There
was a pretty good flock of them. They came into North Carolina--Wayne
County was where John Elliott found them. They was in a pretty bad way.
They didn't have no place to go and they didn't have nothing to eat.
They didn't have nobody to own 'em. They didn't know what to do. My
mother was about 13.
By some means or other they met up with a man named John Elliott. He was
a teacher. He struck a bargain with them. He pitched in and he bought
200 acres of land. He built a big house for Miss Polly and Bunk and
Margaret. Miss Polly was his sister. And he built cabins for the black
folks.
And he says 'You stay here, and you take care of Miss Polly and the
children. Now mind, you raise lots to eat. You take care of the place
too. And if anybody bothers you you tell Miss Polly.' My Uncle Mose, he
was the oldest. He was a blacksmith. Jacob was the carpenter. 'Now look
here, Mose,' says Mister John, 'you raise plenty of hogs. Mind you give
all the folks plenty of meat. Then you take the rest to Miss Polly and
let her lock it in the smokehouse.' Miss Polly carried the key, but Mose
was head man and had dominion over the smokehouse.
They didn't get money to any extreme.
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