Abner Jordan
From:
North Carolina
N.C. District: No. 3
Writer: Daisy Whaley
No. Words: 250
Subject: Abner Jordan, Ex-slave
Of Durham County.
Interviewed: Abner Jordan
Durham County Home.
Abner Jordan
Ex-slave, 95 years.
"I wus bawn about 1832 an' I wus bawn at Staggsville, Marse Paul
Cameron's place. I belonged to Marse Paul. My pappy's name wus Obed an'
my mammy wus Ella Jordan an' dey wus thirteen chillun on our family.
"I wus de same age of Young Marse Benehan, I played wid him an' wus his
body guard. Yes, suh, Whare ever young Marse Benehan went I went too. I
waited on him. Young Marse Benny run away an' 'listed in de war, but
Marse Paul done went an' brung him back kaze he wus too young to go and
fight de Yankees.
"Marse Paul had a heap of niggahs; he had five thousan'. When he meet
dem in de road he wouldn' know dem an' when he azed dem who dey wus an'
who dey belonged to, dey' tell him dey belonged to Marse Paul Cameron
an' den he would say dat wus all right for dem to go right on.
"My pappy wus de blacksmith an' foreman for Marse Paul, an' he blew de
horn for de other niggahs to come in from de fiel' at night. Dey
couldn' leave de plantation without Marse say dey could.
"When de war come de Yankees come to de house an' axed my mammy whare
de folks done hid de silver an' gol', an' dey say dey gwine to kill
mammy if she didn' tell dem. But mammy say she didn' know whare dey put
it, an' dey would jus' have to kill her for she didn' know an' wouldn'
lie to keep dem from hurting her.
"De sojers stole seven or eight of de ho'ses an' foun' de meat an'
stole dat, but dey didn' burn none of de buildin's nor hurt any of us
slaves.
"My pappy an' his family stayed wid Marse Paul five years after de
surrender den we moved to Hillsboro an' I's always lived 'roun' dese
parts. I ain' never been out of North Carolina eighteen months in my
life. North Carolina is good enough for me."
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Clara Jones
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