Tob Davis

Tob Davis , 87, 5506 Hardin St., Ft. Worth, Tex., was born a slave to Mr. Jack Turnipseed , who owned Tob's parents with 40 other slaves and a 300 acre plantation located 13 Mi. N. of Nacgdoches, Tex. Tob's family remained on the plantation after freedom for two Yrs., then moved to a tract of land the father purchased. After clearing the land, they established a farm of their own. Tob married Adlien Lucker in 1897. 14 children were born to them, six are still living. Tob's vocation was farming until 1920, when he came to Ft. Worth and was employed as a mortar mixer until 1923, when his age forced employers to refuse him employment. He and his wife each receive $11.00 a month pension from the State of Tex. His story:

Ise bo'n in Nacogdoches County, Texas, an' 13 miles north of Nacogdoches on a plantation owned by Marster Jack Turnipseed . His name am easy to 'membahs, an' he owns me too. Ise 11 yeahs old w'en de wah stahts, so Ise 'membahs consid'able befo' de wah. Whar my 'membahin' stahts am w'en Ise 'bout fouah yeahs old. Reason it stahts thar am 'cause somethin' happens to me dat 'presses my 'collection, so Ise says my life stahts thar. "Now, Ise 'splain it. One day, Ise walks in de hen house, an' thar Ise sees nigger Tom suckin' a egg. Dat looks purtty good to me, so Ise 'cides to try it. 'Twas couple days after Ise see Tom dat Ise sneaks into de hen house. Co'se, Ise have de feelin' 'twas wrong, so Ise makes sho 'twas no one 'round. Ise finds a egg, has de end broken, my head back an' am tryin' to git de good out of it w'en, Jumpin' Junipers!, Ise gits busted in de rear. De egg flies outer my hand, an' Ise sprawls on de flooah. 'Twas Marster Turnipseed draps into de hen house jus' as Ise gits stahted, so Ise don't suck de egg an' never tries it since.  De Marster puts me over his knee an' paddles me good. He says,  Ise 'test de egg suckin' dawg, an' don't lak de egg suckin' nigger any bettah. Ise kills de dawgs dat suck eggs, so youse bettah be careful After dat, Ise sho careful. Ise skeert even to go into de hen house. 

Now, 'bout de plantation. 'Twas jus' medium size place. Marster has 'bout 40 slaves, an' each fam'ly lives in a cabin. 'Twarnt jus' de parents an' chilluns but relatives too. W'en a young person am grown up an' have no parents thar, he lives wid some relative, or some fam'ly. "De cabins am two room log houses. One room am fo' sleepin', an' tudder am fo' cookin' an' eatin'. Mostest de cookin' in de summah time am done in de yard 'less it rains. De cookin' am done in de fireplace in de wintah time. "Thar am a thing weuns use to do dat Ise lak well. 'Twas cookin' taters in de hot embers on de fireplace. In de wintah time, weuns often puts taters in de embers, wait fo' dem to bake, den sat in f'ont of de fireplace an' eat dem. Some times, mammy sings songs w'en weuns am sattin' thar. Now w'en Ise thinks 'bout it, tears comes to dis old nigger's eyes. Mammy use to cook beans in de embers. She puts dem in a closed skillet, a big one 'cause it tooks lots of beans, an' dem am de bestest eatin' youse can git. "Ise heah dis an' dat 'bout slaves not gittin' 'nough to eat, but 'twarnt any sich trouble 'bout de rations on de Turnipseed Place. Weuns always gits plenty to eat, an' 'twas good too. Gosh, lots of people would think deys livin' lak kings nowadays if deys have sich good food lak weuns use to have. Tudder thing, 'twas all raised by de cullud fo'ks. Marster don't have to buy a thing 'cept salt an' spices. Let me tell youse what weuns have. "De Marster always have big herd of hawgs. W'en cold weather comes, an' de sign am right, dat am w'en de moon am in de right place fo' killin', 'tis hawg killin' time. Nigger Tom am de butcher an' meat tender. Co'se, he have help. Dey wo'ks m'ybe five days, a-killin'. Thar am big smokehouse whar de meat am put in brine. After dat, 'twas hung up an' smoked. 'Twas de hams an' shoulders dat am smoked. Dat am fo' de summah time. Durin' de wintah, dey kills ever' few days so weuns have fresh meat. "Thar am no limit to de fresh meat weuns could have. 'Twas good meat. It had a good flavor, an' am tender. Ise lak it much bettah dan dat weuns buys f'om de shops now. Tudder food am veg'tables, all de taters weuns wants, an' in de summah time, all de fresh veg'tables. De bread am co'n, mostly. Thar am some white flouah, 'nough fo' one batch of biscuits a week. Sho, de good old 'lasses an' honey, an' plenty of it, also brown sugar. De Marster have lots of bee hives. Thar am milk an' buttah, all weuns wants of it too. Now, what mo' could weuns want, or ask fo? "Weuns am always dressed warm. 'Twas de linsey-woolsey home spun de womens makes. Weuns raises all de sheep fo' wool, an' raises de cotton, an' wid sich, deys do all de wo'k dat am needed fo' to make de cloth an' de clothes.   All de shoes am made f'om de hides of all de critters killed on de place. Weuns have awful good shoemaker. If he wants to, he can make jus' as purtty shoes as am in de store, an' dey lasts twice as long. So youse see how 'tis de Marster's slaves have no kick, an' de cullud fo'ks am self s'portin'. "Fo' de treatment, dat am whuppin' an' 'twarnt bad. Thar am some but de cullud fo'ks brings it on demselves, lak w'en dey goes off de plantation widout de Marster's p'mission.

