An interview with Mary Barbour 81 of 801 S. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh,
N. C.
I reckon dat I wuz borned in McDowell County, case dat's whar my mammy,
Edith, lived. She 'longed ter Mr. Jefferson Mitchel dar, an' my pappy
'longed ter er Mr. Jordan in Avery County, so he said.
'Fore de war, I doan know nothin' much 'cept dat we lived on a big
plantation an' dat my mammy wucked hard, but wuz treated pretty good.
We had our little log cabin off ter one side, an' my mammy had sixteen
chilluns. Fas' as dey got three years old de marster sol' 'em till we
las' four dat she had wid her durin' de war. I wuz de oldes' o' dese
four; den dar wuz Henry an' den de twins, Liza an' Charlie.
One of de fust things dat I 'members wuz my pappy wakin' me up in de
middle o' de night, dressin' me in de dark, all de time tellin' me ter
keep quiet. One o' de twins hollered some an' pappy put his hand ober
its mouth ter keep it quiet.
Atter we wuz dressed he went outside an' peeped roun' fer a minute den
he comed back an' got us. We snook out o' de house an' long de woods
path, pappy totin' one of de twins an' holdin' me by de han' an' mammy
carryin' de udder two.
I reckons dat I will always 'member dat walk, wid de bushes slappin' my
laigs, de win' sighin' in de trees, an' de hoot owls an' whippoorwills
hollerin' at each other frum de big trees. I wuz half asleep an' skeered
stiff, but in a little while we pass de plum' thicket an' dar am de
mules an' wagin.
Dar am er quilt in de bottom o' de wagin, an' on dis dey lays we
youngins. An' pappy an' mammy gits on de board cross de front an' drives
off down de road.
I wuz sleepy but I wuz skeered too, so as we rides 'long I lis'ens ter
pappy an' mammy talk. Pappy wuz tellin' mammy 'bout de Yankees comin'
ter dere plantation, burnin' de co'n cribs, de smokehouses an' 'stroyin'
eber'thing. He says right low dat dey done took marster Jordan ter de
Rip Raps down nigh Norfolk, an' dat he stol' de mules an' wagin an'
'scaped.
We wuz skeerd of de Yankees ter start wid, but de more we thinks 'bout
us runnin' way frum our marsters de skeerder we gits o' de Rebs. Anyhow
pappy says dat we is goin' ter jine de Yankees.
We trabels all night an' hid in de woods all day fer a long time, but
atter awhile we gits ter Doctor Dillard's place, in Chowan County. I
reckons dat we stays dar seberal days.
De Yankees has tooked dis place so we stops ober, an' has a heap o' fun
dancin' an' sich while we am dar. De Yankees tells pappy ter head fer
New Bern an' dat he will be took keer of dar, so ter New Bern we goes.
When we gits ter New Bern de Yankees takes de mules an' wagin, dey
tells pappy something, an' he puts us on a long white boat named Ocean
Waves an' ter Roanoke we goes.
Later I larns dat most o' de reffes[2] is put in James City, nigh New
Bern, but dar am a pretty good crowd on Roanoke. Dar wuz also a ole
Indian Witch 'oman dat I 'members.
Atter a few days dar de Ocean Waves comes back an' takes all ober ter
New Bern. My pappy wuz a shoemaker, so he makes Yankee boots, an' we
gits 'long pretty good.
I wuz raised in New Bern an' I lived dar till forty years ago when me
an' my husban' moved ter Raleigh an' do' he's been daid a long time I
has lived hyar ober [TR: eber] since an' eben if'en I is eighty-one
years old I can still outwuck my daughter an' de rest of dese young
niggers.
[Footnote 2: refugees]
N. C. District: No. 2 [320162]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 927
Subject: Plantation Times
Person Interviewed: Alice Baugh
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: Date Stamp "JUN 1 1937"]