Texas Slave Narratives

Texas Slave Narrative

  Mariah Robinson

Mariah Robinson , born in Monroe, Georgia, does not know her age, but from certain facts and her appearance, is probably 90 or over. Her master was Judge Hill . He gave Mariah to his son-in-law, Bob Young , who brought her to Texas. She now lives in Meridian, Texas.

I's borned over in Georgia, in dat place call Monroe, and mammy was Lizzie Hill , 'cause her massa Jedge Hill . I's hones'. I don't know de 'zact date I's borned. Missy Joe , my missy, put de record of all ages in de court house for safe keepin'. to keep de Indians from burnin' dem up, and dey's burnt up when de court house burns. All I knows is my younges' sister, what live in Georgia, writ me 'bout a year ago and say, 'Last Thursday I's 81 year old.' Dere is five chillen 'twixt my and her age and dere is six chillen younger'n me. Det de best I can give of my age. Jedge Hill's daughter, Miss Josephine , married Dr. Young's son, what lived in Cartersville, in Georgia, but had done moved to Texas. Den my missy give me to Miss Josephine to come to Texas with her to keep her from de lonely hours and bein' sad so far 'way from home. We come by rail from Monroe to Social Circle and dere boards de boat 'Sweet Home'. Dere was jus' two boats on de line, de 'Sweet Home' and de 'Katie Darling.' Us sails down de Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans, myself and my aunt Lonnie and uncle Johns , all with Miss Josephine . When us gits to New Orleans us 'rested and put in de trader's office. Us slaves, I mean. Dis de way of dat. Our massa, Massa Bob Young , he a cotton buyer and he done left Georgia without payin' a cotton debt and dey holds us for dat. Miss Josephine wires back to Georgia to Dr. Young and he come and git us out. He come walkin' down de street with he goldheaded walkin' cane. Us upstairs in de trader's office. I seed him comin' and cries out, 'O, yonder comes Massa Young .' He looks up and shooked he goldheaded walkin' stick at me and says, 'Never mind, old boss have you out in a few minutes.' Den he gits de back soon as us out and sends us to de port, for to cotch de boat. Us gits on dat boat and leaves dat evenin'. Comin' down de Mississippi 'cross de Gulf us seed no land for days and days and us go through de Gulf of Mexico and lands at de port, Galveston, and us come to Waco on de stagecoach. Us lives four year on Austin St., in Waco, dat four years 'fore de war of 1861. Us boarded with Dr. Tinsley and he and Gen'ral Ross was good friends. I worked in a sewin' room doin' work sich as whippin' on laces and rufflin' and tuckin'. Den us come to Bosoue County right near Meridian. 'cause Massa Bob have de ranch dere and de time of de freedom war us lives dere. Us be in de house at night, peepin' out de window or pigeon hole and see Indians comin'. De chief lead in front. Dey wild Comanches. Sometime dere 50 or 60 in a bunch and dey did raidin' at night. But I's purty brave and goes three mile to Walnut Spring every day to git veg'tables. I rid de donkey. Miss Josephine boards all de Bosoue County school chillen and us have to git de food. I seed droves of wild turkey and buffaloes and antelopes and deers. I seed wild cats and coons and bunches of wolves and heard de panthers scream like de woman. Us lived in a log cabin with two chimneys and a long shed-room and cooked in de kitchen fireplace in de skillet and over and de pot racks. Us made meal on de steel mill and hominy and cheese. I got de prize for spinnin' and weavin'. I knitted de stockin's but Miss Joe had to drap de stitch for me to turn de heels and toes. Durin' de freedom war Massa Gen'ral Bob . Young git kilt at de last battle. Dat de Bull Run battle and he fit under Gen'ral Lee . Dat left my missy de war widow and she mammy come live with her and she teached in de school. I stays with dem four year after freedom and I's one of de family for de board and de clothes. They's good to me and likes to make me de best lookin' and neatest slave in dat place. I had sich as purty starched dresses and dey help me fix de hair nice. Us used de soft, dim candlelight and I make de candle sticks. Us have gourd dippers and oak buckets to dip water out de well and us make wooden tubs out of stumps end battlin' sticks to clean de clothes.

