rags and +tatters and deir chillun beggin' bread. + +"Well, I mus' be goin', but befo' I goes I want to tell you I 'members +your ma, Miss Sallie Woodward. Your grandpa was de closest neighbor and +fust cousin to Dr. Sam. Deir chillun used to visit. Your ma come down +and spen' de day one time. She was 'bout ten dat day and she and de +chillun make me rig up some harness for de billy goat and hitch him to a +toy wagon. I can just see dat goat runnin' away, them little chillun +fallin' out backside de wagon and your ma laughin' and a cryin' 'bout de +same time. I picks her up out de weeds and briars." + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 25, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=SLAVERY REMINISCENCES= + + +"I was born in the town of Newberry, S.C. I do not remember slavery +time, but I have heard my father and mother talk about it. They were +Washington and Polly Holloway, and belonged to Judge J.B. O'Neall. They +lived about 3 miles west of town, near Bush River. An old colored man +lived nearby. His name was Harry O'Neall, and everybody said he was a +miser and saved up his money and buried it near the O'Neall spring. +Somebody dug around there but never found any money. There were two +springs, one was called 'horse spring', but the one where the money was +supposed to be buried had a big tree by it. + +"I married Sam Veals, in 'gravel town' of Newberry. I had a brother, +Riley, and some sisters. + +"We would eat fish, rabbits, 'possums and squirrels which folks caught +or killed. We used to travel most by foot, going sometimes ten miles to +any place. We walked to school, three or four miles, every day when I +was teaching school after the war. I was taught mostly at home, by Miss +Sallie O'Neall, a daughter of Judge J.B. O'Neall. + +"My father and mother used to go to the white folks' church, in slavery +time. After the war colored churches started. The first one in our +section was Brush Harbor. Simon Miller was a fine colored preacher who +preached in Brush Harbor on Vandalusah Spring Hill. Isaac Cook was a +good preacher. We used to sing, 'Gimme dat good ole-time religion'; 'I'm +going to serve God until I die' and 'I am glad salvation is free'. + +"Saturday afternoons we had 'off' and could work for ourselves. At +marriages, we had frolics and big dinners. Some of the games were: rope +jumping; hide and seek, and, ring around the roses. Of course, there +were more games. + +"Some of the old folks used to see ghosts, but I never did see any. + +"Cures were made with herbs such as, peach tree leaves, boiled as a tea +and drunk for fevers. Rabbit tobacco (life everlasting) was used for +colds. Small boys would chew and smoke it, as did some of the old folks. + +"I have seven children, all grown; fourteen grand-children, and several +great-grand-children. + +"Judge O'Neall was one of the best men and best masters in the country +that I knew of. I think Abraham Lincoln was a good man, according to +what I have heard about him. Jeff Davis was the same. Booker Washington +was a great man to his country and served the colored race. + +"I joined the church because I believe the bible is true, and according +to what it says, the righteous are the only people God is pleased with. +Without holiness no man shall see God." + + + Source: Mary Veals (72), Newberry, S.C. Interviewed by: G.L. + Summer, Newberry, S.C. May 20, 1937. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Oct. 21, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I don't own no house. I live in a rented house. Yes, I work fer my +living. I don't 'member much 'bout slavery except what I heard my daddy +and mammy say. My pa was Washing Holloway and my ma was Polly Holloway. +Dey belonged to Judge O'Neall, and lived at his place 'bout three miles +from town, near Bush River. + +"Judge O'Neall's house was real old, and dey had a store near it called +Springfield, a kind of suburb at dat time. + +"After de war, we didn't have much clothes, 'cause everything was so +high. Judge O'Neall died befo' de war was over, and his wife went to +Mississippi to live wid her married daughter. After de war, Miss Sallie, +who was Judge O'Neall's daughter, learn't me to read and write, and +other things in books. + +"My father and mother went to de white folks' church in slavery time. +After de war, de negroes built deir first church and called it a 'brush +arbor'. A negro preacher named Simon Miller was a good man and done lots +of good when he preached in de brush arbor. Dis was on de old Banduslian +Springs hill, near de south fork of Scotts Creek." + + + Source: Mary Veals (73), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (9/30/37). + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=MANDA WALKER= + +=_EX-SLAVE 80 YEARS OLD._= + + +Manda Walker lives with her son-in-law, Albert Cooper, in a three-room +frame cottage in Winnsboro, S.C. Albert's first wife was her daughter, +Sallie. Five of their children and Albert's second wife, Sadie, occupy +the house with Albert and Manda. + +"Does you know where Horse Crick (Creek) branch is, and where Wateree +Crick is? Ever been 'long de public road 'tween them water courses? +Well, on de sunrise side of dat road, up on a hill, was where my slavery +time marster live. + +"I was born in de yard, back of de white folks' house, in a little log +house wid a dirt floor and a stick and mud chimney to one end of de +house. My marster was name Marse Tom Rowe and my mistress name Missy +Jane Rowe. They de ones dat tell me, long time ago, dat I was born befo' +de war, in 1857. Deir chillun was Miss Mary and Miss Miami. + +"I no work much 'til de end of de war. Then I pick cotton and peas and +shell corn and peas. Most of de time I play and sometime be maid to my +young misses. Both growed into pretty buxom ladies. Miss Miami was a +handsome buxom woman; her marry Marse Tom Johnson and live, after de +war, near Wateree Church. + +"My pappy name Jeff and b'long to Marse Joe Woodward. He live on a +plantation 'cross de other side of Wateree Crick. My mammy name Phoebe. +Pappy have to git a pass to come to see mammy, befo' de war. Sometime +dat crick git up over de bank and I, to dis day, 'members one time pappy +come in all wet and drenched wid water. Him had made de mule swim de +crick. Him stayed over his leave dat was writ on de pass. Patarollers +(patrollers) come ask for de pass. They say: 'De time done out, +nigger.' Pappy try to explain but they pay no 'tention to him. Tied him +up, pulled down his breeches, and whupped him right befo' mammy and us +chillun. I shudder, to dis day, to think of it. Marse Tom and Miss Jane +heard de hollerin' of us all and come to de place they was whuppin' him +and beg them, in de name of God, to stop, dat de crick was still up and +dangerous to cross, and dat they would make it all right wid pappy's +marster. They say of pappy: 'Jeff swim 'cross, let him git de mule and +swim back.' They make pappy git on de mule and follow him down to de +crick and watch him swim dat swif' muddly crick to de other side. I +often think dat de system of patarollers and bloodhounds did more to +bring on de war and de wrath of de Lord than anything else. Why de good +white folks put up wid them poor white trash patarollers I never can see +or understand. You never see classy white buckra men a paterrollin'. It +was always some low-down white men, dat never owned a nigger in deir +life, doin' de patarollin' and a strippin' de clothes off men, lak +pappy, right befo' de wives and chillun and beatin' de blood out of him. +No, sir, good white men never dirty deir hands and souls in sich work of +de devil as dat. + +"Mammy had nine chillun. All dead 'cept Oliver. Him still down dere wid +de Duke Power Company people, I think. When I come sixteen years old, +lak all gals dat age, I commence to think 'bout de boys, and de boys, I +'spects, commence to take notice of me. You look lak you is surprised I +say dat. You is just puttin' on. Old and solemn as you is, a settin' +dere a writin', I bets a whole lot of de same foolishness have run +through your head lak it run through Jerry's, when he took to goin' wid +me, back in 1873. Now ain't it so? + +"Us chillun felt de pivations (privations) of de war. Us went in rags +and was often hungry. Food got scarce wid de white folks, so much had to +be given up for de army. De white folks have to give up coffee and tea. +De slaves just eat corn-bread, mush, 'taters and buttermilk. Even de +peas was commanded for de army. Us git meat just once a week, and then a +mighty little of dat. I never got a whuppin' and mammy never did git a +whuppin'. + +"Us all went to Wateree Presbyterian Church on Sunday to hear Mr. +Douglas preach. Had two sermons and a picnic dinner on de ground 'tween +de sermons. Dat was a great day for de slaves. What de white folks lef' +on de ground de slaves had a right to, and us sure enjoy de remains and +bless de Lord for it. Main things he preached and prayed for, was a +success in de end of de war, so mammy would explain to us when us +'semble 'round de fireside befo' us go to bed. Her sure was a Christian +and make us all kneel down and say two prayers befo' us git in bed. De +last one was: + + 'Now I lay me down to sleep, + I pray de Lord my soul to keep. + If I should die befo' I wake, + I pray de Lord my soul to take. + Bless pappy, bless mammy, + Bless marster, bless missie, + And bless me. Amen!' + +"Wheeler's men was just as hard and wolfish as de Yankees. They say de +Yankees was close behind them and they just as well take things as to +leave all for de Yankees. 'Spect dat was true, for de Yankees come nex' +day and took de rest of de hog meat, flour, and cows. Had us to run down +and ketch de chickens for them. They search de house for money, watches, +rings, and silverware. Took everything they found, but they didn't set +de house afire. Dere was just 'bout five of them prowlin' 'round 'way +from de main army, a foragin', they say. + +"When Miss Margaret marry, old marster sold out and leave de county. Us +move to Mr. Wade Rawls' and work for him from 1876 to Jerry's death. Is +I told you dat I marry Jerry? Well, I picked out Jerry Walker from a +baker's dozen of boys, hot footin' it 'bout mammy's door step, and us +never had a cross word all our lives. Us had nine chillun. Us moved +'round from pillar to post, always needy but always happy. Seem lak us +never could save anything on his $7.06 a month and a peck of meal and +three pounds of meat a week. + +"When de chillun come on, us try rentin' a farm and got our supplies on +a crop lien, twenty-five percent on de cash price of de supplies and +paid in cotton in de fall. After de last bale was sold, every year, him +come home wid de same sick smile and de same sad tale: 'Well, Mandy, as +usual, I settled up and it was--'Naught is naught and figger is a +figger, all for de white man and none for de nigger.' + +"De grave and de resurrection will put everything all right, but I have +a instinct dat God'll make it all right over and up yonder and dat all +our 'flictions will, in de long run, turn out to our 'ternal welfare and +happiness." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=NED WALKER= + +=_EX-SLAVE 83 YEARS OLD._= + + +Ned Walker lives in the village of White Oak, near Winnsboro, S.C., in a +two-room frame house, the dwelling of his son-in-law, Leander Heath, who +married his daughter, Nora. Ned is too old to do any work of a +remunerative character but looks after the garden and chickens of his +daughter and son-in-law. He is a frequent visitor to Winnsboro, S.C. He +brings chickens and garden produce, to sell in the town and the +Winnsboro Hill's village. He is tall, thin, and straight, with kind +eyes. Being one of the old Gaillard Negroes, transplanted from the +Santee section of Berkeley County, in the Low Country, to the red hills +of Fairfield County, in the Up Country, he still retains words and +phrases characteristic of the Negro in the lower part of South Carolina. + +"Yes sir, I's tall and slim lak a saplin'; maybe dat a good reason I +live so long. Doctor say lean people lives longer than fat people. + +"I hear daddy read one time from de Bible 'bout a man havin' strength of +years in his right hand and honor and riches in his left hand, but +whenever I open dat left hand dere is nothin' in it. 'Spect dat promise +is comin' tho', when de old age pension money gits down here from +Washington. When you 'spect it is comin'? De palm of my hand sho' begin +to itch for dat greenback money. So you think it's on de way? Well, +thank God for dat but it seem 'most too good to be true. Now I'll quit +askin' questions and just set here and smoke and answer, whilst you do +de puttin' down on de paper. + +"Yes sir, I was born right here in de southeast corner of Winnsboro, on +de Clifton place. De day I was born, it b'long to my master, David +Gaillard. Miss Louisa, dats Master David's wife, 'low to me one day, +'Ned don't you ever call de master, old master, and don't you ever +think of me as old miss'. I promise her dat I keep dat always in mind, +and I ain't gonna change, though she done gone on to heaven and is in de +choir a singin' and a singin' them chants dat her could pipe so pretty +at St. Johns, in Winnsboro. You see they was 'Piscopalians. Dere was no +hard shell Baptist and no soft shell Methodist in deir make up. It was +all glory, big glory, glory in de very highest rung of Jacob's ladder, +wid our white folks. + +"Well, how I is ramblin'. You see dere was Master David and Mistress +Louisa, de king bee and de queen bee. They had a plantation down on de +Santee, in de Low Country, somewhere 'bout Moncks Corner. One day Master +David buy a 1,385 acres on Wateree Creek. He also buy de Clifton place, +to live in, in Winnsboro. I can't git my mind back to tell you what I +wants for you to put on de paper. 'Scuse me, forgit everything, 'til you +git my pedigree down. + +"I done name Master David and Mistress Louisa. Now for de chillun. Us +was told to front de boys name wid Marse and de young ladies name wid +Miss. Now us can go and git somewhere. + +"Well, dere was Miss Elizabeth; she marry Mr. Dwight. Miss Maria marry +another Mr. Dwight. Miss Kate marry Mr. Bob Ellison, a sheriff. Her got +two chillun in Columbia, Marse David and Marse DuBose Ellison. Then for +de boys; they all went to de war. Marse Alley got kilt. Marse Dick rise +to be a captain and after de war marry Congressman Boyce's daughter, +Miss Fannie. Marse Ike marry and live in de Low Country; he die 'bout +two years ago. Marse Sam marry a Miss DuBose and went wid General Wade +Hampton. + +"Marse Sam's son cut a canal that divide half and half de western part +of de whole world. Us niggers was powerful scared, 'til Marse David +Gailliard took a hold of de business. Why us scared? Why us fear dat de +center of de backbone of de world down dere, when cut, would tipple over +lak de halfs of a watermelon and everybody would go under de water in de +ocean. How could Marse David prevent it? Us niggers of de Gaillard +generation have confidence in de Gaillard race and us willin' to sink or +swim wid them in whatever they do. Young Marse David propped de sides of +de world up all right, down dere, and they name a big part of dat canal, +Gaillard Cut, so they did. (Gaillard Cut, Panama Canal) + +"Well, I keep a ramblin'. Will I ever git to Marse Henry, de one dat +looked after and cared for slaves of de family most and best? Marse +Henry marry a Miss White in Charleston. He rise to be captain and +adjutant of de fightin' 6th Regiment. After de war him fix it so de +slaves stay altogether, on dat 1,385 acres and buy de place, as common +tenants, on de 'stallment plan. He send word for de head of each family +to come to Winnsboro; us have to have names and register. Marse Henry +command; us obey. Dat was a great day. My daddy already had his name, +Tom. He was de driver of de buggy, de carriage, and one of de wagons, in +slavery. Marse Henry wrote him a name on a slip and say: 'Tom as you +have never walked much, I name you Walker.' + +"It wasn't long befo' daddy, who was de only one dat could read and +write, ride down to Columbia and come back wid a 'mission in his pocket +from de 'Publican Governor, to be Justice of de Peace. + +"Marse Henry ladle out some 'golliwhopshus' names dat day. Such as: +Caesar Harrison, Edward Cades and Louis Brevard. He say, 'Louis, I give +you de name of a judge. Dan, I give you a Roman name, Pompey.' Pompey +turned out to be a preacher and I see your grandpa, Marse William +Woodward, in de graveyard when Uncle Pompey preached de funeral of old +Uncle Wash Moore. Tell you 'bout dat if I has time. + +"Well, he give Uncle Sam de name of Shadrock. When he reach Uncle Aleck, +he 'low: 'I adds to your name Aleck, two fine names, a preacher's and a +scholar's, Porter Ramsey.' 