John Smith Wake County
From:
North Carolina
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 1648
Subject: JOHN SMITH
Story teller: John Smith
Editor: Office force
[HW: 300 slaves raised [TR: illegible], 2 women, some reconstruction
material]
JOHN SMITH
John Smith, a Negro in the Wake County Home, Raleigh, N.C.
Interviewed by T. Pat Matthews, May 10, 1937.
"John Smith is my name, an I wuz borned at Knightdale, right at my
marster's house. Yes sir, right in his home. I wuz born right near whar
de depot now is. My marster owned de lan', all de lan' dere. I wuz bred
an' bawn dere on my marster's plantation. I is, countin' day an' night,
216 years old, not countin' day an' night I is 108 years old.
"My marster's name wuz Haywood Smith an' he wuz one ob de bes' men I
ebber seed. He wuz good to all us niggers, he would come round an' talk
to us, he lubbed us, and we lubbed him. My marster, Haywood Smith,
nebber married but he had a nigger 'oman. She also had a nigger
husband. She had two chillun by Marster Haywood Smith, a gal and a boy.
Peter Knight owned my marster's lan' at Knightdale atter my marster
died. He died de year de war commence.
"Den de gardeen, de gardeen dat wuz appointed for all us slaves, and
his name wuz Bat Moore, he carried us slaves to Marster Haywood Smith's
brother's chillun in Alabama. He wuz de gardeen. I got dere de month de
war commence. Bat Moore carried me to Alabama. Marster Elam Smith's
chillun wuz named Frank an' John Elam. Dem boy's mother wuz name' Miss
Mary, dere fadder wuz daid. Miss Mary married agin. Her first husband
was Elam. Miss Mary moved off, but I staid wid de boys.
"My mother's name wuz Rose Smith, my father's name wuz Powell. He died
at Wilmington, N.C. when dey wuz diggin' de trenches roun' de fort dere
durin' da war. My mother died in Greene Co. Alabama, at a place called
Smithfield. My father belonged to Mack Powell. I made no money before
or atter de war. I worked in Alabama until de war close.
"I seed millions of Yankees, just like bees. When de war close I went
wid' em. I did not work enny for a year. I wuz so glad when de war
ended, and dey tole me I wuz free I did not know what to do. I went wid
de Yankees, dey wuz kind to us. Dey said dey wuz shore glad to see us.
Dey gib us just what dey wanted us to hab.
"During de war, I had corn bread wid one piece o' meat a day. De meal
wuz not sifted. De white folks had sifters made of horse hair but de
slaves didn't have no sifters. When I carried a dress off to have it
made on Sunday for Mist'ss during de war, when she could not make it
herself, she gimme a biskit. We called Sunday, Blue Monday. She gimme
de biskit fur workin' on Sunday. Den I got a biskit fur going atter de
dress. I got about two biskits a year when de war was going on. I wuz
workin' to keep de soldiers fed, dey got de biskits.
"Tom Bridgers wuz marster's overseer. He had 160 chilluns by niggers.
Marster Bridgers rode a horse when he went ober de plantation.
"De only game I eber played wuz marbles. I played fer watermelons. We
didn't hab eny money so we played fer watermelons.
"In Alabama we got up at 4 o'clock and worked to 9 or 10 o'clock den we
had breakfast, en rested till 4 o'clock. Dat wuz when de weather wuz
dry and hot. It wud kill de truck to work it den. When it wuz wet we
worked longer. In North Carolina we worked from sun to sun, but we
rested two hours at noon. You hardly ever heard of a man gittin' sick.
If he did, he had de typhoid den Dr. Sewell at Knightdale, atter a
while called Jedge Sewell, would come en doctor him. Old man Jedge
Sewell was buried near St. Augustine School, other side Tarboro Road.
"I didn' have to pay anthing fer going to Alabama. I wuz carried. Bat
Moore carried me, he wuz de gardeen, but I had to pay to come back. Dey
went atter me, and I had to work two years to pay it back. Yes,
Sir-ree, two whole years to pay fer coming back. I wuz glad to git
back. Sometimes, dey gib us a fofe of de crap to farm. Some years we
didn' make much, when it wuz dry. No, we didn' make much. People didn'
sociate together, pore whites, free niggers, slaves, and de slave
owners. No dey didn' sociate much befo' de war, but dey did atter de
war, dey got to mixin' den.