I done already met up with Peter Robinson . He's de slave of Massa Ridley Robinson what was gwine to California from Alabama, with all he slaves. Massa Robinson git kilt by de Mexican and a white man name Gibb Smith gits to own Peter . He hires him out to a farmer clost by us ranch and I gits to meet him and us have de courtship and gits married. Dat 'fore freedom. Us marries by Caesar Berry , de slave of Massa Buck Berry . Ceasar an de cullud preacher. Pete was 'telligent and 'liable and de good man. He played de fiddle all over de country end I rid horseback with him miles and miles to dem dances. Peter could write de plain hand and he gits to haul lumber from Waco to make de Bosque County court house. He larns more and gits to be de county's fust cullud trustee and de fust cullud teacher. He gits 'pinted to see after de widows in time of war and in de 'construction days, Fin'ly he is sent to Austin, de capital of Texas, to be rep'sentive. Pete and me begot ten chillen. My fust chile am borned two months 'fore freedom. After us slaves is freed us hired out for one year to git means to go free on. Us held by de committee call 'Free Committee Men.' De wages is ten dollars de month to de family. After us ready to go for ourselves, my missy am de poor widow and she have only three cows and three calves, but she give one of each of dem to Pete and me. After leavin' Miss Joe us move here and yonder till I gits tired of sich. By den us have sev'ral chillen and I changes from de frivol'ty of life to de sincereness, to shape de dest'ny of de chillens' life. I tells Pete when he comes back from fiddlin' one night, to buy me de home or hitch up and carry me back to Missy Joe . Dat lead him to buy a strip of land in Meridian. He pays ten dollar de acre. We has. a team of oxen, call Broad and Buck, and we done our farmin' with dem. Pete builds me a house, hauls de lumber from Waco. Twict us gits burnt out, but buil's it 'gain. Us makes de orchard and sells de fruit. Us raises bees and sells de honey and gits cows and chickens and turkeys. Pete works good and I puts on my bonnet and walks behind him and draps de corn. He gits in organizin' de fust cullud church in Meridian, de cullud Cumberland Pres'terian. Church. Us has ever lived de useful life. I works at cookin' and washin' and ironin'. I helps de doctors with de babies.  But de dis'bility of age have to come and now I is 'most disabled and feels stunted and pov'ty stricken. I'd like to work now, but I isn't able.


I was borned in Monroe Georgia, Monroe County, Georgia. My mother was Lizzie Hill , her marster was Jedge Hill of Monroe, Georgia. She was de mother of nine chillun, I was Mariah Hill Young . I was about ten years old or more when I was brought to Texas. I am honest, I don't know de exact date I was borned. Miss Joe , my missus put de record of all ages in de court house for safe keepin', to keep de Indians from burnin' dem up an' dey was burnt up when de court house burned. All I know is dis I got from my youngest sister, she lives in Georgia now; she said  Last Thursday I was eighty-one years old" her letter was wrote February 21, 1936. Dere is five chillun between my an her age, an' I don't know for sure if she knows her exact age or not. But she had a better chance to know her age den I eber had. Dere was six chillun younger den I am. If you can get any idea, an' dat can help dat is de best I can give of my age. Too I don't know just how far apart de chillun was borned. Jedge Hill's daughter, Miss Josephine Hill , married Dr. Young's son, of Cartersville, Georgia, marse Bob Young , who had already come to Texas. Missus Minnie Hill , my former missus, gave us to Miss Joe to come to Texas wid her to keep her from lonely hours an' bein' sad when Marster Bob would be away from home. We come by rail from Monroe to Social Circle. Dere we boarded de boat "Sweet Home" dere was only two boats on de line, "Sweet Home" an' "Katie Darling". We sailed down de Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans, myself, aunt Lonnie an' uncle Johns wid Missus Josephine Hill Young . When we got to New Orleans we was arrested an' put in de "trader's" office, Uncle Johns , Aunt Lonnie an' myse'f. Our marster, Mr. Bob Young was a cotton buyer, an' he had left Georgia widout payin' a cotton debt an' we was bein' held foh de same. Missus Joe wired back to Georgia to Dr. Young . Dr. Young come down de nex' day an' got us out. He come walkin' down de street wid his gold headed walkin' cane. We was up stairs in de "trader's" office. Uncle Johns an Aunt Lonnie was layin' on de floor an' I was sittin' up in a window; I saw him comin' an' cried out "Oh! Uncle Johns yon com's mos Young". He looked up an' shooked his gold handled walkin' stick at me an said "Nebber mind, de ole boss will have you out in a few minutes" Den he got a hack as soon as he got us out, an sent us to de port, to catch de boat. We got on de boat an lef' dat very evenin'. Comin' down de Mississippi across de Gulf, we saw no land for days. Goin' thru de Gulf of Mexico we landed at de port Galveston. We come from Galveston to Waco on a stage-coach. In crossin' de Mississippi, I saw a very sad sight. A three year old chile was los'. Miss Joe an' I was on de upper deck, uncle Johns and aunt Lonnie an' de chile was on de lower deck. De chile either fell over board or was seized by a sea-monster. I seen whales an' sea-gulls followin' de boat foh miles. De occurence caused much 'citement an' sadness. Dey shot into de water tryin' to raise de body to de top. On leavin' Galveston, Texas we come up to Waco, Texas an' lived dere four years on Austin Street' dat was four years before de Civil War of 1861. We boarded wid Dr. Tinsley . He an' Gen'ral Ross was good frien's an lived at what was said to be de haid of Austin Street at dat time.

