)
The Choate place down on Barron Forks is still owned by one of the
Choates, a grandson of the first owner, Edward Choate.
A granddaughter of Mr. Choate lives in Fayetteville and said that there
are four or five graves on the old place where Negro slaves who belonged
to her grandfather were buried, and the children on the place would
never go near these graves. They thought they were haunted.
So when one asks Uncle Doc how old he is he will say, "I know I was jes'
a chunk of a boy when de War started so I mus' be 'bout 83 nex' spring."
Aunt Jinney, his wife, sat on the porch and just rocked back and forth
while Uncle Doc was talking. She didn't speak while Doc was speaking.
"Law, honey, I had good white folks. None of dem never struck their
colored folks. No'm. Me an' my mother Celia belonged to Mister Ballard
at Cincinnati. Old Missey's name was Miss Liza, an' she kept my ma in de
house wid her to wait on her. Yes'm all de white folks always kept a
little darkey in de house to wait on all of dem. Dem was good times 'fo'
de War. Yes'm good times--plenty to eat. Good times. I was jes' a baby
crawling on de flo' when de War come."
The interviewer didn't ask Uncle Doc when and why he went to Caldwell,
Kansas the two times.
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