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West Memphis, Arkansas
Ages 68 and 66
William Guess
"I was born in Monroe County, Arkansas, Father come from Dallas, Texas when a young man before he married.
Him and two other men was shipped in a box to Indian Bay. I've heard him and Ike Jimmerson laugh how they got
bumped and bruised, hungry and thirsty in the box. I forgot the name of the other man in the box. They was sent on
a boat and changed boats where they got tumbled up so bad. It was in slavery or war times one. White folks nailed
them up and opened them up too I think, Father was born in Dallas, Texas. Mother was a small woman and come
from Tennessee. Billy Boyce in Monroe County owned her. That is the most I ever heard my folks tell about the
Civil War."
Charlotte Guess
"Mother was born in Dallas, Texas. She was born into slavery. She was a field woman. She was sold there and
brought to Mississippi at about the close of the Civil War. She was sold from her husband and two children. She
never seen them. She farmed cotton and corn in Texas. Her husband whooped her, so she was glad to be sold. She
married after the surrender to another man in Mississippi. No, he didn't beat her. They had disputes, She was the
mother of ten children. She lived to be 82 years old. She went from Arkansas back to Mississippi to die."
INTERVIEWER'S NOTE
It would be interesting if I could find out more about why the Negroes were sent in the box. He seemed not to know
all about it. This Negro man when young was a light mulatto. He is light for his age. He looks and acts white. Has a
spot on one eye.
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson"
