George Woods
From:
South Carolina
=Project 1885 -1-=
=District #4=
=Spartanburg, S.C.=
=June 1, 1937=
=Edited by:=
=E. Fronde Kennedy=
=FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES=
While looking for an ex-slave in a certain part of Spartanburg this
morning, I was directed across the street to "an old man who lives
there". I knocked at the door but received no answer. Then I noticed an
old man walking around by the side of the house. He was tall and
straight, standing about 6 feet 2 inches. He said that his name was
George Wood and that he was 78 years of age.
He stated that he was born during slavery, and lived on Peter Sepah's
place in York County. Peter Sepah's farm, where he was born, was near
the North Carolina line; it consisted of approximately 200 acres. His
parents were named Dan and Sarah Wood. His mother was given to old man
Sepah by his father as a wedding present, and his grandfather had been
given to an older Sepah by his parent as a wedding present. He said it
was the custom in slavery times that a slave be given to the son or
daughter by the white people when they got married.
He was too young to work, but about the time the war was over, he was
allowed to drive the horses that pulled the thrasher of wheat. His
master used to walk around and around while the wheat was being
thrashed, and see that everybody was doing their work all right. His
father lived on another plantation. There was only one family of slaves
on the whole plantation. He, his mother, and five children lived in a
one-room log cabin about 30 or 40 feet from the "big house". Their beds
consisted of straw mattresses. They had plenty to eat, having the same
food that the white folks did. They ate ash cakes mostly for bread, but
once a week they had biscuits to eat. When the wheat was thrashed, they
had biscuits mostly for breakfast; but as the wheat got scarcer they did
not have much wheat to eat. He said that Buffalo Creek flowed pretty
close to their place and that the creek emptied into Broad River.
Shelby, N.C., their market, was about ten miles distant. He thinks that
it was easier then than now to get something to eat.
The log cabin where he and his mother lived was kept comfortably warm in
the winter time. All they had to do, was to go to the wood-pile and get
all the wood they needed for the fire. His mother worked on the farm,
washed clothes and helped with the cooking at his master's house. The
slaves stopped work every Saturday afternoon about three o'clock; then
his mistress would have his mother to patch their clothes, as she did
not like to see their clothes needing patching. "We used to have lots of
fun," he said, "more than the children do now. As children, we used to
play marbles around the house; but no other special game."
Uncle George said that the patrollers saw that the colored people were
in their houses at 8 o'clock every night. "They would come to the house
and look in; of course, if a man had a pass to another plantation or
some place, that was all right; or if he had some business somewhere.
But everybody had to be in the house by 8 o'clock." He also stated that
if a slave strayed off the plantation and didn't have a pass, if he
could out-run the "pateroller" and get back upon his own place, then he
was all right. The only slave he ever saw get a whipping, was one who
had stayed out after hours; then a switch was used on him by a
"pateroller". He said he never saw any slaves in chains or treated
badly, for his master was a good man, and so was his "Missus". One day
his mother went to a church that was not her own church. On coming back,
she saw a "pateroller" coming behind her. She began to run, and he did
too; but as he caught up with her, she stepped over a fence on her
master's place and dared the "pateroller" to do anything to her. He
didn't do a thing and would not get over the fence where she was, as he
would have been on somebody's place besides his own.
He said that when the corn-shucking time came, both whites and blacks
would gather at a certain plantation. Everybody shucked corn, and they
all had a good time. When the last ear of corn was shucked, the owner of
the plantation would begin to run from the place and all would run after
him. When they caught him, he was placed on the shoulders of two men and
carried around and around the house, all singing and laughing and having
a good time. Then they would carry the man into his house, pull off his
hat and throw it into the fire; place him in a chair; comb his head;
cross his knees for him and leave him alone. They would not let him
raise a second crop under his old hat--he had to have a new hat for a
new crop. Then they would all, colored and white, gather to eat. The
owner of the farm would furnish plenty to eat; sometimes he would have
some whiskey to drink, but not often, "as that was a dangerous thing to
have".
He said that if a man who was chewing or smoking met a woman, he would
throw his tobacco away before talking with the woman.
There was plenty of fruit in those days, so brandy was made and put into
barrels in the smoke-house; and the same way they had plenty of corn,
and would put up a still and put the whiskey they made into barrels.
People in those days, he said, had "manners". The white and colored
folks would have their separate sections in the church where they sat.
"I've seen a white man make another white man get up in church and give
his place to a colored man when the church was crowded." He said his
father was baptized by Rev. Dixon, father of Tom Dixon, who was a
Baptist preacher. His mother was sprinkled by a Methodist white
preacher, but he was baptized by a colored preacher.
Asked about marriages among the slaves, he said the ceremony was
performed by some "jack-legged" colored preacher who pronounced a few
words and said they were man and wife.
He said the colored people did not know much about Jeff Davis or Abraham
Lincoln except what they heard about them. All that he remembered was a
song that his Missus used to sing:
"Jeff Davis rides a big gray horse,
Lincoln rides a mule;
Jeff Davis is a fine old man,
And Lincoln is a fool."
Another song was:
"I'll lay $10 down and number them one by one,
As sure as we do fight 'em,
The Yankees will run."
One day his "Missus" came to their house and told his mother they were
free and could go anywhere they wanted to, but she hoped they would
stay on that year and help them make a crop. He said his mother just
folded her hands and put her head down and "studied". She decided to
stay on that year. The next year, they moved to another plantation,
where they stayed for twenty years.
"Before they were free, every colored man took the name of his master,
but afterwards, I took my father's name."
He said that the Yankee soldiers did not come to their place, but they
were ready for them if they had come. The silver was buried out in the
lot, and stable manure was piled and thrown all about the spot. The two
good horses were taken off and hidden, but the old horse his master
owned was left. He said that sometimes a Confederate soldier would come
by riding an old horse, and would want to trade horses with his master.
Sometimes his master would trade, for he thought his horse would be
taken anyway. His master would never get anything "to boot", as the
soldier didn't have the "to boot" when the trade was made. So the
soldier would ride off the horse, leaving the poor, broken-down one
behind. Sometimes after the war, the Confederate soldiers would come by
the house, sick, wounded and almost starved; but his mistress would fix
something to eat for them; then they would go on.
"'Possum and 'taters were plentiful then. When a slave wanted to go
hunting, he could go; but we had to work then--nobody works now." He
said that on rainy days, his mother did not have to go to the field, but
stayed at home and sewed or carded. He said that after freedom came to
the slaves, he worked on a farm for $5.00 a month. After he had been on
the farm for many years, he heard that Spartanburg was on a boom, so he
came here and worked at railroading for many more years. He has quit
work now; but still does a little gardening for some white folks. He
said that the white people in the South understand the colored people.
When asked if he had ever seen a ghost, he replied that he had never
seen one and had never seen a person who had. "I don't believe in those
things anyhow," he said. He also stated he had never heard of anybody
being "conjured" either. He said that all the niggers in his section
were scared of the niggers from way down in South Carolina, for their
reputation as conjurers was against them, so they always fought shy of
them and didn't have anything to do with the "niggers from way down in
South Carolina".
SOURCE: George Woods, 337 N. View St., Spartanburg, S.C.
Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S.C.
Next:
Aleck Woodward
Previous:
Julia Woodberry
Informational
