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"Jane, do you remember me?" "I don't know honey. I'se been sick so long wid the flus, I can't remember much er nothin." After giving me the once over she said, "Course I does, your Daddy sho wus good to my boys, Watt worked fer him so long."
I went to this little woman's house and found her on the bed, she had been sick several weeks and things were not very clean nor sanitary, her children were working away from home and she lives there with a twelve year old grand-son, not very much attention did she get, you may know. Jane is a very small and frail person.
She was born in North Alabama and her Mother and Father were Carrie and Traylor Holloway, she had one brother, Maryland.
"Us lived in a mud and log house, one room and er large fireplace. Us had er good time den, ef us jest had er knowd hit, 'cause us sho wus fed good. Dey had long old wooden troughs, dey poured our milk and bread in and us et it wid wooden spoons and when dey called, 'Chillun, chillun, bread,' us burnt de wind, 'cause we wus always hongry."
We had high tester-beds, our houses wus 'bout a mile frum the big house, hit wus big and had four rooms, planked up. Mr. Billy Traylor wus mighty good ter his niggers, he didn't have so many slaves, he jest had er small plantation. Our overseer wus good too, he had to whip some er dem sometimes but dey wouldn't work, brung hit all on demselves.
When de Yankees come, de men cum a running screaming dat de Yankees wus coming and dey did, on horseback, took all our provisions in the smokehouse, eve'ything in the way er victuals and our stock too.
I jined church when I wus ten years old, 'cause I wus trying to live right and do whut de Bible said. De white-folks had morning services and let us niggers have hit in de evening.