When I was a slave I served as a house-girl an stay'd in de house; nebber did stay out in de slave quarters an was treated nice, not as othuh slaves, used foh production. Durin' de time we was in Waco, I had an occupation in a sewin' room. My job was doin' da'nty work such as whippen' on laces or rufflin' an tuckin'. After four years we left Waco an come to Bosque County. We lived eight miles from Meridian, Texas, up on de Bosque riber, de county seat of de county. Dat is where marster Bob's ranch was. De four years of de War--Freedom war, we lived on de ranch. Many nights we would be in de house peepin' out of de winder or peg'n-hole an see Indians comin', wid de old chief in front leadin', dey was de wile Comanchies. Som'tim's dere would be fifty or sixty in de bunch an' a drove on dere horses. Dey did dere raidin' at night. But I was pretty brave. Every day I'd go three miles to Walnut Spring to de veg'table garden to get fresh veg'tables ridin' on a donkey's back. I was goin' foh veg'tables daily 'cause Miss. Joe boarded all the (Frontier) Bosque County school chillun. On my trips some-tim's I seen, goin' thru deers. De country dem days was full of wile an'mals but dey did mos' of dere travelin' at night. I seen wile cats, coons, wolves by de droves, an' many odder wile beast. I heard panthers screamin' many times. We lived in a ole log cabin wid two chimneys to de house, one in each end an' one long shed-room. We cooked on de kitchen fireplace in de skillet an oven an' in pots in pot racks. We made meal on a steel, mill, we made hominy an' cheese, I got de prize for spinnin' thread an dyin, an' for weavin'. I knitted my stockin's but Missus Joe had to drop de stitch foh me to turn my heels an toes. Mu missus also got de prize foh my cardin' bats an' rolls. De Indians would use dere bow an' arrows an' shoot flintarrows in de cows an' horses dat dey could not herd up an' steal on dere stealin' raids. Durin' de Freedom War my marster, Genr'al Bob Young got killed at de last battle, "Bull Run" under Genr'al Lee . Dat left my missus a widder, dey called dem war widders. She was left as a poor War widder her mother lived wid her an taught de Bosque County School. After she was left as a war widder I stayed wid her four years or more after freedom. I lived on as one in de fambly (as I was) for my close and board. As a slave, I had ev'rythin' my heart desired an de best, such as food, close an a nice place to stay. They loved to dress me to make me look to be de best lookin' an' neatest slave, I had such as, pretty starched dresses, neat shoes an dey helped me fix my hair nice. In dem days, we used de soft dim candle light, I made many a candle stick. We used gourd dippers an oaken buckets to draw water out of de well. We used wooden tubs made out of stumps an battlin' sticks to clean de close; we used water from a spring because springs were plentiful. We hung de close on bushes an rail fences. De fences dem days was rock an rail. De slaves was allowed to visit at a set time, usually Saturday night an' Sunday after noon. Dere was quite a bunch of us an' in de meantime durin de war I met Peter Robinson (my husband) a slave of Ridley Robinson who was on his way to California from Alabama wid his slaves. Peter's marster was slain by a Mexican. Den Peter , his mother and three brothers were taken up by Gibb Smith and Harris , Administors, to see after dem. Pete was hired out to Nelson , a farmer on de othur side of de riber opposite of marster Young's ranch. Here is where I got acquainted with him,

