Harriet Mason
From:
Kentucky
Garrard County. Ex-Slave Stories.
(Eliza Ison) [HW: Ky 11]
Aunt Harriet Mason--Ex-Slave:
She was born one mile below Bryantsville on the Lexington Pike in
Garrard County, and was owned by B.M. Jones. She gives the date of her
birth as April 14, 1847. Aunt Harriet's father was Daniel Scott, a slave
out of Mote Scott's slave family. Aunt Harriet's mother's name was Amy
Jones, slave of Marse Briar Jones, who came from Harrodsburg, Ky. The
names of her brothers were Harrison, Daniel, Merida, and Ned; her
sisters were Susie and Maria. Miss Patsy, wife of Marse Briar gave Maria
to Marse Sammy Welsh, brother of Miss Patsy's and who lived with his
sister. He taught school in Bryantsville for a long time. "General Gano
who married Jane Welsh, adopted daughter of Marse Briar Jones, took my
sisters Myra and Emma, Brother Ned and myself to Tarrant County, Texas
to a town called Lick Skillet, to live. Grapevine was the name of the
white folks house. It was called Grapevine because these grapevines
twined around the house and arbors. Sister Emma was the cook and Myra
and me were nurse and house maids. Brother married Betty Estill, a slave
who cooked for the Estill family. Mr. Estill later bought Ned in order
to keep him on the place. I didn't sleep in the cabins with the rest of
the Negroes; I slept in the big house and nursed the children. I was not
paid any money for my work. My food was the same as what the white folks
et. In the summer time we wore cotton and tow linen; and linsey in the
winter. The white folks took me to church and dressed me well. I had
good shoes and they took me to church on Sunday. My master was a
preacher and a doctor and a fine man. Miss Mat sho was hard to beat. The
house they lived in was a big white house with two long porches. We had
no overseer or driver. We had no "Po white neighbors". There was about
300 acres of land around Lick Skillet, but we did not have many slaves.
The slaves were waked up by General Gano who rang a big farm bell about
four times in the morning. There was no jail on the place and I never
say a slave whipped or punished in any way. I never saw a slave
auctioned off. My Mistus taught all the slaves to read and write, and we
set on a bench in the dining room. When the news came that we were free
General Gano took us all in the dining room and told us about it. I told
him I wusn't going to the cabins and sleep with them niggers and I
didn't. At Christmas and New Years we sho did have big times and General
Gano and Miss Nat would buy us candy, popcorn, and firecrackers and all
the good things just like the white folks. I don't remember any
weddings, but do remember the funeral of Mr. Marion who lived between
the big house and Lick Skillet. He was going to be buried in the
cemetery at Lick Skillet, but the horses got scared and turned the
spring wagon over and the corpse fell out. The mourners sure had a time
getting things straightened out, but they finally got him buried.
They used to keep watermelon to pass to company. Us children would go to
the patch and bring the melons to the big spring and pour water over
them and cool 'em. When news came that we were free we all started back
to Kentucky to Marse Jones old place. We started the journey in two
covered wagons and an ambulance. General Gano and Miss Nat and the two
children and me rode in the ambulance. When we got to Memphis we got on
a steam boat named "Old Kentucky". We loaded the ambulance and the two
wagons and horses on the boat. When we left the boat, we got on the
train and got off at Georgetown in Scott County and rode from there to
General Gano's Brother William in Scott County, on a stage coach. When I
took the children, Katy and Maurice, upstairs to wash them I looked out
the window into the driveway and saw the horses that belonged to Marse
Briar Jones. They nickered at the gate trying to get in. The horses were
named Henry Clay and Dan. When the children went down I waved at the
horses and they looked up at the window and nickered again and seemed to
know me. When we were coming back from Texas, Maurice held on the plait
of my hair all the way back. I didn't marry while I belonged to the Gano
family. I married Henry Mason after I came to Lancaster to live about
sixty years ago. I am the mother of nine children, three boys and six
girls. There are two living. I have no grand-children. I joined the
church when the cholera epidemic broke out in Lancaster in 1878. The
preacher was Brother Silas Crawford, of the Methodist Church. I was
baptized in a pond on Creamery Street. I think people ought to be
religious because they live better and they love people more."
Aunt Harriet lived at the present behind the White Methodist Church in
Lancaster. The daughter with whom she lives is considered one of the
high class of colored people in Lancaster. She holds an A.B. Degree,
teaching in the colored city school, and is also a music teacher. She
stands by the teaching of her mother, being a "Good Methodist"; giving
of her time, talent, and service for her church.
Bibliography:
Interview with Aunt Harriet Mason, Lancaster, Kentucky.
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