Kitty Hill
From:
North Carolina
N. C. District: No. 2 [320084]
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 878
Subject: KITTY HILL
Person Interviewed: Kitty Hill
Editor: G. L. Andrews
[TR: Date Stamp "AUG 17 1937"]
KITTY HILL
329 West South Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.
I tole you yisterday dat my age wus 76 years old, but my daughter come
home, an' I axed her' bout it an' she say I is 77 years old. I don't
know exactly the date but I wus born in April. I wus a little girl 'bout
five years ole when de surrender come, but I don't' member anything
much' bout de Yankees.
I wus born in Virginia, near Petersburg, an' mother said de Yankees had
been hanging' round dere so long dat a soldier wus no sight to nobody.
'Bout de time de Yankees come I' member hearin' dem talk 'bout de
surrender. Den a Jew man by the name of Isaac Long come to Petersburg,
bought us an' brought us to Chatham County to a little country town,
named Pittsboro. Ole man Isaac Long run a store an' kept a boarding
house. We stayed on de lot. My mother cooked. We stayed there a long
time atter de war. Father wus sent to Manassas Gap at the beginning of
de war and I do not 'member ever seein' him.
My mother wus named Viney Jefferson an' my father wus named Thomas
Jefferson. We 'longed to the Jeffersons there and we went by the name of
Jefferson when we wus sold and brought to N. C. I do not 'member my
grandparents on my mother's or father's side. Mother had one boy an'
three girls. The boy wus named Robert, an' the girls were Kate, Rosa and
Kitty. Marster Long bought mother an' all de chilluns, but mother never
seed father anymore atter he wus sent off to de war.
I married Green Hill in Chatham County. I married him at Moncure about
nine miles from Pittsboro. We lived at Moncure and mother moved there
an' we lived together for a long time. When we left Moncure we come ter
Raleigh. Mother had died long time 'fore we left Moncure, Chatham
County. We moved ter Raleigh atter de World War.
Mother used ter tell we chilluns stories of patterollers ketchin'
niggers an' whuppin' 'em an' of how some of de men outrun de
patterollers an' got away. Dere wus a song dey used to sing, it went
like dis. Yes sir, ha! ha! I wants ter tell you dat song, here it is:
'Somefolks say dat a nigger wont steal, I caught two in my corn
field, one had a bushel, one had a peck, an' one had rosenears,
strung 'round his neck. 'Run nigger run, Patteroller ketch you, run
nigger run like you did de udder day.'
My mother said she wus treated good. Yes she said dey wus good ter her
in Virginia. Mother said de slave men on de Jefferson plantation in
Virginia would steal de hosses ter ride ter dances at night. One time a
hoss dey stole an' rode ter a dance fell dead an' dey tried ter tote him
home. Mother laughted a lot about dat. I heard my mother say dat de
cavalry southern folks was bout de meanest in de war. She talked a lot
about Wheeler's cavalry.
Dere wus a lot of stealin' an' takin' meat, silver, stock an' anything.
Hosses, cows an' chickens jist didn't have no chance if a Yankee laid
his eyes on 'em. A Yankee wus pisen to a yard full of fowls. Dey killed
turkeys, chickens and geese. Now dats de truth. Mother said de Yankees
skinned turkeys, chickens and geese 'fore dey cooked 'em. Sometimes dey
would shoot a hog an' jist take de hams an' leave de rest dere to spile.
Dey would kill a cow, cut off de quarters an' leave de rest ter rot.
Mother said no prayer meetings wus allowed de slaves in Virginia where
she stayed. Dey turned pots down ter kill de noise an' held meetings at
night. Dey had niggers ter watch an' give de alarm if dey saw de white
folks comin'. Dey always looked out for patterollers. Dey were not
allowed any edication an' mother could not read and write nuther.
I 'member de Ku Klux an' how dey beat people. One night a man got away
from 'em near whar we lived in Chatham County. He lived out in de edge
of de woods; and when dey knocked on de door he jumped out at a back
window in his night clothes wid his pants in his hands an' outrun 'em.
Dere wus rocks in de woods whar he run an' dat nigger jist tore his feet
up. Dey went ter one nigger's house up dere an' de door' wus barred up.
Dey got a ax an' cut a hole in de door. When de hole got big enough de
nigger blammed down on 'em wid a gun an' shot one of dere eyes out. You
know de Ku Klux went disguised an' when dey got ter your house dey would
say in a fine voice, Ku Klux, Ku Klux, Ku Klux, Ku Klux.
[HW correction: New paragraph] Some people say dey are in slavery now
an' dat de niggers never been in nothin' else; but de way some of it wus
I believe it wus a bad thing. Some slaves fared all right though an' had
a good time an' liked slavery.
LE
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