*James G. Woorling, of Fort Worth, Texas, tells the story of Uncle Dave,
one of the slaves that belonged to Mr. Woorling's father, who owned a
large plantation near Point, in Rains County, Texas. The story relates
how Uncle Dave provided for his family after they were freed, and is
valuable as an example of how many ex-slaves managed to secure a
foothold in a world for which slavery had not prepared them.*
"During pre-war days my father owned a plantation near Point, in Rains
County, as well as a large number of slaves, including one Uncle Dave.
After the Negroes were emancipated, my father placed a large number of
them on tracts of land within the plantation and furnished them with a
mule team, a few sheep, some chickens, and the implements needed to
cultivate the land. The Negroes were privileged to occupy the land for
seven years and to keep whatever they made during that time. After the
expiration of the seven years they were to pay in money or percentage of
crops for the use of the land. This plan was followed by a number of
plantation owners.
"Uncle Dave was an exceptional Negro. He was a natural mechanic, but
could do carpenter work, blacksmithing, shoemaking and many other things
equally well. He was a good manager, frugal and industrious, and it is
doubtful if he paid out $50.00 in a year's time for food, clothing and
other necessities during the seven years that he lived on the
seventy-five acres on our plantation.
"He never bought a horsecollar, but made them himself, shaping them to
prevent galling and packing them with corn husks. He made the hames from
oak timber and made the metal accessories.
"The shoes for Dave's family he made from hides of animals slaughtered
for the meat supply. About the only farm implements he bought were those
that required high grade steel.
"Aunt Julia, his wife, did her part. She was adept at cooking and
preserving, and knew how to cure meat. Salt and spices were purchased,
but they raised barley and roasted it, to use in the place of tea or
coffee. They raised sugar and ribbon cane and made their own sugar and
molasses. Aunt Julia told father that eggs were traded for any articles
of food that could not be obtained from the farm.
"Following the Civil War the production of cloth by power driven
machines enabled manufacturers to sell cloth at a price that did not
warrant continuance of the hand method. But that did not interest Dave
and Julia. They had a spinning wheel and a loom made by Uncle Dave
himself, and they made all the cloth needed by the family, dying it with
the bark of blackoak, cherry or other trees.
"When the seven year period ended, my father thought that Uncle Dave
would stay on the land. He had cleared it, built a house and barn and
other structures, which all belonged to my father under the agreement.
But Uncle Dave was not interested in renting the land. He had saved
enough money to buy a thousand acres between the towns of Point and
Emory. He built a house and barn and moved his family.
"Uncle Dave came home one day from a trip to town with a load of cotton.
He had a ten gallon keg, which he painted black. He cut a slit in the
side of the keg and made a plug for the hole and told Julia the keg was
to hold his surplus cash.
"Uncle Dave hid the keg and during the next twenty years refused to tell
his wife, children or anyone else where it was. It is obvious that all
the money he received for his crops, except a small sum, was surplus.
Julia often asked Uncle Dave to tell her where the keg was, and told my
father that Uncle Dave had not been well and she feared the possibility
of his dying without disclosing the secret. Not long after, Uncle Dave
was found dead one morning. Money was needed for funeral expenses, but
the keg could not be found and Julia had to borrow the required amount.
"The family searched first in the more likely locations, then made a
minute search of the whole place, but the keg was never found. On Uncle
Dave's farm a fortune is cached. The keg must have long ago
disintegrated, but the gold and silver money, the savings of twenty
years, remain in their hiding place."