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The pioneers who were prominent in making and moulding the history of Troup County were the owners of many loyal slaves. These loyal slaves are the great-grandparents of a number of Troup County's most trusted and efficient cooks, maids and nurses for the families of this county today.
One of the pioneer families of this county was Mr. Mal Peeples. He bought a large tract of land four miles Northeast of LaGrange when he moved his family and settled with his 900 slaves. His closest neighbor was the Pullin family who also owned a large number of slaves.
Quite often a slave adopted his master's sur-name. Such was the case of Beverly Pullin, a robust negro owned by Mr. Pullin. Mr. Peeples owned Beverly's wife and they each lived with their respective masters. After a number of years, Mr. Pullin sold his plantation and prepared to move away. As both masters always tried not to separate husbands and wives, the two planters met to discuss the purchase of either the wife or the husband from the other. When it was learned that Beverly's wife, affectionately called "Mammy", with her ten children did not want to leave her master, Mr. Pullin named a price and Mr. Peeples became the owner of Beverly.
In 1828 a group of the leading families planned the erection of a Baptist Church. The site was selected, land purchased, and each family contributed so much material or workers to erect the building. Mr. Peeples not only contributed his portion of material, but also sent Beverly, who was an expert carpenter in those early days, to help with the building. When finished, it was dedicated "The First Baptist Church" and is one of the largest churches in LaGrange, Georgia, today.
Mr. Peeples was considered by all his slaves as a kind master. He expected and received splendid work from all his 900 slaves. Each one was designated for some particular work, even the children. During the week all the slaves had plain but substantial food, but on Sunday there was always a feast for them.
There were slaves whose duty it was to begin the baking on Thursday and finishing up with the roasting of meats and boiling of vegetables on Saturday. For fifty-one years there was no fire built for cooking on Sunday.
It was the custom of the large planters to form a wagon train and go to the coast for supplies once a year. Usually they went to Savannah where they purchased sugar, coffee, tea, and bolts of cloth shipped from countries across the ocean. During the Civil War sugar became very scarce and whatever a household had was guarded closely in order that the masters and any soldiers who might come could be served coffee with sugar. One morning "Miss Sallie" as Mrs. Peeples was affectionately called by all the servants, saw mammy walking from the dining room to the kitchen with a cup in her hand. "Mammy, what have you in that cup," said Mrs. Peeples.
"Only a spoonful of sugar Miss Sallie, for my coffee; I just can't drink no more coffee sweetened with syrup and do my work." There-after, every morning Mammy had a spoonful of sugar to sweeten her coffee.
At the close of the Civil War during "Sherman's March to the Sea", some "Stragglers" came through Mr. Peeples' plantation. Sissy, Beverly's granddaughter, was churning; one of the men demanded a glass of buttermilk which was given him warm from the churn. While drinking this he demanded Mr. Peeples to get up and turn over to him the family silver and jewelry. Mrs. Peeples told him that as they knew they were coming, all the silver and jewelry had been gathered up several days before and taken away and hid and even she did not know where it was. Evidently the soldier did not believe this for he drew his pistol, evidently to frighten her into telling him. Beverly stepped in front of his mistress and said, "If you have to shoot, shoot me, not my mistress." Where upon the soldier lowered his pistol and threw the glass, from which he had finished the buttermilk, down breaking it. This, with the above incident, made Beverly so mad that if it had not been for the restraining hand and kind words of his mistress, he would have gone after the soldier.
At the close of the war Mr. Peeples called all his slaves together and told them they were free. Any who wanted to stay with him could, but all were free to go. Beverly and Mammy stayed on for two years, with what they made those two years, added to a small amount that had been saved ever a period of years amounted to $300.00. With this was purchased twenty acres of land, south of LaGrange, also sufficient stock to work and supply a small farm. From time to time a small tract of land was added until they had acquired quite a large farm.
One of Mr. Peeple's grand-daughters, Miss Lizzie Godwin, at that time, saw Mammy and Beverly in LaGrange on one of their rare shopping trips and the aged couple invited them to come and see them and spend the day; so a day was arranged. Mammy had cared for all the children as well as most of the grand-children of Mr. Peeple's, and she was held in high esteem and with great affection by all the members of the family. Mr. Godwin carried his four little girls out to Mammy's house for this occasion. Miss Lizzie later became Mrs. Cotton and although she is now in her ninety first year, she clearly remembers what a wonderful day they had. At noon time the table was set in the shade of a large tree upon which Mammy placed fried chicken, baked ham, vegetables, cake, pie, and home made bread, all of which Mammy had prepared herself for her "chillun", as she always spoke of the younger members of the family.
Many of Beverly's and Mammy's descendents live in and around in the county surrounding LaGrange. In them has been instilled the high principles of this couple which has been given to each succeeding generation.
There were a number of slaves belonging to this family who were taught to card, spin, and weave. This was their particular job, and they were kept busy making the coarser cloth to be made into garments for this large household. There was Sally Snow who, by her skilled workman-ship, became better known than the others. She began her work as a helper to the pastry cook and seamstress in the Peeples family, but her natural talent for cooking and flying fingers with a needle, soon won her first place. She out, fitted and made all the nicer things for the family from the beautiful bolts of materials her master, Mr. Mal Peeples, brought from Savannah for his wife and children. As the girls married she made up their trousseaus for them, and always it was she who "dressed the bride."
Sally was noted far and wide for her cakes, pies, and home made milk yeast bread. Any wedding of importance was not complete unless Sally baked the cakes. Consequently she was quite often loaned to a household for this purpose when one of it's members was about to be married. Sally married one of Mr. Peeple's slaves but she always retained her own name "Snow". Some of her descendents are still living in Troup County and are traceable by the name Snow.
Lula Pyron Ex-Slave (Alberta Minor Research Worker)
