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Bastrop County, TX |
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Amanda Eilers Brice was born a slave about 87 years ago in
Bastrop, Bastrop County. Amanda belonged to
the Louis Eilers family at Bastrop, who was the
owner of a store on Main Street. She
says her master was very kind to her, and once refused to take a thousand dollars for her, after having bought
her for five hundred dollars. Her mother was Sallie Herron, who
was brought from Georgia and bought from the Ware family by John Herron of McDade,
Bastrop County. Her father was a white man. When Amanda was about sixteen years
of age, she married Paul Brice, who was working in a sawmill, near Bastrop. They had
thirteen children, of whom only five still are living. Her husband died more than thirty years ago. Amanda says
that her living conditions were better during her slavery days than
now, although she lives in a comfortable bungalow with her daughter and son-in-law, Oscar Woods', 1513 East
20th Street, Austin. Amanda's son, Hugh Brice, died during the
World War, and she receives a small monthly pension from the Federal Government. "De folks
always call me Mandy, but my real name is Amanda Eilers
Brice. Now, I kain't tell yo' nothin' about de days dat I was bawn, but here's how
de white folks told me about my age: I was seben years old when de white folks had a baby ob three weeks, and when dat child was eighty years old and died,
I still remembahed dat I
was seben years older, and dat makes
me eighty-seben. Anyhow, dat's
whut de white folks tell me. I don't know. "Ma's name was
Sallie Herron, and she come f'om Georgia somewhere.
Mawster Ware was her owner den, and he sold her to mawster John Herron ob McDade,
Bastrop County. He had a laghe cotton plantation and den he had a lot of stock
too. Mawster Herron was good to ma, and
he was whut people called a good neighbor. Nobody
had to suffer on his place. I'm tellin'
yo' dis 'cause it's de
truth. He was a good man. If yo' didn't git whut yo' wanted on dat
place, den it was yo' own fault. Ma was small and
plump, lak me. She was a brown-skinned woman. Mawster
Herron's wife died when his two young girls was still young, dere names
was Lizzie and Mattie. Lizzie married rich and Mattie married poor. Lizzie' husband,
John Tinnen, had a big ranch at Hogeye,
and dey call it Elgin now, over in Bastrop County. Me stayed right on at de Herron place, until dem two girls got married. De old man never did
marry again. Ma died about thutty years ago, I
think it was. Us niggers ob dem days never did know how to keep dates ob things dat happened. Ma had six chillun,
five boys and one girl. "I never did
see my fathaw. I don't know nothin' about him, 'ceptin' jes' whut I heard. All dat I know is dat he was a white man. "De mawster dat owned me was Louis Eilers ob Bastrop, Bastrop
County. He was a merchant down dere.
He kept groceries and everything---candy, whiskey and de like. One day his big store got burned down, and de
clerk, a Mister Berger, got burned to a crisp. I remembah dat 'cause I was
about thutteen years old at de time. "Dere is one thing dat I sho' do remembah. Dere was one tame Injun dat was
dressed lak any white man, and he always come to Mawster Eilers' store to play
on a laghe harp. It was one ob dem harps dat yo' could set on de floor and play wid
yo' hands. De Injun was a tall man, but dat
harp was almost as laghe as he was. I don't remembah nothin' about him, jes' dat I remembah he
played dat laghe harp. "Ob course durin' dem early days, we
always heard a lot about de wild wild Injuns but dey never did bother us. Why de first real wild
Injun I ever saw was in a wild west show at Bastrop, after de
slaves' freedom. "Mawster Eilers would credit
people in his store. Dey could come in at any time
and buy on credit. He had a plank store on Main
Street, and his house was near the courthouse. "Mawster Eilers was a good man,
too. All dat I had to do was nuss
de baby. De folks used to tell me dat
I was a valuable little nigger. "I used to
belong to a man by de name ob Frank Smith when I
was real young. I don't remembah much about him. De folks used to tell me dat
people talked about me lak dis: "'Whut yo' goin'
to de wid dat little
nigger?' "'Sell her.' "'Sell her? Why
yo' won't git nothin for her, she's too little and skinny.' "But after awhile a Mister Trigg come around and said, "Eilers, I'll give yo' a
thousand dollars fo'
her." "'No, I want
her fo' my own need, she's a valuable little
nigger,' Master Eilers told him. "Mawster Eilers had paid only
five hundred dollars fo' me, still he wouldn't sell
me. "De Eilers had good meals. Whut dey had to eat, I had it. I was so spoiled dat de other folks called me "Eilers'
free nigger" cause my mawster let me go
anywhere widout a pass. I was jes' spoiled. "When I was
still a slave de Eilers would go down to La Grange,
Fayette County, to visit kinfolks. Dey would
go in a buggy, and dere wasn't room fo' me so I was sent ahead in de stagecoach. From Bastrop to LaGrange was de
airline road. Cunninghams' Stage Stand was between Bastrop and La Grange, and dat's where de hosses was
changed. De white folks paid my fare so I don't know how much
dat I had to pay fo' de
trip. I know dat once I went on dat trip and had to sit on a "middle seat". Goin' on de way down two fine lookin' gentlemen was settin'
in the coach. Folks told me dat dey
was Sam Houston and a Colonel Boston. Ob 'couse I was too little to know who dey was. "I have never
been to school one hour in my life. I could of learned, I reckon, but I thought dat I was
too smart. I jes' never took no
interest in schoolin'. De folks in de earlier days never did learn us our A B C's. So,
to dis day I kain't read or write. "When I was
about fifteen years old I was set free. Mistress Carolin,
de mawster's wife, come to me and jes'
said, "Mandy, yo' is free, yo'
don't belong to us no mo'." "About a week
or two later my ma come down f'om McDade and took
me wid her. I had to help around de place. After freedom I
had to go out and pick cotton. I never was much ob a picker. De most dat I could pick was about
two hunnert pounds, and I couldn't look around at de birds. Ma used to say dat where she come f'om in
Georgia dere was so little cotton dat yo' could pick it in a apron.
Ma never was a cotton picker dat could pick much. She never could pick
more'n a hunnert
pounds ob cotton a day. "After a year ob freedom, when I was sixteen, I was married to Paul
Brice. Paul was a right young man, about twenty or something.
When I got married I sho' had to git busy. I never did have time fo'
a rockin' chair. We had thirteen chillun, nine boys and four girls. Dere is only five ob
de chillun livin' today. "Paul was workin' fo' de Brice and Lyman
sawmill, near Bastrop, fo' five dollahs
a month, and we got our cabin and board. We lived
in a one-room log cabin and it had only one door, and nary a window. Paul
helped saw down trees and made shingles and slabs.
Dem was pine trees down in de lost pine forest section. "I reckon dat I liked dat country 'cause I never knowed no other
place fo' a long time. Our little cabin was about five miles f'om de sawmill and Paul had to walk to work and back. Sometimes he caught
a ride. "Paul was workin' at dat sawmill when I
met him. Yo' know how young folks is. After we married Paul worked dere
fo' a number ob years.
Den it was about three chillun befo'
I moved to Austin. De oldest was a girl,
Emma, and she was about four years old. I worked out here in Austin, and Paul fahmed down in Bastrop County. I'd go down dere every once in awhile
and visit folks. Paul died more'n thutty years ago, and he is buried at Oak Hill, Bastrop
County. "Now I live
here wid my son-in-law, Oscar Woods, and he's been
a mighty good man to me. When he has wood to burn, I kin burn
it; when dere is bread in de house, I kin eat dat. Oscar has been a
mighty good son-in-law to me. |
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