Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned.  The little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends.  The mother, Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular duties.

Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was compelled to visit a dental surgeon.  The dental surgeon suggested that she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child.

She at once visited a medium and received a message.  “Stokes answered me.  In fact he was waiting to communicate with us.  He said ’Grandmother! you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me.  Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the other children.  I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.’”

The message comforted the aged woman.  She began occupying her time with other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors.

She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium.  That time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl that had died in infancy.  Grandmother Patterson said she would not recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise.  She is a christian and a believer in the Word of God.

Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter’s home.  Her children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be.  She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters.  She is hoping for better opportunities for her race.  She admonishes the younger relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days overtake them.

“Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation” she declares, “A curse which still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America.”  She is glad the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes.

G. Monroe
Dist. 4
Jefferson County

Slave story
Mrs. Preston’s story

Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana.  Her first recollections of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress’ bed, where she could get up during the night to “feed” the fire with chips she had gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress might want in the night.

Her ‘Marse Brown’, resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm.  He was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would be safe.  This opinion proved to be true.  The overseer called the slaves to work at four o’clock, and they worked until six in the evening.