Texas Slave Narratives

Texas Slave Narrative

  Sarah Lee

Sarah Lee , 94, was born a slave on March 1, 1844, at the home of Doctor Robert White , at LaGrange, Texas. Sarah said she knew practically nothing about her father, who was called Owens . Her mother was Anne White , who was brought from Kentucky to Texas by a Judge Smith , who sold her to Doctor White for $250. Anne was the mother of ten children: Sarah , Bunk , Tom , Agnes , Olivia , Georgianne , Aaron , Abbie , Mary , and George . A year after slavery when Sarah was twenty-two years old, she married Martin Harris . They had one child, Walker , who died in infancy. Her second husband was John Hall . They had no children. Her third husband was Tom Lee . They had no children. Sarah is a pleasant person, and is still active. She is nursing a bed-ridden woman who is about thirty years younger than Sarah . Sarah's snow-white, kinky hair is her pride; her coal-black face is usually beaming. She lives at 1122 Chicon Street, Austin, and receives a monthly pension of thirteen dollars from the State of Texas.

Mothaw's name was Anne White I always called her Anne . Anne's folks, Amos and Sylvia Owens , was brought from Kentucky to Texas by Jedge Smith . When Anne was about twelb years old, she was sold by Jedge Smith to Doctah Robert White , of LaGrange, Fayette County, fo' two hunnert and fifty dollahs. Mawster White never had many slaves, and he was putty good to 'em; but Mistress Fannie would git rough at times. Anne run away f'om her mistress at one time. She hid out in a laghe cave, where a lot of other slaves hid out. Dem runaways would slip out at night and go up to dere mawster's places, where some of de servants would give 'em somethin' to eat. Bunk was my brothaw, and he was de baby at dat time. Anne would slip up to de house at night and nuss him. Den she'd go back to de cave. De patrols watched fo' Anne one night, and caught her when she tried to slip up to de house. De patrols was putty rough to folks dat run away, or to dem dat had no passes. Anne was small and heavy, and she was part Injun. She had ten chillun. I am de oldest; and Aaron and Olivia is de others dat is still livin'. George was de baby, and he was kidnapped, robbed and killed only about three years ago. George would of been over forty by now. He had been pickin' cotton out in West Texas, at Schneider . We never did know who done de killin'. He was robbed and his brains was knocked out. We never saw George again. He was buried up dere, a month befo' we knowed dat he was killed. Olivia lives in a log cabin here in Austin, dat she has lived in fo' forty years. It's about de second oldest house in Austin. Anne had three sets of chillun. One of her husbands was a free nigger by de name of Owens . I think dat was his name. He was my fathaw. I don't know much about him. Anne's other husbands was Gloster McGowan and George Simms .

Yo' see, de slaves, when dey wanted to git married durin' slavery days, would jes' live together. Dey didn't have no marriage license lak now. My name durin' girlhood was Sarah White . I was de nuss to Mistress Fannie's two chillun, one boy and one girl: Alec and Elizabeth . De chillun was good to me. Aunt Lou was de cook on de place. She would give me my meals in de kitchen of de big house. I'd have meat, butter, cawnbread and milk fo' dinnah; at other times, I'd have mush and milk. We always got plenty of greens durin' de spring and summer. Mawster White had plenty of milk cows on his place. Uncle Titus was de milker and tended to de cows. He was a old, old man. Mawster White's cotton plantation was near LaGrange, Lafayette County. It wasn't a big place. De big house was at LaGrange. De workers had to ride mules to and f'om work. Uncle Titus was also de coachman dat drove Mawster White's surrey. Us nigger chillun sure would git into a lot of devilment, when we'd go out to de plantation. We'd go to de barns, raid de hens' nests and break eggs against coops and all over de barn walls. Dere was times when we'd git de eggs f'om under a settin' hen, and staht throwin' 'em all around. If uncle Titus caught us doin' dat he sure would switch us. Anne married Gloster McGowan after slavery. Dey rented a fahm f'om a white feller. Dat's de kind of work dey done when freedom rung out. My stepfathaw went off on a gamblin' trip one Saturday night. He won some money. De next mawnin' a colored feller come up to our house. Don't git up, Gloster ,' said Anne . 'De man's got a shotgun. I'm goin' to de door, anyhow, and see whut he wants.' De man shot him in de chest. Me and brothaw Bunk was pickin a chicken at de side of de house. Anne called us in and said, 'Go and git George , and tell him dat Gloster was shot.' But Gloster was already dead.

I was in my twenties when I got married to Martin Harris . Martin lived in Lockhart, Caldwell County, and he helped drive cattle up de trails to Kansas. I don't remembah how much he got fo' his work. We had only one child, Walker . He died when he was three and a half months old. Martin was mobbed by some cattlemen up in Llano, Llano County. He helped his boss, Neil Cain , steal some cattle. Dat's whut de folks said. One day a bunch of men rode up to our house. I was too scared to say anything. I wasn't allowed to go to Martin . He didn't say a word. Later a old colored man took me to de place where Martin was hung to a tree. But I never saw his body again. I don't know whut happened to it. I worked fo' Neil Cain fo' a time. I done de cookin on de place. I got twelb dollahs a month, room and board. I didn't lak dat wild country up yonder a tall. But I had to stay awhile to make some money. Den one day my brothaw Bunk bought a covered-wagon and he come up to Llamo and brought me back to Austin. I don't know whut year dat was. John Hall was my second husband. John was a engineer at a flour mill here in Austin. He got sixty-five dollahs a month. We never had no chillun. I quit John 'cause he was so mean to me, and would beat me up. He didn't git drunk. He was jes' mean. He was f'om Bourbon, Kentucky. He got married again, and died at Buda, in Hays County. Tom Lee was my third husband. We never had no chillun. Tom was a putty good feller, but he took his money off too much. When I married him, he was a hotel cook up in Waco. Den he got to doin' dinin' car service. Dis took him through El Paso, Texas. In El Paso, he stuck a fish bone in his finger. It got greenleaf and de doctah cut de finger off. Den de greenleaf went up into his arm. He died f'om dat. He belonged to de Knights of Pythia's, and dey sent his body to Palestine, where his mothaw lived. I kin read and write. I learned a lot by bein' around de white folks. I did git to go to a summer school fo' about two years. I studied up to whut would be de third grade. I was never a cotton picker. De most dat I picked was about fifty pounds a day. Every dinner time I got flogged by Anne , when she was still in dis world. Every time dat Anne put up de white flag fo' us to come home fo' our dinner, I'd git to cryin'. Whut're yo' crying fo'? Aaron asked me. Cause I know dat I'm goin' to git a whoopin', I jes' kain't pick no mo'e dan fifty pounds. I was a good cotton chopper and a good harvest hand. I plowed wid oxen and mules. I have never had a picture took of me in my life. I jes' never had de money fo' it. I sure would lak a picture of myself.


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