to work laborin' for buildin' contractors. I works
for sev'ral den gits with Mr. Bardon and larns de cement work with him.
He am awful good man to work for, dat John Bardon. Fin'ly I starts my
own cement business and am still runnin' it. My health am good and I's
allus on de job, 'cause dis home I owns has to be kept up. It cost
sev'ral thousand dollars and I can't 'ford to neglect it.

"I's married twict. I marries Mattie Norman in 1901 and sep'rates in
1904. She could spend more money den two niggers could shovel it in. Den
I marries Lottie Young in 1909, but dere am no chillens. I's never dat
lucky.

"I's voted ev'ry 'lection and 'lieves it de duty for ev'ry citizen to
vote.

"Now, I's told you everything from Genesis to Rev'lations, and it de
truth, as I 'members it.

420058

[Illustration: Ben Kinchlow]

BEN KINCHLOW, 91, was the son of Lizaer Moore, a half-white slave
owned by Sandy Moore, Wharton Co., and Lad Kinchlow, a white man.
When Ben was one year old his mother was freed and given some
money. She was sent to Matamoras, Mexico and they lived there and
at Brownsville, Texas, during the years before and directly
following the Civil War. Ben and his wife, Liza, now live in
Uvalde, Texas, in a neat little home. Ben has straight hair, a
Roman nose, and his speech is like that of the early white settler.
He is affable and enjoys recounting his experiences.

"I was birthed in 1846 in Wharton, Wharton County, in slavery times. My
mother's name was Lizaer Moore. I think her master's name was Sandy
Moore, and she went by his name. My father's name was Lad Kinchlow. My
mother was a half-breed Negro; my father was a white man of that same
county. I don't know anything about my father. He was a white man, I
know that. After I was borned and was one year old, my mother was set
free and sent to Mexico to live. When we left Wharton, we was sent away
in an ambulance. It was an old-time ambulance. It was what they called
an ambulance--a four-wheeled concern pulled by two mules. That is what
they used to traffic in. The big rich white folks would get in it and go
to church or on a long journey. We landed safely into Matamoros, Mexico,
just me and my mother and older brother. She had the means to live on
till she got there and got acquainted. We stayed there about twelve
years. Then we moved back to Brownsville and stayed there until after
all Negroes were free