'Bout dat time a little runt elbow and butt +his way right up to de front and say: 'Marse Henry, Marse Henry! I wants +a big bulldozin' name.' Marse Henry look at him and say: 'You little +shrimp, take dis then.' And Marse Henry write on de slip of paper: +Mendoza J. Fernandez, and read it out loud. De little runt laugh mighty +pleased and some of them Fernandezes 'round here to dis day. + +"My mammy name Bess, my granddaddy name June, grandmamny, Renah, but all +my brothers dead. My sisters Clerissie and Phibbie am still livin'. Us +was born in a two-story frame house, chimney in de middle, four rooms +down stairs and four up stairs. Dere was four families livin' in it. +Dese was de town domestics of master. Him have another residence on de +plantation and a set of domestics, but my daddy was de coachman for both +places. + +"De Gaillard quarters was a little town laid out wid streets wide 'nough +for a wagon to pass thru. Houses was on each side of de street. A well +and church was in de center of de town. Dere was a gin-house, barns, +stables, cowpen and a big bell on top of a high pole at de barn gate. +Dere was a big trough at de well, kept full of water day and night, in +case of fire and to water de stock. Us had peg beds, wheat straw +mattress and rag pillows. Cotton was too valuable. + +"Master didn't 'low de chillun to be worked. He feed slaves on 'tatoes, +rice, corn pone, hominy, fried meat, 'lasses, shorts, turnips, collards, +and string beans. Us had pumpkin pie on Sunday. No butter, no sweet milk +but us got blabber and buttermilk. + +"Oh, then, I 'bout to forgit. Dere was a big hall wid spinnin' wheels +in it, where thread was spin. Dat thread was hauled to Winnsboro and +brought to de Clifton place in Winnsboro, to de weave house. Dat house +set 'bout where de Winnsboro Mill is now. Mammy was head of de weave +house force and see to de cloth. Dere was a dye-room down dere too. They +use red earth sometime and sometime walnut stain. My mammy learn all dis +from a white lady, Miss Spurrier, dat Master David put in charge dere at +de first. How long she stay? I disremembers dat. Us no want for clothes +summer or winter. Had wooden bottom shoes, two pair in a year. + +"Mr. Sam Johnson was de overseer. Dere was 'bout 700 slaves in de +Gaillard quarter and twenty in town, countin' de chillun. De young white +marsters break de law when they teach daddy to read and write. Marse +Dick say: 'To hell wid de law, I got to have somebody dat can read and +write 'mong de servants.' My daddy was his valet. He put de boys to bed, +put on deir shoes and brush them off, and all dat kind of 'tention. + +"De church was called Springvale. After freedom, by a vote, de members +jines up, out of respect to de family, wid de Afican Methodist +'Piscopalian Church, so as to have as much of de form, widout de +substance of them chants, of de master's church. + +"No sir, us had no mulattoes on de place. Everybody decent and happy. +They give us two days durin' Christmas for celebratin' and dancin'. + +"I marry Sylvin Field, a gal on de General Bratton Canaan place. Us have +three chillun. Nora Heath, dat I'm now livin' wid, at White Oak, Bessie +Lew, in Tennessee, and Susannah, who is dead. + +"What I think of Abe Lincoln? Dat was a mighty man of de Lord. What I +think of Jeff Davis? He all right, 'cordin' to his education, just lak +my white folks. What I think of Mr. Roosevelt? Oh, Man! Dat's our papa. + +"Go off! I's blabbed 'nough. You 'bliged to hear 'bout dat funeral? +Will I pester you for 'nother cigarette? No sir! I ain't gonna smoke it +lak you smoke it. Supposin' us was settin' here smokin' them de same? A +Gaillard come up them steps and see us. He say: 'Shame on dat white +man', turn his back and walk back down. A Woodward come up them steps +and see us. He say: 'You d-- nigger! What's all dis?' Take me by de +collar, boot me down them steps, and come back and have it out wid you. +Dat's 'bout de difference of de up and low country buckra. + +"Now 'bout Uncle Wash's funeral. Uncle Wash was de blacksmith in de +forks of de road 'cross de railroad from Concord Church. He was a +powerful man! Him use de hammer and tongs for all de people miles and +miles 'round. Him jine de Springvale Afican Methodist 'Piscopalian +Church, but fell from grace. Him covet a hog of Marse Walt Brice and was +sent to de penitentiary for two years, 'bout dat hog. Him contacted +consumption down dere and come home. His chest was all sunk in and his +ribs full of rheumatism. Him soon went to bed and died. Him was buried +on top of de hill, in de pines just north of Woodward. Uncle Pompey +preached de funeral. White folks was dere. Marse William was dere, and +his nephew, de Attorney General of Arizona. Uncle Pompey took his text +'bout Paul and Silas layin' in jail and dat it was not 'ternally against +a church member to go to jail. Him dwell on de life of labor and +bravery, in tacklin' kickin' hosses and mules. How him sharpen de dull +plow points and make de corn and cotton grow, to feed and clothe de +hungry and naked. He look up thru de pine tree tops and say: 'I see +Jacob's ladder. Brother Wash is climbin' dat ladder. Him is half way up. +Ah! Brudders and sisters, pray, while I preach dat he enter in them +pearly gates. I see them gates open. Brother Wash done reach de topmost +rung in dat ladder. Let us sing wid a shout, dat blessed hymn, 'Dere is +a Fountain Filled Wid Blood'.' Wid de first verse de women got to +hollerin' and wid de second', Uncle Pompey say: 'De dyin' thief I see +him dere to welcome Brother Wash in paradise. Thank God! Brother Wash +done washed as white as snow and landed safe forever more.' + +"Dat Attorney General turn up his coat in de November wind and say; +'I'll be damn! Marse William smile and 'low: 'Oh Tom! Don't be too hard +on them. 'Member He will have mercy on them, dat have mercy on +others'." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =Stiles M. Scruggs= + =Columbia, S.C.= + +=DANIEL WARING= + +=_EX-SLAVE 88 YEARS OLD._= + + +"I was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, in 1849, and my +parents, Tobias and Becky Waring was slaves of the Waring family, and +the Bookters and Warings was kin folks. When I was just a little shaver +I was told I b'longed to the family of the late Colonel Edward Bookter +of upper Fairfield County. + +"The Bookter plantation was a big one, with pastures for cattle, hogs +and sheep; big field of cotton, corn and wheat, and 'bout a dozen Negro +families livin' on it, mostly out of sight from the Bookter's big house. +Two women and three or four Negro chillun work there, preparin' the food +and carin' for the stock. I was one of the chillun. Colonel Bookter's +household had three boys; one bigger than me and two not quite as big as +me. We play together, drive up the cows together, and carry on in +friendly fashion all the time. The nigger chillun eat with the two black +women in a place fixed for them off from the kitchen, after the white +folks finish. We generally have same food and drink that the white folks +have. + +"When I was 'bout eleven years old my master took me to Columbia one +Saturday afternoon, and while Colonel Bookter was 'round at a livery +stable on Assembly Street, he give me some money and tell me I could +stroll 'round a while. I did, and soon find myself with 'bout a dozen of +Master Hampton's boys. As we walk 'long Gervais Street, we met a big +fine lookin' man with a fishin' tackle, goin' towards the river, and +several other white folks was with him. As we turn the corner, the big +man kinda grin and say to us: 'Whose niggers are you?' The bigger boy +with us say: 'We all b'longs to Master Hampton.' He laugh some more and +then reach in his pocket and give each one of us a nickel, sayin' to +the white folks: 'Blest if I know my own niggers, anymore'. + +"Yes sir, I was 'bout fourteen years old when President Lincoln set us +all free in 1863. The war was still goin' on and I'm tellin' you right +when I say that my folks and friends round me did not regard freedom as +a unmixed blessin'. + +"We didn't know where to go or what to do, and so we stayed right where +we was, and there wasn't much difference to our livin', 'cause we had +always had a plenty to eat and wear. I 'member my mammy tellin' me that +food was gittin' scarce, and any black folks beginnin' to scratch for +themselves would suffer, if they take their foot in their hand and +ramble 'bout the land lak a wolf. + +"As a slave on the plantation of Colonel Edward Bookter, I had a pretty +good time. I knows I has work to do and I does it, and I always has +plenty to eat and wear in winter and summer. If I get sick I has a +doctor, so we set tight until 1865. After the war we come to Columbia, +and mammy made us a livin' by washin' for white folks and doin' other +jobs in the kitchen, and I worked at odd jobs, too. + +"We didn't get much money from the Freedmen's outfit, which was +'stablished in Columbia. The white men who set it up and administered +the Freedmen's funds and rations let some of their pets have much of it, +while others got little or nothin'. An' existence become increasin' +harder as nigger got more and more in the saddle. + +"During the war, and it seem to me it would never end, we heard much +'bout President Lincoln. Niggers seem to think he was foolish to get +into war, but they generally give him credit for directin' it right as +far as he could. President Davis was powerful popular at the beginnin' +of the conflict, but his popularity was far less when the war is over +and he is in jail. + +"I was 'most grown at the end of the war, and I was at no time popular +with the black leaders and their white friends who rule the roost in +Columbia for 'most thirteen years. I went back to my white friends in +Fairfield County and work for years for Mister T.S. Brice, and others on +the plantation. + +"I has been married three times, and am now livin' with my third wife. +She and me am makin' a sort of livin', and is yet able to work. I can +only do de lightest work and the sweetest thought I has these days is +the memory of my white friends when I was young and happy." + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, June 2, 1937= + +=NANCY WASHINGTON= + +=Ex-Slave, 104 years.= + + +"Come in child. Jes set right dere in dat chair whey I c'n be mindful uv +yuh cause I ain' hear but sorta hard lak dese days. I jes come in outer +de field whey I been chopping 'round uh little wid me hoe, but eve't'ing +is grow so black 'fore me eye dat I t'ink I better rest meself uh +little. I tries to help Sam (her son) aw I c'n, but I ain' mucha 'count +no more. I 104 year old en I ain' gwinna be heah much longer. Me mark +done strak (strike) me right dere dis a'ternoon. Dat been jes de way my +ole mammy waz call." + +"Does yah know whey dat place call Ash Pole? Dat whey I wuz raise up +when I b'long to Massa Giles Evanson. He wuz uh good ole fellow. I ain' +know wha' it wuz to ge' no bad treatment by my white people. Dey tell me +some uv de colored peoples lib mighty rough in dat day en time but I +ne'er know nuthin 'bout dat. I 'member dey is spank we chillun wid +shingle but dey ne'er didn't hit my mudder." + +"My Massa ne'er hab so mucha colored peoples lak some uv dem udder white +folks hab. Jes hab my mudder en eight head uv we chillun. Hab 'nough to +gi'e eve'yone uv he daughter uh servant apiece when dey ge' marry. Ne'er +hab nuthin but women colored peoples. My Massa say he ain' wan' no man +colored peoples." + +"De preacher Ford, wha' use'er lib right up dere in town, papa hab uh +big ole plantation wha' been jes lak uh little town. He hab hundred +colored peoples en dey is hab eve't'ing dere. Hab dey preachin' right +dere on de plantation en aw dat." + +"Coase my white folks hab uh nice plantation en dey keep uh nice house +aw de time. I wuz de house girl dere en de one wha' dey'ud hab to wait +on de Missus. Dey'ud carry me eve'ywhey dey go. Al'ays know how I wuz +faring. My Missus wuz big en independent lak. Talk lak she mad aw de +time, but she warnt. She ne'er wear no cotton 'bout dere no time. Hab +her silk on eve'y day en dem long yellow ear bob dat'ud be tetchin right +long side she shoulder. I al'ays look a'ter de Missus en she chillun. +Wash dey feet en comb dey hair en put de chillun to bed. But child, some +white folks is queer 'bout t'ings. Dey watch yuh gwine 'bout yuh work en +den dey'll wan' yuh to do sumptin fa dem. De ole man take me 'way from +helping de Missus en send me out to plow corn en drap peas. I wuz shame +too cause I ne'er lak fa he to treat my Missus dat uh way." + +"De peoples ne'er didn't cook in no stove den neither. Dey hab big ole +round dirt ubben (oven) to cook dey ration in. Dey make dey ubben outer +white clay en hadder build uh shelter over it cause dey'ud cook outer +in de yard. Dey ne'er cook but jes twice uh week. Cook on Wednesday en +den ne'er cook no more till Saturday. I 'member de big ole ham dat dey +cook en de tatoes en so mucha bread. Jes hab 'bundance aw de time. I got +uh piece uv de ole slavery time ubben heah now. I ge' it outer en show +it to yuh. Dis is one uv de leads (lids) en dey'ud put uh chain en hook +on dere en hang it up in de fireplace. Dat de way dey cook dey ration. O +Lawd, ef I could ge' back to my ole home whey I could look in en see jes +one more time, jes one more time, child." + +"I wuz jes uh girl when de Yankees come t'rough dere. Dey look jes lak +uh big blue cloud comin' down dat road en we chillun wuz scared uv em. +Dat land 'round 'bout dere wuz full uv dem Yankees marchin' en gwine on. +Dey ne'er bother my white folks but in some uv de places dey jes ruint +eve't'ing. Burnt up en tore down aw 'bout dere." + +"Yuh ain' ne'er see nobody weave no cloth nowadays. In de winter dey +use'er al'ays put woolen on de little chillun to keep em from getting +burnt up. Peoples wuz easy to cotch uh fire in dat time. Dey hab plenty +uv sheep den en dis jes 'bout de time uv de year dat dey shear de sheep. +Al'ays'ud shear de sheep in de month uv May. Dey is make aw kinder nice +cloth den. I c'n charge en spin en make any kinder streak yuh wan'. +Coase my mudder use'er weave de jeanes cloth en blanketing." + +"Dey use'er hab some uv dem corn-shucking 'bout dere but I ne'er take no +part in none uv dat. A'ter freedom declare, us pull boxes en dip +turpentine. Dat wha' wuz in de style den." + +"I won' but 'bout 16 when I marry en I hab uh nice wedding. Marry right +dere in my Massa yard en hab white swass dress to wear. I marry uh +settled man offen uh rich man plantation en dey ne'er wan' me to marry, +but dey ne'er say nuthin 'gainst it. Dey hab good manners den en manners +de t'ing dat carry peoples t'rough anyt'ing, child." + + + _Source_: Nancy Washington, age 104, colored, Dusty Hills, + Marion, S.C. (Personal interview, May 1937). + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=CHARLEY WATSON= + +=_EX-SLAVE 87 YEARS OLD._= + + +"Dis is a mighty hot day I tells you, and after climbing them steps I +just got to fan myself befo' I give answer to your questions. You got +any 'bacco I could chaw and a place to spit? Dis old darkie maybe answer +more better if he be allowed to be placed lak dat at de beginnin' of de +'sperience. + +"Where was I born? Why right dere on de Hog Fork Place, thought +everybody knowed dat! It was de home place of my old Marster Daniel +Hall, one of de Rockefellers of his day and generation, I tells you, he +sho was. My pappy had big name, my marster call him Denmore, my mammy +went by de name of Mariyer. She was bought out of a drove from Virginny +long befo' de war. They both b'long to old marster and bless God live on +de same place in a little log house. Let's see; my brother Bill is one, +he livin' at de stone quarry at Salisbury, North Carolina. My sister +Lugenie marry a Boulware nigger and they tells me dat woman done take +dat nigger and make sumpin' out of him. They owns their own automobile +and livin' in Cleveland, Ohio. + +"Us live in quarters, two string of houses a quarter mile long and just +de width of a wagon road betwixt them. How many slaves marster had? Dere +was four hundred in 1850, dat was de year I was born, so allowing for de +natural 'crease, 'spect dere was good many more when freedom come. Our +beds was made of poles and hay or straw. Was my marster rich? How come +he wasn't? Didn't he have a Florida plantation and a Georgia plantation? +Didn't us niggers work hard for our vittles and clothes? It make me +laugh de way de niggers talk 'bout eight hours a day. Us worked by de +'can and de can't system'. What way dat you ask me? Well, was dis way; +in de mornin' when it git so you can see, you got to go to work and at +night when it git so dark you can't see you ceasted to work. You see +what I mean? My marster's white overseer 'dopted de 'can and can't +system' of work hours. My mammy had to plow same as a man, she did sir. +Sometimes they pulled fodder and fooled wid it on Sunday. + +"You is a pushin' me a little too fast. Let me gum dis 'bacco and spit +and I can do and say more 'zackly what you expect from me. My marster +had sheep, goats, mules, horses, stallion, jackass, cows and hogs, and +then he had a gin, tan yard, spinnin' rooms, weave room, blacksmith shop +and shoe shop. Dere was wild turkeys on de place, deer in de cane brakes +and shad in de Catawba River. De Indians fetch their pots and jars to +sell, and peddlers come to big house wid their humps on their backs and +bright yards of calico and sich things de missus lak to feel and s'lect +from. I see money then, but I never see a nigger wid money in his paws +in slavery time, never! + +"Us was fed good on corn meal, hog meat, milk, butter, 'lasses, turnips, +beans, peas and apples, never hungry. Boss whip me once for fightin' and I +never fought anymore, I tells you. + +"My mistress name Miss Sarah. Her was a Hicklin befo' she marry. Their +chillun was: Tom, Billie, Dan and Jason, all dead 'cept Marster Jason. +De white overseer was Strother Ford. He give de slaves down the country +maybe sometimes, so heard them say, but I didn't see him. + +"Did us sing? Yes sir. What us sing? One was what I's gwine hist right +dis minute and sing wid your lieve. (Here Charley sang, 'Give me dat old +time religion'.) + +"Us made 'simmon beer sometime and lye soap just 'bout in de same way, +hopper was 'rected for dat. 'Simmons was put wid locust; hickory ashes +was used to make soap. Every Christmas us got ginger cake and sassafras +tea. + +"Doctor Scott was de doctor for de slaves. Us niggers was mighty sad +when his son Willie's gun went off by accident and kill him in 1868. De +Doctor never smile again after dat cumbustion of dat gun. Does you +'member de time Mr. Till Dixon was drowned? He your uncle? 'Twas de +fourth of July, I 'member dat day, and a boy Freddie Habbernick was +drowned in Catawba in 1903. Dat river take a many soul over dat other +shore, I tells you." + + + + + =S-260-264-N= + =Project 935= + =Samuel Addison= + =Richland County= + +=EX-SLAVE 91 YEARS OLD, CONGAREE, SOUTH CAROLINA= + +=_THERE WAS NO GOD BUT MOSSA AN' MISSUS_= + + +"My pa name was Nat White who tell me dat I was bo'n about 1842. My ma +was name Jane White. My pa use to carry all de votes from McClellanville +to Charleston. He come from Tibbin, South Carolina. He also been all +'round de United States. My Ma's Ma bin name Kate. I had sense to know +'em all. + +"I know a heap o' sojus had on nice buttons an' had plumes in dere hats. +Dey wus singin' an' playin' on a flute dis song, 'I wish I wus in +Dixie,' an' dey went in de big house an' broke up ebery thing. Dey say +to me, 'you are as free as a frog,' an' dey say to my pa, 'all your +chillun are free.' Dey say 'little niggers is free as a frog' an' we +holler much. + +"I aint nebber do no work, but I kin 'member I use to wear a pant you +call chambery. Ma cook a pot o' peas an' weevils wus always on de top. +Ma would den turn mush an' clean a place on de floor, she make a paddle +an' we eat off de floor. She use to bake ash cake too. I didn' know +'bout no garden, all I know I eat. Dis what dey put on me I wear em. I +nebber know nothin' 'bout shoes. + +"My master been name Bill Cooper who had a gal an' a son. De gal been +name Mary an' de boy Bill like de daddy. + +"Tarbin wus a big house, but I aint nebber know de number o' slaves or +'mount o' lan' dat went wid um. + +"De slaves had a church name Lazarus an' some went to de white church. +Dey had us bar off frum de whites an' we use to look t'rough a glass +door. I member when a preacher say, 'honor your missus an' mossa dat +your days may be long for dey is your only God.' My Ma tell me when dey +use to lick dem she use to sing dis song, 'do pray for me' en ma say +w'en de lickin' got too hot she say 'oh God' en mossa say, 'show me dat +damn man', den he say, 'I am your only God. My preacher name wus Sabie +Mood. + +"De slaves couldn't git any news, but dey had to work on Sunday if de +week bin bad. W'en it rain dey use to shuck co'n. + +"W'en Bill Cooper die he holler to me, 'I'm burnin' up' an' ma say +missus say, 'iron me too hot, she meat is red like fire.' + +"We use to sing song like dese; + + 'Mary bring de news an' Martha win de prize. + I mus die an' will die in dat day + See dat oars like feathers springing' + +"I marry Sarah on December 18th. Him de only one I marry an' we had a +big weddin' an' plenty o' somethin' to eat. We had fourteen chillun. + +"Pa say mossa use to take de fork an' punch holes in dere body w'en he +got mad. People always die frum de pisin. + +"Dis is all I know I ain't go tell no lie, dat what pa say, I moved here +atter de yankees come." + + + Reference; + + Uncle Dave White, + 91 years old + Congaree, South Carolina. + + + + + =S-260-264-N= + =Project 1885= + =Laura L. Middleton= + =Charleston, S.C.