#733
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: G. W. Hawkins
1114 Appianway, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 73
“I was born in Lamar County, Vernon, Alabama, January 1, 1865. I was a slave only four months.
“My father was Arter Hawkins and my mother was named Frances. My grandmother on my mother’s side was Malvina. I forget the name of my great-grandmother, but I believe it was Elizabeth. She was one hundred nine years old and I was twelve years old then. Her mind was just like a little sparrow floating in the air. That was my great-grandmother on my mother’s side. My grandfather on my father’s side was named Alec Young. My mother’s father was named Eliza Wright.
“My mother’s people were the Hawkins, and my father’s were the Yanceys.
“My father and mother were farmers, and ran whiskey stills. There wasn’t any revenue on whiskey then. The first revenue ever paid on whiskey was ten cents. The reason I remember that so well was that a fellow named John Hayman ran a still after the revenue was put on the stuff. Finally they caught him. They fined him.
“My folks farmed right after freedom and they farmed in slavery time. They didn’t raise no cotton. They raised corn and wheat and such as that in Alabama. Alabama is good for cotton, corn, wheat, tobacco, or anything you want to grow. It is the greatest fruit country in the world.
“Right after freedom, my folks continued to farm till they all played out.
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“I came out here after I got grown. I just took a notion to go somewhere else. I have been in Arkansas forty-eight years. I first lived in Forrest City. Stayed there six years and did carpenter work. I have been a carpenter all my life—ever since I was about sixteen years old. I went to Barton, Arkansas and stayed there two years and then came here. I have supported myself by carpenter work ever since I came here. I helped build the Frisco Road from Potts Camp to the Alabama River. That is the other side of Jefferson County in Alabama.