One thing he was careful to do, was to avoid all telegraph poles, as that he thought the wires could detect and betray him, the telegraph was a mystery to his ignorant mind.  He succeeded in making his way to Canada and freedom where he stayed until after the war, when it was safe to return.

The slave trade of importing slaves into the United States, being forbidden after about 1820, cut off the supply to such an extent that strong, healthy negroes became very high in price.  Many Kentucky slave owners raised slaves for this market just as we today raise live stock on our farms.

Only the strong healthy slave women were allowed to have children, and often were not allowed to mate with their own husbands, but were bred like live stock to some male negro who was kept for that purpose because of his strong phisique, which the master wished to reproduce, in order to get a good price for his progeny, just like horses, cattle, dogs and other animals are managed today in order to improve the stock.  Often the father of a comely black woman’s child, would be the master himself, who would heartlessly sell his own offspring to some other master, without regard for his welfare.

Many of the aristocratic women of the master class, to keep from the burdensome task of caring for their own children, and to assure themselves a life of leisure would delegate to one of the negro slave women the care of their own children.

Many of the upper class white children were cared for by these faithful black “Mammies” fed by the milk from their breasts.  Countless stories are told of the love and devotion of the black “Mammy” for the white child who was brought to their ‘grown up’ years by her care.

A marriage between negroes, before freedom, had no legal standing; a negro couple, wishing to marry, had to get a permit from each master and were united in marriage by a ceremony with a preacher of their own race officiating.  After the war, when they were made citizens with civil rights, many former slaves who had been married in this way, hastened to legalize their union by obtaining licenses and having a legal ceremony performed.

While the four years of Civil War, between the North and South resulted in the freedom of the slaves, the negro is yet restricted in many ways in the south.  In many states, separate schools are maintained, the negro churches are separate, social equality is not recognized.

In Kentucky, intermarriages between the races are not allowed.  Separate coaches are provided on railway trains, hotels, restaurants, theaters and other places of amusement, which cater to white customers, do not permit negro patrons.  Many towns and cities have zoning ordinances forbidding negroes to live in white localities.  In many southern states the negroes is prevented from voting by local regulations, in Boyd County colored people go to the polls and vote just like anyone else.

Negroes make good house servants, and are extensively used for that purpose today.  White families employ them as chauffeurs, butlers, house boys, child nurses, maids and cooks, preferring them to white servants who are not so adaptable to such subordinate positions in life.