nary soul what's kin to me dat I knows of. I don't want none
of 'em comin' to me now an' a-sayin', 'Don't you 'member yo' own
cousin?' My white folks he'p me when I needs it.

"Dese young folks. Shucks! Chile, dey's worse'n what I was, only dey's
more slyer. Dat's all.

"I's glad I'se got 'ligion, 'cause when I dies I's gwine to de 'Good
Place.'"

Isaac Stier, Ex-slave, Lauderdale County
FEC
Edith Wyatt Moore
Rewrite, Pauline Loveless
Edited, Clara E. Stokes

ISAAC STIER
Natchez, Mississippi

"Miss, my name is Isaac Stier, but folks calls me 'Ike.' I was named by
my pappy's young Marster an' I aint never tol' nobody all o' dat name.
It's got twenty-two letters in it. It's wrote but in de fam'ly Bible.
Dat's how I knows I'll be one hund'ed years old if I lives 'til de turn
o' de year. I was born in Jefferson County 'tween Hamburg an' Union
Church. De plantation joined de Whitney place an' de Montgomery place,
too. I b'longed to Marse Jeems Stowers. I don't rightly 'member how many
acres my Marster owned, but 'twas a big plantation wid eighty or ninety
head o' grown folks workin' it. No tellin' how many little black folks
dey was.

"My mammy was Ellen Stier an' my pappy was Jordon Stier. He was bought
to dis country by a slave dealer from Nashville, Tennessee. Dey traveled
all de way through de Injun Country on afoot. Dey come on dat Trace
road. Twant nothin' but a Injun Trail.

"When dey got to Natchez de slaves was put in de pen 'tached to de slave
markets. It stood at de forks o' St. Catherine Street an' de Liberty
road. Here dey was fed an' washed an' rubbed down lak race hosses. Den
dey was dressed up an' put through de paces dat would show off dey
muscles. My pappy was sol' as a twelve year old, but he always said he
was nigher twenty.

"De firs' man what bought him was a preacher, but he only kep' 'im a
little while. Den he was sol' to Mr. Preacher Robinson. He was a
Methodis'.

"De slaves was well treated when dey got sick. My Marster had a standin'
doctor what he paid by de year. Dey was a horspital building near de
quarters an' a good old granny woman to nuss de sick. Dey was five or
six beds in a room. One room was for mens an' one for wimmins. Us doctor
was name Richardson an' he tended us long after de war. He sho' was a
gent'man an' a powerful good doctor.

"Us had a overseer on de place, but he warnt mean lak I'se heard o'
other folks havin'. He was Mr. William Robinson. He was goo