Rose Thomas

Rose Thomas , a dignified, white-haired negro woman, who lived in Mississippi during slavery days tells: My father belonged to old Marster Sam Houston in Virginia. Father was the carpenter on the plantation. His name was Albert and his brother whose name was Josh was the blacksmith. They went by the last name of Houston . That is the way they all did--had the same name as the family who owned them.I don't know whether old Marster Houston moved to Mississippi or how come my father and mother to be down there but I can remember well our quarters, one little house after the other. My mother was cook at the big house and I used to help or at least stay with her in the kitchen. We cooked all the time and had lots of good things to eat. We had lots of visitors all the time, but at Christmas times there was a house full. Parties and everything went on. Our ladies were the prettiest and had the finest clothes. The house girls used to help the ladies dress and the other girls were right jealous of them. Everybody had plenty to eat and good times. Our men all went to the war. Marster went and Ben , a fine colored man, went with him. They both came back, but marster was sick and didn't live very long and Uncle Ben seemed all at once like an old man.There was just missus, the three children, my mammy and me and Uncle Ben and his wife, Aunt Dykie . Uncle Ben farmed a little and we lived very well. Everything was quiet and still around the place. At night we used to sit on the steps and Uncle Ben would tell us stories, mostly about animals that acted like folks. Mr. Fox was always so smart, but Brudder Rabbit usually came out best.Yes, the Yankee soldiers came around. At first they were just smart alecks in their fine blue suits with brass buttons, but later they stole things, horses and silver and the like. Sometime after the 'tee total' eclipse of the sun, we moved to Huntsville, Texas, and lived there until the twenties and I came out here. We sure was scared when we saw that eclipse. It was so dark the chickens went to roost and the cows came home. The shadows looked backwards on things. My grandmother lived to 110 years old and she never did wear glasses and her teeth were good. I can remember the old cotton gins that were made to work by hitching horses to them and making them go around and around. The other children and I used to ride on the long beams. I married and had six children and lived with my husband until he died and that was years and years. We never heard of no slaves being mistreated. We lived a lot better then than we have since, even if the government does give me a pension.