= + + =No. Words: 452= + +=UNCLE DAVE WHITE= + +=_An Old Time Negro_= + + +Uncle Dave White, one of the waning tribe lives in a simple homestead +down a dusty and wind-swept curved country lane on the out skirt of +McClenville, forty miles North of Charleston rests the simple shanty of +David White, aged Negro, affectionally known to the Negro and white +population for many miles around as "uncle Dave". + +His quiet unadulterated mode of living and his never changing grateful +disposition typifies the true Southern Negro of pre-Civil War days; a +race that was commonplace and plentiful at one time, but is now almost +extinct, having dwindled in the face of more adequate educational +facilities. + +His homestead, resembling a barn more than a place to live in. To +protect the house against the hazardous affects of imperilling winds, +long poles are made to prop the somewhat dilapidated shanty. + +A visit to his home, one dark and dreary day in late December, found him +as usual in the best of spirits. He welcomed the visitors with a +cordiality that would rival the meeting of two long lost friends. The +front has no main entrance; the main door is around the back. There are +conspicuous displays of many ancient burlap bags, heavy laden, hanging +from high rafters, which contained corn and peanuts. + +"But why not keep them in your barn, Uncle Dave!" one would ask. + +"Well, suh, I keep mah co'n and grain nuts in yuh so mak eye can sta' on +'em," he replies. + +A further inspection of the premises revealed other precautions he had +taken against the unwelcomed guests; a crude lock on each door and many +other precautionary measures convicted, that he was willing to take no +unnecessary chances at having his worldly goods stolen. + +His age is truly a matter of conjecture. The more you look at him the +more uncertain you become. His droopy carriage and shriveled feature +betray you at first sight. The first impression will lead one to believe +that he is about one hundred years of age, and later it will appear that +he is not that old. + +We had known "uncle Dave" for a long time; for years it had been a +familiar sight to see him trudging the streets of the town with burlap +bags thrown across his shoulders containing such household necessities +as grits, salt, sugar, etc., and such articles as the house wives would +give him out of sheer sympathy. To every friendly greeting he always had +the humble response of "Tank Gawd, my eye is open." + +He is well known throughout the town. One Sunday night a short time ago, +while the services of a white church were in progress, distinguishable +sounds of Amen were heard at regular intervals coming from the outside. +On investigating they discovered that it was "uncle Dave" reverently +enjoying the proceedings. Many times he has been seen outside the same +church listening to the services. + + + _SOURCE_ + Interview with (Mrs.) Minnie Huges, age 43, 179 Spring Street, welfare + worker. + + + + + =Project 1655= + =Martha S. Pinckney= + =Charleston, S.C.= + + =FOLKLORE= + + =Approx. _637_ words= + +=_INTERVIEW WITH EX-SLAVE_= + + +Everybody in the town of Mt. Pleasant, Christ Church Parish (across the +Bay from Charleston) knows "Tena White, the washer," "Tena, the cook," +"Maum Tena" or "Da Tena, the nurse"--the same individual, accomplished +in each art, but best as a nurse. + +The house where Tena lives is the second in a row of Negro houses. The +writer, calling from the gate, was answered by Tena, a middle-sized +woman of neat figure. As the writer ascended the steps a friendly cur +wagged itself forward and was promptly reproved by Tena, who placed a +chair, the seat of which she wiped carefully with her dress. The piazza +was clean and on the floor a black baby slept on a folded cloth, with a +pillow under its head. The writer was soon on friendly terms with Maum +Tena, and was told: "As soon as my eye set on you, I see you favor the +people I know. My people belonged to Mr. William Venning. The plantation +was Remley Point. I couldn't zactly member my pa's name. I member when +de war come though. Oh dem drum; I nebber hear such a drum in my life! +De people like music; dey didn't care nothing bout de Yankees, but dem +bands of music! My mother name Molly Williams. My pa dead long before +that. All my people dead. I stayin' here with my youngest sister +chile--youngest son. He got seven head ob chillun." + +"I can do anything--wash or cook--aint no more cook though. Oh yes" and +her eyes sparkled, "I know how to cook de turkey, and de ham wid de +little brown spots all over de top. Nobody can collec' my soup for me; I +first go choose my soup bone. One wid plenty richness. My chile say, +'While my Tena live I wouldn't want nobody else.' But I couldn't take de +sponsibility now." + +"Maum Tena, how many children did you have?" + +"Maggie an Etta an Georgie an Annie, etc., etc." so fast and so many +that one couldn't keep up. + +"Wait, Maum Tena. How many were there in all--your own children?" + +"I nebber had a chile." + +"Oh, those were the children you nursed." + +"I marry twice. Caesar Robson an Aleck White." + +"Did you ever sing spirituals?" + +"No, I nebber had time." + +"But you sang lullabies to the children." + +"Oh, I sing someting to keep de chile quiet." + +"Where is your church, Maum Tena?" + +"De Methodist Church right here. I know I got for die some day. He keep +me distance,[B] but when I look an see my flesh, I tenk de Lord for +ebbery year what pass on my head. Taint my goodness, tis His goodness. +Nothing but the pureness of heart will see Him." + + +[B] Has lived a long time. + + +Tena was shocked and disgusted at the idea of the Lord being a "black +man." She said with perfect certainty that he was "no such." + +"We all goin to de same Heaven, and there aint no black people there." + +The writer asked Tena her age; before she could answer, her great-niece +came to the door and said, "She eighty-eight." Tena was indignant. Her +eyes flashed. "I aint goin to hab nobody come along puttin down my age +what dunno anyting about it. I ought to be as high as nine. Let um be as +high as nine."[C] + +"If I didn't been round de house wid white people I wouldn't hab dis +opportunity today, an dey good to me an gib me nuf to keep my soul an +body together. My mother raise me right. When de Yankee come through we +been at Remley Point. My Ma took care ob me. She shut me up and she gard +me. De Yankee been go in de colored people house, an dey mix all up, an +dey do jus what dey want. Dey been brutish. + +"De beautiful tureen, stand so high and hab foot so long" lifting her +hands, "an all de beautiful ting smash up, an all de meat an ham in de +smoke house de stribute um all out to de people, an de dairy broke up, +an de horse an de cow kill. Nothin leave. Scatter ebberyting. Nothin +leave." + + +[C] Meaning her age should be in the nineties. + + + =SOURCE: Tena White, Mt. Pleasant, Christ Church Parish, S.C.= + =Age: Approximately 90.= + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=BILL WILLIAMS= + +=_EX-SLAVE 82 YEARS OLD._= + + +Bill Williams lives on the Durham place, nine miles east of Winnsboro, +S.C., on the warm charity of Mr. Arthur M. Owens, the present owner. He +is decrepit and unable to work. + +"I was born a slave of old Marster John Durham, on a plantation 'bout +five miles east of Blackstock, S.C. My mistress name Margaret. Deir +chillun was Miss Cynthia, Marse Johnnie, Marse Willie and Marse Charnel. +I forgits de others. Then, when young Marse Johnnie marry Miss Minnie +Mobley, my mammy, Kizzie, my daddy, Eph, and me was give to them. Daddy +and mammy had four other chillun. They was Eph, Reuben, Winnie and +Jordan. Us live in rows of log houses, a path 'twixt de two rows. Us was +close to de spring, where us got water and mammy did de white folks +washin' every week. I kep' de fires burnin' 'round de pots, so de water +would keep boilin'. Dat's 'bout all de work I 'members doin' in slavery +time. Daddy was a field hand and ploughed a big red mule, name Esau. How +many slaves was dere? More than I could count. In them days I couldn't +count up to a hundred. How, then, I gonna kno' how many dere was? You +have to ask somebody else. I'll just risk sayin' dere was big and little +ones, just a little drove of them dat went to de field in cotton pickin' +time, a hollerin' and a singin' glory hallelujah all day long, and pick +two bales a day. + +"Marse Johnnie and Miss Minnie mighty good marster and mistress to deir +slaves. We had good rock chimneys to our houses, plank floors, movable +bedsteads, wid good wheat straw ticks, and cotton pillows. Other folks' +slaves was complainin' 'bout dirt floors in de houses, boards to sleep +on, no ticks, and rags for pillows. Us got flour bread and 'lasses on +Sunday, too, I'm here to tell you. + +"They sho' fetch dat catechism 'round on Sunday and telled you who made +you, what Him make you out of, and what Him make you for. And they say +dat from de crown of your head to de top of your big toe, de chief end +of every finger and every toe, even to de ends of your two thumbs, was +made to glorify de Lord! Missus more 'ticular 'bout dat catechism than +de marster. Her grandpa, old Marster John Mobley was a great Baptist. +After de crops was laid by, every August, him visit his granddaughter. +While dere, he take de slaves and dam up de branch, to make a pond for +to pool de water. Then he take to de hill just 'bove, cut down pine +tops, and make a brush arbor to hold de prachin' in. 'Vite white +preachers, Mr. Cartledge, Mr. Mellichamp or Mr. Van, to come hold a +'vival for all de slaves in and 'round and 'bout de country. I's seen 27 +go down and come up out dat pool, a splashin' water from deir faces, one +Sunday evenin'. A terrible thing happen one time at de baptism. It was +while de war was gwine on. Marse Johnnie had come back from Virginia, on +a furlough for ten days. Old Marse John come to see him and fetch Rev. +Mr. Cartledge wid him. People was pow'ful consarned 'bout 'ligion 'long +'bout dat time. Me and all de little slave boys jined dat time and dere +was a little boy name Ike, a slave of old Doctor John Douglas, dat +jined. Him was just 'bout my age, seven or eight years old. After him +jined, him wanna back out of goin' down into de water. Dat evenin', +after dinner, us was all dressed in a kind of white slip-over gown for +de occasion. When it come Ike's time to receive de baptism, him was led +by his mammy, by de hand, to de edge of de water and his hand given to +de preacher in charge, who received him. Then he commenced: 'On de +confession----'. 'Bout dat time little Ike broke loose, run up de bank, +and his mammy and all de slaves holler: 'Ketch him! Ketch him!' Old +Marse John holler: 'Ketch him!' They ketch little Ike and fetch him back +to old Marse John and his mammy. Marse John explain to him dat it better +to have water in de nose, now, than fire in de soul forever after. +Little Ike say nothin'. His mammy take his hand and lead him to de +preacher de same way her did befo'. Little Ike went down into de water. +Preacher take him but when little Ike got down under dat water, de +preacher lose de hold and bless God, in some way little Ike got 'twixt +and 'tween de preacher's legs and comin' out behind him, turnt him +sommersets and climb out on de bank a runnin'. Little Ike's mammy cry +out: 'Ketch him! Ketch him!' Old marster say: 'No let him go to de +devil. Thank de Lord him none of our niggers anyhow. Him just one of Dr. +Douglas' Presbyterians niggers dat's destined to hell and be damned, I +reckon." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=JESSE WILLIAMS= + +=_EX-SLAVE 83 YEARS OLD._= + + +At the end of one of the silent streets of west Chester, S.C., that +prolongs itself into a road leading to the Potter's Field and on to the +County Poorhouse, sets a whitewashed frame cottage. It has two rooms, +the chimney in the center providing each with a fireplace. A porch, +supported by red cedar posts, fronts the road side. In this abode lives +Jesse Williams with his daughter, Edna, and her six children. Edna pays +the rent, and is a grenadier in the warfare of keeping the wolf from the +door. + +"You say I looks pretty old? Well, you's right 'bout de old part but I's +far 'way from de pretty part. I got a hand glass in my house and when I +shaves on Sunday mornin's, I often wonders who I is. I doesn't look lak +me. My best friend couldn't say I got much on looks, but my old dog rap +his tail on de floor lak he might say so, if him could speak. + +"I's been off and on dese streets of Chester for eighty-three years. I +was born a slave of Marse Adam C. Walker and my old miss was Mistress +Eliza, dat's his wife. + +"My pappy name Henry and mammy name Maria. I can see them plowin' in de +field right now. Mammy plowin' same as pappy and me runnin' 'long +behind, takin' de dirt off de cotton plants where de twister plow turnt +de clods on de plants. Then, when dat cotton field git white and red wid +blooms in summer and white agin in de fall, I have to shoulder my poke +and go to de field and pick dat cotton. I 'members de fust day dat I +pick a hundred pounds. Marse Adam pull out a big flat black pocket-book +and gived me a shinplaster, and say: 'Jesse, ever time your basket h'ist +de beam of de steelyards to 100, you gits a shinplaster.' I make eighty +cents dat year but I have to git up when de chickens crow for day and +git in de field when de dew was heavy on de cotton. Does I think dat was +cheatin'? Oh, no sir! I wasn't 'ceivin' old marster. Him wink at dat, +and take a pound off for dew. I'd a made more money but they took me out +de field in November, to drive de mules to de hoss-gin. Dat was play +work, just a settin' up dere and poppin' de whip. + +"Marster live in a big two-story, eight-room house. De kitchen was out +from de house. After Christmas, dat year, I was house boy and drive de +buggy for Miss Eliza when her want to go visitin'. I was fed well and +spent my money for a knife, candy, and firecrackers. + +"My marster and missus have chillun. They was Peter, Jerry, Miss Elnora, +and Miss Sallie, dat I play wid in slavery time. + +"De Yankees didn't come as far up as Chester. They branched off down +'bout Blackstock, took de sunrise side of dat place and march on 'cross +Catawba River, at Rocky Mount. I stay on wid Marse Adam and Miss Eliza, +after freedom. I marry a handsome gal. Yes, sir, she dark but not too +shady. I harks back to them days, as I sets here in dis rocker a talkin' +to you. Did I tell you her name? Her name just suit her. Not Jane, +Polly, Mag, Sallie, and de lak of dat! Them was too common for her. Her +name Catherine, dat just fit her. Us have ten chillun and her and all +them 'cept me and three chillun done gone over to Jordan. Dere was just +one thing 'bout Catherine dat I's dubious 'bout. She lak to dance, and I +was too clumsy for to ever cut a double shuffle. I 'spect I cut a poor +figure at de frolics us went to. Does you think burnin' a candle for her +would do any good at dis late day? Why I ask you dat? Well, I has heard +them say dat white folks does dat sometimes for deir gone-on ones. My +daughter, Edna say: 'It might do you good and it could do mama no harm.' +I b'longs to Mount Moriah Church in dis very town of Chester. De +preacher am Rev. Alexander. He 'low it was superstition to burn dat +candle but if I live I's gwine to light one nex' Christmas. + +"Us had a good marster and mistress. They was big buckra, never 'sociate +wid poor white trash. They wore de red shirt. De time come 'round when +they send me to Marse Will Harden and he pass me on to go see Marse +Judge Mackey, who live here then. Did I know Judge Mackey? Sho' I did! +While he was a settin' up dere on de bench in de court house, he have +all de people laughin'. One time de father of Marse W.B. Lindsey beat up +a Radical nigger and de case come up befo' him for trial. Great +'citement 'bout it, over de whole county. Court house packed dat day. +Solicitor rise and say: 'Please your honor, de 'fendant, Lindsey, put in +a plea of guilty.' You might have heard a breast feather of a chicken +fall, so very still was de people in dere, though de niggers and +'publicans was a grinning wid joy. Then Judge Mackey 'low: 'Let de +'fendant stand up.' Wid a solemn face and a solemn talk, him wound up +wid: 'Derefore, de court sentence you to de State Penitentiary at hard +labor for a period of ten years (Then him face light up, as he +conclude), or pay a fine of one dollar!' De white folks holler: 'Three +cheers for Judge Mackey!' De judge git up and bow, and say: 'Order in de +court.' As dere was no quiet to be got, clerk 'journed de court. De +judge take his silk beaver hat and gold headed cane and march out, while +de baliffs holler: 'Make way! Make way for de honorable judge!' +Everybody took up dat cry and keep it up long as de judge was on de +streets. Oh, how dat judge twirl his cane, smile, and strut. + +"Did I ever see a spirit? 'Spect I has and I sho' have felt one more +than once. 'Spect I was born wid a caul over my eyes. When de last +quarter of de moon come in de seventh month of a seventh year, is de +most time you see spirits. Lyin' out in de moon, befo' daybreak, I's +smelt, I's heard, I's seed and I's felt Catherine's spirit in de moon +shadows. I come nigh ketchin' hold of her one night, as I wake up a +dreamin' 'bout her but befo' I could set up, I hear her pass 'way, +through de treetops dat I was layin', dreamin' under. + +"Then another time, I was settin' here 'bout four o'clock in de +moonlight a lookin' 'cross de street to de town hall. I see sumpin' rise +and jump upon dat rock a lyin' dere 'ginst de town hall. It was de +figger of a man. Who it was I don't know, though they de call de rock de +'Aaron Burr Rock', 'cause he made a speech standin' on dat rock, long +befo' I was born. De people in de library can tell you 'bout dat speech. +Maybe Dr. Lathan tell you 'bout it. Him ninety-five years old dis last +past twelfth day of May and knows all 'bout de days dat are gone. + +"I live wid my daughter, Edna, and I just can make it back dere from de +post office every day." + + + + + =Code: Folk-Lore= + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =May 26, 1937= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES= + + +Aunt Mary Williams stated she remembered slavery times, for she was a +girl large enough to walk four miles to go to work "while slavery was +on". She said Mr. Alfred Brown used to own her mother, but she was +raised by Mrs. Margaret Taylor who used to live where the oil mill is +now, below Arkwright Mills. Her father was owned by Mr. Simpson Bobo and +drove his horse for him. She stated she was a good hoe-hand, but didn't +pick cotton, as Mr. Brown didn't raise any cotton, just raised something +to eat. + +She said her master was a kind man, didn't allow any "paterollers" on +his place, yet she had seen other slaves on other plantations with +bloody backs and arms from the whippings they got. When asked why they +were whipped, she replied, "Just because their masters could whip them; +they owned them and could do what they wanted to them". Her master +didn't allow any whipping on his place. One time he kept a slave from +another plantation who was fleeing the "paterollers" on his place and in +his own house until he was set free. + +"I'se got the looking glasses and the thimble my great-grandmother used +to use when she worked. She was a good weaver and a good sewer. She made +a man an overcoat once, but didn't get but $1.25 for it; she made a pair +of men's breeches and got fifty cents for making them. They didn't get +nothing for making clothes in those days". + +She remembered when the Yankee soldiers came into Spartanburg. She said +they took all they could get, stole something to eat, just went into the +stores and took liquor and handed it out drink by drink to the other +soldiers. Aunt Mary stated she saw Abe Lincoln when he came through +Spartanburg; said he was armed himself and had soldiers all around him. +He told the colored folks who seemed scared of him that he wasn't going +to hurt anybody, not to be scared of him. (Here she must have confused +Lincoln with some one else, probably Colonel Palmer, who commanded a +detachment in pursuit of Jefferson Davis, which stopped over-night in +Spartanburg in April, 1865. FK.) + + + SOURCE: Aunt Mary Williams, 391 Cudd St., Spartanburg, S.C. + Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1655= + =Genevieve W. Chandler= + =Georgetown County, S.C.