Bolden Hall was born in Walkino, Florida, a little town in Jefferson
County, on February 13, 1853, the son of Alfred and Tina Hall. The Halls
who were the slaves of Thomas Lenton, owner of seventy-five or a hundred
slaves, were the parents of twenty-one children. The Halls, who were
born before slavery worked on the large plantation of Lenton which was
devoted primarily to the growing of cotton and corn and secondarily to
the growing of tobacco and pumpkins. Lenton was very good to his slaves
and never whipped them unless it was absolutely necessary--which was
seldom! He provided them with plenty of food and clothing, and always
saw to it that their cabins were liveable. He was careful, however, to
see that they received no educational training, but did not interfere
with their religious quest. The slaves were permitted to attend church
with their masters to hear the white preacher, and occasionally the
master--supposedly un-beknown to the slaves--would have an itinerant
colored minister preach to the slaves, instructing them to obey their
master and mistress at all times. Although freedom came to the slaves in
January, Master Lenton kept them until May in order to help him with his
crops. When actual freedom was granted to the slaves, only a few of the
young ones left the Lenton plantation. In 1882 Bolden Hall came to Live
Oak where he has resided ever since. He married but his wife is now
dead, and to that union one child was born.