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Bastrop County, TX |
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Robert Prout, 87, was born a slave on May 10, 1850, to a Mr.
Wade somewhere in Alabama. He and his
parents, Robert Prout and Minerva Allen, were sold
by Mr. Wade to Dr. Hugh Barton,
Jr., who brought them to Texas when Robert was about four years old. Dr. Barton and his
brother-in-law, George Warren, purchased a cotton plantation of 2,080 acres near Bastrop, Bastrop County. Prout says he has nothing but praise for his former masters, who wouldn't even allow an overseer
on their place. Barton and Warren taught their slaves on Sundays, and that is why Prout is able to read and write. Prout
was a field hand. In 1875, he married Millie Lee, and
they had fourteen children, of which twelve still are living. His wife died in 1900. In
1902 he married Lettie Hicks, and they had seven children, of which five still are living. His
second wife "jes' got up" and left him;
his ambition now, at 87, is to get another wife
and settle down on a chicken ranch. Prout receives a monthly
pension of $10.00 from the State of Texas, and lives with his sister, Mrs. Nellie Morris,
at 1504 East 13th St., Austin, Texas. "I'se Robert Prout, but folks
hereabouts call me Bob, and I was bawn on May 10,
1850, somewheres in Alabama, but I disremembah jes' where. I'se 87 years old
and will be 88 next May. "A Mawster Wade owned me and my parents in Alabama, and I
reckon I was four years old when we was sold
to Dr. Hugh Barton, Jr. and he was de man whut
brought us to Texas. "Mawster Barton and his brothaw-in-law,
George Warren, bought a laghe plantation near Bastrop. Dis
plantation had about 2,080 acres and it was located on de banks ob de Colorado River, near
Wilbarger Creek. Mawster Barton brough
about fo'teen slaves wid him to Texas. He was a man that could do
almost anything in his line ob work. He sure was good to us slaves. "Our Mammy was bawn in Alabama, too, and so was Daddy. Daddy once had a mawster in Alabama by de name ob Prout and when freedom come
he took dat name. "Mammy once
belonged to de Allens in Alabama. In Texas, her
work fo' de Bartons was house work. Mammy had to do all de cookin', de washin', and such lak dat. Folks at de time called her Aunt Minerva. "Daddy was a
tall man, but he was already a ole man. Why, when he
died jes' after freedom, dey said dat he was 105 years old. He was a full African. He was a
field hand on de plantation. Mawster
Barton and Mawster Warren didn't believe in no overseer. Dey wouldn't allow none on de place. Daddy was a
ole man, and Mawster Barton made him a sort of leader among de slaves.
When dere was any kind ob
work to be done, Mawster Barton would say: "Robert yo' go and tell de slaves I want to and so done. . . . .go get de hands and lets' get stahted". Viewing "My work was
most done in de fields. I had to help wid de plowin' and de plantin'. We had to plant, when de season was due,
cotton, cawn, barley, rye, buckwheat and sugarcane.
I liked dat kind ob work, 'cause it was out in de open on de prairies down on de
ole Wilbarger league. I
plowed wid a Avery turnin' plow and sweeps. "I remembah how at night plenty ob
wild varmints would git to howlin'.
We saw plenty ob wild longhorned
Spanish cattle. We called 'em de Indians and
mountain cattle, and dey sure was wild. Anybody whut
wanted to could go out and kill 'em. "Out among the sagegrass on dat prairie yo' could find panthers, deer, black bears, 'coons, lofo wolfs, and plenty ob snakes. Dere was rattlesnakes a plenty. Dere
was de crusty-lookin' sand copperhead. Dis was a kind of reddish colored snake wid spots aroun' his body. It was called sand copperhead 'cause it liked to stay in de sand. "One day I was ridin' a paint hoss, Ole Jim,
and I was goin' through de cedar brush to go to a field and git
some peas. A panther smelt me, and ole Jim and we split it fo' de creek bottom. Den ole Jim and me flew down a lane
and dat panther kept a screamin'
till we got to de house. We had a race fo' about three miles, and I forgot all about peas. On de
way back, ole Jim had to jump over a splitrail fence on Wilbarger Creek, and he sure jumped,
too. "Dat wild sagegrass was full ob dem big fellers called lofos wolfs. Dey sure was big
fellers, and dey was
plenty bad. I was among too many ob 'em and I know. Dem lofos got so
bad dat we tried to kill 'em off. De lofos would come right up to de place and kill hogs and calves. But we jes'
couldn't kill all dem lofos.
Dere was too many ob 'em down in dat country. "In de fall
when it was gittin' cold up nowth,
flocks of wild geese, ducks and cranes would come down our way. Dem geese, cranes, and
ducks would eat up about 100 acres ob cawn a day. At times dey got so bad, dat us folks got up as early as four o'clock in de mawnin', so we could scare 'em away. Sometimes we
killed thousands and thousands ob 'em.
We had to throw most ob 'em
away. Our mawsters would allow us to git and keep as many fowls as we wanted. We sure had
plenty ob geese and ducks to eat. "Wild tukkeys was so plentiful, dat
de bottoms was alive wid 'em.
