Lorenza Ezell
From:
Texas
LORENZA EZELL, Beaumont, Texas, Negro, was born in 1850 on the
plantation of Ned Lipscomb, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina.
Lorenza is above the average in intelligence and remembers many
incidents of slavery and Reconstruction days. He came to Brenham,
Texas, in 1882, and several years later moved to Beaumont, where he
lives in a little shack almost hidden by vines and trees.
"Us plantation was jes' east from Pacolet Station on Thicketty Creek, in
Spartanburg County, in South Carolina. Dat near Little and Big Pacolet
Rivers on de route to Limestone Springs, and it jes' a ordinary
plantation with de main crops cotton and wheat.
"I 'long to de Lipscombs and my mama, Maria Ezell, she 'long to 'em,
too. Old Ned Lipscomb was 'mongst de oldest citizens of dat county. I's
born dere on July 29th, in 1850 and I be 87 year old dis year. Levi
Ezell, he my daddy, and he 'long to Landrum Ezell, a Baptist preacher.
Dat young massa and de old massa, John Ezell, was de first Baptist
preacher I ever heered of. He have three sons, Landrum and Judson and
Bryson. Bryson have gif' for business and was right smart of a orator.
"Dey's fourteen niggers on de Lipscomb place. Dey's seven of us chillen,
my mamma, three uncle and three aunt and one man what wasn't no kin to
us. I was oldest of de chillen, and dey called Sallie and Carrie and
Alice and Jabus and Coy and LaFate and Rufus and Nelson.
"Old Ned Lipscomb was one de best massa in de whole county. You know dem
old patterrollers, dey call us 'Old Ned's free niggers,' and sho' hate
us. Dey cruel to us, 'cause dey think us have too good a massa. One time
dey cotch my uncle and beat him most to death.
"Us go to work at daylight, but us wasn't 'bused. Other massas used to
blow de horn or ring de bell, but massa, he never use de horn or de
whip. All de man folks was 'lowed raise a garden patch with tobaccy or
cotton for to sell in de market. Wasn't many massas what 'lowed dere
niggers have patches and some didn't even feed 'em enough. Dat's why dey
have to git out and hustle at night to git food for dem to eat.
"De old massa, he 'sisted us go to church. De Baptist church have a shed
built behind de pulpit for cullud folks, with de dirt floor and split
log seat for de women folks, but most de men folks stands or kneels on
de floor. Dey used to call dat de coop. De white preacher back to us,
but iffen he want to he turn 'round and talk to us awhile. Us mess up
songs, 'cause us couldn't read or write. I 'member dis one:
'De rough, rocky road what Moses done travel,
I's bound to carry my soul to de Lawd;
It's a mighty rocky road but I mos' done travel,
And I's bound to carry my soul to de Lawd.'
"Us sing 'Sweet Chariot,' but us didn't sing it like dese days. Us sing:
'Swing low, sweet chariot,
Freely let me into rest,
I don't want to stay here no longer;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
When Gabriel make he las' alarm
I wants to be rollin' in Jesus arm,
'Cause I don't want to stay here no longer.'
Us sing 'nother song what de Yankees take dat tune and make a hymm out
of it. Sherman army sung it, too. We have it like dis:
'Our bodies bound to morter and decay,
Our bodies bound to morter and decay,
Our bodies bound to morter and decay,
But us souls go marchin' home.'
"Befo' de war I jes' big 'nough to drap corn and tote water. When de
little white chillen go to school 'bout half mile, I wait till noon and
run all de way up to de school to run base when dey play at noon. Dey
sev'ral young Lipscombs, dere Smith and Bill and John and Nathan, and de
oldest son, Elias.
"In dem days cullud people jes' like mules and hosses. Dey didn't have
no last name. My mamma call me after my daddy's massa, Ezell. Mamma was
de good woman and I 'member her more dan once rockin' de little cradle
and singin' to de baby. Dis what she sing:
"Milk in de dairy nine days old,
Sing-song Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
Frogs and skeeters gittin' mighty bol!
