[320126]
| N.C. District: | No. 2 |
| Worker: | T. Pat Matthews |
| No. Words: | 1051 |
| Subject: | JANE ARRINGTON |
| Story Teller: | Jane Arrington |
| Editor: | Geo. L. Andrews |
| Date Stamp: | "AUG 4 1937" |
JANE ARRINGTON
84 years old 302 Fowle Street Raleigh, N.C.
I ort to be able to tell sumpin cause I wus twelve years old when dey had de surrender right up here in Raleigh. If I live to see dis coming December I will be eighty five years old. I was born on the 18th of December 1852.
I belonged to Jackson May of Nash County. I wus born on de plantation near Tar River. Jackson May never married until I wus of a great big girl. He owned a lot of slaves; dere were eighty on de plantation before de surrender. He married Miss Becky Wilder, sister of Sam Wilder. De Wilders lived on a jining plantation to where I wus borned.
Jackson May had so many niggers he let Billy Williams who had a plantation nearby have part of 'em. Marster Jackson he raised my father and bought my mother. My mother wus named Louisa May, and my father wus named Louis May. My mother had six chilluns, four boys and two girls. The boys were Richard, Farro, Caeser, and Fenner. De girls Rose and Jane. Jane, dats me.
We lived in log houses with stick an' dirt chimleys. They called 'em the slave houses. We had chicken feather beds to sleep on an' de houses wus good warm comfortable log houses. We had plenty of cover an' feather pillows.
My grandmother on my mother's side told me a lot of stories 'bout haints and how people run from 'em. Dey told me 'bout slaves dat had been killed by dere marster's coming back and worryin' 'em. Ole Missus Penny Williams, before Jackson May bought mother, treated some of de slaves mighty bad. She died an' den come back an' nearly scared de slaves to death. Grandmother told all we chillun she seed her an' knowed her after she been dead an' come back.