Dey liked to eat acorns, and more'n once
we caught 'em out in our mawsters'
cawn patch. Den we went out and killed us a lot ob
tukkeys. We had plenty to eat. Dem tukkeys stayed in de bottoms and up and down de rivah
fo' years. After a few years dey become scarce. "Sometimes at
night, some ob us slaves would go snipe-huntin'. We had fat pine torches and dey sure made
good light. De light f'om dem
torches was so bright, dat we could pick up a stick and blind de quails, de buck or
jackrabbits, de snipes, field-larks and all dat. We took de jackrabbits home and made stew, or we pounded 'em up and made steak. De sure was good eatin'. "Dere was a lot ob times when we
ran down plenty ob possums, 'cause
dey was easy to git. When we would git to runnin'
and hollerin', dat possum
would roll over and play dead, and we could go up
and pick him up by de tail, and he would jes' grin
at us, wid his eyes closed. Yo' could
take dat 'possum home and put him under a pot, I
don't care whut kind ob pot or where yo' put him, he was gone de
next mawnin'. "Our mawsters here
in Texas was good to us slaves, and we lived a good life. Dey was as good as could be to us. We always had
plenty to eat, such as butter, ashcakes, meats, watermelons, cushaws,
pumpkins, syrup and we had plenty ob milk to drink. "Durin' de fall, we'd make barrels ob
syrup. We called it plain ole sorghum. We had a laghe molasses mill right on de place. We'd cut de sugarcane fresh, haul it
in wagons to de mill, where it was ground into juice. A
mule or a pair ob hosses
would turn de mill roun' and aroun', and
dis would cut up de cane and run de juice into a barrel. Den dis juice was cooked in big iron pots. When it was through
cookin' it was ready to be dipped out and it was sorghum, ready to eat. A lot ob times we dipped our big tin cups into de juice befo' it was cooked, and we'd drink till we'd git tired of it. Dat juice was
sweet and ready fo' yo'
to drink, soon as it was through de mill. De juice was good fo' a
laxative too. "Mawster Barton stored de sorghum in a big storehouse. But
de hog meat was put in a big log smokehouse. Dere
was plenty ob work durin'
de fall, when it was hog-killin' time. Dere was men who had to
kill de hogs, dere was men whut
had to scrape and clean de hogs, and dere was some whut cut de meat
into sections, and dere was men and wimmen dat made lard and sausages. De girls and boys
had to help wid grindin'
de meat fo' sausages. We'd make us some
stew and we'd sure have a good time. "Dere was a few slaves on de plantation whut could read and write. On Sunday mawnin's our mawsters allowed us to come to a little schoolhouse,
where mawster Warren learned us a lot. Mawster
Warren would ask one ob de slaves, "Now, Joe yo' spell Baker. Spell it lak dis: Ba--ker. See, Ba--"ker!'" and de slave would try to spell it. And den Mawster Warren built us a
little chu'ch on his plantation. He cuilt it right on de banks ob
de Colorado River. "One Sunday mawnin' we was called f'om our
cabins and was told to come to de big house. Mawster
Warren read f'om de paper. Den he said, 'Yo' all is free men and wimmen and chillun.
Now, if yo' want to stay yo'
will git paid fo' your
work.' And f'om dat time
on we was free. Heap ob
folks got up and left and worked where they wanted to. Heap ob folks quit workin'
took dere dogs and jes'
went huntin'. "Our Mawster Barton had died and he willed us to his sister,
Mistress Ludie and she become de wife of Mawster
George Warren. We stayed on wid Mawster
Warren and made two or three crops, and dey was good crops. We got paid fo'
our work now. Mawster Warren give us two cows fo'
our won use. He sure was good to us. "After freedom
we was told by de yankees dat
we was goin' to git 40
acres, a home and a mule. De question come up about dividin' our mawsters' land
among de ex-slaves. De land was never divided, we never did git no forty acres and no mule. A lot ob
mawsters was good enough to help dere ex-slaves git a staht by givin' 'em some land, hosses and milk cows. "In some pahts in Texas some of de mawsters
tried to make de ex-slaves stay on de places by threatenin'
to whoop 'em. "We was on de
Warren plantation when de Ku Klux Klan stahted trubble by catchin' niggers and whoopin'
'em. De KKK sure was doin'
a lot ob devilment. Dere
idea was dat ex-slaves who got
married durin' slavery had to go and git marriage licenses to make it legal. But, I don' remembah
about de ex-slaves ever takin' paht in a uprisin' in our section of de country. "It was durin' Governor Davis' term dat
I voted. A lot ob papers was put out and said dat we had de right to vote. I didn't know
much about politics at dat time. My uncles could ob told yo' all
about dat. "After slavery
time de ex-slaves done most ob de fahm work, and a lot ob 'em made good success ob it. A
lot ob 'em got some schoolin' and branched out, and done somethin'
else. Heap ob de ex-slaves didn't take de paht
in education dat dey
should of, and de fact is dat alot ob 'em is still doin'
de thing dey done in early days fahmin'.
I know its been mighty tough on me fo' de last fifteen years. My pension check ob
ten dollars a month helps a lot but I'd lak to own
a little chicken ranch and have a wife dere wid me. "I got married
in about 1875 to Millie Lee and she had belonged to de Lee's of Alabama. We had fourteen chillun, ten boys and four girls, and twelve of de chillun is still livin'. Millie died in 1900.
I was married about two years later to Lettie Hicks, who was brought up aroun'
Crockett, Texas. We had seben chillun,
two girls and five boys. Five of de chillun is still livin', but I couldn't tell yo' jes' where dey is all livin'. My second
wife jes' got up and run away f'om
me. She lives somewhere down in McDade, Texas. |
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