Preely Coleman

Preely Coleman was born in 1862 on the Souba farm, near New Berry, South Carolina, but he and his mother ware sold and brought to Texas when Preely was a month oh. They settled near Alto, Texas. Preely now lives in Tyler. "I'm Preely Coleman and I never gits tired of talking. Yes, ma'am, it am Juneteenth, but I'm home, 'cause I'm too old now to go on them celebrations. Where was I born? I knows that 'sactly, 'cause my mammy tells me that a thousand times. I was born down on the old Souba place, in South Carolina, 'bout ton mile from Kew Eorry. My mammy belonged to the Souba family, but its a fact one of the Souba boys was my pappy and so the Soubas sells my mammy to Bob and Dan Lewis and they brung us to Texas 'long with a big bunch of other slaves. Mammy tolls me it was a full month 'fore they gits to Alta, their new home,

My mother belonged to the Souba family and because, I hate to say this Miss, but it's a fact one of the Souba boys was my father, they made my mother leave. All I know is what my mother has told me many times. I don't remember whether the Soubas sold my mother, but anyway she fell into the hands of the Lewis Brothers , Bob and Dan . They brought a big bunch of slaves to Texas an' my mother was among the number. I was a month old when we left over there an' it took better than a month to make the trip. "We settled about five miles east of Alto, just off the old San Antonio road. Our beds were made of straw an' grass as well as shucks, but they were clean. There were several chillun on the plantation and we had some time running races. I well remember how mad the other chillun would be when I'd win the races, an' I nearly always won it too. During the Civil War the soldiers would often stop by on the way to or from Mansfield, Louisiana, to get something to eat an' stay all night, and then's when the big races took place. There was a certain big Mulberry tree that we would run to. We chillun would line up an' the soldiers would say, 'Now the first one to slap that tree gets a quarter,' an' away we'd go, an' I nearly always get there first, and the soldiers would say, 'Alright Preely come get you quarter.' Miss I made lots of quarters slapping that old Mulberry. The others chillun decided one day they'd kill me so'd they could win some of the races.

My mother married on the way to Texas. No cermony you understand, but with her masters consent, John Selman took her for his wife. When Bob and Dan Lewis settled with us east of Alto, we stayed with them two years, so my mother told me and they lost the place, then we were bought by the Selman's , Master Tom Selman and his wife Missus Polly . They had three married boys, Joe , Tom Jr . and Frank . We called Frank our Young Master. My mother always told me that Master Tom paid fifteen hundred dollars for her and the same for her husband. There were five cabins in the big yard an' they were built in a half circle. There were five acres in the yard, with lots of trees in it. It was here that we had the races which nearly caused my death. Because I was the best runner and won the quarters the other chillun decided to kill me. These chillun belonged to Antney , the foreman. There was Lewis , Henry and Clark , Frankie , Emaline , Caroline and Adoline . They had it in for me but I had one friend, Billy . He allus tried to help me out. One day when when we were playing the chillun threw a rope over my head and started draggin' me down the road, Billy a fightin' and tryin to make 'em turn me loose. They started down the hill with me, but I was nigh't about choked to death. At the foot of the hill was a big spring, and about half way down we met Cap'n Berryman , of Alto, a white man. He was riding a big white horse and when he saw what was happening he jumped from his horse, took his knife and cut the rope from my neck, grabbed me up and made for the spring. There he took me by the heels and soused me up and down in the water then lay me on the grass and rolled me over an' over. When I came to, he carried me back to the house and made all the chillun march up the hill ahead of him and he tole master Tom what had happened. Massa Tom give them a good scare, make 'em think he was gonna skin 'em alive, but he didn't hurt 'em. No ma'm, they never tried to kill me anymore. Thanks to Cap'n Berryman . We played hide and switch too. I went to mill a few times but not often. Master Tom would deal out the groceries to the families every Saturday afternoon, deal 'em out accordin' to the size of the family. "As we grew up an' got big enough to work our first work was to learn to hoe. Massa Tom or Young Master Frank made us use the hoe two years and them to the plow. That was the way they managed things. Chillun made hoe hands for two years, then started to plowing. We had to be up an' ready for the field by daylight. The conk, or mussel shell was blown at eleven-thirty and we had to be back at the field at twelve-thirty. Massa Tom or Young Frank would always holler out of a morning, 'All hands ready for the field.' We always got Saturday afternoon off. The women washed, swept yards, tidied up the house and cooked some. Master wouldn't allow no kind of work to be done on Sunday. If he heard an ax sound he would go out an say, 'Young man haven't you got enough wood up, lay that ax down and go to my wood pile and git enough to do you, then see if you can't get yours up next Saturday. We had plenty clothes to wear an' Master Tom made us wear shoes all the time for there were so many stumps an' snags we would keep our feet sore and lost too much time from the field, so he decided he'd gain more to keep us in shoes, old red russets, I'll never forget 'em. "We allus watched for Santa Claus to come down the chimney and put something in our stocking. Generally got it to, maybe some candy and a pair of new socks or shirt. We wore long shirts with a slit in each side, no breetches.

