From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Rube Montgomery - Age 86
Foreward: Age 86 years, height 5' 5", weight 146 lbs., color cocoa brown,
health bad: ruptured and also has rheumatism. Not able to do any kind of work.
Depends on two daughters for support who make their living washing for the
public.
"I was born in Choctaw county near Chester on the 5th day o' October, 86 years
ago. My mama was Ann Weatherall an' my papa was a white man. My mama was born
up near Pontatoc, Mississippi. I was de only child she ever birthed."
"Our white folks didn't own but two slaves. 'Sides my Ma, de other was a
nigger man. I was de only little nigger on de place."
"We lived in little log houses what was comfortable 'nuff. Our beds was
homemade (built in de corner o' de room) wid jus' one leg. Had a railin' from
each side de leg what was 'tached to holes in de walls. De Mattress was made
out o' hay."
"My marsa was Theodore Weatherall an' Missus Mary was his wife. Their chillun
was Mag, Mandy, Adeline, John, Theodore, George, Bell an' Venie."
"Course I was born here on Marsa Weatherall's place an' started doin' little
jobs 'round de place soon as I was big 'nuff. Two years befo' de surrender
they started me workin' regular in de field an' doin' grown folks work. My old
boss whipped me de first day I worked 'cause I lost de cuttin' colter. I
'member one day de old boss hollowed fo' me to bring him some water. I looked
an' saw de white chillun comin' from school at dat time an' told him if he
wanted any water to go get it his self 'cause I's gone after dem dinner
buckets to get dem fried 'taters an' ever thin'. Old boss sho' would-a whipped
me dat time but old Missus wrapped me up in her dress. Old Miss sho' was a
good 'ligious woman."
"Like I was born in October---my old Miss made Mamy wean me in March an' she
(Old Miss) suckled me. I was jus' two weeks older 'n her child. Course I don't
have to tell I was raised in de white folks house. My white folks was sho'
good to me: 'specially Missus."
"Durin' slavery days I went wid de white folks to church. I 'members de first
person I saw shout was a white woman an' she started shoutin' right by me.
Believe me I darted out dat meetin' house. Old miss grabbed at me when I
started by her but shucks, I was gone then. When they got home I was there
settin' on the steps."
"De patrollers sho' would give niggers a floggin when they catched 'em way
from home without a pass."
"I's seed 'em sell slaves a heep o' times. De slave block was 'bout two and a
half miles from Ackerman an' I's been to these sales heep o' times wid my
Marsa."
"Me an' my old Marsa carried five bushels meal, five midlins an' four sholders
meat to old Bankston for de government an' it was put in a store room there.
That very night de Yankees burned de town down. They was there when we got
there but they wasn't nobody what knowed who they was. They took one our
neighbors best saddle horses an' one his niggers an' nobody aint never heard
o' dat nigger since."
"When de war was over our Marsa called us an' told us we was free an' could
leave if we wanted to but we stayed on wid him de rest o' dat year an' when we
left he jus' give us one tenth de crop. We moved on Dr. Montgomery's place
then, down in the southern part o' Choctaw county. He built us a house an'
give us all de land we could clear for three years.'
"My mama married when we went to Dr. Montgomery's an' I stayed on there with
her an' her husband 'bout ten years an' left cause he (mama's husband) didn't
treat me right. I moved down close to Weir then an' married Cindy Potts. She
died eighteen months after we was married an' left me with a ten month old
baby. I give my baby an' what little I had to my Mama an' went to workin' here
an' yonder fo' wages. I've been livin' here 'round Ackerman since Ackerman was
first built. I helped build de railroad from Kosciusko to Ackerman. Most o' my
life I have spent farmin'."
"I slept wid a colord fellow after de surrender what had scars of gashes all
down his sholders to his waist where his white folks had whipped him. My white
folks was good to me tho'---I had a heep better time when I growed up than
folks does now. I had clothes to wear, plenty to eat, no taxes to pay an' no
nothin to worry bout. Shucks I was a heep better off. When I was able to work
tho' I didn't want fo' nothin'. I always had plenty."
I's seed a heep o' Ku-Klux. They used to be thick up here on Biwy. One Ku-Klux
got his collar bone cut into up there one night. He went in on some niggers
what lived with a widow woman an' the nigger sho' made hash out o' him. That
white woman give her nigger de money to leave here on an' he left.
"I used to vote but I wasn't educated an' you know they knocked us out---all
those who couldn't read an' write."
"My second wife was Nina Head an' our chillun was: Narciss, Swint, Annie
White, Ellie Montgomery, Zeddie Roberson, Leroy an' Ida. One my boys works in
a tire plant in Memphis part o' de time an' de others is unemployed 'cept odd
jobs they picks up along."
Interviewer: Unknown
Transcribed by Ann Allen Geoghegan
Mississippi Narratives
Prepared by
The Federal Writer’s Project of
The Works Progress Administration
For the State of Mississippi
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"If you teach them where they come from, they won't need as much help finding where they are going!" Cordelia Carothers " Aunt Dee" Geoghegan (1894-1987)
Project Manager: Ann
Allen Geoghegan State Coordinator Assistant State Coordinators and
Transcriptionists: Ann Allen Geoghegan, Debbie Leftwich, and Rose Diamond and Linda Durr Rudd Banner designed by: Melissa McCoy-Bell Unknown worker photograph provided by L. Stephen Bell Photography, and family photo albums of Karen Schweikle, Lucy Gray and Jens Burkhart. Copyright © 2005-2008 by MSGenWeb Project. All rights reserved. |
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