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"My name is Adeline Crump, and I am 73 years old. My husband's name wus James Crump. My mother's wus Marie Cotton and my father's name wus Cotton. My mother belonged to the Faucetts; Rich Faucett wus her marster. Father belonged to the Cottons; Wright Cotton wus his marster. My maiden name wus Cotton. Mother ana father said they were treated all right and that they loved their white folks. They gave them patches, clothed them tolerably well, and seed that they got plenty to eat. The hours of work wus long. Nearbout everybody worked long hours then, but they said they wus not mistreated 'bout nothing. When they got sick marster got a doctor, if they wus bad off sick.
"They wus allowed holidays Christmas and at lay-by time, an' they wus 'lowed to hunt possums an' coons at night an' ketch rabbits in gums. They also caught birds in traps made of splinters split from pine wood.
"Mother and father had no learnin'. They would not allow whem to learn to read and write. Marster wus keerful 'bout that. I cannot read an' write. My mother and father told me many stories 'bout the patterollers and Ku Klux. A nigger better have a pass when he went visitin' or if they caught him they tore up his back. The Ku Klux made the niggers think they could drink a well full of water. They carried rubber things under their clothes and a rubber pipe leadin' to a bucket o' water. The water bag helt the water they did not drink it. Guess you have heard people tell 'bout they drinking so much water.
"Marster didn't have no overseers to look after his slaves. He done that hisself with the help o' some o' his men slaves. Sometimes he made 'em foreman and my mother and father said they all god along mighty fine. The colored folks went to the white folk's church and had prayer meeting in their homes.
"Mother lived in the edge o' marster's yard. When the surrender come after the war they stayed on the plantation right on and lived on marster's land. They built log houses after de war cause marster let all his slaves stay right on his plantation. My mother had twenty-one chillun. She had twins five times. I wus a twin and Emaline wus my sister. She died 'bout thirty years ago. She left 11 chillun when she died. I never had but four chillun. All my people are dead, I is de only one left.
"Marster's plantation wus 'bout six miles from Merry Oaks in Chatham County. We moved to Merry Oaks when I wus fourteen years old. I married at seventeen. I have lived in North Carolina all my life. We moved to Raleigh from Merry Oaks long time ago. My husband died here seventeen years ago. I worked after my husband died, washin' and ironin' for white folks till I am not able to work no more. Hain't worked any in fo' years. Charity don't help me none. my chillun gives me what I gits.
Slavery wus a bad thing, cause from what mother and father tole me all slaves didn't fare alike. Some fared good an' some bad. I don't know enough 'bout Abraham Lincoln an' Mr. Roosevelt to talk about 'em. No, I don't know just what to say. I sho' hopes you will quit axin' me so many things cause I forgot a lot mother and father tole me.
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N. C. District No. 2 Subject BILL CRUIP Worker Mary A. Hicks"
Curtis, Mattie | |
M.A. H. | |
L.M. | |
N. C. District No. 2 NO. Words: 10,018 Worker: Mary Hicks |
Subject: BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR. Story Teller: MATTIE CURTIS Editor: George L. Andrews" |
Curtis, Mattie |
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An interview with Mattie Curtis, So years old, of Raleigh, Korth darolina, Route # 4.
"I wus borned on de plantation of Mr. John Leyes in Cranse County ninety-eight years ago. Seberal of de chilluns had been sold 'fore de speculator come an' ouyed mammy, pappy an' we three chilluns. De speculator wus named Bebus an' he lived in Henderson, but he meant to sell us in de tobacco country.
"We come through Raleigh an' de fust thing dat I 'members good wus goin' through de payer mill on Crabtree. We traveled on ter Granville County on de Granville Fobacco path till a preacher named Whitfield buyed us. Me lived near de Granville an' Franklin County line, on de Granville side.
"Preacher Whitfield, cein' a preacher, wus supposed to be good, but he ain't half fed ner clothed his slaves an' he. whupped 'em bau. I'se seen him whup my mammy wid all de clothes offen her back. He'd suck ner down on a barrel an' beat de-blood outen her. War wus some difference in his beatin' from de neighbors. De folks round dar 'ud whup in de back yard, but Marse Whitfield 'ud have de barrel carried in his perlor per de beatin'.
