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Bastrop County, TX |
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Sam Meredith Mason Sam Meredith Mason,
79, was born a slave on September 17, 1858, on the Jess Burditt cotton plantation, about ten miles east of
Austin, Travis County. His father was Hal Mason, a field
worker; his mother, a cook, was Rachel Mason. Sam, a heavy-set man of average height, very
dark complexioned and of a jovial nature, was twenty-seven years old, when he married his first wife, Emma
Hareford. They had four children, two boys and two girls: Hallie, Estella, Lucy, and a
boy who died in infancy. Emma and all the children are dead. Sam's second wife was Sarah
Miller. They had no children, and separated six years after their marriage. Sam has been a
renter-farmer and common laborer all his life. He said that,
although he owns the five-room house and plot of ground where he lives, 2203 Washington
Avenue, Austin, he considers himself a failure in life. Sam said the sweetest memories are the memories of his
kindly mother, who died when he was a child. Sam said that, for
the past fifty-two years, he has tried to be a good christian.
When he sings a song, he moans it with much
feeling in an almost inaudible tone of voice. Had he obeyed the call to preach, Sam should
have been a good preacher. Sam receives no pension of any kind,
and manages to make "eatin' money" by
renting out rooms in his house. He lives in one large room which
seems to be kept in a semidarkened fashion, because of his weak eyes. Sam is a careless
house keeper, and the dust and fuzz, under his large bed, looked as
though a bunny had bitten off its own hair, in order to make a nest for its offspring. Sam hasn't been feeling
well lately, and maybe he hasn't taken the time to clean house. "Pappy's name -
and don't let most of 'em tell yo'
that they didn't call their fathaws pappy - was Hal Mason. He took that name, 'cause he was once woned by a
Mason. His mother mawster was Jess Burditt. He owned a laghe cotton
plantation, right down the Colorado River, about ten
miles east of Austin. It was at the place called Hornsby's Bend. "Mawster Burditt could of been
better, and then he could of been worse. He did whoop his slaves at times. "Jack Bevil was the overseer on the place. That was his job.
Sometimes, he'd kick some of the men with his boots. Jack was almost
anything but a good man. He died a natural death after freedom. "Pappy was a
man of about five feet and nine inches tall, and weighed about one hunnert and sebenty-five
pounds. He was about my height and weight, but he was a better lookin' negro than me. Pappy was bawn in Tennessee, and was brought to Texas when he was only a little boy. Pappy was a great hand fo' parades on the celebratin'
of Juneteen. That's a picture of him there on a hoss.
Yo' kin see that he's wearin'
a uniform. When pappy died in 1904, he was in his sebenty-fifth year. "Mammy's name
was Rachel Mason. There was a time durin' slavery,
when me and mammy belonged to a different mawster. His name was John Holcom,
Sr. Mawster Holcom had a little fahm
in Bastrop County somewhere. He went to the war and was killed. Then Mistress Amanda, we called her
Mandy, owned us. Mawster and Mistress Holcom was mighty good folks. "I don't think
that mammy done much work outside of the big house. She was a cook on the place. The memory of my mammy is one
of the sweetest memories that I have. I had a very sweet mammy. She give
me all that she could give. I only wish that she could of lived longer, 'cause I
could of learned a lot from her. "Sweet, gentle,
good old mammy. I was only about eight years old when she died, but I remembah her well. She was black lak me. She was
brought from South Ca'olina to Texas, when she was only about thutteen years old. She was brought here by her owner, Mawster Bill Fowler. This
was in '47, and they come overland. Most of the folks travelled by ox-teams in them days. And then, jes' about one year after freedom, mammy died. But, I'll
always remembah her. She was kinder chunky-built. "Mammy had only
three chillun: Frances, Zanie
and me. They're both dead now. I'm prepared to go, too, now. "I was bawn on September 17, 1858, on Mawster
Jess Burditt's cotton plantation, about ten miles east of Austin. This was right
on the Colorado River. "When I was a
child, I didn't have to do much of anything but drink buttermilk. Oh, I had to help rock the baby to sleep, and help
around the big house. "I was jes' a child then, and I remembah
how, on one beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was fannin' mammy with a tukkey-fan. She had been feelin' kinder dizzy. She'd spit up great clots of blood at times. "Mistress Mandy
was bringin' mammy some dinner. She had a plate of
eats in her hand. She looked down on
mammy's face; then she looked upward, and said, 'Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.' Then she
told me, 'Rachel is dead.' "That was the
first time that I had ever heard that word. I didn't know jes'
whut it meant. Next mawnin' I was cryin'. I was standin' out in the open. I felt a certain sadness, and didn't know whut
it was. "Mawster Barnett wasn't a good enough man to tell me to
come to the house and eat somethin'. Barnett was so mean that after
slavery he begrudged his servants their freedom. One day he hid and
killed two of the men that had once been his servants. He stayed in jail a long time fo'
this. "His son,
Stephen, was drowned durin' the trial. He got
drowned while tryin' to swim across the Colorado River. That was a common
way how people got killed. There was no other way of crossin' the big river there, and swimmin'
was about the only way to cross, unless yo' was on
a hoss. "The little
village of Del Valle was jes' on the other side of
the river. Pappy used to swim that river. He was a good swimmer. He
would take off the few clothes that he had, tie 'em around his head, and swim across. The reason
that he would swim across, was 'cause he loved a girl over there, by the name of
Jane. This was durin' slavery, and mammy was still livin'. Yo' see, marriage in them days wasn't whut it is now. Why some of them slaves was bred lak hosses. A good, well-built man was hired out among a
bunch of wimmen, so as to produce good, healthy chillun. "When Mawster Barnett got out of jail, he peddled Bibles around
the country. If he met some people on a country lane, he would git off his hoss, and have
great Bible discussions. "After freedom,
we and sister Frances was fahmed out to first one
kinfolk and then the other. Then she married twice. She lived
with me here fo' ten years. She died about four
years ago, at the age of seventy-one. When I
got a little older, I done fahmin' and common
labor. I got from forty cents to a dollah
a day, and room and board. It wasn't much pay, but I was glad to git it. Sometimes, I
couldn't find no work. "Pappy would
work out, too. He took a great interest in education, but he jes' couldn't learn nothin'.
That's about the way it is with ninety-nine percent of my race. But pappy liked to make up some words to fit a song.
He used to chant this: "'I went down
in the valley, Shoutin' about the good old way, Shoutin' about the good old way, I went down in the
valley - to pray - Good Lawd, show me the way Good Lawd, show me the way "It looked lak de songs in them days was
revealed to the folks. A lot of times they didn't need no song book to help 'em along. "I went to one
of the first schools fo' negroes in our paht of the county. This was held in a double-log schoolhouse, in 1872. I doubt very
much if I went more'n six months. I learned a little to read and write. Winnie
Lane, a colored woman, was our first teacher. She was a putty good teachah. "I was about
twenty-seben years old, when I got married. Emma Hareford was only twenty-two years old, when I
married her. We had four chillun, two boys and two girls: Hallie, Estella, Lucy,
and a baby boy that died when he was young. Now, Emma and all of
the chillun is gone. Emma,
my wife, died in 1890. "Fourteen
months after Emma died, I married Sarah Miller. We had no chillun.
We lived together fo' about
six years. Then we separated. She had a lot of temper, and her morals wasn't whut they
should of been. Sarah died about four years ago." |
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