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Bastrop County, TX |
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James Burleson,
eighty-six, was born a slave in 1852, on the Jonathan Burleson cotton plantation, near Bastrop. James says that all he
knows about his father, is that he was a white man. He doesn't know, or won't tell
his name. His mother was Emiline Burleson, who was a house woman on the large
plantation. When he was twenty-two years of age; James was married to
Martha Chambers of Bastrop. They had only one child, a girl, Alice. Martha died soon
after the birth of her child. Four years later, James married Maggie McKay. They had one
boy and two girls. James likes to tell folks how his white folks spoiled him when he
was a child; and his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Sam Burleson, said he still is spoiled. James, a tall, slim mulatto,
has been living with his son, Sam, for about twenty years. He lives in a large front room in
the spacious house at 1902 East Seventeenth Street, Austin, buys
his own groceries and lives his own life. "My mammy's
name was Emiline Burleson. She was little but not
heavy set, and she was neat. She was a house woman on de Massa
Jonathan Burleson cotton plantation. She carded de cotton, spun it and weaved it into
clothes. We sure never had much of store bought clothes in dem
days. "Mammy had seben boys and two girls. "I know jes' one thing about my pappy, he was a white man. No-o-o
I don't know his name. "I know dat I had a steppappy. He was
Henderson Banks, and he was a slave on de big Bank's cotton
plantation, at Webberville, not so very far from Bastrop. Massa Banks sold his big fahm
later to Aaron Burleson. "Dey tell me dat
I was bawn sometime in 1852. I was bawn on Massa Johathan
Burleson's cotton plantation. He had about six hunnert acres, pasture and all. I think dat he was related to all of de other Burlesons; dey all claimed kin,
anyhow. "Our white folks was putty rough. Dat was dere way. We'd cuss our Mistress Nancy and run lak
mischief. Aw, I was jes' spoiled, de white folks jes' spoiled me. "When I was a
kid, I had to help wid work around de gin. Many a
time I fell asleep at de gin, and got a scoldin'
fo' it. "Jake Burleson
was de overseer on de place. Den dere was old Aunt
Angeline. She was a field worker. Old Aunt Angeline sure would
fight anybody dat tried to whoop her. Many was de time dat Massa Jake tried to whoop her fo'
somethin', and he would end up by standin' almost naked in de row. Aunt Angeline had two chillun. "Us slaves got a certain amount of food each week. But, old
massa fed us putty good. He had plenty of hogs, so we had plenty of
meat. He had a lot of sheep and cows, and we had plenty of milk to drink. I stole many a cup
of milk out of de cowpen, and drank it. I had a big
gourd dipper dat I had fo' dis drinkin'. "De slave wimmen in de slave quarters would go out to de cowpen early in de mawnin', and late at night, and milk all of de
cows. Even mammy had to go out at times and help milk dem
longhorn cows. A lot of dem cows would jes' run wild in de bushes. We used some of dem big
steers fo' plowin' in de
fields. I don't think dat no
steer ever run away. Den I drove many a
yoke of 'em wid a wagon,
later in life. Even after slavery, when I was married, I used steers fo'
my field work. Sometimes my bosses did have mules dat
I could work wid. "I kin remembah when I was set free. It was Mistress Nancy dat called my mammy to her, and said, 'Emiline,
yo'-all is free now - yo'-all
is free lak me.' "I was still a
spoiled boy. I was livin' now wid
mammy and my steppappy, Henderson. Den one day he got killed. Dis was about de
first six months after slavery. I think dat some folks killed him in de brush. De reason dey killed him was 'cause he
was out gittin' up some cattle. I don't remembah
if dey was his or not. "I stayed home
now and helped mammy. I done dis till I was about twenty-two years old. Den I got married to
Martha Chambers of Bastrop. We had only one child, Alice. Alice lives in Manor. It wasn't a mite long befo' Alice's mother died. Alice was only about a year old at de time. Mammy raised Alice till
she was about eighteen years old. Dat's when she got married. "About four
years after Martha died, I got married to Maggie
McKay. We had one boy and two girls. "We was fahmin' on de Colorado River bank, near Bastrop. One day,
when I was sleepin' at de house wid my feet braced up against de wall, Maggie was down by
de river washin' de fambly
clothes. Near here was a deep hole dat was never knowed to go dry.
While Maggie was washin' de chillun run off and
played near dat hole of water in de river. Dere was a big tree and a whirlpool dere. Maggie looked up from her washin'
and never saw de chillun. She started runnin' fo'
de pool, and shouted, 'Oh, I bet dat dey done fell in.' "So, she jumped
into dat deep hole to see if she couldn't find her chillun. But dey was gone and she got drowned, too. I never did
marry again. "I never did
know much of anything but fahmin'. I never did git no learnin'. We jes' didn't know no better. We'd go to school and all dat we'd want to do was fight. So, we'd run off and wouldn't go to school. I kain't even read now and I kain't
write my own name. "I never was sick
much durin' my early days. But now I have so many
spells of de flu dat I got putty hard of hearin'
from takin' too much quinine, I believe. "I live in dis
house wid my boy, Sam, and his fambly.
He's buyin' dis place. Well, I reckon dat's all dat I know." |
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