(MOM ELLEN SINGS * * *)
BONE BAGGUM (Bag o' bones?)
Send Tom Taggum (a man)
To drive Bone Baggum (a boney critter)
Out the world o' wiggly waggum. (cotton patch)
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Rock-a-bye!
Rock-a-bye!
Down come baby cradle and all!
Roll 'em! Roll 'em! Roll 'em!
Roll 'em and boll' em!
And put 'em in the oven!
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"I KNOW when I was a woman Ben was boy!" (Ben now 88)
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"Go to writin'!":
If you want to know my name
Go to Uncle Amos house.
Big foot nigger and he six foot high.
Try to bussin' at my waterfall! (Kissin' her waterfall--head-dress.)
Oh, the gay gal
Settin' on the rider (fence 'rider' on 'stake and rider fence')
Gay gal waterfall.
Don't tech (touch) my waist
But bounce my shirt!
Don't touch my waterfall!"
"I sing that sing to 'em and man buss out and cry! 'My God! You talk
ME?' I ain't want him! I kick him with that same word.
"They was Zazarus and Lavinia. Dead can't wash for myself. I go wash and
lay Lavinia out. And he husband wanter (want to) marry with me. I kick
him with that same sing. Hint to wise. If he couldn't understand that he
couldn't understand nothing.
"Mr. Godfrey my last husband, he worth all the two I got. I have the
chillun. Wenus, Jane, Patient, Kate, Harry, Edmund, Jeemes--"
=Source:= Mom Ellen Godfrey
Age 100 October 1937
Conway, S.C.
S-260-264-N
Project #1655
Augustus Ladson
Charleston, S.C.
Page 1
No. Words 1654
MASTER WAS NEVER SO MOROCIOUS
SLAVES CALLED COW-MEAT FISH
SLAVE BORN WITH A 'CALL'
I come frum Mt. Pleasant an' was bo'n January 15, 1855 on Mr. Lias
Winning plantation on the Cooper River. I wus den six years ole w'en the
war broke out an' could 'member a good many things. My ma an' pa bin
name Anjuline an' Thomas Goodwater who had eight boys an' eight gals. I
use to help my gran'ma 'round the kitchen who wus the cook for the
fambly. I am the older of the two who is alive. Peter, the one alive,
live on my place now, but I ain't hear from dem for two years. I don'
know for certain dat he's alive or not.
In slavery the people use to go an' catch possums an' rabbits so as to
hab meat to eat. De driber use to shoot cows an in de night de slaves go
an' skin um an' issue um 'round to all the slaves, 'speciall w'en cows
come frum anodder plantation. He go 'round an' tell the slaves dey
better go an' git some fish 'fore all go. Any time any one say e hab
fish it wus understood e mean cow-meat. Our boss ain't nebber cetch on
nor did e ebber miss any cow; Gie Simmons, de collud driber wus under
Sam Black, the white overseer. Sam Black wusn't mean, he jus' had to
carry out orders of Lias Winning, our master. Dere wus a vegetable
garden dat had things for the year round so we could hab soup an' soup
could be in the Big House.
One day w'en I wus 'bout fourteen I did supin an' ma didn' like it. A
bunch of gals bin home an' ma wheel my short over my head an' start to
be at me right 'fore the gals. Dey begged her not to lick me an' she got
mad jus' for dat. I couldn't help myself cuz she tie' de shirt over my
head wood a string, my han's an' all wuz tie' in de shirt wood the
string. In hot wedder gals an' boys go in dere under shirts an' nothin'
else.
Boys in dose days could fight but couldn' throw any one on the groun'.
We had to stan' up an eider beat or git beat.
I wus married in 1872 to Catharine, my wife. At our weddin' we had
plenty to eat. There wus possums, wine, cake, an' plenty o' fruits. I
had on a black suit, black shoes, white tie an' shirt. Catharine had on
all white. I stay' wood Catharine people for a year 'til I wus abled to
buil' on my lan'. I am a fadder of nineteen chillun; ten boys an' nine
gals; only two now livin'.
Lias Winning wusn' a mean man. He couldn' lick pa cus dey grow up
togedder or at least he didn' try. But he liked his woman slave. One day
ma wus in da field workin' alone an' he went there an' try to rape 'er.
Ma pull his ears almos' off so he let 'er off an' gone an' tell pa he
better talk to ma. Pa wus workin' in the salt pen an' w'en Mr. Winning
tell him he jus' laugh cus e know why ma did it.
Dere wus a fambly doctor on de plantation name James Hibbins. My eye use
to run water a lot an' he take out my eye an' couldn' put it back in,
dats why I am blin' now. He ax ma an' pa not to say anything 'bout it
cus he'd lost his job an' hab his license take 'way. So ma an' pa even
didn' say anything even to Mr. Winning as to the truth of my blin'ness.
I wus by the "nigger quarters" one day w'en Blake, the overseer start'
to lick a slave. She take the whip frum him an' close de door an' give
him a snake beatin'.
Our boss had 'bout shree hund'ed acres o' lan' an' ober a hund'ed
slaves. De overseer never wake de slaves. Dey could go in the fiel' any
time in the mornin' cus ebery body wus given their tas' work on Monday
Mornin'. No body neber work w'en it rain or cole. Nuttin' make Lias
Winning so mad as w'en one would steal; it make him morocious. Any one
he catch stealin' wus sure to git a good whippin'. He didn' like for any
one to fight eider.
Dey tell me dat w'en slaves wus shipped to New Orleans dey had to be
dress-up in nice clothes. My pa could read an' write cus he live' in the
city here. His missus teach him.
Isaac Wigfall run 'way an' went to Florida an' meet a white man on a
horse with a gun. He ax de man for a piece o' tobacco. The man give him
de gun to hole while he git the tobacco for him. Isaac take the gun an'
point it at the man an' ax 'im, "you know wha' in dis gun?" De man got
frighten' an' he tell de man "you better be gone or I'll empty it in
you." The man gone an' come back wood a group o' men an' houndogs. He'd
jus' make it to de river 'fore the dogs cetch him. He had a piece o'
light-wood knot an' ebery time a dog git near he hit um on de neck an'
kill' all o' them. The men went back to git more help an' dogs but w'en
dey git back Isaac wus gone.
Dere wus a collud church fifteen miles frum Mt. Pleasant w'ere we went
to service. De preacher wus name' John Henry Doe. I use to like to sing
dis song:
Run away, run away
Run away, run away
Sojus of the cross.