= + + =FOLKLORE= + +=EX-SLAVE STORY= + +=UNCLE WILLIS WILLIAMS= + + +"When wuz I born? Born in August. When I wuz born been August. I wuz a +man grown pulling boxes, (turpentine boxes) when the shake wuz. I know +the very night the shake come----on a Wednesday night. I wuz on door +step loosing my shoe string. There wuz more religion then than they is +now. Praying and prayer meeting for a month. Everybody tend meeting. + +"I been with the Yankee. I kin tell you bout the Yankee. They come home +there to Rock Creek when the war wuz breaking up and carried me to +Fayetteville. (N.C.) Kept me with 'em till Johnson surrendered in +Raleigh,----then they kept me in Goldsboro and took me on to Petersburg. +After everything over they give me free transportation back home. Free +on train back to Fayetteville. They had put all the Yankee clothes on +me,----all the blue shirt, blue coat and bumps on the shoulder,--and +when they start me home took all the Yankee clothes way from me. Put +gray clothes on me and sent me back. I member they took me up in a +way-up-yonder building--to Richmond. Couldn't tell you the depth of it. +Man on the ground looked like boy. + +"The man I belonged to been Mass John A. Williams. (Born on the Cape +Fear.) I goes by Mass John name--Williams. His sons been John, James, +Charlie, Wallis, William, James. James come home from army sick. Had the +mumps; thirty days furlough. + +"Member when the Yankees come. Been Sunday morning. Ride up to the gate +on horses. Old Boss happened to come out and walk to the lot. I happened +to be at gate. They took his watch out his pocket, his pistol--had it +girded to him--and took all he whiskey and catch chickens and guinea and +take them all. Then they gone in the lot and took two breeding mares and +hitch them in wagon and loaded wagon full o' corn. Then they took the +two carriage horses and hitched to carriage, and gone to smoke-house, +and fill that carriage full of all Mass John sides of meat and ham and +shoulders. I been following and watching to see what all they going to +take, and a soldier looked at me and say, + +"'Come on little Nigger! Wanter go?' + +"And I done like another fool! I rode off behind the two brood mares, on +the corn, and where they rested that night, I rested right there. + +"It was mighty cold up there. I suffered a heap in the cold fore I got +back home. They give me a horse,--saddled and bridled,--and a little +bayonet gun. Put me on that horse to drive cattle. Tell me to take all I +see. Didn't except nobody cattle. Night come put 'em in pasture--put 'em +in anybody field--on the oats, rye, wheat. + +"Sometimes rain sho fall.--Had to tend that bunch of cattle rain or no +rain. Didn't kill one beef and stop! (Kill) FOUR beeves a day. Go out +git the hog and kill 'em. Skin 'em. Didn't scald 'em and clean 'em like +we do. Just eat the ham. Rest throw way. Gone to Wilmington, +Fayetteville, Rookfish and Beaver Creek. + +"General Sherman? Has I hear bout him? I SEEN him! He had a big name but +he warn't such a big man; he was a little spare made man. I member now +when I seed him the last time. He had two matched horses going down to +Petersburg. Six guards riding by the side of his turnout. Oh my God, +what clothes he had on! He was dressed down in finest uniform. + +"When I leave the Yankee they give me $35.00 in money. I been so fool +had never seen no green back. Throwed it away eating crackers and +peanuts. And I bought some brogan shoes. If I'd a helt on to that, I'd a +been some body today. + +"I members it was Sunday morning that General Johnson throwed up his +hand at Raleigh. Done with the war! + +"Before Freedom I have a good enough time. Just lay round the house and +wait on my boss. When Freedom come and I did have to get out and work it +most kill me! + +"After Freedom my mother wash for family to Beaver Creek. And after +Freedom my father went to working on shares. Old Maas John called 'em up +and tell 'em, + +"'You free, Asa. You free, Lewis. You free, Handy. You free, Wash. You +can do as you please. You have to fadge for yourself now.' + +"Mass John Williams had four hundred slaves. He was a man had the +colored people. He didn't work all on his own plantation. He'd hire out +his people to work turpentine.----Put 'em out for so much a year. He'd +give 'em blanket, suit, coat, pants. First of the year come, Boss would +collect wages for all he hire out. + +"That there my second wife. You know how a man is. How many wife I had? +Two or three. Lemme see! (Looking at present wife) You is one! You the +last one! Fust one been Jinny Lind. Next one been Mary Dickson. And +Caressa Pyatt been one! And there been another one! I forgot that woman +name! Got it in my mouth and can't call it! I'll call the name of them +others I take up with in a little while! One was Caline; one was Tissue; +(Tisha?) I take them a little while and if they didn't do to suit me, I +put 'em out! Some I didn't stay with long nuff to find out they name! +Jinny Lind sister was Tissue. Jinny Lind gone, try her sister. Just a +'make out'. If they didn't do to suit me, I'd give 'em the devil and put +'em out. + +"Don't know bout beating woman. Some say that bout, + + 'Woman, dog, cypress knee + more you beat'em the better they be!' + +"But some woman, the more you beat 'em the worse the devil gets in 'em. +Get so they won't 'GEE' nor 'HAW'. + +"When I was house boy for old Mass John, waiting on white people, that +was the best and easiest time I ever had. Ever Satdy drive Mass John to +Fayetteville. Ever Satdy they'd think that store belong to me! I'd eat +lumps of brown sugar out the barrel, candy, crackers. Did as I please +then; NOW do as I kin! + +"'Ways of woman and ways of snake deeper than the sea!' I take that to +mean----mighty few can tell by the trail of a snake whether its coming +or going---- + +"I hear story bout the rabbit and the fox--all them old things--Some +times my mind franzy. Been break up too much! Break two ribs to the +lumber mill. Jump out a cart one day and run a ten penny nail through my +foot. That lay me up two months. Some mean people ketch me up by that +tree yonder with a car and that lay me up sixty-five days. They pick me +up for dead that time. All that make my mind get franzy sometimes. Come +and go--Come and go." + + + SOURCE: Uncle Willis Williams. Age, 89 to 90 years old. Conway, S.C. + (Horry County). + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =May 25, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was a Garmany before I married Calvin Wilson. My father was Henry +Garmany, and my mother Sidney Boozer. My husband was in the Confederate +army with his master. Dey was near Charleston on de coast. I was slave +of Lemuel Lane, of de Dutch Fork. He was killed after de war, some say +by some of his young slaves, but we'uns did not know naything about who +killed him. We had a good house to live in on Marse Lane's plantation. I +used to work around the house and in de fields. My mother was a good +seamstress and helped de white folks sew, and she learn't me to sew had +help too. We didn't get any money for our work. One time after de war, +dey paid me only $5.00 and I quit 'em. My mother hired me out to work +for her, and I didn't have any money, still; so I said I better get me a +man of my own. Marse Lane was mean to most of us, but good to me. He +whipped me once and I deserved it because I wouldn't answer him when he +called me. He jes' give me about two licks. He was mean to my mother, +but he wouldn't let his white overseer whip us, and wouldn't let de +padder-rollers come around. He said he could look-out for his own +slaves. + +"We didn't learn to read and write, but some of de white folks had +learned my mother, and she learned me some. + +"Niggers had to go to church at New Hope, de white folks' church, in +slavery time and after de war too. We had Saturday afternoons to do what +we wanted, and we washed clothes then. + +"On Christmas, Marse would give de slaves some good things to eat and +send some to dere families. Niggers had frolics at dere houses sometimes +on Saturday nights. When I married, I had a good hot supper. + +"Children played all de ole games like, play-ball (throwing over the +house), marbles and base. + +"Some saw ghosts, but I never saw any of dem. + +"Old-time cures was peach tree leaves boiled and drunk for fever; wild +cherry bark was good for most anything if took at night. I have used it +for curing some things. The best cure I know, is turpentine and a little +oil mixed. Swallow it and it will fix you up. + +"The Yanks went through our place and took two of the best horses we +had. One had a tail that reached the ground. Dey stole lots of victuals. +I 'member de Ku Klux wid dere long white sheets, and den de Red Coats +wid white breeches. Dey would walk or ride, but dey never harmed us. + +"I don't know much about Abe Lincoln, but I reckon he was a good man, +and Jeff Davis, too. I don't know Booker Washington but heard he was a +good man. + +"I joined de church because de white folks did. Dey wants to go to +heaven and I do too. I think everybody ought to try to do right. I used +to think we could make heaven down here, but if we jes' do right, dats +all we can do." + + + Source: Emoline Wilson (90), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. May 21, 1937. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =Sept. 22, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I was born in Newberry County near Cannon's Creek section in the Dutch +Fork. I was a slave of Lemuel Lane. He was killed by some slaves just +after freedom. They killed him for his money but didn't find any, it was +said. When freedom come, my mistress give me some things to eat when we +left. + +"I can't work much any more; I am old and I can't get about. I live with +my son who works when he can find work. We rent a two-room cottage in +town. + +"I never heard anything about slaves getting 40 acres of land and a +mule. None in that section got any. We had to go to work for other +people. + +"The Ku Klux Klan never bothered us then, and we never had nothing to do +with them, nor with politics. + +"There was no slaves living in our section who had come from Virginia." + + + Source: Emoline Wilson (90), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. 8/10/37 + (See ES IV, MS. #13). + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =FOLKLORE= + =Spartanburg Dist. 4= + =June 15, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"I am daughter of Billy Robertson and Louisa Robertson; was born about +77 years ago in Newberry, on Marse Job Johnstone's place. My father +lived with Judge Job Johnstone as his extra man or servant. He lived in +the house with him, slept in his room and waited on him when he became +old; and, too, was the driver of his carriage. He drove him to other +courthouses to hold court. After the war, my father was janitor at +Newberry College, and he was liked by professors, students, and +everybody who knew him as 'Uncle Billy'. At commencement, he always made +a speech at night on the campus, which the students enjoyed. He told +about his travels from Virginia to Newberry before the war. Judge +Johnstone never wanted anybody else to be with him when he traveled. + +"I belonged to the Avelleigh Presbyterian Church in Newberry, and was +christened in the church by the preacher, the Rev. Buist. Colored people +were allowed to be members and set in the gallery when they went to +church. + +"After the war, a colored man named Amos Baxter was killed by the Ku +Klux at the old courthouse. My father was on Judge Johnstone's farm a +few miles away. He was sent for and came with another colored man to +town, and prayed and preached over the body of Baxter. The Ku Klux came +to kill my father for doing this, but they never caught him. + +"I had to stay home most of the time and help mama keep house. I never +worked in the field but once, and the job was so poor they put me back +in the house. That was the old Nance place. + +"Once I saw a man hung in Newberry. He was a negro named Thompson and +killed a white man named Reid. He killed him at a store in Pomaria and +burned it over his body. He was hung near the railroad, and a big crowd +was there to see it. That was my first time to see a man hung, and I +promised God it would be my last. They asked the negro if he had +anything to say, and give him five minutes to talk. He was setting on a +box smoking; then he got up and said he reckoned his time was over, he +was sorry for all the bad things he had done; that he had killed a boy +once for 25 cents, and had killed a little girl for 20 cents. He was +sorry for his wife and three weeks old baby. His wife saw him hung. + +"The Ku Klux wanted to kill any white people who was Republicans. They +killed some negroes. A white man named Murtishaw killed Lee Nance, a +store keeper. I was a little girl and saw it. Some little children was +standing out in front. Murtishaw came up and said he wanted to buy +something or pretended he wanted to; then he went up to Nance, pulled +his pistol quick and shot him through the throat and head. + +"Judge Johnstone's kitchen was away from the house, a brick building. +They had large ovens and wide fireplaces in which they cooked. + +"My father's favorite horses, when he drove the family, was 'Knox' and +'Calvin', which they kept for many years. When they died the mistress +cried awfully about it. + +"My husband died at old Mr. Dan Ward's place, on College Hill, where he +was living then." + + + Source: Jane Wilson (77), Newberry, S.C. + Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (6/9/37) + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, June 11, 1937= + +=MOM GENIA WOODBERRY= + +=Ex-Slave, 89 years= + + +"Glad to see yunnah. Who dese udder wid yah? Who yuh? Lawd, I glad to +see yunnah. I nu'se aw Miss Susan fust chillun. Ne'er nu'se dem las'uns. +Sicily been yo' mamma nu'se. Nu'se Massa Ben Gause child fust en den I +nu'se four head uv Miss Susan chillun a'ter she marry Massa Jim +Stevenson. Sleep right dere wid dem chillun aw de time. Miss Susan ne'er +didn't suckle none uv dem chillun. I tell yunnah dis much, Massa Jim +Stevenson was good to aw uv his colored people en Miss Susan wuz good to +me. I sho' born right down yonner to Massa Ben Gause plantation. Gade +Caesar en Mary Gause wuz my parents. Yas'um, I is glad to see dese +chillun cause yuh know whey white folks hab feeling fa yah, it sho' make +yuh hab feeling fa dey chillun. I ole now en I can' 'member eve'yt'ing +but I ain' ne'er forge' wha' good times dem wuz." + +"My Lawd! Yas, my Lawd, de peoples lib well dere to Massa Jim Stevenson +plantation. De white folks hab big house dere wid eve'yt'ing 'bout it +jes lak uh town. I couldn't tell yunnah how many colored peoples dey hab +dere but I know dis, I hear em say dere wuz more den two hundred uv em +dat lib in de quarter. Dey house wuz in uh field offen to itself dere on +de plantation en wuz strung aw up en down in two long row lak. Dey wuz +set up in good libin' den." + +"Coase I ain' lib dere in de quarter wid de udder colored peoples a'ter +I ge' big 'nough to be nu'se girl, but I know how dey fare dere. My +Massa hab uh smoke house full uv meat en uh barn full uv corn aw de time +en eve'y Friday a'ternoon aw de colored peoples hadder do wuz to go dere +to de big house en ge' dey share uv meat en 'lasses en corn to las' em +de whole week. Ne'er hadder worry nuthin 'bout it tall. Dey hab dey +gristmill right dere whey dey grind dat corn eve'y week. Yah ain' ne'er +see no sech barn en heap uv meat dese days uz dey hab den. Dem hog +killin' days wuz big times fa dem plantation peoples. It jes lak I +tellin' yunnah my Massa gi'e he colored peoples mos' eve't'ing dey hab +en den he 'low eve'y family to hab uh acre uv land uv dey own to plant. +Hadder work dat crop in de night. Make light wid fat light'ud stump wha' +to see by. Dat crop wha' dey buy dey Sunday clothes wid. Ne'er hadder +hunt no clothes but dey Sunday clothes cause dey hab seamstress right +dere on de plantation to make aw us udder clothes. Miss Susan larnt Aun' +Cynthia en Starrah en Tenna to cut en sew dere to de big house en a'ter +dat dey ne'er do nuthin but make de plantation clothes." + +"Aw de colored peoples dere to Miss Susan plantation hab dey certain +business to go 'bout eve'y day en dey ne'er didn't shirk dat neither. +Miss Susan ain' 'low fa no slack way 'round whey she was. Dere been +Yaneyki wha' hadder jes wait on Miss Susan; Becky, de house girl; Aun' +Hannah, de one wha' cook in de big house; Aun' Dicey, wha' al'ays clean +up de white folks kitchen; en Sanco, de house boy. Den I wuz de nu'se +dere fa dem chillun. Ne'er lak it but I ha'e it to do. Hadder stay right +dere to de big house aw de time. Miss Susan ne'er wouldn't 'low me take +dem chillun 'way offen no whey en eve'ybody hadder be mindful uv wha' +dey say 'fore dem chillun too. I 'member dat big ole joggling board dere +on de front piazza dat I use'er ge' de chillun to sleep on eve'y +evenin'. I be dere singin' one uv dem baby song to de child en it make +me hu't lak in me bosom to be wid my ole mammy back up dere in de +quarter. Coase I ain' le' nobody know dat. Dere ain' nobody ne'er been +no better den Miss Susan wuz to me. It jes lak dis, I wuz jes uh child +den en yah know it uh child happiness to be raise up wid dey mammy." + +"Den de colored peoples lib mighty peaceful lak dere in