*Interview with Emma Chapman*
--_Mary A. Poole_
Living in a small room in the rear of a house at 361 Augusta Street,
Mobile, Alabama, the writer located an interesting ex-slave, Emma
Chapman, who when first approached was somewhat reticent. I soon learned
I had arrived just as she was ready to have her breakfast, which
consisted of bread and coffee, and insisted she eat first and talk
afterwards, as she had made just about enough fire in the open fireplace
to boil the coffee.
While she followed my suggestion I glanced about the room and found it
very neat and tidy and an unusually comfortable looking double bed, a
mirrored door chifferobe and two trunks, one rocking chair and a couple
of straight chairs, a table containing all cooking utensils and food
containers. The walls were covered with sheets of manilla wrapping
paper, tacked on, and part of the ceiling patched with odds and ends of
corrugated paper. Emma is small in stature, of light complexion with
greying hair arranged in neat braids around her head, very clean in
appearance.
Emma said she was about 13 years of age at the time of the surrender,
and that she was born on the plantation of Rev. Mr. Montgomery Curry of
Charleston, S.C. When she was about 3 years of age Mr. Curry moved to
Pickens County, Alabama, about 5 miles from Carrollton and 8 miles from
Pickenville. When I asked why they moved to Alabama, Emma laughed, and
said they expected to find money growing on trees in Alabama, and that
she as a child came near being "snake bit" many a time, digging around
the roots of old trees, trying to find money.
Rev. Montgomery Curry, said Emma, was married to Ann Haynie, whose
parents were Aaron and Francis Hudson Haynie, and Emma's grandmother was
Lucy Linier, who was born in Virginia and was sold to Mr. Haynie to pay
a debt. Lucy Linier was nurse for his daughter Ann and when she married
Mr. Curry, she brought Lucy with her to her new home. The Currys had
three children, a boy and two girls, and it was Lucy Linier's daughter,
Patsy, who acted as their nurse.
The home of Rev. and Mrs. Montgomery Curry was a two-story log house
with wide open hall running the entire length of the house and with
rooms opening off either side. The kitchen was out a short distance from
the main house, with the dairy between the two, under a large hickory
tree.
The slave quarters were also built of logs, with space between for a
shed room and small garden plot and a few chickens. The slave women did
not go to the fields on Saturday as that was their day to clean up
around their homes. They usually washed their clothes at night and hung
them on the bushes where they were left to dry in the sunshine, maybe a
couple of days, as no one could or would disturb them.
Rev. Montgomery Curry was a Baptist preacher and had no overseer, except
Lucy Linier and her husband, Emma's grandparents, who kept a supervision
over the slaves about 40 in number. There was no whipping allowed on the
Curry plantation, and after the death of Reverend Curry, Mrs. Ann Curry
(his widow) ran the plantation under the same system. The patrollers had
no jurisdiction over the Curry slaves, they were given permits by the
Currys to go and come, and Emma said if one of those patrollers whipped
one of "ole Miss's slaves, she would have sure sued them.
Emma laughingly said the slaves on other plantations always said the
Curry slaves were "free niggers," as they could always get permits, and
had plenty to eat and milk to drink. The slaves cooked their breakfasts
in their own cabins, but dinner and supper was cooked in the kitchen and
each came with their pan to be filled and had their own gourds which
were grown on the place to drink their milk and of which they could have
full and plenty.
During the war they cooked for the Confederate soldiers encamped nearby
and great quantities were prepared. Emma was one of those delegated to
carry the food to the camp. All she ever saw of the Yankees were two who
stopped at the house and asked for something to eat. Mrs. Montgomery
invited them in and served the best she had. One of the men wanted to
take the last mule she had and the other said "No, Mrs. Montgomery is a
widow and from the appearance of her slaves she has treated them well."
Mrs. Montgomery told them that someone had stolen her saddle horse and
the soldier who had remonstrated with the other replied: "Madam, your
saddle horse will be returned in three weeks," and sure enoug, one night
about midnight they heard a horse whinny and Emma's grandfather said
"there is old Spunk," and there was old Spunk waiting outside.
Emma said the first whipping she ever had, was after the Surrender,
given her by her own father when they left Alabama and went to live near
Columbus, Miss.
She had always lived in the house with the "old Miss" and her young
Miss, and when she had to leave them, she cried and so did they.
Her grandmother Lucy Linier nursed "Miss Ann"; Lucy's daughter Patsy
nursed "Miss Ann's" children, and was the special property of Fannie
Montgomery Curry, who married a Mr. Sidney Lipscomb and whose children
Emma helped to look after, so the three generations were interwoven.
Emma only wishes she could go back to plantation days. All her trials
and suffering came after she left "Ole Miss," and went to live with her
father and mother, George and Patsy Curry, who had fourteen children and
of which Emma was the eldest. Her father who was a quadroon in cast was
cruel to his family, and especially so to her. He made her work like a
man, cutting timber, splitting rails, digging, planting and all work of
the farm.
Now, Emma is the only member of her family left. She married three
times, having only two children, a girl and a boy, these by her last
husband, Frank Chapman, now dead, and Emma has no knowledge of her
children's whereabouts. She gave them an education so they could write
to her if they wanted to. The girl married and left Mobile, the boy went
to Chicago, was chauffeur for some rich folks. His last letter several
years ago, in which he enclosed $25.00, stated he was going on a trip to
Jerusalem with one of the young men of the family.