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N. C. District No. 2 Subject FRANK MAGWOOD Worker T. Pat Matthews Person Interviewed Frank Magwood No. Words 857 Editor G. L. Andrews"
"I'll never forgit de day when de Yankees come through Johnston County." I belonged to Tom Demaye an' ole missus in slavery time wus named Liza.
"De Demayes lived in Releigh when I wus born, so mother tole me, but dey moved to a place near Smithfield. He had 'bout a dozen slaves. We had little cabins to live in, but marster had a big house to live in that set in a grove. De food I got wus good because I wus a pet in de family. My mother wus a cook an' a pet. My marster wus good to all of us an' I fared better den dan I do now. Ole marster thought de world of me and I loved him. Marster allowed his slaves to visit, have prayer meetings, hunt, fish, an' sing and have a good time when de work wus done. Some of de slave owners did not like marster cause he wus so good to his slaves. They called us 'Ole Man Demayes dam free niggers.'
"I don't know my age zackly but I wus a big gal, big enough to drag a youngin roun' when de Yankees come through. I wus six years old if no older.
"When de Yankees come dey called us to de wagons an' tole us we wus free. Dey give such of us a cap full of hard-tack. Dey took clothes an' provisions an' give us nothin'.
One crowd of Yankees would come on an' give us something an' another would come along an' take it away from us. Dey tole us to call marster an' missus Johnny Rebs, that we wus free an' had no marsters. Dat wus a day for me. Some of de Yankees wus ridin', some walkin', an' some runnin'. Dey took de feather beds in marsters house to de windows, cut dem open an' let de feathers blow away. It wus a sad time to me cause dey destroyed so much of marster's stuff.
"After de Yankees left we stayed right on with marster a long time, den we moved away to other members of de family. Mother would not give up de family an' she an' daddy stayed wid 'em as long as dey lived. I love de family now an' I rather be livin' wid 'em den like I is. Dere is only a few of de younger set of de Demayes livin'. Cle marster an' missus had three boys, Sye, Lee, Zoa; girls, Vick, Correna and Phidelia, six chilluns in all. Dey is all dead but I can't never forgit 'em if I live to be a hundred years ole.
"I tries to live right before God an' man cause I knows I haint got much longer on dis earth. I knows I got to lay down sometime to rise no more till Judgment Day, den I wants to meet ole marster, missus an' de family in dat country where dere'll be no more goodbyes.
"I wus married at twenty years ole to Theodore Miles at de ole Lack Powell place near de Neuse River, in Woke County.
I wus hired as a house girl at dis place wid Mr. Alango Miles family. Dey wus some of de Demaye family. I had ten chillun, four boys an' six girls. Six of my chillun are livin' now. Two boys an' four girls. My husband been dead 'bout 16 years. He died in Oct. 1931. Buried on de third Sunday in October.
"I have farmedmost of my life an' have raised a big family. Sometimes we wus Hongry an' sometimes we had plenty. None of my chilluns wus never arrested an' none ever went to prison. I thinks dats something to knock on wood about.
"Slavery wus a good thing by all niggers who happened to have good marsters. De owners wus to blame for slavery gettin' such a bad reputation. Some of 'em jus' done a little too much an' sich caused de war an' give de niggers freedom. Slavery wus good for some an' bad for others."
