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"I was very young when freedom come; still I can member lots of t'ings, en then, too, my fam'ly been in slavery foh sech a long time, dat dey offen talked, en told us so much bout t'ings dat happened."
I was bawned in Bass County, Kentucky, jes' twelve miles from Mt. Sterling. Father en mother was owned by a Mr. Preston of Lexington. Dey had been give to him when he got married - in fact, his folks give him twenty of us slaves. Mr. Preston lived in Lexington, en had a fine place en sev'ral house servants. Den too, he had de fahm near Mt. Sterling, of about 200 acres, en twenty of us - or thereabouts - lived on dat place. Dey was five of us childun; Will, Lewis, Lucindie, Harriet, en me."
"Our mother died when we was very young, en our grandmother looked after us. Grandmother en my Aunt Nancy was very fine seamstresses, en dey would go in town to de Preston house, en sew foh weeks at a time makin' close foh de whole fam'ly. Us childun's close was well made en we had much more den some slaves cause my grandmother en aunt see to it dat we had t'ings, en dey made some of de t'ings dey made foh de Preston girls. We did have to go bare-foot in summer time, but when de weather got cool we begun to wear shoes."
Mr. Preston would come out once in a while, on I member him givin' us all nickel, en some of de older ones a good little bit of money."
"We had a church bout t'ree miles from us, en a preacher called Uncle Willis, who later was a school teacher, en we went to school to him."
"A lot of men from our place went to war. I had two uncles what went. It was nothin' to see sojers in our neighborhood. When de wah was ovah, Mr. Preston give all his slaves deeds foh so much land, en built 'em each a little four-room cottage. Some of dem folks is still on dat piece of land."
"We moved to Lexin'ton aftuh a few yeahs, en latuh to Gawgtown. I married Mr. Robert Baumont, from Orange County, Vi'ginia, en we went to Cincinnati. We moved from Cincinnati to Springfield bout twenty-five years ago."
"When we lived on de Preston farm somethin' happened dat raised a lot of talk. One de Preston girls fell in love with de Negro coachman en run off en married him in Canada. Said she never wanted to marry a white man. She never did have no white beaux as a girl."
"Her father was so hurt en he said he was going to disown her; but he did give 'em $10,000. Den he said he never wanted them to come back to visit him or his folks, but his folks could go up to Canada en visit with her en her fam'ly."
"Befoh, de Prestons threatened to kill de man, but de girl she said if dey killed him she would kill some of dem en herself, too. She told dem dat she pu'suaded him to take her, en dat she had been in love with him foh years, en had tried ever so long to git him to run off with her en marry her. Ole Miss like to a died, but she got ovah it, en took trips up to Canada when she wanted to see her daughter. But de girl en her husband dey nevah come back to her old home."
"Dey had a fam'ly, so we heard, en he was doin' well, en had some kind of business, en latah, it was said, he made a lot of money. He was a nice lookin' man; dark, but fine featured."
"Preston's slaves was same as free in dem times. De ones on his farm, dey tended dey own land en was dey own boss. Folks said he let his darkies be free, en some of 'em talked a lot en said dat when his daughter married."
"I know dey did'ny call a doctor foh evah little t'ing in de old days, like dey do now; dey used home remedies, en I learned to be a midwife en nurse when I grew up. I cant t'ink of some of de t'ings used in dem days. I know we used ground ivy foh measles, en water melon seed tea to make young babies kidneys act. Cucumber rinds was always good to rub on de face to remove freckles, en some people do dat now."
"When we went to church we sung lots of dem good ole hymns, like: 'I want Jesus to Walk With Me; Every Day And Every Hour',
'Take My Burdens To De Lord', en 'Bells Done Rung En I'm Goin' Home'.
"Me en my two daughters is all they is left. I go up to de Pentacostal Church, on South Yellow Springs Street, en both my girls go to de Second Baptist Church."
Interviewed at her residence, 802, Innisfallen Avenue.
Editor's note:
Kate Dudley Baumont, exact age unknown, but by her personal recollections adjudged to be past 80, is tall, slight of figure, with a soft voice and pleasant expression. Her color is dark and she has grey hair. She wears unusually long dresses, and walks slowly, bent by age.