Sing-song, Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
(Chorus)
Keemo, kimo, darro, wharro,
With me hi, me ho;
In come Sally singin'
Sometime penny winkle,
Lingtum nip cat,
Sing-song, Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
Dere a frog live in a pool,
Sing-song, Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
Sure he was de bigges' fool,
Sing-song Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
For he could dance and he could sing
Sing-song, Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?
And make de woods aroun' him ring
Sing-song, Kitty, can't you ki-me-o?'
"Old massa didn't hold with de way some mean massas treat dey niggers.
Dere a place on our plantation what us call 'De old meadow.' It was
common for runaway niggers to have place 'long de way to hide and res'
when dey run off from mean massa. Massa used to give 'em somethin' to
eat when dey hide dere. I saw dat place operated, though it wasn't
knowed by dat den, but long time after I finds out dey call it part of
de 'Underground railroad.' Dey was stops like dat all de way up to de
north.
"We have went down to Columbia when I 'bout 11 year old and dat where de
first gun fired. Us rush back home, but I could say I heered de first
guns of de war shot, at Fort Sumter.
"When Gen'ral Sherman come 'cross de Savannah River in South Carolina,
some of he sojers come right 'cross us plantation. All de neighbors have
brung dey cotton and stack it in de thicket on de Lipscomb place.
Sherman men find it and sot it on fire. Dat cotton stack was big as a
little courthouse and it took two months' burnin'.
"My old massa run off and stay in de woods a whole week when Sherman men
come through. He didn't need to worry, 'cause us took care of
everythin'. Dey a funny song us make up 'bout him runnin' off in de
woods. I know it was make up, 'cause my uncle have a hand in it. It went
like dis:
'White folks, have you seed old massa
Up de road, with he mustache on?
He pick up he hat and he leave real sudden
And I 'lieve he's up and gone.
(Chorus)
'Old massa run away
And us darkies stay at home.
It mus' be now dat Kingdom's comin'
And de year of Jubilee.
'He look up de river and he seed dat smoke
Where de Lincoln gunboats lay.
He big 'nuff and he old 'nuff and he orter know better,
But he gone and run away.
'Now dat overseer want to give trouble
And trot us 'round a spell,
But we lock him up in de smokehouse cellar,
With de key done throwed in de well.'
"Right after dat I start to be boy what run mail from camp to camp for
de sojers. One time I capture by a bunch of deserters what was hidin' in
de woods 'long Pacolet River. Dey didn't hurt me, though, but dey mos'
scare me to death. Dey parole me and turn me loose.
"All four my young massas go to de war, all but Elias. He too old.
Smith, he kilt at Manassas Junction. Nathan he git he finger shot at de
first round at Fort Sumter. But when Billy was wounded at Howard Gap in
North Carolina and dey brung him home with he jaw split open, I so mad I
could have kilt all de Yankees. I say I be happy iffen I could kill me
jes' one Yankee. I hated dem 'cause dey hurt my white people. Billy was
disfigure awful when he jaw split and he teeth all shine through he
cheek.
"After war was over, old massa call us up and told us we free but he
'vise not leave de place till de crop was through. Us all stay. Den us
select us homes and move to it. Us folks move to Sam Littlejohn's, north
of Thickettty Creek, where us stay two year. Den us move back to Billy
Lipscomb, de young massa, and stay dere two more year. I's right smart
good banjo picker in dem day. I kin 'member one dem songs jes' as good
today as when I pick it. Dat was:
'Early in de mornin'
Don't you hear de dogs a-barkin'?
Bow, wow, wow!
(Chorus)
'Hush, hush, boys
Don't make a noise,
Massa's fast a-sleepin'.
Run to de barnyard
Wake up de boys
Let's have banjo pickin.'.