de quarter cause +dey ne'er hadder worry 'bout how nuthin come. My Massa see dat dey hab +decent libin' aw de time en 'bundance uv eve't'ing dey need. Hadder keep +'round 'bout dey premises clean up eve'whey. I tellin' yuh, child, my +white folks wuz 'ticular uv dey colored peoples when dey wuz sick. Dey +hab big ole me'icine book dat dey take down when one uv dem ge' sick en +see could dey find wha' wuz good fa dey ailment. Den Miss Susan'ud send +in de woods en ge' wha' it say mix up fa de remedy en make de me'icine +right dere to de big house. Miss Susan'ud al'ays doctor de plantation +peoples en carry em nice basket uv t'ing eve'y time dey wuz sick. Effen +Miss Susan t'ink dey hab mucha co'plaint, den dey'ud send fa de +plantation doctor 'bout dere. Annuder t'ing dey ne'er didn't 'low de +colored girls to work none tall 'fore dey wuz shape lak uh 'oman cause +dey 'fraid dat might strain dey ne'ves." + +"Aw de colored peoples wha' ne'er hab no work to do 'bout de big house +wuz field hand en dey hadder ge' up at de fust crow uv de cock in de +morning en go up to de big house en see wha' dey wan' em to do dat day. +Coase dey eat dey break'ast 'fore dey leab de quarter. Effen de sun look +lak it wuz gwinna shine, de o'erseer'ud send em in de field to work en +dey'ud stay in de field aw day till sun up in de evenin'. Carry dey +basket uv victual en pot 'long wid em en cook right dere in de field. +Jes put dey peas en bacon in de pot en build up big fire 'bout it close +whey dey wuz workin' cause eve'y now en den dey hadder push de fire to +de pot. Den some uv de day dey'ud go in de tatoe patch en dig tatoe en +roast em in de coals. Effen it wuz uh rainy day, dey ne'er go in de +field. Shuck corn dat day. Dat wuz how dey done." + +"Aw dem wha' work right dere to de big house al'ays wuz fed from Miss +Susan table to de kitchen. Dere wuz Gran'mudder Phoebe who hadder look +a'ter eve't'ing 'bout Miss Susan dairy. De plantation peoples'ud bring +dey gourd eve'y morning en leab it dere to de dairy fa Gran'mudder +Phoebe to hab fill wid clabber fa em to carry home in de evenin'. Den +when Gran'mudder Phoebe wuz finish wid aw de churning, she use'er pour +wha' clabber wuz left o'er in uh big ole wooden tray under uh tree dere +close to de dairy en call aw dem little plantation chillun dere whey she +wuz. She gi'e eve'yone uv em uh iron spoon en le' em eat jes uz mucha +dat clabber uz dey c'n hold. A'ter dat she clean up eve'yt'ing 'bout de +dairy en den she go to de big house en ge' her dinner. Gran'mudder +Phoebe say she could set down en eat wid sati'faction den cause she know +she wuz t'rough wid wha' been her portion uv work dat day." + +"Den dere wuz Patience wha' work to de loom house. She help do aw de +weaving fa de plantation. Weave aw t'rough de winter en aw t'rough de +summer. She make aw kinder uv pretty streak in de cloth outer de yarn +dat dey dye right dere on de plantation wid t'ing dat dey ge' outer de +woods lak walnut wha' make brown, en cedar en sweet gum wha' make +purple. Den dey make de blue cloth outer dat t'ing dat dey raise right +dere on de plantation call indigo. Dere some uv dat indigo dat does grow +up dere on de Sand Hills dis day en time but ain' nobody ne'er worry +'bout it no more." + +"Jes uh little way from de loom house wuz de shoe house whey Uncle +Lon'on hadder make shoe aw de day. I 'member dey is make aw de +plantation shoe dere. Make em outer cow hide wha' dey hadder tan fust. +Jes put de cow hide in uh trough en kiver it aw o'er wid oak en water en +le' it soak till de hair come offen it. Den dey take it outer dat en +beat it 'cross uh log hard uz dey c'n till dey ge' it right soft lak. +A'ter dat ley out de shoe lak dey wan' it en sew it up wid dem long hair +wha' dey ge' outer de hosses neck. Dat jes de way dey make aw we shoe +den." + +"Minus en Chrissus Gause hab job dere to de gin house. Dey'ud jes put de +cotton in dat gin en de seed go one way en de lent go de udder way. +Minus hadder feed de gin en dem udder helper hadder hand de cotton. Den +Bacchus hadder work de screw dat press de bale togedder. Yunnah chillun +ain' ne'er see nuthin lak dat dese days. Dem hosses pull dat t'ing round +en round en dat screw ge' tighter en tighter. Turn out pretty uh bale uv +cotton us yunnah e'er hear 'bout in no time tall. My Lawd, I 'member dey +is hab bale uv cotton pile up aw 'bout dat gin house." + +"En dey is hab dey own blacksmith shop dere on de place down to de place +call de big water. Aw dem peoples from plantation aw 'bout come dere fa +Fortune to mend dey plow en t'ing lak dat." + +"Yas'um, plantation peoples hadder go dere to de Ole Neck Chu'ch eve'y +Sunday. I hear em say dat wuz uh Methodist Chu'ch. Aw dem well to do +folks hab dey own pew up dere in de front uv de chu'ch wha dey set on +eve'y Sunday. Dey seat wuz painted pretty lak uh bedstead en den de poor +peoples set in de middle uv de chu'ch in de yellow kind uv seat. Aw de +colored peoples hadder set in de blue seat in de back uv de chu'ch. +Peoples ne'er rank togedder den lak yah see de peoples rank togedder +dese days. Miss Susan Stevenson en Miss Harriett Woodberry en Miss +Maggie McWhite wuz de ones wha' pull togedder den. Know dey chillun time +dey hit dat chu'ch door. C'n tell em by dey skin. My blessed, chillun, +dere wuz sech uh diffe'ence." + +"Dat Ole Neck Chu'ch de same chu'ch wha' yunnah see stand two mile up +dat road. Dem peoples oughtna hadder move dat chu'ch neither cause it +been dere long time 'fore dey come heah. Ain' been right to do dat. Dem +wha' put dat chu'ch dere bury right dere in dat cemetery right 'bout +whey dey chu'ch wuz en dem udder peoples ain' hab no right to take dey +chu'ch 'way a'ter dey been gone." + +"De peoples ne'er hab no cars lak dese peoples hab 'bout heah now. My +white folks hab carriage en two big ole white hosses wha' to ride to +se'vice en whey dey wanna go den. Coase dey ne'er go aw de time lak dese +peoples does dis day en time. Lawd, dem hosses could pull dat carriage +too. Dey wuz name Selam en Prince. My Massa en Missus hab seat in de +back uv de carriage en I hadder set up dere 'tween dem en de driver en +nu'se dem chillun. Isaac wuz Miss Susan driver en he hab seat aw uv he +own on de front whey he could mind de hosses. My Lawd, I 'member how I +did use'er lub to set up dere in Miss Susan carriage." + +"Dese peoples dese days don' know nuthin 'bout dem times den. I 'member +how dey use'er sell de colored peoples offen to annuder plantation some +uv de time. Man come dere to buy my Gran'mudder a'ter Massa Ben Gause +die en tell her to open she mouth so he c'n 'xamine her teeth. Say she +say, 'I won' do it.' Wanna know effen dey wuz sound 'fore he buy her. +Dat de way dey do when dey sell hosses." + +"I 'member when dem Yankees come 'bout dere too. Hear Massa Jim +Stevenson say dey mus' herry en hide dey va'uables cause de Yankees wuz +comin' t'rough dere en sweep em out. Dey bury dey silver en dey gold +watch in de graveyard up in de Beech Field. (De Beech Field wuz de place +whey de Indian use'er camp long time ago cause de peoples use'er find aw +kinder bead en arrow head wha' dey left dere.) Den Miss Susan put trunk +full uv her nice t'ing to de colored peoples house. Ain' been 'fraid de +Yankees bother em dere. Didn't no Yankees come no whey 'bout dere till +a'ter freedom 'clare en den two uv em come dere en stay right dere to de +big house. Dey come to 'vide outer de corn. Hab pile uv corn sot aw +'bout de born (barn) dere wid name uv de colored peoples stick 'bout in +eve'y pile." + +"Yas'um, I 'member dat aw right. Marry in March dere to my pa house. Us +ne'er left Massa Jim Stevenson plantation a'ter freedom 'clare. Ne'er +wanna hunt no better libin' den we hab dere. My Lawd, dere sho' wuz big +doing 'bout dere when I go' hitch up to Joe Woodberry. Pa kill uh shoat +en dey bake cake en hab aw kinder ration cook up. I hab pretty dress +make outer white swiss muslin wha' I marry in en aw dem peoples wuz +dress up dat evenin'. Dat wuz pretty uh sight uz dere e'er wuz when dey +ge' to blowing dat cane en knockin' dem stick en dey aw wuz uh jiggin' +'bout." + +"Chillun, seem lak aw de good time gone from heah now. Peoples sho' +gotta scuffle fa wha' dey hab dis day en time en den effen dey ge' it, +dere ain' no sati'faction no whey 'bout it. T'ing ain' gwinna do nobody +no good effen dey gotta worry dey head so mucha 'bout whey de next +comin' from." + +"Good day, honey. Come back 'g'in. Yunnah white en I black, but I lub +yuh." + + + _Source_: MOM GENIA WOODBERRY (Eugenia Woodeberry), age + 89, colored, Britton's Neck, S.C. (Personal interview, + June 1937) + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, November 23, 1937= + +=JULIA WOODBERRY= + +=Ex-Slave, Age ____= + + +"Come in, child. Dis ain' nobody talkin to you from behind dat door, but +Julia Woodberry. De door unlatch, just turn de handle en come right in +here whe' you can warm yourself by de stove. I tell my daughter for her +to take de sick child en walk over dere en make Aun' Liney a visit, +while I wipe round bout dis stove a little speck. Cose I ain' able to +scour none much, but seems like dis old stove does keep everything so +nasty up dat I can' let things bout it get too worser. No, child, I tell +dese chillun I done seen most all my scourin days, but I think bout I +would do this little job for Alexa dis mornin en let her put her mind to +dat child. I say, if I able, I loves to wipe up cause it such a +satisfaction. It just like dis, dere ain' nothin gwine shine dat floor +en make it smell like I want it to, but soap en water. I don' like dese +old stoves nohow. I ain' been raise to dem cause when I come up, de +olden people didn' think nothin bout puttin no stoves to dey fireplaces. +Oh, dey would have dese big old open fireplaces en would have de +grandest kind of fires. My Lord, child, dere wouldn' never be no +nastiness bout dey fireplace cause de people never didn' burn no coal in +dem days. Slavery people been burn dese great big oak logs en dey would +make de finest kind of fires, I say. Yes, mam, I been raise up de +slavery way en dat how-come I don' want to be noways departin from it." + +"Oh, dat was my granddaughter dat had de straw fever. Yes, mam, look +like she mendin right smart since she been settin up. De straw fever, +dat what I calls it, but I hear people say it de hay fever. De doctor, +he just say it de fever, but from de way he give de pills, it point to +de straw fever. Cose dat what we termed it, but like I tell you, some +calls it de hay fever. I ain' never hear talk of dat kind of fever till +dese late years. Yes, mam, she had a little cold en cough some, but not +much. You see, when she first took down, she took wid a blindness en a +pain in de stomach at de school en couldn' say nothin. De doctor say de +fever was bout broke on her den. You see, she had de pain en, I say, dat +a sign de misery broke on her. But dat child, she lay dere on dat bed +three weeks en she been mighty weak, mighty weak from de fever. No, mam, +she ain' have de fever all de time, but dere would come a slow fever dat +would rise on her every night en eat up what strength she had caught +durin de day. Cose she ain' never been hearty cause she been havin dis +fever long bout two years. No, mam, she been test for de T.B.'s in de +school dis last year en dey say dat she never had none of dat. Alexa +say she gwine let her get dem shots in time next year. All de school +chillun took dem last year. Dey tell me dat be to keep diseases down in +school. Cose I don' know nothin bout it cause I been raise de slavery +way en dat won' de talk den. + +"My mother, she was a freeborn woman. She come from off de sea beach in +our own country. Her people was dese Chee Indians en she didn' have no +ways like dese other people bout here. Now, I talkin out of her. Ain' +talkin out of nobody else, but her. She told me she was born on de sea +beach en her parents was Chee Indians. Dat what she told us chillun. +Say, when dey stole her en her brother John, dey come dere in dese big +old covered wagons en dey stuffed dem way back up in dere en carried dem +off. Oh, she say, she was a big girl when dey run her down en caught +her. Like I tell you, I talkin out of her. Her en her brother John was +out playin one day, near their sea beach home, en first thing dey know, +dere come one of dem big old covered wagons dere. Say, dey never know +what to think till dey see dis white man gettin down off de wagon en +start makin for dem en dey get scared cause dey been learn white man +won' no friend. Say, dey broke en run, but de man come right after dem +en grabbed dem up wid his hands en stuffed dem way back up in de covered +wagon en drove off. She say, she was runnin hard as she could from de +man. I remember, I heard my mother speak bout dat she didn' reckon her +mother ever knew whe' dey went. She say, dey cried en cried, but dat +never do no good. No, mam, de lawyer Phillips stole her. He didn' buy +her cause she told me dey brought dem right on to his home en put dem +out dere. Her en her brother John were made house servants in de big +house en dey went from one to de other in de Phillips' family till after +freedom come here. Ma, she say dat she fared good en dey didn' ill treat +her no time, but wouldn' never allow dem to get out de family no more +durin slavery days. No, mam, she never didn' have no hard time comin up. +Cose she had to put de white people chillun to bed at night en den she +could go to parties cross Catfish much as she wanted to, but she would +have to be back in time to cook dat breakfast next mornin. You see, dey +was house servants en dey stayed right dere in de lawyer Phillips' house +all de time. Been raise right down dere in dat grove of cedars cross +from de jail." + +"Well, she didn' say bout dat. No, mam, she didn' have no word bout whe' +if she liked de white folks livin or no when she first come dere. You +know, when you in Rome, you has to do as Rome do. Reckon dat de way de +poor creature took it. No, child, she didn' tell us nothin bout her home +no more den dat she was born a Chee Indian. Yes, mam, my blessed old +mother told me dat a thousand times." + +"My God, my God, child, I couldn' never forget my old mother's face. She +bore a round countenance all de time wid dese high cheek bones en +straight hair. I talkin out of her now. Yes, mam, can see Ma face dere +fore my eyes right now. It de blessed truth, my old mother didn' have no +common ways bout her nowhe'. I don' know whe' it true or no, but de +people used to say I took after my mother. I recollects, when I would be +workin round de white folks, dey would ax me how-come I been have dem +kind of way bout me what was different from de other colored people. You +know, de Indians, dey got curious ways. My mother, she wouldn' never +take a thing from nobody en she was sharp to pick a fight. Yes, mam, she +was quick as dat. (Slaps her hands together.) Been fast gettin insulted. +Anybody make her mad, she would leave away from dem en dey wouldn' see +her no more in a month or two. Hear boss say dat she was quick +tempered." + +"Well, child, dat bout all I can know to speak bout dis mornin. You see, +some days I can get my 'membrance back better den I can on another day. +I say, I gwine get my mind fixed up wid a heap to tell you de next time +you come here en if you ain' come back, I gwine try en get round dere to +your house. God bless you, honey." + + + _Source_: Julia Woodberry, Ex-Slave, Age 70-80, Marion, S.C. + Personal interview by Annie R. Davis, Nov., 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, November 30, 1937= + +=JULIA WOODBERRY= + +=Ex-Slave, Age= ____ + + +"Oh, my God a mercy, child, dat been a time when dat shake come here. I +tell you, dat been somethin. I sho remember all bout dat cause I been a +grown woman de year dat earthquake come here. Yes, mam, I gwine tell it +to you just like I experience it. We had all just been get over wid us +supper en little things dat night en I had washed Auntie en Mr. Rowell's +feet for dem to lie down en dere come such a sketch of clouds from over +in dat direction dat I never know what to make of it. Auntie en Mr. +Rowell never know what to make of it neither. I remember, I run out to +help my sister dat been out to de paddlin block en, honey, you ain' +never live to see no black cloud like dat been. I washed a piece through +en den I left off en went back in de house en set down by de fire to dry +my feet. I set dere awhile en seems like somethin just speak right out +de fire, bout dat time, en tell me to move my feet dat I was in bad +shape. En, child, it de truth of mercy, dere come a big clog of dirt out +dat chimney en drap (drop) right down in de spot whe' my foot was. I run +to Auntie en Mr. Rowell to see could dey tell what dat was, but dey been +in just as much darkness as I been. I look up en seems like de loft had +lowered itself en could hear a roarin for miles en miles bout dere en +could hear de people hollerin every which a way. Yes, mam, could hear +dem hollerin miles en on top of miles bout dere. My God, dem people was +scared to lie down dat night en such a prayin en a shoutin as everybody +do dat night, I ain' never see de like fore den. Ain' see de like since +den neither. Next mornin, I go to work for de white folks en dey all go +off dat mornin en I tell you, I was scared bout to death in dat big +house by myself. I remember, I left out de house en been out in de +'tatoe patch grabblin 'tatoes right along en when I raise up, dat thing +was comin down dat 'tatoe row just a whirlin en a makin right for me. +Yes, mam, I been so scared. I ain' see whe' I is grow a bit since de +shake. I tell you, I thought it was de Jedgment. Den we hear dere was +gwine be another earthquake, but de people get on dey knees en dey stay +on dey knees en it never come here dat time. Dat one was in another +state, so dey tell me. I hear talk dat all de earth caved in en you +could see de people down dere, but couldn' nobody get dem. Some people +say dat been de devil do dat, but I tell dem de devil ain' had no such +power. De Lord been de power dat bring dat shake here, I say." + +"Oh, Lord, de people sho fared better in dat day en time den dey do dese +days. Cose dey didn' have a heap of different kind of trashy things like +dey have dese days, but dey had a plenty to eat en a plenty to wear all +de time en den everything was better in dem times, too. Now, I speak +bout what I know bout. De rations eat better en de cloth wear better, +too, in dem days den dey do now. You see, mostly, de people would make +dey own provisions at home. White folks would raise abundance of hogs en +cows to run all dey big plantation from one year to de other. Wouldn' +never clear out of meat no time cause de stock been let loose to run at +large in dem days. De most dat dey bought was dey sugar en dey coffee, +but dem what was industrious en smart, dey made most dey victuals at +home. Made dey own rice en winnowed it right dere home. Oh, dey had one +of dese pestle en mortar to beat it out. Yes, mam, de pestle been big at +one end an little at de other end. Den dey would raise turkeys en geese +en chickens en dere wasn' no end to de birds en squirrels en rabbits en +fish in dat day en time. Dat is, dem what cared for demselves, dey had +all dem things. Cose dere was some den like dere be now dat been too +lazy to work en dey hand was empty all de time. I remember, dem +poorbuckras would just go bout from one house to another en catch +somethin here, dere en yonder." + +"Den de people never wore none of dese kind of clothes like de people +wear dese days neither. When a person got a dress den, dey made it +demselves en dey made dey own underskirts den, too. You see, all dese +underskirts en bloomers like de people does buy dese days, dey didn' +have nothin like dat den. Used to put 10 yard in a dress en 10 yards in +a underskirt en would tuck dem clean up to dey waist. En, child, when +dey would iron dat dress, it would stand up in de floor just like dere +been somebody in it. When I say iron, I talkin bout de people would iron +den, too. Yes, mam, when I come along, de people been take time to iron +dey garments right. Oh, dey clothes would be just as slick as glass. +Won' a wrinkle nowhe' bout dem. Another thing, dey used to have dese +dove colored linen dusters dat dey would wear over dey dress when dey +would ride to church. Den when dey went in de church, dey would pull dem +off en put dem on again when dey started home. Dey was made sort of like +a coat suit, except dey was a little fuller en would come clean down to +de tail of de dress. You see, dey was meant to protect de dress while +dey was gwine along de road." + +"De world sho gwine worser dese days, honey. Oh, Lord, de people worser. +Yes, mam, dey worser, I say. Dey ain' got de mother wit. Dey weaker en +dey wiser, I say, but dey ain' got de mother wit. Can' set down en talk +to de people dese days en dey take dat what you got to say in like dey +used to. En de people don' take de time to teach de chillun to know +good things like dey used to en dat how-come dey have more time to get +in so much of devilment dese days. Yes, mam, de people used to have more +chillun en dey raised dem, too. Chillun know more den grown people do +dese days, I say. People used to know how to carry demselves en take +care of demselves more den dey do now. Seems like, de people more +rattlin en brazen den what dey used to be." + + + _Source_: Julia Woodberry, colored, Marion, S.C.