r Clavier Church."

Maryland
Sept. 20, 1937
Rogers

JAMES V. DEANE, Ex-slave.
Reference: Personal interview with James V. Deane, ex-slave,
on Sept. 20, 1937, at his home, 1514 Druid Hill Ave.,
Baltimore.

"My name is James V. Deane, son of John and Jane Deane, born at Goose
Bay in Charles County, May 20, 1850. My mother was the daughter of
Vincent Harrison, I do not know about my father's people. I have two
sisters both of whom are living, Sarah and Elizabeth Ford.

"I was born in a log cabin, a typical Charles County log cabin, at Goose
Bay on the Potomac River. The plantation on which I was born fronted
more than three miles on the river. The cabin had two rooms, one up and
one down, very large with two windows, one in each room. There were no
porches, over the door was a wide board to keep the rain and snow from
beating over the top of the door, with a large log chimney on the
outside, plastered between the logs, in which was a fireplace with an
open grate to cook on and to put logs on the fire to heat.

"We slept on a home-made bedstead, on which was a straw mattress and
upon that was a feather mattress, on which we used quilts made by my
mother to cover.

"As a slave I worked on the farm with other small boys thinning corn,
watching watermelon patches and later I worked in wheat and tobacco
fields. The slaves never had nor earned any cash money.

"Our food was very plain, such as fat hog meat, fish and vegetables
raised on the farm and corn bread made up with salt and water.

"Yes, I have hunted o'possums, and coons. The last time I went coon
hunting, we treed something. It fell out of the tree, everybody took to
their heels, white and colored, the white men outran the colored hunter,
leading the gang. I never went hunting afterwards.

"My choice food was fish and crabs cooked in all styles by mother. You
have asked about gardens, yes, some slaves had small garden patches
which they worked by moonlight.

"As for clothes, we all wore home-made clothes, the material woven on
the looms in the clothes house. In the winter we had woolen clothes and
in summer our clothes were made from cast-off clothes and Kentucky
jeans. Our shoes were brogans with brass tips. On Sunday we fed the
stock, after which we did what we wanted.

"I have seen many slave weddings, the master holding a broom handle, the
groom jumping over it as a part of the wedding ceremony. When a slave
married som