"We ain't has no sociables, but we went to church on Sunday an' dey preached to us eat we'd go ter hell alive iffen we sassed our white folks.
"Speakin' bout clothes, I went as haked as Yo' han' till I wus fourteen years old. I wus naked like cat when my maince come to me. Marse iteield ain't carin', out atter dat mammy tol' him dat I had ter have clothes.
"Marse Whitfiled ain't never pay fer us so Finally we wus sold to Mis' Fanny Long in Franklin County. Dat 'oman wus a debil difen dar eber wus one. When I wus little I had picked up Ce fruit, fanned flies offen de table wid a pe fowl fan an' mussed de little slave chilluns. De las' two or three years I had worked in de fiel' but at Mis' Long's a worked in de backer factory.
"fes man, she had a backer factory whar backer wus stemned, rolled an' packed in cases fer sellin'. Dey said dat she had got rich on sellin' chawin' teroacker.
"We wus at his' Long's when war wus declared, 'fore dat she had been purty good, but she am a debil new. Her sen am cailedler de war an' he won't go. Dey comes an' arrests him, den his mammy tries ter pay him out, out dat ain't no good.
"De officers sez dat he am yaller an' dat dey am gwine ter shoot his head off an' use hit fer a soap gourd. De Yankees did shoot him down here at Bentonville an' Mis' Long went atter de body. De Confederates has got de body but dey won't let her have it fer love ner money. Dey laughs an' tells ner how yaller he am an' dey buries him in a ditch like o dog.
"Mis' Long has blem bad enough fore den but atter her son is dead the sez dat she am gwine ter fight bill she Craps head. De nex' day she sticks de shot gun in manmy's back an' sez day she am ??ine ter shoot her dead. Many milles an' weals her eat she an ready ter go. Mis' Long turns on me an' tills me ter go ter de perch tree an' out her ten lines 'bout ??years long, aie I aces an' atter the ties ten in a sandle ?? weard der out on me at a hunaret licks. Lemmie tell yo', car wus pieces of de peach tree epicekes atickin' all in my?? she ony back when she got through.
"Atter dat Mis' Long ain't done nothin' but whup us an' right till one shore nuff wore out.
"We unkse cap?? come ten our place an' tel' us dat he lan' was goin' ter be cut up an' diviced among de clover, day would also have a wale an! ?? case wpiece.
"We acan know how come hat out gist 'fore de end of de war we cole ter Moses Moreicia's place, right u?? de nill from hare. We wus mean too, he'd get drunk an' whup niggers ill day off an' on. He'd keep dem tied down eat long too, some times from suirise till dark.
"Mr. Moraicia had his jaller gals in one quarter ter dereselves an' dase gals belings ter de Mordicia men, dere friends an' de overseers. When a baby wus born in dat quarter jey'a pen' hit over ter de black quarter at birth. Dey do say dat some of dese gal babies got rown an' atter goin' back ter de yaller quarter had more chilluns fer her own daday or brother. De Thompson's sprung from dat set an' dey say dat a heay of dem is nairwits fer de reason dat I has jist tol' yo'. Dem yaller wimen wus highfalutin' too, dey though dey wus better dan de black ones.
"Hes yo' ever wonnered why de yaller wimen dese days an meaher dan black ones 'bout de men? Well dat's de reason fer hit, dare makaiss raised dem to think 'bout de white men.
"When de Yankees come dey come an' freed us. De woods wus full of Rebs what had decerted, but de fankees killed some of dem.
"Some sort of corporation cut de land up, but de slaves ain't got none of it dat I ever heard about.
"I got married before de war to Joshua Curtis. I loved him too, which is more dam most folks can truthfully say. I always had craved a home an' a plenty to eat, but freedom ain't give us notin' out pickled hoss meat an' dirty crackers, an' not half enough of dat.
"Josh ain't really care 'bout no home but through dis land corporation I buyed dese fifteen acres on time. I cut down de big trees dat wus all over dese fields an' I mailed out de wood an' sold hit, den I plowed up de fields an' planted dem. Josh did help to build de house an' he worked out some.
