"I'm a member of the Third Baptist Church. None join unless they've been immersed. That's what I believe in. I don't believe in christening or pouring. When the bishop was here from Cleveland, I said I wanted to be immersed. He said, 'We'll take you under the water as far as you care to go.' I think the other churches are good, too. But I was born and raised a Baptist. Joining a church or not joining a church won't keep you out of heaven, but I think you should join a church."
(Interview, Thursday, June 10, 1937.)
Story and Photo by Frank M. Smith
Ex-Slaves
Mahoning County, Dist. #5
Youngstown, Ohio
The Story of MRS. ANGELINE LESTER, of Youngstown, Ohio.
Mrs. Angeline Lester lives at 836 West Federal Street, on U.S. Route #422, in a very dilapidated one story structure, which once was a retail store room with an addition built on the rear at a different floor level.
Angeline lives alone and keeps her several cats and chickens in the house with her. She was born on the plantation of Mr. Womble, near Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia about 1847, the exact date not known to her, where she lived until she was about four years old. Then her father was sold to a Dr. Sales, near Brooksville, Georgia, and her mother and a sister two years younger were sold to John Grimrs[HW:?], who in turn gave them to his newly married daughter, the bride of Henry Fagen, and was taken to their plantation, near Benevolence, Randolph County, Georgia.
When the Civil War broke out, Angeline, her mother and sister were turned over to Robert Smith, who substituted for Henry Fagen, in the Confederate Army.