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"I live near Broad River in de Dutch Fork. My pa was Lem Heller and my ma was Lucy Heller. Ma was a Suber befo' she married, and she belonged to Marion Suber who lived near Broad River.
"I remember de soldiers when dey come through de last year of de war, but don't know whether dey was Yankee or Southern soldiers. Dey camped in de neighborhood, and come and took my daddy's old horse he had put in de stable dat night. Dey took it away with dem.
"I can't remember much about slavery time but I heard lots. Old nigger Liddy tended to us chaps, fed us, and kept up with us. De slaves had to work all day. Dey didn't get no money but had plenty to eat. Dey had to work all day on Saturday, and sometimes on Sunday if de fodder had to be taken in and put in de barn. We raised everything we had to eat, and we had plenty clothes, such as dey was.
"Atter Miss come, I had to stay in de house with dem and mind de flies off de table while de white folks eat. I had to do other things around de house, too. We didn't have time to learn to read and write, and I never went to school atter de war. Sometimes missus would take me to church with her, and when she kneeled down to pray, I would kneel down, too. I was a small child den, and dat was de first church I ever went to. De white folks called it Mt. Pleasant.
"De white folks raised all kinds of cattle like cows, hogs, chickens and horses. Dey got de feed from de fields and when de grain was cut dey let de hogs rove over de fields.
"De men would fish and set out baskets made from white oak. Dey used to hunt lots, too, and shoot doves, partridges, rabbits, squirrels, and go possum hunting at night.
"My ma made homespun clothes, and atter I married, I spun and wove my own clothes. De white folks had spinning wheels and looms, and dey used to spin cloth for me and let me weave it. I made all de clothes for my husband and boys, den.
"I heard about de patrollers and de ku Klux, but I never saw any of dem. I use to hear about how de patrollers would catch slaves out without passes and drive dem back home. When I married, it was on Sunday night, and we had a little supper, but didn't have a big crowd. We didn't have no frolic or nothing like dat.
"I don't know nothing about Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis. I never thought about freedom much, 'cause I was too young to remember slavery days. I was always raised up to be satisfied with nothing, but if I got dissatisfied about anything, not let it be known."