--Age, 70-80. + Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Nov., 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, November 5, 1937= + +=JULIA WOODBERRY= + +=Ex-Slave, Age ____= + + +"Well, I can speak bout what I used to hear my auntie en my mammy en my +grandmammy talk bout what happen in dey day, but I never didn' live in +slavery time. My mammy, she been broke her leg long time fore freedom +come here en I remember she tell me often times, say, 'Julia, you didn' +lack much of comin here a slavery child.' Honey, I mean she been in de +family way right sharp fore freedom come here. + +"My mammy, she was raise right down dere to de other side de jail to de +'Cedars'. You know dere whe' all dem cedars round dat house what bout to +fall down. She belong to de lawyer Phillips dere en he wouldn' never +allow her to get out de family. She had been a free woman fore he had +stole her off de sea beach to be his house woman. Yes, mam, stole my +mammy en uncle John, too, off de sea beach, but uncle John went back +after freedom come here. My mammy, she been raise from just a child to +be de house woman dere to de lawyer Phillips en she never didn' know +nothin bout choppin cotton till her last baby been bout knee high. + +"I remember how my mammy used to tell me bout dat de colored people won' +allowed to go from one plantation to another widout dey had a 'mit +(permit) from dey Massa. Yes, mam, all de niggers had to have dat strip +somewhat bout dem to keep from gettin a beatin. Couldn' leave dey home +widout showin dat 'mit from dey Massa. You see, de nigger men would +want to go to see dey wives en dey would have to get a 'mit from dey +Massa to visit dem. Cose dey wouldn' live together cause dey wives would +be here, dere en yonder. It been like dis, sometimes de white folks +would sell de wife of one of dey niggers way from dey husband en den +another time, dey would sell de husband way from dey wife. Yes, mam, +white folks had dese guard, call patroller, all bout de country to catch +en whip dem niggers dat been prowl bout widout dat strip from dey Massa. +I remember I hear talk dey say, 'Patroller, Patroller, let nigger pass.' +Dey would say dat if de nigger had de strip wid dem en if dey didn' have +it, dey say, 'Patroller, Patroller, cut nigger slash.'" + +"Child, I tell you dat been a day to speak bout. When I come along, de +women never vote, white nor colored, en it been years since I see a +colored person vote, but I remember dey been gwine to vote in dat day en +time just like dey was gwine to a show. Oh, honey, de road would be full +of dem. Dey had to vote. Remember, way back dere, everybody would be +singin en a dancin when dey had de election: + + 'Hancock ride de big gray horse, + Hampton ride de mule, + Hancocks got elected, + Buckras all turn fool. + Buggety, buggety, buggety etc.'" + +"White en black was all in a row dere dancin all night long. Ain' made +no exception." + +"I hear talk dat when freedom come here, de niggers was just turn loose +to make dey livin de best way dey could. Say dat some of de white folks +give dey niggers somethin to go on en some of dem didn' spare dem +nothin. Dey tell me old Sherman didn' come through dis section of de +country, but he sent somebody to divide out de things like so much corn +en so much meat to de colored people. Now, I talkin bout dat what I hear +de old people say. Put everything in Ben Thompson hand to deal out de +colored people share to dem. Yes, mam, he was de one had de chair. Talk +bout Sherman give Ben Thompson de chair, sayin what I hear de old people +say. I don' know exactly how it was, it been so long since de old people +talk wid me. Dat it, it been so long till God knows, I forgot." + +"Well, I used to know a heap of dem songs dat I hear my auntie en my +grandmammy sing dere home when I was comin up. Let me see, child, dey +was natural born song too. + + 'I got somethin to tell you, + Bow-hoo, oo-hoo, oo-hoo. + I got somethin to tell you, + Bow-hoo, oo-hoo, oo-hoo. + In a bow-hoo, oo-oo-hoo. + + Way cross de ocean, + 'Mongst all dem nation, + Massa Jesus promise me, + He gwine come by en by, + He gwine come by en by. + + Dere many miles round me, + De curried be so bold, + To think dat her son, Jesus, + Could write widout a pen, + Could write widout a pen. + + De very next blessin dat Mary had, + She had de blessin of two, + To think dat her son, Jesus, + Could bring de crooked to straight, + Could bring de crooked to straight.'" + +"Dat was my auntie's grandmother Eve piece way back yonder in slavery +time. Dat was her piece." + +"It just like I tellin you, dat been a day to speak bout. I remember +when dey used to spin en weave all de cloth right dere home. Yes, mam, I +wore many a wove dress to church. Dey would get dis here indigo en all +kind of old bark out de woods en boil it in de pot wid de yarn en make +de prettiest kind of colors. Den dey would take dat colored yarn en +weave all kind of pretty streaks in de cloth. Dey would know just as +good how many yards of dat thread it would take to make so much of +cloth." + +"Yes, mam, I know dere been better livin long time ago den dere be now. +Know it cause I didn' never have no worryations no time when I was comin +up. My God, child, I couldn' make a support today if I know my neck had +to be hung on de gallows. No, mam, dis here a sin cussed world de people +livin in dis day en time." + + + _Source_: Julia Woodberry, colored, Marion, S.C. + Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, October-November, 1937. + + + + + =Code No.= + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, November 16, 1937= + +=JULIA WOODBERRY= + +=Ex-Slave, Age ____= + + +"No, mam, I ain' thought bout nothin no more to tell you. Death been in +de family en seems like I just been so worried up wid my daughter sick +in de house dere wid de straw fever. De doctor, he say it de fever en +dat all we know, but it acts like de straw fever all up en down. I tell +dem chillun dere de other night dat I would have to go back en get my +mind fixed up wid somethin to speak bout fore you come here another +time. Yes, mam, have to get my mind together somewhe' or another." + +"I been born down dere in Britton's Neck, but most my days was lived up +to Mr. Jim Brown's place to Centenary. My father, he was name Friday +Woodberry en my mother, she come from off de sea beach in slavery time, +so she told me. Say dat her old Massa stole her en her brother John, +too, from off de sea beach. When freedom come here, her brother John +went back to de sea beach, but my mother say dat she won' in no shape to +go back. She went from family to family till after freedom was declared +en her white folks wouldn' never have her ill-treated neither en wouldn' +never let nobody else have her no time. When she was let loose from de +white people, she went to Britton's Neck wid a colored woman. You see, +she was a stranger to de country bout dere fore freedom come en she +been know dat woman en dat how-come she went wid her. I mean she didn' +know de people bout dere cause de white folks didn' allow dey colored +people to go bout much in slavery time. Couldn' go nowhe' widout dey had +a ticket wid dem. She stayed dere in Britton's Neck till Pa died en den +she come back up here to Marion to live, but her white people was +scattered all bout den." + +"No, mam, I ain' never marry cause you had to court on de sly in dat day +en time. I tell you, I come through de devil day when I come along. I +was learned to work by de old, old slavery way en, honey, I say dat I +just as soon been come through slavery day as to come under a tight +taskmassa dat was colored. Yes, mam, if I never did a thing right, my +dress was over my head en I was whipped right dere. I was engaged by +letter, but dey kept me under dey foot so close till I never didn' slip +de hay. I remember, I was stayin dere wid Mary Jane Rowell en she kept +me cowed down so worser, I never couldn' do nothin." + +"I tell you, I been a grown girl dere when I leave Mary Jane Rowell's +house en go to cookin en a washin for Miss (Mrs.) Louise Brown. Yes, +child, I love Miss Louise Brown to dis very day cause she been just like +a mother to me. Yes, mam, Miss Brown was just as good to me as she could +be. Mr. Jim Brown, he give me a house dere on his plantation to live in +just to do de house work to de big house, but seems like de other +colored people on de plantation would be tryin to down me most all de +time cause I was workin ahead of dem. I know I would go dere to work +many a mornin cryin, from what dem niggers been mouthin bout me, en Miss +Brown would cry right along wid me. I tell you, Miss Brown was a tender +hearted woman, so to speak bout. I tell Miss Brown, 'Carolina say I +stole a towel off de line.' En Miss Brown say, 'Julia, if dere a towel +gone off dat line, I know whe' it gone.' No, child, I ain' never think +bout to lay no shame on dese hands. White folks been used to leave money +all bout whe' I bresh (brush) en dust en I ain' never had no mind to +touch it no time. Yes, mam, I been through a day since I come here. +Erelong I move out Mary Jane Rowell's house, I been in white people +house. If it ain' one class, it another. De very day dat Dr. Dibble been +pronounce me to de hospital, dey come after me to wait on a woman. Yes, +mam, Julia Woodberry ain' beat de state no time. Oh, I tell you, it de +God truth, I has done every kind of work in my life. Me en my three +chillun dere run a farm just like a man. Why, honey, you ain' know I had +three girls? Yes, mam, dem chillun been born en bred right dere in de +country to Centenary." + +"I hear people talkin bout dat thing call conjurin, but I don' know what +to say dat is. It somethin I don' believe in. Don' never take up no +time wid dat cause it de devil's work. Dat de olden talk en I don' think +nothin bout dat. Don' want nobody round me dat believes in it neither. +Don' believe in it. Don' believe in it cause dat en God spirit don' go +together. I hear talk dat been belong to de devil, but I was so small, I +couldn' realize much what to think cause dat what you hear in dem days, +you better been hear passin. No, mam, dey knock chillun down in dat day +en time dat dey see standin up lookin in dey eyes to hear. I has heard +people say dat dey could see spirits, but I don' put no mind to dat no +time. I believe dat just a imagination cause when God get ready to take +you out dis world, you is gone en you gone forever, I say. Don' believe +in no hereafter neither cause dey say I been born wid veil over my face +en if anybody could see spirits, I ought to could. I know I has stayed +in houses dat people say was hanted plenty times en I got to see my +first hant yet. Yes, mam, I do believe in de Bible. If I hadn' believed +in de Bible, I wouldn' been saved. Dere obliged to be a hereafter +accordin to de Bible. Dere obliged to be a hereafter, I say. I can' +read, but I talkin what I hear de people say. Dat a infidel what don' +believe dere a hereafter." + +"How-come I know all dat, I was raise up wid de old people. Come along +right behind de old race en I would be dere listenin widout no ears en +seein widout no eyes. Yes, mam, I took what I hear in, lady, en I ain' +been just now come here. I been here a time. Dat de reason I done wid de +world. God knows I is done. I is done. I recollects, way back yonder, Pa +would sing: + + 'Dey ain' had no eyes for to see, + Dey ain' had no teeth for to eat, + En dey had to let de corncake go, + Gwine whe' all de good niggers go.'" + +"Dat was my father's piece dat he used to sing in slavery time. Dat +right cause I can remember back more so den I can forward." + + + _Source_: Julia Woodberry, colored, age--about 70 to 75., + Marion, S.C. + Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Nov., 1937. + + + + + =Project 1885 -1-= + =District #4= + =Spartanburg, S.C.= + =June 1, 1937= + + =Edited by:= + =E. Fronde Kennedy= + +=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES= + + +While looking for an ex-slave in a certain part of Spartanburg this +morning, I was directed across the street to "an old man who lives +there". I knocked at the door but received no answer. Then I noticed an +old man walking around by the side of the house. He was tall and +straight, standing about 6 feet 2 inches. He said that his name was +George Wood and that he was 78 years of age. + +He stated that he was born during slavery, and lived on Peter Sepah's +place in York County. Peter Sepah's farm, where he was born, was near +the North Carolina line; it consisted of approximately 200 acres. His +parents were named Dan and Sarah Wood. His mother was given to old man +Sepah by his father as a wedding present, and his grandfather had been +given to an older Sepah by his parent as a wedding present. He said it +was the custom in slavery times that a slave be given to the son or +daughter by the white people when they got married. + +He was too young to work, but about the time the war was over, he was +allowed to drive the horses that pulled the thrasher of wheat. His +master used to walk around and around while the wheat was being +thrashed, and see that everybody was doing their work all right. His +father lived on another plantation. There was only one family of slaves +on the whole plantation. He, his mother, and five children lived in a +one-room log cabin about 30 or 40 feet from the "big house". Their beds +consisted of straw mattresses. They had plenty to eat, having the same +food that the white folks did. They ate ash cakes mostly for bread, but +once a week they had biscuits to eat. When the wheat was thrashed, they +had biscuits mostly for breakfast; but as the wheat got scarcer they did +not have much wheat to eat. He said that Buffalo Creek flowed pretty +close to their place and that the creek emptied into Broad River. +Shelby, N.C., their market, was about ten miles distant. He thinks that +it was easier then than now to get something to eat. + +The log cabin where he and his mother lived was kept comfortably warm in +the winter time. All they had to do, was to go to the wood-pile and get +all the wood they needed for the fire. His mother worked on the farm, +washed clothes and helped with the cooking at his master's house. The +slaves stopped work every Saturday afternoon about three o'clock; then +his mistress would have his mother to patch their clothes, as she did +not like to see their clothes needing patching. "We used to have lots of +fun," he said, "more than the children do now. As children, we used to +play marbles around the house; but no other special game." + +Uncle George said that the patrollers saw that the colored people were +in their houses at 8 o'clock every night. "They would come to the house +and look in; of course, if a man had a pass to another plantation or +some place, that was all right; or if he had some business somewhere. +But everybody had to be in the house by 8 o'clock." He also stated that +if a slave strayed off the plantation and didn't have a pass, if he +could out-run the "pateroller" and get back upon his own place, then he +was all right. The only slave he ever saw get a whipping, was one who +had stayed out after hours; then a switch was used on him by a +"pateroller". He said he never saw any slaves in chains or treated +badly, for his master was a good man, and so was his "Missus". One day +his mother went to a church that was not her own church. On coming back, +she saw a "pateroller" coming behind her. She began to run, and he did +too; but as he caught up with her, she stepped over a fence on her +master's place and dared the "pateroller" to do anything to her. He +didn't do a thing and would not get over the fence where she was, as he +would have been on somebody's place besides his own. + +He said that when the corn-shucking time came, both whites and blacks +would gather at a certain plantation. Everybody shucked corn, and they +all had a good time. When the last ear of corn was shucked, the owner of +the plantation would begin to run from the place and all would run after +him. When they caught him, he was placed on the shoulders of two men and +carried around and around the house, all singing and laughing and having +a good time. Then they would carry the man into his house, pull off his +hat and throw it into the fire; place him in a chair; comb his head; +cross his knees for him and leave him alone. They would not let him +raise a second crop under his old hat--he had to have a new hat for a +new crop. Then they would all, colored and white, gather to eat. The +owner of the farm would furnish plenty to eat; sometimes he would have +some whiskey to drink, but not often, "as that was a dangerous thing to +have". + +He said that if a man who was chewing or smoking met a woman, he would +throw his tobacco