I was bo'n April 15, 1857 in Cypress bottom, twelve miles east of Gilmer , as a slave of William and Artimesa Jackson . My father, Howard Jackson , was a Creek Indian and was raised from a child by the Jacksons . I'se heard him say that he was bo'n in North Carolina and his fo'ks was refugeed to Texas when he was just a little fellow. My mother, Margaret Jackson , was a Chic-a-taw Indian. She was bo'n in Richmond, Virginia, and refugeed to Texas by John Malone and was the mother of six chil'ren. Besides me there was Nancy , Annie , Malisa , Howard and Julius . Nancy lives here in Marshall now and is nigh on to a hundred years old. The rest of the chil'ren is been dead a long time. My Mistress had three girls and a boy, Mollie , Cassie , Martha and Billie . Our white fo'ks lived in a good four room weather-boarded house, and had a hundred acres of land in cultivation. They just had two servant houses. Our fo'ks was all the darkies he had, and we warn't treated like slaves. Our beds was made of rail slabs and had shuck and hay mattress. Master William done all the bossing his-self. No one else was allowed to put a hand on his darkies. We et milk, taters (potatoes), greens, bread, and sich like. There was plenty of game in Cypress bottom, sich as deer, turkey, possum, coon and squirrel. I went to the fiel' in the morning and seed coon tracks so thick it look like a pacel of hogs that had been in the fiel' where the co'n was broke down. One of the worst whippings I ever got was over a pail of milk. My sister, Nancy , was fetching (bringing) a pail of milk to the house. I run by her, playing, and knocked the bucket out of her hand and spilled all the milk. I thought Pa was going to kill me for wasting that pail of milk. I never knowed my father and Master William to even quarrel. He was the only man Master William had. He and my mother done all the farming. Our fo'ks got in the fiel' 'bout six o'clock and worked till 'bout five or six in the evening. Master allus told them to take out time enough to get to the house and get the feeding and wood chopping done by night. We worked on Saturday, excusing my mother. She was off Saturdays to wash.

Sometimes we went to parties, if we had a pass. If the  Pattyrollers catch you without a pass they'd "Pat" you with a bull whip. Our fo'ks didn't go in for dances and parties much. When we went to church, we had to go 'bout two miles off the place. A white man preached and read the Bible to the colored fo'ks. On Sunday my mother combed the chil'ren's hair and cracked nits. Nits is head lice, and they stick as close to your body as the skin. There was plenty of them when I was coming up. It took mother most all day to get them out of the kids hair. She used cotton cards for combs. They sho did get the nits out. My first work in slavery time was picking up chips, worming tobacco and sweeping the yards. I wormed tobacco early in the mo'ning and late in the evening, and picked up chips and swep yards during the day. I didn't work in the fiel' till I was thirteen after we moved off of the Jackson's place. I 'members playing "Hiding Switches". That was our big sport. Say, you hide the switch and I find it, 'cross the yard you'd better gwye (go) cause if I found the switch I could whip the one that hid it if I could catch him. The old fo'ks used to ask us chil'ren all kinds of crazy riddles. I only 'members two of them. One was,  Crooked as a rainbow, and teeth like a cat, Guess all riddles, but you can't guess that". The answer was a briar that growed crooked and had thorns like teeth. The other one was: "I went out to the world of weekly, wackem I saw Tom Tackem , and I called Bow Wacken , to chase Tom Tackem Out of the world of weekly, wackem." The answer to that one was calling the dog to chase the cow out of the fiel'. At Christmas Master's folks give us plenty to eat and cloth and shoes. My mother weaved all the cloth that was used on the place. We didn't know what holidays was, excusing Christmas. We didn't have to work on Christmas day. I was the only one of the chil'ren that got any schooling and that was just two years after surrender. Mistress sent me to school with her chil'ren after the War, but we moved off the place and I never seed a school again. When I got old enough to go out for my self, I never studied anything but labor. I 'members when Master William left for the war. He stayed 'bout three months and deserted and come home. One day I seed 'bout forty soldiers on horses with guns and bayonets ride up to the gate. Master saw them too and run off to the bottoms, but they cotched (caught) him, and put red pepper in his eye. They didn't take him then, but come back for him in a couple of days, fore he could see good. When they left him they made him ride one of his fine black horses that we called "Black Hawk ". 'Bout three days after they took Master away, I saw "Black Hawk " coming running up to the gate, but Master William warn't in the saddle. I run in the house and told Mistress, "Black Hawk is at the gate with an empty saddle". She throwed up her hands and cry, "Lordy Mercy, they killed him". Then she fainted. She got word somehow when he left that he wouldn't be back. When the war was over, Mistress told us we was free and we could go or stay.

We lived on with her for two years till she married Joe Cype . He was rough on us. We warn't used to that and moved on John Hartley's place for a year, then come to Harrison County. I'se seed the Ku Klux at a distance when they come to Abe Rowe's place after a Nigger named Henry Howard . He had done something, and when the Ku Kluxers come after him he was sitting in the yard under a tree with a gun. He shot one of them, John Keel , and killed him. They shot and wounded him, but he got away and we never heard tell of him no more. The Niggers was sho afraid of the Ku Klux. I went to work in the fiel' when I was thirteen, after we come to Harrison County. I went to railroading for the T. & P. when I was 'bout sixteen, and worked for them forty-nine years. I 'members when they build the T. & P. from Hallsville, west. Old Captain Williams run the first engine. They was sho dinky things and fired wood.I 'members the old 'Federate Powder Mill here at Marshall. I'se been in the buildings after they blowed it up. It stood just west of the Macedonia Road, close to the ball park, north of Marshall.There was two brick buildings, 'bout 20 by 30. One was on the north side of the branch and one on the south side. The one on the north side was two story.I'se voted in Marshall when they had the Loyal League to protect the colored peoples votes. I'se got my instructions there from a man named Singleton . They called him a Yankee. He allus 'vised (advised) us to vote for the Democratic President. I 'members the time when another white man knocked him down at the courthouse, over the election. After we got our instructions at the Loyal League what to do and how to vote we took our ballots to the courthouse to vote. They didn't vote in precincts then. All the precincts elected a captain and the colored people come in companies of one and two hundred to vote. I'se seed them march double file, and two blocks long, from the Loyal League to the courthouse.I think if a person is a citizen he ought to be allowed to vote in the primary election.I think the young generation of Niggers is making fine progress in the educational line. If a fellow ain't got a education, it's his own fault, cause its made free for him. I didn't fall in this generation and never had no schooling to mount to anything. I has allus had to labor. I'se done some mighty fine work for the T. & P. I worked for them forty-nine years and now can't get a pension. I warn't part of the strike in 1922, but just as well been. The strikers wouldn't let us get to our jobs, and after it was over the railroad wouldn't put us back to work. After I come off the railroad I odd jobbed 'round at anything I could get to do. For the past five years the Government has supported me till last March, when the State give me a pension.