“Mary and her twin sister were slaves born in Washington County, Kentucky, near Lexington, belonging to Bob Eaglin.  When Mary was about fourteen years old she and her sister was brought to the Lexington slave market and sold and a Mr. Lewis Burns of the same County purchased her.  Mary doesn’t know what became of her sister.  Five or six years later she was again put on the block and sold to a Negro Trader but Mary does not remember this traders name.  While here she was kept in a stockade and it was several years before she again was bought by a white man.  Mr. Thomas McElroy near Lexington bought her and she remained his slave until the slaves were freed.  Mary looks her age.  She is a tall gaunt black Negro with white hair about one inch long and very kinky, and still she dresses as the older slave woman dressed in the past days.  She wears an old bodice with a very full skirt that comes to her ankles and this skirt has very long deep pockets and when I asked her why she had such pockets in her skirt her answer was, “Wal you sees honey I jes am used ter dis dress and thar is no way foh youse to had me git shud of hit, dese pockets is powerful venient foh weh I goes inter some ones house why I turns dose pockets wrong side out and dat always brings me good luck.

Mary contends that she always wears three petticoats.

“Marse Thamos lived in a big log house wid a big plantation all around hit.  He had three hundred slaves on de two plantations.  Marse Thamos sho was good ter us niggers.  No nigger mus whoop his stock wid a switch.  “I’se heared him say many time don’t youse niggers whoop dese mules.  How would you like to have me whoop you det way?” And he sho would whoop dem dem niggers if he cotched dem.  Lawd have mercy who whould haw thot I’d be here all dis time.  I’d thot I’d be ded and gone.  All dese ole niggers try to be so uppity by jes bein raised in de house and cause dey was why dey think is Quality.  Some of dese nigger gals was raised in de house but most of dem was made work ebery whar on de plantation.  My Massa has his nigger gals to lay fence worms, mak fences, shuck corn, hoe corn en terbacco, wash, iron, and de missus try to teach de nigger gals to sew and knit.  But shucks niggers aint got no sense nuf ter do fancy things.  Sometimes I tended de chilluns.

“Yah, yah, I sho do member Abraham Lincoln.  My Missus and Massa did not like Mr. Lincoln, but pshaw, all de niggers did.  I member him, I seed him once, soon after I was freed.

“Pshaw, dey was hard times durin de war, my Missus and sum of de nigger gals and de chilluns hae to stay in the woods several days ter keep way from de soldiers.  Dey eat all de chickens and kilt the cows and tuk de horses and we sho scairt out dar wid dem varmints roving roun.

“Nigger aint got no business being sot free, niggers still oughter be slaves.  Us niggers did not hev to bother bout de victuals sor nuthin.