Bouregard Corry
From:
South Carolina
Project 1885-1
Folklore
Spartanburg, Dist. 4
Nov. 29, 1937
Edited by:
Elmer Turnage
STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES
"Time is but time, and how is I to know when I was born when everybody
knows dat dey never had no calendars when I come here. Few it was dat
ever seed even a Lady's Birthday Almanac. I is 75 years old. I was dat
last January on de 13th day [~HW: 186~]. I was born in old Union County
about 4 miles south of Gaffney.
"Marse Mike Montgomery had a place dat reached from town way yonder to
Broad River whar de Ninety-nine Islands lays. Now, de way de road lays,
dey counts it twelve miles from Gaffney. When I was a boy it was lots
further dan dat.
"Never know'd why, but de Red Shirts whipped my pa, Tom Corry. Dey jes'
come and got him out'n his house. He come back in de house. Chilluns was
not give no privileges in dem days, so I never axed no questions, kaise
I was fear'd. Chilluns jes' trots into your business dese days.
"My pa say he was a slave on dem Ninety-nine Islands. All I know is what
he told me. Mr. Mike Montgomery built lots of boats. Dey carried from 50
to 60 bales of cotton down at one time. De cotton was carried in de
fall. De Smith place jined de Montgomery place and dat run into de Nancy
Corry place. I have forded de river dar lots of times. Broad River is
shallow, deepest place in it back den was at de mouth of King Creek,
jes' below Cherokee Falls. It ain't so broad dar.
"Pa was de boatman for Mr. Mike. De boat was big and long, and dey
always started off early in de morning wid a load of cotton. Old man
Dick Corry had to stand in de boat jes' behind pa. Dey had two steermen.
So many rocks in de shallow water dat it kept de steermen busy dodging
rooks. Dey pushed de boat off de rocks wid long poles. Dey had to work
away from de rocks. Sometimes dey had to get out in de water and roll
some rocks from dere path if de water wasn't cold.
"Wharever night caught dem, dar dey stopped and pitched a camp. Dey
fished and killed wild ducks or birds dat was plentiful den, and cooked
dem along wid bread and other things fetched from home. On de way from
Columbia dey had lots of store-bought things to eat. Store-bought things
was a treat den. Now ducks and things is a treat. Times sho changes
fast.
"Spring was took up wid farming. Every man, white and black, had a
family back in dem days. Dat dey did, rich or poor, white or black, all
raised families. Men farmed and hauled manure and cleaned up de
plantation lots and fields and grubbed in de spring. Women cooked and
washed and ironed and spun and kept house and made everybody in de house
clothes, and made all de bed clothes. Dey stayed home all of de time.
Men got through work and set down at home wid deir wives and never run
around. Now all goes. Dat's all dey does dese days is go.
"We had plenty of bread and milk and we raised hogs and killed all kinds
of wild things like turkey, ducks and birds, and caught fish. Men had
guns dat dey used every day, and dey hit things, too. Folks kept in
practice, wid guns and had shooting matches.
"After dey stopped boating, wagons come in. Den things begin to change.
Dey still is changing. Wagons went to Spartanburg to take cotten. Folks
never went to Columbia no more. Spartanburg begin to grow and it sho
still is at it."
Source: Bouregard Corry (N, 75), Rt. 2, Gaffney, S. C.
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S. C. (11/22/37).
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