We had a court-ship an got married after gettin' permission from each of our bosses. We was married by Ceasar Berry (a slave of Buck Berry , an a colored preacher). Pete was smart an' all de girls liked him but he chose me foh his wife. Pete was intellegent, honest, reliable, an' a good citizen. He could write a very plain hand, he could be trusted foh business, we spent many days servin' de county an community activities. He was a good marksman an fon' of fishin'. He also was a good fiddler an played foh both whites an' blacks to dance all over de country. I rode on horse back by his side foh miles to de dances. Pete served as a delivery boy from here (Meridian) to Waco, carryin' money an checks by wagon travel to de bank. He helped to haul de lumber from Waco to build de first Bosque County Court House. He was Bosque County's first colored trustee an' de county's first colored teacher. He served as registrar in de time of de Civil War, Mr. Gibb Smith an' Mr. Harris bein' his overseers. He was appointed to help care an see after de widders in de time of de war an' durin' reconstruction days. Pete was sent to Austin, de Capital of Texas, as representative wid de consent of all of his white frien's in Bosque County. Pete an I begot ten chillun. Willie , my son, an oldest chile was born two months in slavery time. When he was borned an ole white lady, "Loddie", a mid-wife lived up in de mountains five miles from Miss Joe , Pete went foh her horse back on "Jim" a pony we had. She rode back behind Pete on de pony. Miss Joe had one chile, a daughter Miss (Sigh, nic-name) Ida Young . All slaves were free but (bound-out) or hired-out foh twelve months to git means to go free on. Dey was held by a committee called "Free-committee men". De wages was ten dollars a month to de fambly. When Miss Ida Young got married her husband moved an' went to Walnut Spring. Miss Joe an' missus Minnie moved wid dem. Dat lef' Peter an' I to go foh our-selves. My missus bein' a poor widder, she had only three cows, three calves, one of each of dese she gave me, to grow up on. After leavin' Miss Joe , we moved here an yon'er, until I got tired of such. By den we had several chillun an I changed from de frivolity of life to sincereness to shape an mold de destiny of my chillun's life. We moved to one place an' de man disliked me because I wore starched dresses and shoes wid heels.

Finally one day I told Pete , when he come from fiddlin', to buy me a home or hitch up old "Broad an' Buck" an carry me back to Miss Joe . Dat led him to buyin' a strip of land in Meridian payin' $10.00 a acre. "Broad an' Buck" was a yoke of oxen we owned an' had to do our farmin' wid on dis land. He built me a house, hauled de lumber from Waco, an twice we was burnt out in de same place. On dis spot we begun to cultivate an orchard, an sold de fruit dere off an made good at dat. We raised bees an sold de honey an raised fowls of different kind, farmed on a small scale, raisin' foodstuff for my cows, chickens an' othur stocks we had. Pete was a very good worker an' I would put on my bonnet an' go out in de field an' walk behind him an' de plow, an' drop de corn. I would go behin' him an' de reaper an' tie bundles of oats an' wheat an' help him shock it. He was in de organization of de first colored church in Meridian, "de Colored Cumberlan' Presbyterian Church" organized by Rev. G. B. Sadler of Valley Mills Texas. I have ever lived a useful life. I seen de "dark days" when de chickens went to roost. I seen de stars fall too. As time went on Pete an I begin to work for wages. I went out as a cook an house keeper, washed an ironed. I would help de whites wid dere church suppers an picnic baskets. I served a number years helpin' Doctors on baby cases, nursed an' cared foh de sick both white an' colored. An' I am de Mammy "Black Mammy" of a number of white an' black young men an' women. Dese names are some of de old settlers I wurked for here an' who was kind an' good to me an' Peter an' helped us wid our big bunch of chillun, would give us close an' big pans of good cooked cold food an' othur things an' paid us good foh our labor. Mrs. Ida Fuller Lumpkin , who was kind an' good to me;

I also wurked foh her parents Captain, Mr. an' Mrs. Sam Fossett ; Mr. an' Mrs. Hugh Odle grandpa Odle ; Captain an' Mrs. Emerson , an' McCandles ; Mrs. Campbell the present "Granny Campbell "; Mr. an' Mrs. John Harvey ; Mr. an' Mrs. Tom Dunlap ;Mrs. Kate Greer ; Mrs. F. Johnson ; Mrs. Jim Robinson ; Mr. an' Mrs. Harry White ; Mrs. Nichols ; Mrs. Lomax an' othurs I wurked foh helped me wid my large fambly. Too I've wurked foh many good ones in de later days. Mu fust trip back to Georgia, since bein brought away as a slave durin' de slavery days, was in de year 1915. When I had my health an strength I didn't forget, I held to my early trainin', kept it up, wurked an' had every-thing I wanted an' de best of every-thing. But physically dis-ability an' old age had to come, I am now old an' disabled, feel stunted, an' proverty stricken. If I could see, I would like to wurk now but I'm worn out, I had rather wurk den to beg. I've seen de Bosque ribber on a mad rise an a terrible rage many a time, sweepin' eberthin' as de over-flow come down. We use to go to de church annual meetins' in covered wagons.


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