John Lynch
From:
Arkansas
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: John Lynch,
Brinkley, Arkansas
Age: 69
"My mother was a slave of Buck Lynch. They lived close to Nashville,
Tennessee. My father run away from Buck Lynch before the Civil War. He
lived in the woods till he nearly went wild. My mother fed him at
night. I was twenty-one years old before I ever seen him. My mother
worked several years and didn't know she was free. She come with some
traders from close to Nashville out here. I was born at Cotton Plant.
I got two living brothers in Memphis now.
"I was raised a farmer. The first work I ever done away from home was
here in Brinkley. I worked at the sawmill fur Gun and Black. Then I
went to Ft. Smith and worked in er oil mill. I come back here and
farmed frum 1911 till 1915. Then I worked in the Brinkley oil mill. I
cooked the cotton seed meal. One of my bosses had me catch a small cup
full fur him every once in awhile. The oil taste something like peanut
butter. It taste very well while it is hot and smells fine too. I quit
work when they quit the mill here. It burned up. I do like the work.
They got some crazy notion and won't hire old fellows like me no more.
Jobs are hard to get. Younger men can get something seems like pretty
easy. I make a garden. That is 'bout all I can do or get to do.
"My mother's name was Molly Lynch. She cooked some at Cotton Plant and
worked in the field. She talked a right smart bout the way she had to
do in slavery times but I don't recollect much.
Shes been dead a long time. I heard folks say times was awful hard
right after the war, that times was easier in slavery for de reason
when they got sick they got the best of care. She said they had all
kinds of herbs along the side of the walks in the garden. I don't
guess after they got settled times was near as hard. She talked about
how hard it was to get clothes and something to eat. Prices seemed
like riz like they are now.
"I don't know 'bout my father's votin' cause I didn't know him till
after I was grown and not much then. He was down about Marianna when I
knowed him. I did vote. I vote the Republican ticket. I like the way
we voted the best in 1886 or '87. It was called Fair Divide. Each side
put his man and the one got most votes got elected. I don't think it
necessary fur the women to vote. Her place is in the home. Seem like
the women all going to work and the men quit. About 40 years ago R. P.
Polk was justice of the peace here and Clay Holt was the constable.
They made very good officers. I don't recollect nothing 'bout them
being elected. Brinkley is always been a very peaceable town. The
colored folks have to go clear away from town with any rowdiness."
(The Negroes live among the whites and at their back doors in every
part of town.)
"I live with my son-in-law. He works up at the Gazzola Grocery
Company. He owns this house. He is doing very well but he works
hard.
"The young generation so far as I knows is getting along fairly well.
I don't know if times is harder; they is jes' different. When folks do
right seems there's a way provided for 'em.
"I signed up with the PWA. I signed up two or three times but they
ain't give us nothing much yet. They wouldn't let me work. They said I
was too old. I works if I can get any work to do."
Next:
Josephine Scott Lynch
Previous:
John Luckett
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