*Lou Williams, said to be the oldest citizen of San Angelo, Texas, was
born in southern Maryland in 1829. She and her family were slaves of
Abram and Kitty Williams, of that section, and Lou served as nursemaid
to her master's children from the age of eight until after the Civil
War. She then went to Louisiana where she worked as a cook for several
years before coming to San Angelo. She is very active for her 108 years
and is a familiar figure about town, with her crutch.*
"I's have de bes' white folks in Maryland. I's born in a three-room
frame house and I had one of them statements (birth certificates). When
I five years old my old missy she say, 'Dat gal, she sho' am gwine be
dependable and I makes nursemaid out of her.' When I eight years old she
trusts me with dem white chillen. I loves to fish so well I'd take de
li'l chillen to de creek and take off my underskirt and spread it out on
de bank and put de chillen on it while I sho' cotch de fish. Massa, he
start lookin' for me and when he gits to de creek, he say, 'Dar's de
li'l devil.' He know dem chillen safe, so he jus' laugh.
"In de fall massa puts us nigger chillen on de bale of cotton and takes
us to town and gives us money to buy candy and dolls with. We allus had
good food and lots of fish and rabbits and possums, but when my missy
see dem possums carryin' de baby possums round she fall out with possum
and she say, 'No more possum bein' cooked 'round here.'
"When I jes' a li'l gal I seed de stars fall and when everything got
dark like and dem bright stars begin to fall we all start runnin' and
hollerin' to our missy and she say, 'Chillen, don't git under my coat,
git on your knees and start prayin', and when we begins to pray de Lawd
he sends a shower of rain and puts out dem stars or de whole world would
a been burned up.
"When massa take us to town he say he want us to see how de mean slave
owners raffles off de fathers and de husban's and de mothers and de
wives and de chillen. He takes us 'round to de big platform and a white
man git up dere with de slave and start hollerin' for bids, and de slave
stands dere jes' pitiful like, and when somebody buy de slave all de
folks starts yellin' and a cryin'. Dem sho' was bad times. Our massa
wouldn't do his niggers dat way and we loved him for it, too.
"We had big gardens and lots of vegetables to eat, 'cause massa had
'bout eight hundred slaves and 'bout a thousand acres in he plantation.
In summer time we wore jes' straight cotton slips and no shoes till
Sunday, den we puts on shoes and white dresses and ties a ribbon 'round
our waists, and we didn't look like de same chillen.
"Dere a big arbor for de whites to go to church and we goes, too. When
we starts down de road to church, our mama, she start sayin' things to
make us be quiet. We pass de graveyard and she say, 'See dat spirit
runnin' 'long here with us?' When we gits dere we hardly moves. We could
jine, if we wants to.
"My mama, she Black Creek Indian and none of dem white folks wants her.
When massa buys my daddy and us chillen we had done been sold 'way from
her and we cry and she cry, and den she follow us to our plantation and
cry and beg our massa let her stay. He say, 'She ain't no good but put
her in de house and let her do some patchin' and mendin'.' Mama, she cry
and say, 'Thank God, Thank God! I's git to be with my husban' and li'l
chillen.' She make de good spinner and weaver and old missy, she say she
couldn't do without her, 'cause she spin cotton cloth for summer and
woolen cloth for winter.
"Niggers didn't have much weddin's, but when massa find dem takin' up he
tells everybody to dress in white and de two what was takin' up together
has to march up and down till de big supper comes off. Dey was man and
wife den, but me, I's diff'rent. I's had a 'spectable weddin', 'cause
missy, she say I's her nursemaid. De preacher, he reads, and I's all
dressed in white clothes and sech a supper we never had befo'.
"All de slaves wasn't so lucky as we was, though. We lives close to de
meanest owner in de country. Our massa wouldn't keep no overseer, 'cause
he say his niggers wasn't dogs, but dis other man he keeps overseers to
beat de niggers and he has de big leather bullwhip with lead in de end,
and he beats some slaves to death. We heared dem holler and holler till
dey couldn't holler no mo! Den dey jes' sorta grunt every lick till dey
die. We finds big streams of blood where he has whopped dem and when it
rained de whole top of de ground jes' looks like a river of blood dere.
Sometime he bury he niggers and sometime de law come out and make him
bury dem. He put dem in chains and stockades and sometimes he would buck
and gag dem.
[Illustration: _Lou Williams_]
"We seed he niggers goin' by our plantation with de oven on de heads
'round three o'clock in de mornin' on de way to de fields. Dese ovens
made of wood and tin over de tin cup dat fit de slaves' heads. Each
nigger have he bread and some old hairy bone meat a-cookin' with fire
coals in dese ovens. Dey made not to burn de head and when dey gits to
de fields dey sets dem down to finish cookin' while dey works till
breakfast time. De mamas what expectin' babies was whopped to make dem
work faster and when babies was sick dey has to put dem in de basket on
top dere heads and take dem to de cotton patch, and put dem under de
cotton stalks and try to 'tend to dem. Lawd, Lawd, dem was awful times,
and I sho' is glad I has good white folks.
[Illustration: _Lou Williams' House_]
"Some dat man's niggers allus runnin' 'way and dey sets de nigger dogs
on dem and catch dem mos' times. Den dey treat 'em so bad dey wouldn't
never want to run away no more.
"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we
has dances Saturday night. I has two brothers, Jim and William and
William git kilt in de war. My two sisters named Relia and Laura. We has
corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas our massa buys us de
present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes.
"When de white folks dies or gits married everybody sho' carries on big.
When we sick dey gives us snakeroot tea and cana and sage tea and if
we's bad sick, dey gits de doctor. Missy, she make hog hoof tea, jes'
bile de hoofs in good whiskey for de cold. Den she put camphor ball and
asafoetida 'round our necks to keep off diseases.
"When de war ends we sees a white man comin' down de road on a hoss and
de road full of niggers followin' him, singin' and shoutin' and prayin'.
I stays with massa till he die, then I marries and has one chile and one
grandchile, and I lives with her."