When you stop in front of the house you will find there is no path. One
has to watch his step owing to the fact that there is a zigzaggy branch
hidden by the tangle of weeds.
If old Aunt Jinney is on the porch she will say, "Sorry, honey, but de
path done growed up."
Uncle Doc is six feet two and as strong as a lion. Whether he is 80 or
if he is 90, he is young-looking for his age.
"No'm lady, I'se jes' don' know how old I is. Back in dem days didn't
keep up with our ages. No record of the born. Yes'm I was a pretty good
chunk of a boy when de war started."
Doc belonged to Edward Choate, who lived on Barron Forks, near Dutch
Mills in the Southwest corner of Washington County. Barron Forks is made
up from Fly Creek and the River Jordan Creek.
About 1849 Edward Choate came from Tennessee to Arkansas, where he had
bought Aunt Marie [TR: 'a slave' marked out here] and her three sons,
Doc, Abe, and Dave.
"Yes'm, we had a 100 acres or better all along the banks of de river and
good valley land where we raised corn, potatoes, wheat, oats, an'
'bacco. Master Choate had three sons, I recollect, Jack, Sam, and Win.
He had a lot of slaves. Some of dem was good, some was bad.
Pages:
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366