"I et rabbits, an' possums, coons an' fish. I muddied de water an'
caught fish. I caught rabbits, coons, an' possums wid dogs. Dey fared
but middlin pore chance wid us. We caught rabbits in hollers an' caves;
an' possums in trees, but we had a hard time ketchin' squirrels. We
niggers had no guns, so we had a hard time ketchin' squirrels. I et
rabbits in summer whin dey had kits in 'em. We caught all dese animals
wid dogs.
"De white chillun didn' work, but de white folks wuz good to me. Yes,
Sir-ree, dey wuz good to me. If dey done anything to me it wuz my
fault. I belonged to Elam Smith's chilluns, Frank and John Elam.
"I seed many Yankees during de war in Alabama. When de war ended dey
tole me I wuz free. I wuz so glad I didn' know whut to do. De Yankees
tole me I wuz free. I went wid 'em. I stayed wid 'em from May till
August. Den I slipped away from 'em. I had no clothes and shoes till de
Yankees come. Yes, Sir, I went barefooted. Dey gimme clothes and shoes,
but I slipped away from 'em because dey wanted me to do things I didn'
want to do.
"White folks, if I must tell you, I must. I think Jesus sent you to me
so I can tell my story. Dey just wanted me to forage aroun' and git
chickens, collards, taters en anybody's hogs I could git. I didn' have
no slips or shoes, no unner clothes for 40 years befo' de Yankees come,
but I slipped away. I didn' want to do what dey wanted me t'do.
"De pore white folks done tolerable well but de rich slave owners
didn' 'low 'em to come on dere plantations. Dey didn' 'low free niggers
to come on de plantations if dey could help it, but dey couldn' hep it.
Dey slipped in dere at night when de marster didn' know it.
"My marster owned three plantations and 300 slaves. He started out wid
2 'oman slaves and raised 300 slaves. One wuz called short Peggy, and
the udder wuz called long Peggy. Long Peggy had 25 chillun. Long Peggy,
a black 'oman, wuz boss ob de plantation. Marster freed her atter she
had 25 chilluns, just think o' dat, raisin' 300 slaves wid two 'omans.
It sho is de truf do'.
"There wuz no jails but dey had whippin' pos' on de plantations. When a
nigger done anything he wuz tied and whupped, dare ain't no scars on my
back, no nary a one. Dere wuz slave auction blocks at Rolesville, en
down to Rosinburg, Harpsborough, below Zebulon, next place, Smithfield.
"White folks didn' hep me to read an' write. If I wuz caught wid a book
I had better run an' git in a hole somewhar. Dey didn' low me to hab
nothing to do wid books.
"My marster preached to us on Sunday. He wuz a preacher. My marster
preached to his slaves. No slaves didn' run away from my marster. He
wuz too good to 'em. De slaves from other places run away do', an' when
dey caught 'em dey whupped 'em too.
"Yes Sir, my marster gib us Christmas. Sometimes he gib us two weeks
befo' we went to work agin Christmas. Licker wuz no mo 'en water.
Brandy, de highest price of any of it wuz 40 cts. a gallon. We had a
plenty uv licker, but nobody got drunk. Sometimes a white man got drunk
en now en den a nigger would git drunk.
"All worked for one an'er den. I tell you dis young bunch ain't right,
dey don't do right, dey don't work fer one an'er.
"I never married befo' de war. Nobody married on marster's plantation,
but dey had 'omans. My 'oman wuz mighty good to me. I slep' anywhar I
could befo' de war ended, in de shuck pen, cotton seed house, an' went
barefooted in slavery days. I married Helen Jones atter de war. I had
four chilluns by her, 2 gals an' 2 boys. One o' dem boys is livin' now,
but I doan know whar he is. I had one child by my 'oman in slavery
time. My 'oman died in Greene County Alabama. I been married twice. I
married another 'oman named Amy Gumpton in Wake County. She had four
chillun by me, one, a boy is in de navy yard, a girl in Brooklyn, New
York, one in Wake County, a farmer, an' one died. I lub de southern
people, but de debbil got de bes' of 'em; dey wuz good to me.
"I doan think Mr. Abraham Lincoln wuz a good man, no sir-ree, de debbil
got him atter he whupped and won all de lan'. He wanted to gib it back
agin. De debbil got de bes' o' him. He didn' lib long atter he whupped,
did he?"
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John Smith Pettigrew Street
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Tiney Shaw
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