"I was born in Mississippi in Tippa County not far from the edge of
Tennessee. I wasn't raised in Arkansas, but all my children was raised
here. I really don't know just where in Tippa county I was born. My
mother's name was Ann Toler. Toler was my step father. My real father, I
don't know. My mother never told me nothin' bout him and I don't know
that; I can't tell what I don't know.
"My grandfather on my mother's side was Captain Ellis. That is the one
come after me when I was small to carry me back to my folks. I didn't
know him, and I said 'I don't want to go 'way with them strange
Niggers'. He's dead now. They're all dead long ago. I have got children
over fifty years old myself. I am the mother of nine children--three of
them living. One of the living ones is Arthur Finger. He lives in St.
Louis. I expected to hear from him today, but didn't. Cornelius Finger.
(He is a brownskin boy, spare made), lives in Palestine, Arkansas, near
Forrest City. Arthur is my baby boy. Elmira was my baby girl. She's the
one you met. She's married and has children of her own.
"Captain Ellis' wife was named Minerva. She was my mother's mother.
She's been dead years. I got children older than she was when she died.
She died in Mississippi. I got a cousin named Molly Spight. She's dead.
My mother's sister was named Emmaline; she is dead now too.
"My mother was colored. I don't know nothin' about my father, and my
mother never taught me nothin' 'bout him.
"My step father and mother were both field hands. They worked in the
field.
"I don't know just when I was born, but I am just sure that it was
before the war. I remember hearing people talk about things in the war.
"My mother's master was named Whitely, I think, because she was named
Whitley before she married.
"I have been married three times. The first man I married was 'Lijah
Gibbs. The second time I married, I married Joe Finger. The third time I
married Will Reese. He warn't no husband at all. They're all dead. Folks
always called me Finger after my second husband died, because I didn't
live with my third husband long.