All of dis time I had nineteen chilluns an' Josh died, but I kep' on an' de fifteen what is dead lived to be near 'bout grown, ever one of dem.
"Right atter de war northern preachers come around wid a little book a-marrying slaves an' I seed one of dem marry my pappy an' mammy. Atter dis dey tried to find dere fourteen oldest chilluns what was sold away, but dey never did find but three of dem.
"But you wants ter find out how I got along. I'll never fergit my first bale of cotton an' how I got hit sold. I was some proud of dat bale of cotton, an' atter I had hit ginned I set out wid hit on my steercart fer Raleigh. De white folks hated de nigger den, 'specially de nigger what was makin' somethin' so I dasen't ax nobody whar de market wus.
"I thought dat I could find de place by myself, but I rid all day an' had to take my cotton home wid me dat night 'case I can't find no place to sell hit at. But dat night I think hit over an' de nex' day I goes back an' axes a policeman 'bout de market. Lo an' behold chile, I foun' hit on Blount Street, an' I had pass by hit several times de day before.
"I done a heap of work at night too, all of my sewin' an' such an' de piece of lan' near de house over dar ain't never got no work 'cept at night. I finally paid fer de land. Some of my chilluns wus borned in de field too. When I was to de house we had a granny an' I blowed in a bottle to make de labor quick an' easy.
"Mr youn generation ain't worth shucks. Fifteen years ago I hired a big buck nigger to help me ahrub an' 'Fore leaan o'clock Me ?? out one me. You know 'bout leben o'clock in July hit give in a ploom. De young generation win were schools an were divercing sin't gwine ter git nothin' out of life. Kit was better when follis jist lived tergether. Dane lonfin' gits dem inver trouble an' dere novels makes de bas hucoan's an' wives. too."
EH
(By Miss Nancy Woodburn Watkins, Rockingham County, Madison, North Carolina)
In July, 1934, the census taker went to the home of Unka Challilee Dalton and found that soft talking old darky on the porch of his several roomed house, a few hundred feet south of the dirt road locally called the Ayersville road because it branches from the hard surfaced highway to Mayodan at Anderson Scales' store, a short distance from Unka Challilie's. Black got its meaning from his face, even his lips were black, but his hair was whitening. His lean body was reclining while the white cased pillows of his night bed sunned on a chair. His granddaughter kept house for him the census taker learned. Unka Challilie said: "I'se got so I ain't no count fuh nuthin. I was uh takin' me a nap uh sleepin' (' AM). Dem merry-go-wheels keep up sich a racket all nite, sech a racket all nite, ah cyan't sleep". This disturbance was "The Red Wolfe Medicine Troop of Players and Wheels" near Anderson Scales' store in the forks of the Mayodan and the Ayrewville roads.
In 1937 in the home of his son, Unka Challilie ninety-three, told the cause of his no "countness." "I quz clean-up man in de mill in Mayodan ontill three years ago, I got too trimbly to git amongst de machinery. Daze frade I'd fall and git cut."
"I cum tuh Madison forty-five yeah ago, and I bought one acre, and built me a house on it, an' razed my leben chillun dyah. My wife was Ellen Irving of Reidsville. We had a cow, pigs, chickens, and gyardum of vegetables to hope out what I got paid at de mill.
"Nome I nevah learned to read an write. "Ounct I thought mebbe I'd git sum lunnin but aftah I got married, I didn't think I would.
"My old Marse was Marse Lee Dalton and I stayed on his plantation till forty-five years ago when I cum tuh Madison. His place was back up dyah close tuh. Mt. Herman Church. Nome we slaves ain't learn no letters, but sumtimes young mistis' 'd read de Bible tuh us. Day quz pretty good tuh us, but sumtimes I'd ketch uh whippin'. I was a hoe boy and plow man. My mothers' name was Silvia Dalton and my daddy's name was Peter Dalton. Day belonged to Marse Lee and his wife was Miss Matilda Steeples (Staples). Marse Lee lived on Beaver Island Creek at the John Hampton Price place. Mr. Price bought it. He married Miss Mollie Dalton, Marse Lee's daughter. Dyah's uh ols graveyard dyah whah lots uh Daltons is buried but no culled fokes. Day is buried to the side uh Stoneville wiff no white fokes a-tall berried dyah. De ole Daltons was berried on de Ole Jimmy Scales plantation. Day bought hit, an little John Price what runs uh tuh - baccah warehouse in Madison owns hit now. (1937) His tenant is Parse Walt Hill, an hits five miles frum Madison. I knose whah de old Deatherage graveyard is, too, up close to Stoneville whah sum Daltons is berried. Ole Marse Lee's mother was a Deatherage.