away before talking with the woman. + +There was plenty of fruit in those days, so brandy was made and put into +barrels in the smoke-house; and the same way they had plenty of corn, +and would put up a still and put the whiskey they made into barrels. + +People in those days, he said, had "manners". The white and colored +folks would have their separate sections in the church where they sat. +"I've seen a white man make another white man get up in church and give +his place to a colored man when the church was crowded." He said his +father was baptized by Rev. Dixon, father of Tom Dixon, who was a +Baptist preacher. His mother was sprinkled by a Methodist white +preacher, but he was baptized by a colored preacher. + +Asked about marriages among the slaves, he said the ceremony was +performed by some "jack-legged" colored preacher who pronounced a few +words and said they were man and wife. + +He said the colored people did not know much about Jeff Davis or Abraham +Lincoln except what they heard about them. All that he remembered was a +song that his Missus used to sing: + + "Jeff Davis rides a big gray horse, + Lincoln rides a mule; + Jeff Davis is a fine old man, + And Lincoln is a fool." + +Another song was: + + "I'll lay $10 down and number them one by one, + As sure as we do fight 'em, + The Yankees will run." + +One day his "Missus" came to their house and told his mother they were +free and could go anywhere they wanted to, but she hoped they would +stay on that year and help them make a crop. He said his mother just +folded her hands and put her head down and "studied". She decided to +stay on that year. The next year, they moved to another plantation, +where they stayed for twenty years. + +"Before they were free, every colored man took the name of his master, +but afterwards, I took my father's name." + +He said that the Yankee soldiers did not come to their place, but they +were ready for them if they had come. The silver was buried out in the +lot, and stable manure was piled and thrown all about the spot. The two +good horses were taken off and hidden, but the old horse his master +owned was left. He said that sometimes a Confederate soldier would come +by riding an old horse, and would want to trade horses with his master. +Sometimes his master would trade, for he thought his horse would be +taken anyway. His master would never get anything "to boot", as the +soldier didn't have the "to boot" when the trade was made. So the +soldier would ride off the horse, leaving the poor, broken-down one +behind. Sometimes after the war, the Confederate soldiers would come by +the house, sick, wounded and almost starved; but his mistress would fix +something to eat for them; then they would go on. + +"'Possum and 'taters were plentiful then. When a slave wanted to go +hunting, he could go; but we had to work then--nobody works now." He +said that on rainy days, his mother did not have to go to the field, but +stayed at home and sewed or carded. He said that after freedom came to +the slaves, he worked on a farm for $5.00 a month. After he had been on +the farm for many years, he heard that Spartanburg was on a boom, so he +came here and worked at railroading for many more years. He has quit +work now; but still does a little gardening for some white folks. He +said that the white people in the South understand the colored people. + +When asked if he had ever seen a ghost, he replied that he had never +seen one and had never seen a person who had. "I don't believe in those +things anyhow," he said. He also stated he had never heard of anybody +being "conjured" either. He said that all the niggers in his section +were scared of the niggers from way down in South Carolina, for their +reputation as conjurers was against them, so they always fought shy of +them and didn't have anything to do with the "niggers from way down in +South Carolina". + + + SOURCE: George Woods, 337 N. View St., Spartanburg, S.C. + Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S.C. + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=ALECK WOODWARD,= + +=_EX-SLAVE--83 YEARS._= + + +"You knows de Simonton place, Mr. Wood? Well, dats just where I was born +back yonder befo' de war, a slave of old Marster Johnnie Simonton. Five +miles sorter south sunset side of Woodward Station where you was born, +ain't it so? My pappy was Ike Woodward, but him just call 'Ike' time of +slavery, and my mammy was name Dinah. My brother Charlie up north, if he +ain't dead, Ike lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Two sisters: Ollie, +her marry an Aiken, last counts, and she and her family in Charlotte, +North Carolina; sister Mattie marry a Wilson nigger, but I don't know +where they is. + +"Us lived in a four-room log house, 'bout sixteen all told. Dere was +pappy and mammy (now you count them) gran'pappy, Henry Davis, Gran'mammy +Kisana, Aunt Anna, and her seven chillun, and me, and my two brothers +and two sisters. How many make dat? Seventeen? Well, dat's de number +piled in dere at night in de beds and on de floors. They was scandlous +beds; my God, just think of my grands, old as I is now, tryin' to sleep +on them hard beds and other folks piled 'scriminately all over de log +floors! My Gran'pappy Henry was de carpenter, and old marster tell him +'if you make your beds hard, Henry, 'member you folks got to sleep on +them.' + +"I was just a little black feller, running 'round most of de time in my +shirt tail, but I recollect pickin' cotton, and piddling 'round de +woodpile, fetchin' in wood for white house and chips and kindling to +fresh up de fires. Us had plenty to eat, 'cause us killed thirty-five +hogs at a time, and de sausages and lights us did was a sight. Then de +lard us made, and de cracklin' bread, why, I hungers for de sight of +them things right now. Us niggers didn't get white flour bread, but de +cracklin' bread was called on our place, 'de sweet savor of life.' + +"Money? Us had eyes to see and ears to hear, but us just hear 'bout it, +never even seen money. + +"My marster had a fish pond, signs of it dere yet. + +"My white folks attended church at Concord Presbyterian Church. Us went +dere too, and us set up in de gallery. Yes, they asked us. De preacher +asked us to jine in some of de hymns, especially 'De Dyin' Thief' and +'De Fountain Filled Wid Blood,' and dat one 'bout 'Mazing Grace How +Sweet de Sound Dat Save a Wretch Like us.' + +"Our young Marster Charlie went off to de war, got killed at Second Bull +Run. Marster Watt went and got a leg shot off somewheres. Marster Jim +went and got killed, Johnnie too, Marster Robert was not old enough to +carry a gun. + +"De young mistresses was Mary and Martha. Marster John, old mistress and +all of them mighty good to us, especially when Christmas come and then +at times of sickness. They send for de doctor and set up wid you, such +tendin' to make you love them. When de Yanks come us all plead for +Marster John and family, and de house not to be burnt. De house big, had +ten rooms, big plantation, run fifteen plows. + +"You ask 'bout was dere any poor white folks 'round? Not many, but I +'members old Miss Sallie Carlisle weaved and teached de slaves how it +was done. Marster give her a house to live in, and a garden spot on de +place, good woman. She show me how to spin and make ball thread, little +as I was. Marster John had over fifty slaves, and they worked hard, sun +up to sun down. It's a wonder but I never got a whippin'. + +"Did I ever see a ghost? Mr. Wood, I seen sumpin' once mighty strange, I +was gwine to see a gal Nannie, on de widow Mobley place, and had to pass +'tween two graveyards, de white and de colored. She was de daughter of +Rev. Richard Cook. When I was just 'bout de end of de white graveyard, I +saw two spirits dressed in white. I run all de way to de gal's house and +sob when I got dere. I laid my head in her lap and told her 'bout de +spirits and how they scared me. I still weepin' wid fear, and she +console me, rub my forehead and soothed me. When I got quiet, I asked +her some day to be my wife, and dat's de gal dat come to be years after, +my wife. Us walk to church hand and hand ever afterwards, and one day +Preacher Morris, white man, made us husband and wife. I 'members de song +de white folks sung dat day. 'Hark from de tomb a doleful sound'. Don't +you think dat a wrong song to sing on a weddin' day? 'Joy to de World,' +was in our heart and dat tune would have been more 'propriate, seems to +me. + +"Marster John give de slaves every other Saturday after dinner in busy +seasons, and every Saturday evening all other weeks. Us had two doctors, +Doctor Brice at first, and when he git old, us had Doctor Lurkin. + +"Was glad when marster called us up and told us we was free. De Yankees +made a camp on de Doctor Brice place, and foraged de country all 'round. +They made me run after chickens and I had to give up my onliest blue hen +dat I had. My pappy was took off by them to Raleigh, wid dat I 'member, +was de saddest day of slavery time. + +"Nannie and me, under de providence of de Lord Jehovah, has had three +chillun to live, and they have chillun too. I owns my own home and land +enough to live on, though it is hard to make both ends meet some years. + +"How I got my name, you ask dat? Well, after freedom us niggers had to +come to Winnsboro and register. Us talk 'bout it by de fireside what us +would lak. When us come, Marster Henry Gaillard had a big crowd of +Gaillard niggers 'bout him beggin' for names. One of them say, 'Marster +Henry, I don't want no little name, I wants big soundin' name.' Marster +Henry write on de paper, then he read: 'Your name is Mendozah J. +Fernandez, hope dats big enough for you.' De little nigger dwarf seem +powerful pleased and stepped to de register. De rest of us spoke to +Captain Gaillard and he said no better name than Woodward, so us took +dat name. Its been a kind of a 'tection to us at times, and none of our +immediate family has ever dragged it in a jail or chaingang, Bless God! +and I hope us never will." + + + + + =Project #1655= + =W.W. Dixon= + =Winnsboro, S.C.= + +=MARY WOODWARD= + +=_EX-SLAVE 83 YEARS OLD._= + + +"I knows you since you 'bout dis high (indicating). When was it? Where I +see you? I see you at your auntie's house. Dat was your auntie, Miss +Roxie Mobley, other side of Blackstock. You was in a little dress dat +day, look lak a gal. Oh! Lordy, dat been a long time! What us has come +thru since dat day and de days befo' dat, beyond freedom. + +"I was born a slave of old Marster Adam Berber, near de Catawba River +side de county, in 1854. I's a mighty small gal but I 'members when +pappy got his leg broke at de gin-house dat day, in de Christmas week. +Seem lak dat was de best Christmas I ever had. White folks comin' and a +gwine, loadin' de bed down wid presents for pappy and mammy and me. + +"What my pappy name? He was name Joe and mammy go by Millie. Both b'long +to Marster Adam and Miss Nellie. Dat was her name and a lovely mistress +she be in dat part of de country. Her was sure pretty, walk pretty, and +act pretty. 'Bout all I had to do in slavery time was to comb her hair, +lace her corset, pull de hem over her hoop and say, 'You is served, +mistress!' Her lak them little words at de last. + +"They have no chillun and dat was a grief to her more than to Marster +Adam. Him comfort her many times 'bout it and 'low it was his fault. +Then they 'spute 'bout it. Dats all de rumpus ever was 'twixt them. I +'spects if they had had chillun they wouldn't have been so good to me. +What you reckon? They give me dolls and laugh at de way I name them, +talk to them and dress them up. + +"When de Yankees come, I was a settin' in de swing in de front yard. +They ride right up and say: 'Where your mistress?' I say: 'I don't +know.' They say: 'You is lyin'. Give her a few lashes and us'll find +out.' Another say: 'No, us come to free niggers, not to whip them.' Then +they ask me for to tell them where de best things was hid. I say: 'I +don't know sir.' Then they ransack de house, bust open de smoke house, +take de meat, hams, shoulders, 'lasses barrel, sugar, and meal, put them +in a four-horse wagon, set de house, gin-house and barn afire and go on +toward Rocky Mount. Our neighbors then, was Marster Aaron Powell and +Sikes Gladden, on Dutchman Creek. + +"After freedom I marry Alf Woodward. Us had chillun. How many? Let me +see; Eli still alive, don't know where he is though. Rosa dead; Susannah +live now on Miss Sara Lord's place, up dere near Metford. De rest of de +chillun went off to Arkansas 'bout 1885, and us never heard from them. + +"I forgot to tell you dat when de Yankees come and find me a settin' in +dat swing, I had on a string of beads dat Miss Nellie give to me. Them +rascals took my beads off my neck, and what you reckon they did wid +them? Well, if you doesn't know, I does. De scamps, dat is one of them +did, took my lovely beads and put them 'round his horse's neck and ride +off wid them, leavin' me sobbin' my life out in dat swing. They say you +must love your enemies and pray for them dat spitefully use you but I +never have pray for dat Yankee scamp to dis day. Although I's Scotch +Irish African 'Sociate Reform Presbyterian, de spirit have never moved +me to pray for de horse and rider dat went off wid my beads dat my +mistress give me. When I tell Marster William Woodward, my husband's old +marster, 'bout it, him say: 'De low dirty skunk, de Lord'll take +vengeance on him.' Marster William give Alf a half a dollar and tell him +to git me another string of beads, though Alf never done so. + +"Alf was Marster William's coachman and him and Wade Pichett, dat was a +slave of Marster William, took fifteen mules, when de Yankees come, and +carried them in de Wateree swamps and stayed dere and saved them. Every +time Alf or Wade see Marster William, as de years comed and goed, they +fetched up de subject of them mules and git sumpin' from him. One day he +laugh and say: 'Look here Alf, I done 'bout pay for sixteen mules and +dere was but fifteen in de drove.' Alf laugh but he always got way wid +it when he see any of de Woodward white folks. Well I's glad to go now, +though I has 'joyed bein' wid you. De Lord bless you and keep you." + + + + + =Project, 1885-(1)= + =Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis= + =Place, Marion, S.C.= + =Date, September 15, 1937= + +=PAULINE WORTH= + +=Ex-Slave, 79 Years= + + +"Yes'um, I know I been here in slavery time, but wasn' large enough to +do nothin in dat day en time. I reach 79 de first day of November. To be +certain dat how old I is, Miss Betty Evans give me my direct age here de +other day. She know who I am cause I was raise near bout in de same yard +dat she was raise in. Mr. Telathy Henry family was my white folks. +Yes'um, I was raise right here in dis town. Ain' never been nowhere else +but Marion." + +"I was small den, but I remembers my old Missus. I sho remembers her all +right. My old boss, he died. I can' remember nothin much bout dem times +only I recollects when my old Missus used to get after me en whip me, I +would run under de house. Didn' want to sweep de yard en dat how-come +she get after me wid a switch. I was small den en she was tryin to learn +me." + +"No, child, I didn' live on no plantation. Didn' have no quarter for de +slaves dere. My white folks live in town en dey just have my mother en +her chillun en another old man. He stayed in de kitchen en would work de +garden en go off on errands for de Missus. My mother en we chillun +stayed in a little small one room house in de yard en he stayed in de +kitchen. I wasn' large enough to do nothin much den only as like I tell +you, my old Missus tried to learn me to sweep de yard." + +"I was small den, child, but I got along all right cause we ate in de +white folks kitchen. Oh, no'um, dey cook in de chimney long bout de time +I come up. No'um, didn' see no stoves nowhe' when I come up. I remembers +we had greens like collards en bread en potatoes to eat sometimes, but +say remember all what we had to eat, I couldn' never think bout to do +dat. I just knows dat I remembers old Missus provide good livin for us +all de time. Wouldn' let nobody suffer for nothin be dat she know bout +it. Old Missus used to give us every speck de clothes we had to wear too +dat was made out dis here homemade homespun cloth. You see my mother was +de cook dere. Old Massa used to keep dry goods store en de first I know +bout it, she get de cloth out de store to make us clothes. Den after de +old head died, old Missus commence to buy cloth from somebody in de +country cause people weave dey cloth right dere on dey own plantation in +dat day en time. Had dese here loom en spinning wheel. I remembers old +Missus would take out big bolt of cloth en cut out us garments wid her +own hands. Den she would call us dere en make us try dem on en mine +wouldn' never be nothin troublesome nowhe' bout it. I remembers I used +to hear my Missus, when she be readin de paper speak bout Abraham +Lincoln en Jefferson Davis, but I was small den en never paid no much +attention to it. Only cared bout my new homespun dress wid de pockets +shinin right in de front part. My Lord, child, I been de proudest like +of dem pockets." + +"I hear de older people say de Yankees come en say de Yankees was here, +but I was small den. Dey didn' do nothin bout dere dat I know of. I was +small en I didn' know. Didn' hear de older peoples say nothin bout it +neither." + +"Oh, we went to de white peoples service to dat big Methodist church +right up dere in dis town what was tore down long time ago. Walked dere +to dat church every Sunday en set up in de gallery. Dat whe' all de +slaves had place to sit. De only thing I could remember bout gwine to +church dere was what I hear dem say. Dey say, 'I believe in God the +Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, etc.' Dat all I remembers +bout gwine to church dere. Everything I remembers. Don' know as I could +tell you dat, but I hear my mother repeat it so much when she come home +en be teachin us our prayer. Den Missus teach us de same thing till we +get large enough to learn de Lord's Prayer. No'mam, white folks didn' +teach us no learnin in dat day en time. Didn' hear bout no books only +dese almanacs. When de white folks throw dem out, dey allow us to pick +dem up to play wid. Dat all de books we know bout." + +"Lord, child, dat was somethin. Dat was sho a time when dat shake come +here. I remembers de ground be shakin en all de people was hollerin. +Yes'um, I was scared. Scared of dat noise it was makin cause I didn' +know but dat it might been gwine destroy me. I was hollerin en +everybody round in de neighborhood was hollerin. Didn' nobody know what +to think it was. Well, I tell you I thought it must a been de Jedgment +comin. Thought it must a been somethin like dat." + +"I don' know nothin bout dat. It just like dis, I heard people speak +bout conjurin, but nobody never has talked to me nothin concernin no +conjurin. My mother wouldn' allow nobody to talk dat kind of speech to +us. No, I ain' never seen none of dem things people say is ghost. No, +ain' seen