Lizzie Jones , an 86 year old ex-slave of the R. H. Hargrove family, has lived in Harrison County all of her life. She was born in 1851 on the Henry Hargrove plantation in the northeastern portion of the county. Early in life she became a nurse and housemaid for the Hargroves , serving them in that capacity until four years after the war. They nick-named her "Mink " because she was greasy black. After leaving the Hargroves , she resided with her mother until her marriage, several years later. Since the death of her husband about seven years ago, she has made her home with Talmadge Buchanan, a grandson, who lives two miles east of Karnack on the Lee road.

I was bo'n on the ole Henry Hargrove place several yeahs 'fore the war, an' wo'k fer Master Henry till fo' yeahs after the war. My ole Mistress was named 'Lizabeth (Elizabeth ) an' Mammy call me Lizzie fer her. But the Hargroves call me "Mink " since I was a chile. Master Henry had fo' girls and fo' boys an' I help 'tend to them till I was big nuff to cook and keep house. I wagged old Master Dr. Hargrove , dat live in Marshall, round when he was a baby, an' nussed him till he was grown. I allus live in the house with the white fo'ks, et at their table after they was through, an' slep' on the flo'. We nebber had no school or chu'ch in slavery time. The niggers couldn't even add. None of us knowed how ole we was. Master set our ages down in a big book. I 'member playin' peep-squirrel, marbles, an' keepin' house wid the white chil'ren when I was a chile. Master 'lowed the boys and girls to cou't, but they couldn't marry 'fore they was twenty yeahs ole, an' they couldn't marry off the plantation. Slaves warn't married by no "Good Book" or the law, either. They jes' take up wid each other an' go up to the Big House to ask Master to let them marry. If they was ole nuff, he say to the boy,  Take her and go on home.  Mammy lived 'cross the fiel' at de "qua'ters".

There was so many Nigger-shacks dat it look lak a town. The slaves slep' on bunks of homemade boa'ds nailed to the wall, wid poles fer legs. They cooked on the fire-place. I did'n know what a stove was till after the war. Sometime they would bake co'n-bread in the ashes. Ebber bit of the grub they et come from the white fo'ks, an' the clothes too. I run them looms many a night weavin' cloth. In the summer time the Niggers had lots of turnips, turnip-greens, an' garden-stuff to eat. Master allus put up several barrels of kraut an' a smokehouse full of po'k fer winter. He giv' the Niggers kraut, salt-po'k, meal, an' tallow, but no flour or lard. Huntin' was good 'fore the war, and on Saturday the men could go huntin' an' fishin' an' catch fish, possum, rabbit, squirrel an' coon to eat. The overseer was named Wade . He woke the han's up at fo' in the mo'nin' an' keep them in the fiel' from sunup till sundown. Some of the wimmin wo'ked round the house, but mos' of them go to the fiel' lak the men. They had to wash their clothes at night an' dry them by the fire. The overseer kep' a long coach-whip wid him in the fiel' an' if the Niggers didn't wo'k right, he would thrash them good. Sometime he was pretty hard on them, an' strip them off an' whip them till they think he was gonna kill them. No nigger ever run off the Hargrove place that I 'member. The slaves nebber have no parties till after surrender. They warn't a'lowed to go off the place. On Sunday they could sleep or visit each other. But the white fo'ks was good to us. Master Hargrove didn't hav' no doctor, an' we didn't know what medicine was. There wuzn't much sickness, and seldom anybody die. People didn't die off lak they do now. I don't 'member much 'bout de war. Master Hargrove went to it, but he come home sho'tly, an' say he was sick wid the 'sumption, but he got well real quick after surrender. The white fo'ks didn't let the Niggers know they was free till 'bout a yeah after the war. Master Hargrove took sick several months after the war, an' fore he die he tell the fo'ks not to let the Nigger loose till they hav' to. Finally they fin' out an' begin to leave. My pappy died 'fore I was bo'n, an' Mammy married Ceaser Peterson . 'Bout a yeah after the war they move to a farm close to Lee. I kep' on workin' for the Hargroves for fo' yeahs helpin' Mistress cook and keep house. Then Mammy come an' fetch me home, an' I liv' with her till I married Lewis Jones an' move away.