N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 1213
Subject: HANNAH PLUMMER
Person Interviewed: Hannah Plummer
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
HANNAH PLUMMER
412 Smith Street
"My name is Hannah Plummer. I was born near Auburn, in Wake County,
January 7, 1856. My father was Allen Lane and my mother was named
Bertcha Lane. We belonged to Gov. Charles Manly, that is mother and
myself, father belonged to some maiden ladies, Susan and Emma White.
The governor had large plantations, but mother and myself lived with
them on their lot right where the Rex Hospital now stands on South and
Fayetteville Streets. Governor Manly owned the block down to the
railroad, and we chillun went into [HW: ?] grove, it was a grove then,
to pick up walnuts and hickory nuts.
"My father was a stonecutter and he hired his time and gave it to his
missus and lived with us. Mother was at Governor Manly's. He said
father was a high-headed fellow and said he was livin' on his lot and
in his house and that he didn't do anything for him, and that he ought
to keep up his family. Mother was the washerwoman for the governor and
his family. Missus Manly, the Governor's wife, I forget her first name,
did not take any particular interest in her servants. She had slave
servants for everything: a wash and ironer, a drawing room and parlor
cleaner, a cook, waiting men, waitresses and a maid who did nothing
but wait on her.
"Governor Manly was a mighty rich man, and he had several plantations
and a lot o' slaves. I don't remember how many slaves he owned. Mother
was given meal and meat and had to cook it just the same as she would
now. They didn't allow her food from the great house. Mother had ten
children, and at times we did not have enough to eat. We went hungry a
lot. The boys were named Fred, David, Matthew, Allen, and Thomas.
Girls, Cinderilla, Corinna, Hannah, Victoria, and Mary. All were born
slaves but two. Thomas and Mary. David and myself are all that are left
alive.
"I remember that we lived in a plank house, with three rooms and a shed
porch. Mother washed clothes under the porch. The house had two rooms
downstairs and one upstairs. (Oh! I have thought of the Governor's
wife's name, missus name, it was Charity.) We used trundle beds of
wood. Mother made our bed clothes at night. She also made bonnets and
dresses. Sometimes she made bonnets and sold them. The child that set
up with her she gave some kind o' sweets. I set up with her a lot
because I liked to eat. Mother was allowed the little money she made
makin' bonnets and dresses at night.
"They whupped slaves on the place. I could hear the blows and hear 'em
screamin' cryin' an' beggin', but I never saw it. I never saw a slave
sold an' I never saw any in chains.
"I do not remember how many children old marster had, I only remember
one; he was Marster Basil Manly. He was an officer in the Confederate
Army. He used to come home with his pretty clothes an' his hat with
plumes on it. Mother tole me that before she was married Marster gave
her to his son Basil as a maid for his wife Caroline.
"Missus Caroline whupped her most every day, and about anything. Mother
said she could not please her in anything, no matter what she done or
how hard she tried. Missus would go up town and come back and whup her.
Mother was a young girl then. One day Miss Caroline went up town, an'
come back mad. She made mother strip down to her waist, and then took a
carriage whup an' beat her until the blood was runnin' down her back.
Mother said she was afraid she would kill her, so she ran for the woods
and hid there, and stayed three weeks. She made up her mind she wasn't
comin' back.
"The old Governor Charles Manly, went to mother's father, Jimmie Manly
an' tole him if he did not get Bertcha back he would whup him. Her
father tole him he did not know where she was, an' that he belonged to
him an' he could do with him as he liked, but he was not goin' one step
to hunt Bertcha, my mother. Then the governor went to grandmother an'
tole her she had to find her. He tole her to leave the lot an' stay
away until her daughter came back. Grandmother did not know where she
was.
"The niggers on different plantations fed mother by carrying things to
certain hidin' places and leavin' it. Grandmother got word to her, an'
she said she would come back, but not to Mis' Caroline. She told
marster, so marster let her stay with grandmother until Christmas, then
they allowed her to hire herself out. She hired herself to Mrs.
Simpson. She was good to her and allowed her to work for herself at
night, sit up as long as she wanted to, and she stayed with her until
she was married. Then she went back to old marster's.
"When the war ended mother went to old marster and told him she was
goin' to leave. He told her she could not feed all her children, pay
house rent, and buy wood, to stay on with him. Marster told father and
mother they could have the house free and wood free, an' he would help
them feed the children, but mother said, 'No, I am goin' to leave. I
have never been free and I am goin' to try it. I am goin' away and by
my work and the help of the Lord I will live somehow'. Marster then
said, 'Well stay as long as you wish, and leave when you get ready, but
wait until you find a place to go, and leave like folks.' Marster
allowed her to take all her things with her when she left. The white
folks told her good bye.
"We went to a colored Methodist Church in slavery time but we had a
white pastor. His name was Dr. Pell. He was a mighty nice man and all
the colored people loved him. After the surrender it was a long time
that the colored people had white preachers in their churches. It was a
long time after the war before any of the colored churches had Negro
preachers. William Warrick was the first colored preacher in Raleigh.
He preached in the basement of the Baptist Church now standing on the
corner of Hillsboro and Salisbury Streets. I went to church and Sunday
school there after the surrender.
"I went to school in Raleigh and taught school in Ft. Payne, Alabama.
My husband was a carpenter and went there where he could get good
wages. Slavery was a very bad thing. Abraham Lincoln was one of the
best men that ever lived.
"Roosevelt is just grand. He is no doubt one of the greatest men of any
age. I love to look at his picture. I love him because he has done so
much for humanity. I pray to the Lord to let him live to serve his
country, and help his people."