none dat I remembers. My husband died en I was right in de +room wid him en I ain' see a thing. Never thought bout nothin like dat. +Thought when dey gone, dey was gone. When I was able to work, I didn' +have no time to bother wid dem things. Didn' have no time to take up wid +nothin like dat. I de one dat used to cook dere to Miss Eloise Bethea's +mamma. Dis here de one dey call Pauline." + +"I tell you my old Missus was good to us, child, good to us all de time. +Come bout en doctor us herself when we get sick. Wouldn' trust nobody +else to give us no medicine. I remember she give us castor oil en little +salts for some ailments. Didn' give us nothin more den dat only a little +sage or catnip sometimes. Dat what was good for colds." + +"I don' know, child. I can' tell which de worser days den or dese times. +I know one thing, dey dances now more den dey used to. I don' go bout +much, but I can tell you what I hear talk bout. I don' know as de people +any worser dese days, but I hear talk bout more dances. Dat bout all. +Coase de peoples used to dance bout, but dey didn' have dese dance halls +like dey have now. Didn' have none of dem kind of rousin places den. De +peoples didn' have chance to dance in dat day en time only as dey have a +quiltin en cornshuckin on a night. Den dey just dance bout in old Massa +yard en bout de kitchen. Oh, dey have dem quiltin at night en would play +en go on in de kitchen. Turn plate en different little things like dat. +I don' know how dey do it, but I remembers I hear dem talkin somethin +bout turnin plate. Wasn' big enough to explain nothin bout what dey +meant. I just knows dey would do dat en try to make some kind of motion +like." + +"Honey, didn' never hear my parents tell bout no stories. My mother +wasn' de kind to bother wid no stories like dat. She tried to always be +a Christian en she never would allow us to tarnish us souls wid nothin +like dat. She raise us in de way she want us to turn out to be. All dese +people bout here livin too fast to pay attention to raisin dey chillun +dese days. Just livin too fast to do anything dat be lastin like. Dat +how-come dere be so much destructiveness bout dese days." + + + _Source_: Pauline Worth, age 79, ex-slave, Manning St., Marion, S.C. + Personal interview, Sept., 1937 by Annie Ruth Davis. + + + + + =Project #-1655= + =Phoebe Faucette= + =Hampton County= + + =Folklore= + +=DAPHNEY WRIGHT= + +=106 Year Old Ex-Slave= + + +Just around the bend from the old mill pond on the way to Davis Swimming +Pool lives a very old negro woman. Her name is Daphney Wright, though +that name has never been heard by those who affectionately know her as +"Aunt Affie". She says she is 106 years old. She comes to the door +without a cane and greets her guests with accustomed curtsey. She is +neatly dressed and still wears a fresh white cap as she did when she +worked for the white folks. Save for her wearing glasses and walking +slowly, there are no evidences of illness or infirmities. She has a +sturdy frame, and a kindly face shows through the wrinkles. + +"I been livin' in Beaufort when de war fust (first) break out", she +begins. "Mr. Robert Cally was my marsa. Dat wuz in October. De Southern +soldiers come through Bluffton on a Wednesday and tell de white folks +must get out de way, de Yankees right behind 'em! De summer place been +at Bluffton. De plantation wuz ten miles away. After we refugee from +Bluffton, we spent de fust night at Jonesville. From dere we went to +Hardeeville. We got here on Saturday evening. You know we had to ride by +horses--in wagons an' buggies. Dere weren't no railroads or cars den. +Dat why it take so long. + +"Mr. Lawrence McKenzie wuz my Missus' child. We stayed wid him awhile, +'til he find us a place. Got us a little house. We stayed four years +dere, 'til de war wuz over. Dey sent de young ladies on--on farther up +de country, to a safer place. Dey went to Society Hill. My old Missus +stay. Sae wuz a old lady. When de Yankees come she died. I wuz right +dere wid her when she died. She had been sickly. After de war dey all +went back to de old place. I had married up here, so when dey went back +I stay on here. + +"I been right here when de Yankees come through. I been in my house +asittin' before de fire, jes' like I is now. + +"One of 'em come up an' say, 'You know who I is?' + +"I say, 'No.' + +"He say, 'Well, I is come to set you free. You kin stay wid your old +owners if you wants to, but dey'll pay you wages.' + +"But dey sure did plenty of mischief while dey wuz here. Didn't burn all +de houses. Pick out de big handsome house to burn. Burn down Mr. Bill +Lawton' house. Mr. Asbury Lawton had a fine house. Dey burn dat. (He +Marse Tom Lawton' brother.) Burn Mr. Maner' house. Some had put a poor +white woman in de house to keep de place; but it didn't make no +difference. + +"De soldiers say, 'Dis rich house don't belong to you. We goin' to burn +dis house!' + +"Dey'd go through de house an' take everything'. Take anythin' they +could find. Take from de white, an' take from de colored, too. Take +everything out de house! Dey take from my house. Take somethin' to eat. +But I didn't have anythin' much in my house. Had a little pork an' a +week's supply of rations. + +"De white folks would bury de silver. But dey couldn't always find it +again. One give her silver to de colored butler to bury but he wuz kill, +an' nobody else know where he bury it. It wuz after de war, an' he wuz +walkin' down de road, an' Wheeler's Brigade kill him. + +"Been years an' years 'fore everythin' could come together again. You +know after de war de Confederate money been confiscate. You could be +walkin' 'long de road anytime an' pick up a ten dollar bill or a five +dollar bill, but it wuzn't no good to you. After de greenback come money +flourish again. + +"De plantation wuz down on de river. I live dere 'cept for de four years +we refugee. Dat been a beautiful place--dere on de water! When de stars +would come out dere over de water it wuz a beautiful sight! Sometimes +some of us girls would get in a little 'paddle' an' paddle out into de +river. We'd be scared to go too far out, but we'd paddle around. +Sometimes my father would go out in de night an' catch de fish with a +seine. He'd come back with a bushel of fish 'most anytime. Dey were nice +big mullets! He'd divide 'em 'round 'mongst de colored folks. An' he'd +take some up to de white folks for dere breakfast. My white folks been +good white people. I never know no cruel. Dey treat me jes like one of +dem. Dey say dey took me when I wuz five years old. An' I stay wid dem +'til freedom. I am 106 years old now. + +"Dem people on de water don't eat much meat. Twenty-five cent of bacon +will last dem a week. Dey cut de meat into little pieces, an' fry dem +into cracklings, den put dat into de fish stew. It surely makes de stew +good. When dey kill a hog dey take it to town an' sell it, den use de +money for whatever dey want. Dey don't have to cure de pork an' keep it +to eat. Dey jes' eat fish. Dey have de mullets, an' de oysters, an' de +crabs, an' dese little clams. Dey have oyster-stew. Dey have roast +oysters, den de raw oysters. An' dey have dey fried oysters! Dat sure is +good. Dey fish from de boat, dey fish from de log, an' dey fish 'long de +edge of de water wid a net. When de tide go down you kin walk along an' +jes pick up de crab. You could get a bucket full in no time. We'd like +to go up an' down an' pick up de pretty shells. I got one here on de +mantel now. It ain't sech a big one, but it's a pretty little shell. + +"I is always glad to talk 'bout de old times an' de old people. We is +livin' in peace now, but still it's hard times. We ought to be thankful +though our country ain't in war." + + + Source: Daphney Wright, Scotia, S.C. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folk Lore= + =District No. 4.= + =May 28, 1937.= + + =Edited by:= + =J.J. Murray.= + +=STORIES OF EX-SLAVES= + + +Seated on the front steps of his house, holding a walking cane and +talking to another old colored man from Georgia, who was visiting his +children living there, the writer found "Uncle" Bill Young. He readily +replied that he had lived in slavery days, that he was 83 years old, and +he said that he and Sam were talking about old times. + +He was owned by Dave Jeter at Santuc, S.C.; though he was just a boy at +the time his mother was a slave. He used to mind his "Missus" more than +anybody else, as he stayed around the house more than anywhere else. His +job, with the other boys, both white and black, was to round up the milk +cows late every afternoon. The milk cows had to be brought up, milked +and put up for the night; but the other cows and calves used to stay in +the woods all night long. Some times they would be a mile away from the +house, but the boys would not mind getting them home, for they played so +much together as they slowly drove the cows in. + +When asked if he got plenty to eat in slavery days, he replied that he +had plenty, "a heap more than I get today to eat". As a slave, he said +he ate every day that the white folks ate, that he was always treated +kindly, and his missus would not let anybody whip him; though he had +seen other slaves tied and whipped with a bull-whip. He said he had +seen the blood come from some of the slaves as they were whipped across +the bare back. He said he had seen the men slaves stand perfectly naked +and take a beating. He also said that he never had a whipping and that +his "Missus" wouldn't let his own mother whip him. She would say, "Don't +tech that boy, as he is my Nigger." She told him one day that he was +free, but he stayed right on there with her and worked for wages. He got +$6.00 a month, all his rations, and a place to stay. + +"Uncle" Bill said there was some humor at times when a slave was to be +whipped. His hands and feet tied together, the slave would be laid +across a rail fence, feet dangling on one side and head on the other +side; then the master would give the slave a push or shove and he would +fall heavily on the ground on his head. Not being able to use his feet +or his hands, the slave's efforts to catch himself before he hit the +ground was something funny. "That was funny to us Niggers looking at it, +but not funny to the Nigger tied up so." + +He said some Yankee soldiers came by the house at times, but they never +bothered anybody on the place. "Of-course they would take something to +eat, but they never bothered anybody." + +After working for Dave Jeter for many years, he moved up to Jonesville, +where he married. He lived in or near Jonesville for about thirty years, +then he moved with his son, who was a barber, to Spartanburg, and has +been here thirteen years. + +"I never knew anything about rent 'til I got here. I always had a house +to live in, raised my own feed and got my wood off the place. So when I +got to Spartanburg I learned what rent was. I just quit work two years +ago when I had high blood pressure; and now I ain't able to work. Do you +see that Nigger across the street, going to work somebody's garden? +Well, if I didn't have high blood pressure, I'd be just as good to work +as him." + +"Yes sir, with my peck of meal, my three pounds of meat each week and my +$6.00 a month wages, I had more to eat than I gets now." + + + SOURCE: "Uncle" Bill Young. 202 Young Street, Spartanburg, S.C. + Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg Office, Dist. 4. + + + + + =Project 1885-1= + =Folklore= + =Spartanburg, Dist. 4= + =Feb. 4, 1938= + + =Edited by:= + =Elmer Turnage= + +=STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES= + + +"March 15, 1862 is de date I allus takes when folks axes how old is you. +Dat's de best, to follow one date, den no argument don't follow. + +"Some see'd it powerful hard in slavery, others never see'd it so bad. +Dat 'pends on you a lot, den it 'pends on dem dat you stays wid. It +still like dat everywhar dat I is been, but I ain't been no further dan +Spartanburg gwine north, and to Lyles's Ford gwine south. + +"From a wee bitty baby dey teach me to serve. Befo' you serves God you +is got to know how to serve man. De Bible speaks of us as servants of de +Lawd. Niggers can serve him better dan white folks, kaise dat is all dey +does if dey stays whar dey belongs. Young folks and chillun being raised +up real biggity like dey is now, dey can't serve nothing, kaise if you +can't serve your earthly father, how is you gwine to serve your Heavenly +Father? + +"De big plantation and house whar Mr. Jimmie Jeter's sons stay is whar I +first see'd earthly light. Dat place still look fine, and it look fine +den, too. When I was 8 years old I started out in de field, afo' dat I +did jes' what all little nigger boys did, nothing but eat and sleep and +play and have a big time wid de little white boys. Lots of my playmates, +both white and black, done gone on now. Some done gone to de bad place +and some done gone to Heaven, jes' ain't no use talking, dat's sho nuff +de truth. + +"War was raging all 'round Charleston and Columbia when I come in dis +world so dey says, Yankees camped in half mile of Santuc. I is heard +dat everybody was scared. Has even heard dat I cried when dem Yankees +come, but all I knows is jes' what I heard. Folks hears lots and dey +tells it, and dat's jes' what I is doing now--jes' telling what dey told +me when I got big. If folks didn't never tell nothing no worse, it +wouldn't make no difference, but often dey takes devilish notions and +tells dat what injures, if anybody believes dem. + +"Aunt Phyllis Jeter 'low when dem Yankees got to Santuc, she was a +weaving jes' as hard as she could for her white folks. She say dat she +started to run, but dem Yankees come in de house and throw'd away her +yarn and took her and tied her to a tree. When she hollered, dey whipped +her. She say dat dey was drunk, but dey never burn't up nothing in de +house. Dey went on singing, and she got me to playing and got up de yarn +from de dirt in de yard and cleaned it. De Yankees never bothered us no +mo', and dey never stayed in Santuc long. + +"Once when I was a big boy I got drunk and pa whipped me so hard I never +got drunk no mo' till I was married, and den I jumped on my old lady for +fun and she hit me wid a bed slat. Dat knocked me sober and I 'cided de +best thing for me to do was let liquor go to de devil. When I was young +I allus walked to Union. Dat ain't but ten miles down de railroad. Den I +used to walk all over Santuc and down to Herbert in Fish Dam. Now I is +drapped most all my walking. De chilluns travels fast in automobiles, +but I jes' as lieve walk to Union as to ride in dem things. Wrecks kills +you off so quick dat you does not have time to repent. + +"Walking never has hurt nobody, and I buys leather and tacks it on my +own shoes, and in dat way it don't cost me nothing much. Folks goes so +fast in dem automobiles, and half de time dey ain't in no hurry kaise +dey ain't gwine to nothing no way. I gits on my shoe in de winter and I +walks. When I wants to drap in for a chaw at some friend's house, I +does. I sets dar till I gits rested and warm and I goes on. If dey eats, +I does too, and when I gits to Union my chillun is done out and gone. +Jes' de same, I reaches home at night befo' dem. + +"Dey has tales to tell about gitting out of gas, and when I axes whar +dey been, dey jes' as apt to say Spartanburg as any whars. As long as +dey has a quarter dey is allus gwine to ride and come home broke. If you +fools wid automobiles, you is gwine to spend lots of time in jail. I +ain't never been in jail and I thinks it is a disgrace. My chillun says +dat I is 'old timey' and don't know nothing 'bout living. Jes' de same, +I likes slow moving, and takes mine out in walking and gits home at dark +or soon atter. + +"Dese fast ways don't bother me. Dey makes sassy chilluns. Sassy +chilluns dat can't serve deir pa need not think dat dey can ride to de +Promise Land in narry automobile dat dey is ever seed. Gwine round in +fast circles and never gitting nowhars seems to satisfy dem, so I don't +know what is gwine to become of dem." + + + Source: Bob Young (75) Jonesville, S.C. + Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 11/10/37 + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + A number of punctuation errors have been corrected. Other typographical + errors are as follows: + + Page 1: "Hariett" changed to "Harriett" (young mistress, Miss Harriett.) + Page 3: "Cival" changed to "Civil" (pre-Civil and Civil War days,) + Page 38: "nonegenarian" changed to "nonagenarian" (what a nonagenarian + is?) + Page 43: "carpetbagbers" changed to "carpetbaggers" (scalawags and + carpetbaggers,) + Page 45: "SC" changed to "S.C." (RIDGEWAY, S.C.,) + Page 49: "On e" changed to "One" (One pick a banjo,) + Page 53: "Dancers" changed to "Dances" (Dances? There was); "william" + changed to "William" (young master, William) + Page 56: "we" added between "us" and "we" (told us we was free); + "cornshuckings" changed to "corn-shuckings" (old time corn-shuckings) + Page 59: "gie" changed to "gi'e" ("He gi'e me sugar.); "pantomime" changed + to "pantomime," "the" added before "way" (with pantomine, of the way + pidgin) + Page 62: "to-day" changed to "today" (in Russia today.) + Page 66: "piscopal" changed to "'Piscopal" (he was 'Piscopal) + Page 67: "thrity-two" changed to "thirty-two" (thirty or thrity-two) + Page 76: "OF-EX" changed to "OF EX-SLAVES" + Page 84: "quite" changed to "quiet" + Page 86: "Come" changed to "Some" (Some white people); "one" changed to + "One" ("One gone in) + Page 89: "or" changed to "of" (the back of gallery.) + Page 120: "remembers" changed to "disremembers" (I jes' disremembers,) + Page 143: "be be" changed to "be" (be so many school) + Page 149: "folks" changed to "forks" (Ninety-eight silver forks) + Page 159: "Reovah" changed to (Rehovah Baptist Church.) + Page 165: "carpet bag" changed to "carpetbag" (de carpetbag,) + Page 183: "do" added after "only" (only do de) + Page 187: "cornshucking" changed to "corn-shucking" (corn-shucking 'bout) + Page 194: "cordality" changed to "cordiality" (with a cordiality); + "dilapedated" changed to "dilapidated" (somewhat dilapidated shanty.) + Page 195: "revently" changed to "reverently"; "out side" changed to + "outside" (outside the same church); "necesities" changed to "necessities" + (such household necessities) + Page 196: "asleep" changed to "slept" + Page 217: "but" changed to "buy" (wanted to buy something) + Page 231: "no" added after "or" (true or no,) + Page 255: "i" changed to "I" (as I was.) + Page 269: "Twentyfive" changed to "Twenty-five" (Twenty-five cent of + bacon) + Page 270: "the the" changed to "the" (at the time his)] + + + + + +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 THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** + +***** This file should be named 28170.txt or 28170.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/1/7/28170/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Library of Congress, +Manuscript Division) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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