Daphney Wright
From:
South Carolina
=Project #-1655=
=Phoebe Faucette=
=Hampton County=
=Folklore=
=DAPHNEY WRIGHT=
=106 Year Old Ex-Slave=
Just around the bend from the old mill pond on the way to Davis Swimming
Pool lives a very old negro woman. Her name is Daphney Wright, though
that name has never been heard by those who affectionately know her as
"Aunt Affie". She says she is 106 years old. She comes to the door
without a cane and greets her guests with accustomed curtsey. She is
neatly dressed and still wears a fresh white cap as she did when she
worked for the white folks. Save for her wearing glasses and walking
slowly, there are no evidences of illness or infirmities. She has a
sturdy frame, and a kindly face shows through the wrinkles.
"I been livin' in Beaufort when de war fust (first) break out", she
begins. "Mr. Robert Cally was my marsa. Dat wuz in October. De Southern
soldiers come through Bluffton on a Wednesday and tell de white folks
must get out de way, de Yankees right behind 'em! De summer place been
at Bluffton. De plantation wuz ten miles away. After we refugee from
Bluffton, we spent de fust night at Jonesville. From dere we went to
Hardeeville. We got here on Saturday evening. You know we had to ride by
horses--in wagons an' buggies. Dere weren't no railroads or cars den.
Dat why it take so long.
"Mr. Lawrence McKenzie wuz my Missus' child. We stayed wid him awhile,
'til he find us a place. Got us a little house. We stayed four years
dere, 'til de war wuz over. Dey sent de young ladies on--on farther up
de country, to a safer place. Dey went to Society Hill. My old Missus
stay. Sae wuz a old lady. When de Yankees come she died. I wuz right
dere wid her when she died. She had been sickly. After de war dey all
went back to de old place. I had married up here, so when dey went back
I stay on here.
"I been right here when de Yankees come through. I been in my house
asittin' before de fire, jes' like I is now.
"One of 'em come up an' say, 'You know who I is?'
"I say, 'No.'
"He say, 'Well, I is come to set you free. You kin stay wid your old
owners if you wants to, but dey'll pay you wages.'
"But dey sure did plenty of mischief while dey wuz here. Didn't burn all
de houses. Pick out de big handsome house to burn. Burn down Mr. Bill
Lawton' house. Mr. Asbury Lawton had a fine house. Dey burn dat. (He
Marse Tom Lawton' brother.) Burn Mr. Maner' house. Some had put a poor
white woman in de house to keep de place; but it didn't make no
difference.
"De soldiers say, 'Dis rich house don't belong to you. We goin' to burn
dis house!'
"Dey'd go through de house an' take everything'. Take anythin' they
could find. Take from de white, an' take from de colored, too. Take
everything out de house! Dey take from my house. Take somethin' to eat.
But I didn't have anythin' much in my house. Had a little pork an' a
week's supply of rations.
"De white folks would bury de silver. But dey couldn't always find it
again. One give her silver to de colored butler to bury but he wuz kill,
an' nobody else know where he bury it. It wuz after de war, an' he wuz
walkin' down de road, an' Wheeler's Brigade kill him.
"Been years an' years 'fore everythin' could come together again. You
know after de war de Confederate money been confiscate. You could be
walkin' 'long de road anytime an' pick up a ten dollar bill or a five
dollar bill, but it wuzn't no good to you. After de greenback come money
flourish again.
"De plantation wuz down on de river. I live dere 'cept for de four years
we refugee. Dat been a beautiful place--dere on de water! When de stars
would come out dere over de water it wuz a beautiful sight! Sometimes
some of us girls would get in a little 'paddle' an' paddle out into de
river. We'd be scared to go too far out, but we'd paddle around.
Sometimes my father would go out in de night an' catch de fish with a
seine. He'd come back with a bushel of fish 'most anytime. Dey were nice
big mullets! He'd divide 'em 'round 'mongst de colored folks. An' he'd
take some up to de white folks for dere breakfast. My white folks been
good white people. I never know no cruel. Dey treat me jes like one of
dem. Dey say dey took me when I wuz five years old. An' I stay wid dem
'til freedom. I am 106 years old now.
"Dem people on de water don't eat much meat. Twenty-five cent of bacon
will last dem a week. Dey cut de meat into little pieces, an' fry dem
into cracklings, den put dat into de fish stew. It surely makes de stew
good. When dey kill a hog dey take it to town an' sell it, den use de
money for whatever dey want. Dey don't have to cure de pork an' keep it
to eat. Dey jes' eat fish. Dey have de mullets, an' de oysters, an' de
crabs, an' dese little clams. Dey have oyster-stew. Dey have roast
oysters, den de raw oysters. An' dey have dey fried oysters! Dat sure is
good. Dey fish from de boat, dey fish from de log, an' dey fish 'long de
edge of de water wid a net. When de tide go down you kin walk along an'
jes pick up de crab. You could get a bucket full in no time. We'd like
to go up an' down an' pick up de pretty shells. I got one here on de
mantel now. It ain't sech a big one, but it's a pretty little shell.
"I is always glad to talk 'bout de old times an' de old people. We is
livin' in peace now, but still it's hard times. We ought to be thankful
though our country ain't in war."
Source: Daphney Wright, Scotia, S.C.
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Uncle Bill Young
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Pauline Worth
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