Thar am Patterollers dat watch fo' slaves dat am off de place. If dey catches youse off de place widout de pass given by de Marster, dey whups youse but thar am some dat goes anyway. 'Twas de young bucks dat sneak off at night, an' co'se, dey 'tends to git back befo' daylight. Dey don't have de watches dem days fo' de nigger so dey can't tell de time. Dat away, de young bucks misjudge de time deys spendin' wid de gals, an' dey overstays an' don't git back 'til daylight. W'en dey does dat, dey sometimes gits catched an' 'tis a whuppin' fo' dem.  No sar, Marster don't use de barrel, or de post to tie dem to. He jus' stands dem up, an' use de whup. 'Twarnt often dat whuppin' am given. Ise sho sometimes de Marster don't want to catch de young bucks. He jus' make b'lieve he don't see dem. Co'se, he have to keep order an' w'en 'tis too bad, den he looks.  Weuns have parties an' de Marster gives de pass to go tudder places but dat don't satisfy some of de young fellows. De parties am jus' singin' an' dancin'. Weuns gits together an' 'joys ourselv 'Twas on Saturday nights w'en weuns have de doin's. Weuns don't wo'k on Saturday afternoons. Dat am given over fo' de cullud fo'ks to do thar wo'k 'round thar cabins, sich as washin' de clothes. Den too, weuns fixes fo' de parties too. 'Twas de quadrille dance weuns does. Deys have de fiddles fo' music, an' Uncle John am de prompter. He sings all de way through de dance. Sho, Ise 'membahs some of it. 'Twas dis away: "Swing yous partner, aint she sweet, swing her off her feet. All jine hands an' circle 'round, watch youse step an' don't fall down. Swing de gal to youse left, make it swift or youse git left".  What Ise 'membahs f'om de wah, am f'om what Ise heahs de white fo'ks talk, an' 'twarnt often Ise heah dem. Co'se, Ise know deys fittin' an' shootin' an' sich. Thar am no sojers comes to weun's place durin' de wah. Some passes de Marster's place after de wah am over, an' de Grey Coats am gwine home. Weuns sees some Blue Coats come to de section after dat.  Ise jus' gittin' whar Ise doin' steady wo'k w'en surrendah comes. Ise 15 yeahs old den. Befo' dat, Ise helps wid de chores. Dey was gwine to larn me to be a shoemaker but surrendah comes too soon fo' me to finish. Ise larnt de fust of it. Dat am tookin' care of de hides, tannin' an' larnin' to cut de leather.  Marster warnt hard wid de tasks. 'Twas reasonable 'mount he wants done, an' deys all willin' wo'kers, so 'twarnt any trouble dat away.

