Annie Young Henson
From:
Maryland
Maryland
Sept. 27, 1937
Rogers
ANNIE YOUNG HENSON, Ex-slave.
Reference: Personal interview with Annie Young Henson, ex-slave,
at African M.E. Home, 207 Aisquith St., Baltimore.
"I was born in Northumberland County, Virginia, 86 years ago. Daughter
of Mina and Tom Miller. I had one brother Feelingchin and two sisters,
Mary and Matilda. Owned by Doctor Pressley Nellum.
"The farm was called Traveler's Rest. The farm so named because a man
once on a dark, cold and dreary night stopped there and asked for
something to eat and lodging for the night; both of which was given and
welcomed by the wayfarer.
"The house being very spacious with porches on each side, situated on a
high hill, with trees on the lawn giving homes to the birds and shade to
the master, mistress and their guests where they could hear the chant of
the lark or the melodious voices of the slaves humming some familiar
tunes that suited their taste, as they worked.
"Nearby was the slave quarters and the log cabin, where we lived, built
about 25 feet from the other quarter. Our cabin was separate and
distinct from the others. It contained two rooms, one up and one down,
with a window in each room. This cabin was about 25 feet from the
kitchen of the manor house, where the cooking was done by the kitchen
help for the master, mistress and their guests, and from which each
slave received his or her weekly ration, about 20 pounds of food each.
"The food consisted of beef, hog meat, and lamb or mutton and of the
kind of vegetables that we raised on the farm.
"My position was second nurse for the doctor's family, or one of the
inner servants of the family, not one of the field hands. In my position
my clothes were made better, and better quality than the others, all
made and arranged to suit the mistress' taste. I got a few things of
femine dainty that was discarded by the mistress, but no money nor did I
have any to spend. During my life as a slave I was whipped only once,
and that was for a lie that was told on me by the first nurse who was
jealous of my looks. I slept in the mistress' room in a bed that we
pushed under the mistress' in the day or after I arose.
"Old Master had special dogs to hunt opossum, rabbit, coons and birds,
and men to go with them on the hunt. When we seined, other slave owners
would send some of their slaves to join ours and we then dividing the
spoils of the catch.
"We had 60 slaves on the plantation, each family housed in a cabin built
by the slaves for Nellums to accommodate the families according to the
number. For clothes we had good clothes, as we raised sheep, we had our
own wool, out of which we weaved our cloth, we called the cloth 'box and
dice'.
"In the winter the field slaves would shell corn, cut wood and thrash
wheat and take care of the stock. We had our shoes made to order by the
shoe maker.
"My mistress was not as well off before she married the doctor as
afterward. I was small or young during my slave days, I always heard my
mistress married for money and social condition. She would tell us how
she used to say before she was married, when she saw the doctor coming,
'here comes old Dr. Nellums'. Another friend she would say 'here comes
cozen Auckney'.
"We never had any overseers on the plantation, we had an old colored man
by the name of Peter Taylor. His orders was law, if you wanted to please
Mistress and Master, obey old Peter.
"The farm was very large, the slaves worked from sunup to sundown, no
one was harshly treated or punished. They were punished only when proven
guilty of crime charged.
"Our master never sold any slaves. We had a six-room house, where the
slaves entertained and had them good times at nights and on holidays. We
had no jail on the plantation. We were not taught to read or write, we
were never told our age.
"We went to the white church on Sunday, up in the slave gallery where
the slaves worshipped sometimes. The gallery was overcrowded with ours
and slaves from other plantations. My mistress told me that there was
once an old colored man who attended, taking his seat up in the gallery
directly over the pulpit, he had the habit of saying Amen. A member of
the church said to him, 'John, if you don't stop hollowing Amen you
can't come to church'; he got so full of the Holy Ghost he yelled out
Amen upon a venture, the congregation was so tickled with him and at his
antics that they told him to come when and as often as he wanted.
"During my slave days only one slave ran away, he was my uncle, when the
Yankees came to Virginia, he ran away with them. He was later captured
by the sheriff and taken to the county jail. The Doctor went to the
court house, after which we never heard nor saw my uncle afterwards.
"I have seen and heard white-cappers, they whipped several colored men
of other plantations, just prior to the soldiers drilling to go to war.
"I remember well the day that Dr. Nellum, just as if it were yesterday,
that we went to the court house to be set free. Dr. Nellum walked in
front, 65 of us behind him. When we got there the sheriff asked him if
they were his slaves. The Dr. said they were, but not now, after the
papers were signed we all went back to the plantation. Some stayed
there, others went away. I came to Baltimore and I have never been back
since. I think I was about 17 or 18 years old when I came away. I worked
for Mr. Marshall, a flour merchant, who lived on South Charles Street,
getting $6.00 per month. I have been told by both white and colored
people of Virginia who knew Dr. Nellum, he lost his mind."
Next:
Silas Jackson
Previous:
Page Harris
