Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the
things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she
calls it of this generation.
She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early
life.
Submitted December 9, 1937
Indianapolis, Indiana
Ex-Slave Stories
District No. 5.
Vanderburgh County
Lauana Creel
THE STORY OF BETTY JONES
429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind.
From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville,
Ind.
"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my
mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was
on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of
the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and
the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place."
Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by
raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were
mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be.
Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on
the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a
crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers,
brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would
grieve to see the grief of our parents."
The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her
master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted.
"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war,"
declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at
Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful."
Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did
not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live
with her married daughter and died there.
Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave
of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago.
Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when
the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure.
"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the
bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the
boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of
sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and
how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She
recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed
and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not
believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but
she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black
cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old
home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate
family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to
the far away land and some member of the family would die.
Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block
of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence
Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for
two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats.
White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats."
"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by
trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get
away."
The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her
husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a
caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do
house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a
Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to
meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson,
Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty
years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home
but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much."
So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the
feeble.
Federal Writers' Project
of the W.P.A.
District #6
Marion County
Anna Pritchett
1200 Kentucky Avenue
FOLKLORE
NATHAN JONES--EX-SLAVE
409 Blake Street
Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of
Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves.
Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat
them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children
from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as
possible.
Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good
worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel
treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master
sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of
the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put
on the block.
His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him.
He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a
kind heart and respected his slaves.
Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and
feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to
resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from
their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings."
Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small
orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it.
He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He
then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him.
Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four
children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild.
His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad"
with them, and could barely exist themselves.