“My husband farmed.  I raised my family, chopped and picked cotton and done other things along with that.  I have worked all my life till way after my husband died.

“My husband could jump up, knock heels together three times before he come down.  He died May 12, 1909.  He was 83 years old February 16, 1909.

“I never voted.  I never heard my husband say much bout voting.  I know some colored folks sold their voting rights.  That was wrong.

“I lived at Baptist Bottoms two years.  It lack to killed me.”

Wyatt Oats and Miss Callie Edwards owned the husband of Emma Oats.  She was married once and had two girls and two boys—­one boy dead now.  Emma lives at one of her daughters’ homes.

Interviewer:  Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed:  Helen Odom and mother, Sarah Odom
                    Biscoe, Arkansas
Age:  30?

“Great-grandmother was part African, Indian, and Caucasian.  She had two girls before slavery ended by her own master—­Master Temple.  He was also Caucasian (white).  She was cook and housemaid at his home.  He was a bachelor.  Grandmother’s name was Rachael and her sister’s name was Gilly.  Before freedom Master Temple had another wife.  By her he had one boy and two girls.  He never had a Caucasian wife.  In fact he was always a bachelor.  Grandmother was a field hand and so was her sister, Gilly.

“But after freedom grandmother married a Union soldier.  His took-on name was George Washington Tomb.  He was generally called Parson Tomb (preacher).  He met Grandmother Rachael in Arkansas.

“When Master Temple died his nearest relative was Jim McNeilly.  He made a will leaving everything he possessed to Master McNeilly.  The estate had to be settled, so he brought the two sisters to Little Rock we think to be sold.  They rode horseback and walked and brought wagons with bedding and provisions to camp along the road.  The blankets were frozen and stood alone.  It was so cold.  Grandmother was put up on the block to be auctioned off and freedom was declared!  Aunt Gilly never got to the block.  Grandmother married and was separated from her sister.

“Whether the other three children were brought to Arkansas then I don’t know but this I know that they went by the name McNeilly.  They changed their names or it was done for them.  They are all dead now and my own mother is the only one now living.  Their names were John, Tom, and Netline.  Mother says they were sold to Johnson, and went by that name too as much as McNeilly.  They remained with Johnson till freedom, in Tennessee.

“My mother’s name is Sarah.

“They seem to think they were treated good till Master Temple died.  They nearly froze coming to Arkansas to be sold.

“I heard this told over and over so many, many times before grandmother died.  Seemed it was the greatest event of her life.  She told other smaller things I can’t remember to tell with sense at all.  Nothing so important as her master and own father’s death and being sold.