We went to church once a month. The slaves had their own little meeting house. Our favorite songs were, 'Amazing Grace,' 'Where He Leads Me,' and 'When I Can Read My Title Clear.' I still remember how one of the overseers, a white man, Andy Odom, got so happy that he fell offen a rail fence one day where he was watching the hands as they chopped cotton. They got to singing an finally broke out on 'Am I a Soldier of the Cross.' Mr. Odom got so happy he went to shouting and fell off the fence. "I've been a member of the Baptist Church since a young man. Had an awful time. Baptized in 1872 in Beans Creek, near Holly Springs. I found the Lawd the second Sunday night in May 1872, just before day. Had an awful time with the devil. He jest kept trying to throw me off the track, but I finally won out. I had a certain place that I went to pray and the devil he allus went to. 'Peared like he'd say, 'Come on Preely, go with me.' I couldn't get away from him, but I kept fighting and praying and I finally whipped him. An' Miss, I've been steadfast an' immovable so far, but you know the devil is watching me all the time trying to get in his dirty work, it's not only me he's after all of us. We got to watch him.  Master Tom lived to be eighty-nine years old. He was good man, but did love dram. He kept a bottle in the center of his dining table all the time an' every meal he has a toddy. No ma'm, never drank it straight. Jest toddy. An' when company came, everyone, even the preachers, they must drink with him. Some of the other slaves were Uncle Kane , he was a very good old negro, so old that he couldn't pick up his feet when he walked, jest dragged 'em along. We allus know his tracks. He wore the heels of his shoes off an' even the inside lining in no time. We called him grandpa. Aunt Dicey was the oldest woman. She was the cook and allus fed us chillun. In the warm weather we ate out under the trees, but when it was cold we ate in the kitchen. She put our food in a big pan and gave each of us a spoon. Most generally we had bread crumbs in pot liker or milk. Sometimes we had butter an' honey with our bread. The chillun had two meals a day. We called Aunt Dicey grandma. Aunt Edie , Aunt Polly and Aunt Jane , Aunt Caroline and my mother were the older women. Uncle Mitchell and Jack Little an' Antney were the men, then there was a good passel o' chillun. "Jack Little was almost a wild man. I think he came from Africa, caused a world of trouble, wouldn't work, finally ran off and lived in the woods two years. Somebody slipped a frying pan to him and he had his gun. Just lived on wild turkeys and rabbits He was staying in woods when freedom came. I well remember how Master came to the field where we were pullin' fodder. I was not tall enough to reach the upper leaves or blades, so I'd pull the bottom leaves an lay 'em down for my mother to tie up. Marster came up an say, 'Well you all are just as free as I am now. You can do what you want to. Stay on here or leave.' Well that was a happy occasion. Some of the hands didn't even finish tying the bundles of fodder that was pulled. My mother's family went to Miss Caroline Selmans . She was Marster Tom's sister. We stayed there four years. She hired me out sometimes to one then the other. I married later on. No ma'm, I didn't have no big wedding, but my mother gave me a nice dinner. Your great grandfather, Uncle Hiram McKnight , married me Miss, he was Justice of the Peace an' married us in the old courthouse at Rusk. I had nine chillun by my first wife an'none by the second. I live here with my daughter Emma . The three boys, Henry , Stevy and Larkin , are still living, working at public work.