Rev Tuff Coleman
From:
South Carolina
Project 1885-1
District #4
Spartanburg, S. C.
May 31, 1937
FOLKLORE: EX-SLAVES
"I was born about 1857 and my wife about 1859. I lived on Squire
Keller's farm, near the Parr place, and after the squire died I belonged
to Mrs. Elizabeth (Wright) Keller. My mother died when I was a boy and
my father was bought and carried to Alabama. My father was Gilliam
Coleman and my mother, Emoline Wright. My master and mistress was good
to me. The old Squire was as fine a man as ever lived on earth. He took
me in his home and took care of me. After the war the mistress stayed on
the place and worked the slaves right on, giving them wages or shares.
"The slaves were not whipped much; I 'member one man was whipped pretty
bad on Maj. Kinard's place. He had a colored man to do whipping for
him--his name was Eph. There was no whiskey on the place, never made
any. Us did cooking in the kitchen wid wide fireplaces.
"When the Yankees came through at the end of the war, they took all the
stock we had. The mistress had a fine horse, its tail touching the
ground, and we all cried when it was taken; but we got it back, as some
men went after it.
"I married in 1874 to Ellen T. Williams. She belonged to Bill Reagan.
After I married I worked in the railroad shops at "Helena", and
sometimes I fired the engine on the road, for about eight years. Then I
went into the ministry. I was called by the Spirit of the Lord,
gradually, and I preached 51 years. I have been superannuated two years.
"I have one child, a son, who is in the pullman service at Washington,
D. C.
"I owned my little house and several acres and am still living on it."
Source: Rev. Tuff Coleman and wife (80 and 78), Newberry, S. C.
Interviewer: G. Leland Summer, Newberry, S. C.
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Henry Coleman
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