On de day weuns gits freed, de Marster calls allus together an' told allus dat weuns aint slaves no mo'. He told de cullud fo'ks dey could stay an' wo'k land fo' shares, an' dat he would help dem in ever' way to git thar foot on de ground. All de fam'lies stayed. Jus' de young bucks goes off.  My fo'ks wo'ked land fo' two yeahs wid de Marster. Some fo'ks stayed thar fo' yeahs.  Twas some way 'round thar de story gits a-gwine dat de Marster am gwine be fo'ced to give de cullud fo'ks land an' mules an' sich, an' den says de Gov'ment gwine give sich. My father never took stock in sich talk. He says, "It am unreasonable". Some gits to waitin' fo' de land, an' dey gits to thinkin' de Marster am doin' dem wrong, 'cause dey don't git thar share. Well, some of dem am still waitin'.  My father goes to wo'k an' saves his money. In two yeahs, he had 'nough money to pay down on a piece of land, an' weuns moves onto it. Land am cheap dem days, an' weuns buys 50 acres. In couple yeahs, weuns clears it an' am doin' good, an' am happy 'cept fo' one thing. De Ku Klux Klan gits a-gwine, an' dat makes powe'ful trouble fo' lots of cullud fo'ks.  Dey does thar dirty wo'k at night. 'Twas so de cullud fo'ks am 'fraid to stay in de house after dark. Deys skeert to have parties, or visit each tudder after dark. De Klux would ride right up to de house, bust right in, an' grab a person, an' pull him outside. Thar, dey gives de whuppin'. De cullud fo'ks have to stood it 'cause deys helpless. One, or two, of de Klux would stand in f'ont of de nigger wid a gun pointed at his stomach, an' one tudder Klux would do de whuppin' wid de rawhide.  Thar am couple calls de Klux makes to weuns' house but 'twas after de cullud fo'ks had been whupped 'round thar. Weuns begins to hide out after dark so dey fails to find weuns to home. Our neighbor am bull headed an' stays home 'till he gits two whuppin's, den he hides out too. It keeps gittin' wuss 'till it am in'ferin' wid de wo'kin' of de land, so de Marsters took to guardin' de niggers. Deys sev'ral Klux shot off thar hosses after dey stahts dat. Dat caused lots of 'citement. Finally, de sojers comes an' dat ends de Kluxers.

Ise stays wid my fo'ks 'till Ise 38 yeahs old an' helps dem farm. Den Ise 'cides to go fo' myself. Ise leaves to wo'k fo' tudder farmer fo' wages. Ise do dat fo' two yeahs, den w'en Ise 40, Ise mai'ied Adlien Lucker . Weuns rents land an' spends de time 'til 1920 farmin'. Weuns have 14 chilluns. All raised on de farm. At fust,  'twas nip an' tuck to make it but after some de chilluns gits grown, dey could help wid de wo'k an' 'twas great help.  Ise comes to Fort Worth in 1920, an' goes to wo'k as mortar mixer. Dat Ise do long's Ise finds wo'k. Ise too old now, an' dey wont hire me. Wife an' Ise have to live on $20.00 a month pension, pay rent, an' buy food an' clothes. If 'twarnt fo' my chilluns helpin' w'en dey can, 'twould be awful fix.  Only six chilluns livin' now. One in Stamford, one in Kansas City, an' fouah heah. Deys not spring chickens any mo' an' 'tis all dey can do to git by so 'taint much help weuns gits.  Now, 'bout de votin'. Ise votes in two-three campaigns. De white fo'ks tries to stop weuns, an' dey did. 'Twas yeahs ago. Ise don't want to fuss, Ise wo'ks hard an' cares fo' my fam'ly, an' don't want to mix whar thar am fussin'. Ise always votes in de Gen'ral 'Lection. Both of weuns have our 'zemption tickets, an' weuns sho votes. Now, dat am my life. Could be bettah, or wusser but w'en de Good Lawd calls fo' me, Ise done my duty.