Mary Minus Biddie, age one hundred five was born in Pensacola, Florida,
1833, and raised in Columbia County. She is married, and has several
children. For her age she is exceptionally active, being able to wash
and do her house work. With optimism she looks forward to many more
years of life. Her health is excellent.
Having spent thirty-two years of her life as a slave she relates vividly
some of her experiences.
Her master Lancaster Jamison was a very kind man and never mistreated
his slaves. He was a man of mediocre means, and instead of having a
large plantation as was usual in those days, he ran a boarding house,
the revenue therefrom furnishing him substance for a livelihood. He had
a small farm from which fresh produce was obtained to supply the needs
of his lodgers. Mary's family were his only slaves. The family consisted
of her mother, father, brother and a sister. The children called the old
master "Fa" and their father "Pappy." The master never resented this
appellation, and took it in good humor. Many travelers stopped at his
boarding house; Mary's mother did the cooking, her father "tended" the
farm, and Mary, her brother and sister, did chores about the place.
There was a large one-room house built in the yard in which the family
lived. Her father had a separate garden in which he raised his produce,
also a smokehouse where the family meats were kept. Meats were smoked
in order to preserve them.
During the day Mary's father was kept so busy attending his master's
farm that there was no time for him to attend to a little farm that he
was allowed to have. He overcame this handicap, however, by setting up
huge scaffolds in the field which he burned and from the flames that
this fire emitted he could see well enough to do what was necessary to
his farm.
The master's first wife was a very kind woman; at her death Mary's
master moved from Pensacola to Columbia County.
Mary was very active with the plow, she could handle it with the agility
of a man. This prowess gained her the title of "plow girl."