Matthew Hume
From:
Indiana
Grace Monroe
Dist. 4
Jefferson County
SLAVE STORY
MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE
Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part
slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in
having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his
"blacks".
His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed
to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden
stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was
advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On
this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday
morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them
would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the
neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a
brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he
had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a
blacksnake whip.
Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne
was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He
expected obedience however.
When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He
also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near
enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he
remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he
carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his
hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old
one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers
were talking about.
Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around
the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields
about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring
a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have
the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his
mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall and
slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved him
into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he
brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from
his prison.
As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields
to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very
complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring
about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine.
Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were
to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to
pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It
was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being
placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were
told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the
fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his
master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the
community.
The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had
all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and
repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them
in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either
Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading
them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only
attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup
of sugar.
On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom
the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went
to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to
seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was
tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him,
when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith
kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to
return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment.
A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty
to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to
climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was
climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large
club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and
fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from
the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he
threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock
him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was
discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves.
One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to
work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out
ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves
handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were
so many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released
to push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and
write. Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and
chained, taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the
cotton fields until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying
him. In the meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his
companions. Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they
were employed.
Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work
that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did
not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons
offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our
renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until
Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which
had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but
this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless
and penniless.
Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the
same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their
neighbors.
He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain
in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free
citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism.
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