'Early in de mornin'
Don't you hear dem roosters crowin'?
Cock-a-doodle-do.
"I come in contac' with de Klu Klux. Us lef' de plantation in '65 or '66
and by '68 us was havin' sich a awful time with de Klu Klux. First time
dey come to my mamma's house at midnight and claim dey sojers done come
back from de dead. Dey all dress up in sheets and make up like spirit.
Dey groan 'round and say dey been kilt wrongly and come back for
justice. One man, he look jus' like ordinary man, but he spring up 'bout
eighteen feet high all of a sudden. Another say he so thirsty he ain't
have no water since he been kilt at Manassas Junction. He ask for water
and he jes' kept pourin' it in. Us think he sho' must be a spirit to
drink dat much water. Course he not drinkin' it, he pourin' it in a bag
under he sheet. My mama never did take up no truck with spirits so she
knowed it jes' a man. Dey tell us what dey gwine do iffen we don't all
go back to us massas and us all 'grees and den dey all dis'pear.
"Den us move to New Prospect on de Pacolet River, on de Perry Clemmons'
place. Dat in de upper edge of de county and dat where de second swarm
of de Klu Klux come out. Dey claim dey gwine kill everybody what am
Repub'can. My daddy charge with bein' a leader 'mongst de niggers. He
make speech and 'struct de niggers how to vote for Grant's first
'lection. De Klu Klux want to whip him and he have to sleep in a holler
log every night.
"Dey's a old man name Uncle Bart what live 'bout half mile from us. De
Klu Klux come to us house one night, but my daddy done hid. Den I hear
dem say dey gwine go kill old man Bart. I jump out de window and cut
short cut through dem wood and warn him. He git out de house in time and
I save he life. De funny thing, I knowed all dem Klu Klux. Spite dey
sheets and things, I knowed dey voices and dey saddle hosses.
"Dey one white man name Irving Ramsey. Us play fiddle together lots of
time. When de white boys dance dey allus wants me to go to play for dey
party. One day I say to dat boy, 'I done knowed you last night.' He say,
'What you mean?' I say, 'You one dem Klu Klux.' He want to know how I
know. I say, 'Member when you go under de chestnut tree and say, "Whoa,
Sont, whoa, Sont, to your hoss?" He say, 'Yes,' and I laugh and say,
'Well, I's right up in dat tree.' Dey all knowed I knowed dem den, but I
never told on dem. When dey seed I ain't gwineter tell, dey never try
whip my daddy or kill Uncle Bart no more.
"I ain't never been to school but I jes' picked up readin'. With some my
first money I ever earn I buy me a old blue-back Webster. I carry dat
book wherever I goes. When I plows down a row I stop at de end to rest
and den I overlook de lesson. I 'member one de very first lessons was,
'Evil communications 'rupts good morals.' I knowed de words 'evil' and
'good' and a white man 'splain de others. I been done use dat lesson all
my life.
"After us left de Pacolet River us stay in Atlanta a little while and
den I go on to Louisiana. I done lef' Spartanburg completely in '76 but
I didn't git into Texas till 1882. I fin'lly git to Brenham, Texas and
marry Rachel Pinchbeck two year after. Us was marry in church and have
seven chillen. Den us sep'rate. I been batching 'bout 20 year and I done
los' track mos' dem chillen. My gal, Lula, live in Beaumont, and Will,
he in Chicago.
"Every time I tells dese niggers I's from South Carolina dey all say,
'O, he bound to make a heap.' I could be a conjure doctor and make
plenty money, but dat ain't good. In slavery time dey's men like dat
'garded as bein' dangerous. Dey make charms and put bad mouth on you. De
old folks wears de rabbit foot or coon foot and sometime a silver dime
on a fishin' string to keep off de witches. Some dem old conjure people
make lots of money for charm 'gainst ruin or cripplin' or dry up de
blood. But I don't take up no truck with things like dat.
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