it.

"My marster give my mother de spot of ground and de lumber fer our
church which was named New Chapel. De second church is on de same spot.
De first preaching was had under a oak tree, or arbor. Uncle Tony Murphy
was de first preacher. He was my favorite of all de preachers. Marse
read de Bible to us, but sometimes others read it to us, too. His son,
Bud, dat was killed in de first battle, used to come to de quarters and
read de Bible to us.

"Alex Hall was de minister dat immersed us all. We was all Methodists,
but out dar dey baptized everybody in de Fairforest no matter what
church dey went to. Dar was fifty people baptized de day dat I was.
Milly Bethane made me a big white robe to be baptized in. When I got out
I had a white dress to put on. Dey had a tent fer us to go in to change
our clothes. We was baptized in de Fairforest jes' above de Harris
Bridge. Everybody sung while we was going under de water. Some of 'em
shouted, too. It took de earthquake to shake religion in my husband. He
was Emanuel Gist, de first one.

"Dat night, de people was hollering and woke me up. My husband called
me. 'What dat?' he 'low. 'I don't know,' I says. He got up and run out.
Soon he come back home and he was shaking all over. He fell on de bed.
When de chimney started to fall, I told him to git up. He said he was
too scared to git up. I pulled him up and he was so scared dat he shook
all over. I opened de door. He was too scared to stand up. Next day he
couldn't work; so he went off. I looked fer him till way in de night.
When he did come home, he was rejoicing. He was wid religion and he
never give it up. Dat was on de night of de earthquake. You could hear
people hollering fer miles around."

Source: Mary Smith (N, 84), Buffalo St., Union, S.C.
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (9/14/37)

=S-260-264-N=
=Project: #1885=
=Augustus Ladson=
=Charleston, S.C.=

=EXPERIENCES OF AN EX-SLAVE ON WARDMALAW ISLAND=

=_Massa Wus Kind to Slaves_=

Prince Smith, a man who is said to be over a hundred years of age, has
lived on Wardmalaw Island practically all of his life. His experiences
during slavery are very interesting and true to life. An interview with
him revealed the following:

"I was bo'n an' raise' on dis island and was only frum here when de
Civil War had begun. W'en Fort Sumter wus fired on mossa carried seventy
of us to Greenville, South Ca'lina on account of its montanous sections,
which