“My mother died.  There is a woman living now that lost it (the home).  Mother let Malinda live on it.  Mother lived with the white folks meanwhile.  She didn’t need the property for herself.  She kept it for us.  She built a nice log house on it.  Fifteen acres of it was under cultivation when it was given to her.  My sister lived on it for a long time.  She mortgaged it in some way I don’t know how.  I remember when the white people ran me down there some years back to get me to sign a title to it.  I didn’t have to sign the paper because the property had been deeded to Susan Badgett and heirs; lawyers advised me not to sign it.  But I signed it for the sake of my sister.

Father and Master

“My mother’s master was named Badgett—­Captain John Badgett.  He was a Methodist preacher.  Some of the Badgetts still own property on Main Street.  My mother’s master’s father was my daddy.

Marriage

“I was married July 12, 1889.  Next year I will have been married fifty years.  My wife’s name was Elizabeth Owens.  She was born in Batesville, Mississippi.  I met her at Brinkley when she was visiting her aunt.  We married in Brinkley.  Very few people in this city have lived together longer than we have.  July 12, 1938, will make forty-nine years.  By July 1939, we will have reached our fiftieth anniversary.

Patrollers, Jayhawkers, Ku Klux, and Ku Klux Klan

“Pateroles, Jayhawkers, and the Ku Klux came before the war.  The Ku Klux in slavery times were men who would catch Negroes out and keep them if they did not collect from their masters.  The Pateroles would catch Negroes out and return them if they did not have a pass.  They whipped them sometimes if they did not have a pass.  The Jayhawkers were highway men or robbers who stole slaves among other things.  At least, that is the way the people regarded them.  The Jayhawkers stole and pillaged, while the Ku Klux stole those Negroes they caught out.  The word ‘Klan’ was never included in their name.

“The Ku Klux Klan was an organization which arose after the Civil War.  It was composed of men who believed in white supremacy and who regulated the morals of the neighborhood.  They were not only after Jews and Negroes, but they were sworn to protect the better class of people.  They took the law in their own hands.

Slave Work

“I’m not so certain about the amount of work required of slaves.  My mother says she picked four hundred pounds of cotton many a day.  The slaves were tasked and given certain amounts to accomplish.  I don’t know the exact amount nor just how it was determined.

Opinions

“It is too bad that the young Negroes don’t know what the old Negroes think and what they have done.  The young folks could be helped if they would take advice.”