"Ole Marse was kind to us, an' I stayed on his plantation an' farmed till I kum to Madison. Dee Yankees, day didn't giv us nuthin so we had Kinduh to live off'n old Marse.
"Fuh ayteen yuz I kin member ah de Mefouis Church byah in Madison. I wuzn't converted unduh de Holiness preachment uh James Foust butwduh de revival of Reverend William Scales. William didn't bare much lunnin. His wife was Mittie Scales an huh mother was Chlocy Scales, sister to Tommie Scales, de shoemaker, what died lase summuh (July, 1935). William jes wanted so much tuh preach, and Mittie hoped him. I'se been uh class leader, an uh stewart, an uh trustee in de church. It's St. Stephen's and de new brick church was built in 1925, an Mistuh John Wilson's son wrote uh peace uh bout hit in de papuh. De fuss chuch was down dyah cross de street fum Jim Foust's "tabernacle."
But de fuss cullud chuch in Madison was a Union chuch over dyah by de Presbyterian graveyard whah now is de Gyartuh factry. An' Jane Richardson was de leader.
"Yess'm I qot so no count, I had to cum live with mah son, Frank Dalton. Frank married Mattie Cardwell. You remembuh Mary Mann? She married Anderson Cardwell. Day's bofe dade long time. Days berried jess up hyuh at Mayodan whah Mr. Bollin's house is on and dem new bungyloes is on top um, too. Uh whole lots uh cullud people berried in dah with de slaves of Ole Miss Nancy (Watkins) Webster on till de Mayo Mills got started and day built Mayhodan at de Mayo Falls. An' dat's whah my daughter-in-law's folks is berried.
"My leben chillun - Frank, one died in West Virginia; Cora married Henry Cardwell; Hattie married Roy Current and bafe ob dem in Winston; Della married Arthur Adkins, an' Joe, an' George an' Perry an' Nathaniel Dalton, an'
"Yes'm mah daughter-in-law has de writings about de brick chuch, dem whut started hit, an' she'll put it out whah she can git hit fuh you easy, when you coun back fuh hit.
"Nome, up at Marse Lee Dalton's fob de S'renduh us slaves didn't nevuh go tuh chuch. But young Miss 'ud read de Bible to us sometimes."
Here in the five room, white painted cottage of his son, Frank, Unka Challilie is kindly cared for by his daughter-in-law, Mattie. A front porch faces the Mayodan hard road a rew doors from the "coppubration line". A well made arch accents the entrance to the front walk. A climbing rose flourishes on the arch. Well kept grass with flowers on the edges show Mattie's love. At the right sice is the vegetable garden, invaded b, several big domineckuh chickens. A kudzn vine keeps out the hot west sun. Unka Deallilie sits on the front porch and noes to his friends welse back in the kitchen, he bits and watches Mattie iron after he has eaten his breakfast. Several mens come on the back porch and lay in boxes there. One is 'uh setting fuh fried chicken later! A walnut tree, "use unite wawnut", waves its long dangl, green blooms as the leaves are half grown in the early May. Well aressed, clean, polite, comforted with has religion, but very "trimbly" even on his stout walking stick, Unka Challilie often dozes away his "no countness" with "uh napuh sleepin" while the mad rush of traffic and tourist wheels stir the rose climbing over the entrance arch. An ex-slave who started wiff nuffin de Yankees gave him, who lived on his old Marse's place ontil he was forty-eight, who cleaned the Mayo Mills ontill he was too trimbly to get amongst de machinery, who raised eleven children on an acre of red Rockingham county hillside, faces the next move with plenty to eat, wear, plenty time to take a nap uh sleepin.
