o, 'bout twenty-five years.

"Dey had overseers on marster's farm in Greene County and dey were
mean to de slaves. I wus not big enough to work much, but dey had me
feedin' stock and helpin' around de house.

"We children didn't play any games we wus afraid to play around de
white folks. Marster wus a rip snorter and he would get you if you got
in his way. He lived in de great house not far distant from de
quarters, but we did not go dere unless we had to go dere to work.

"Yes sir, you know how children is when dey hear wagins coomin', and a
big crowd marchin' together. Yes sir, I remember de Yankees. Dey rode
dere horses against de fences and tore em down. Dey comed in de yard
and turned over de bee gums. Dey shot de chickens. Dey would say 'Dere
he goes, shoot him, shoot him', and den de guns would go 'bam, bam,
bam, an' de chickens would fall dead'. Dey shot de dogs in de yard.
Course, to Heben, I am tellin' de truth. Dey took de meat and destroyed
mos' everything at Marster's. After dey lef', if you could get a few
beans or peas dey wus mighty good. People et tater peelings an' some
come near starvin'.

"I wus mighty lucky an' what I got I got it from de Southern white
folks; dey been mighty good to me since de war. I have worked for de
town 'bout 35 years and I work for it now. I ain't able to do much now,
but I have a section of de Courthouse. I keeps it might clean.

"I know nothin' much bout de great men you ax me 'bout; don't remember
much about 'em. I think slavery wus a bad thing, yes sir, I shore
does."

LE

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 544
Subject: JOHN THOMAS WILLIAMS
Person Interviewed: John Thomas Williams
Editor: G.L. Andrews

[TR: Date stamp: SEP 10 1937]

JOHN THOMAS WILLIAMS

77 years old. 1272 Pettigrew Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

"I don't know who I am nor what my true name is. I wus born December
25, 1860 on a plantation in New Hanover County. The plantation belonged
to John Williams, whose wife wus named Isabella and the farm wus on
land which is now in the corporate limits of Wilmington, N.C.

"The reason I don't know who I am is that I don't remember my father
and mother or any of my people. When I got so I could remember anything
I wus with the Williams family. Marster an' missus, an' their family
are the only ones I ever looked upon as my people. They never told me
who I wus.