. Den it was washed off wid salt, an' de nigger was put right
back in de fiel'. Dey was whupped fer runnin' away. Sometimes dey run
afte' 'em fer days an nights with dem big old blood houn's. Heap o'
people doan b'lieve dis. But I does, 'cause I seed it myse'f.

"I'se lived here forty-five years, an' chipped turpentine mos' all my
life since I was free.

"I'se had three wives. I didn' have no weddin's, but I mar'ied 'em
'cordin to law. I woan stay with one no other way. My fust two wives is
dead. Liza an' me has been mar'ied 'bout 'leven years. I never had but
one chile, an' 'at by my fust wife, an' he's dead. But my other two
wives had been mar'ied befo', an' had chullun. 'Simon here,' pointing to
a big buck of fifty-five sitting on the front porch, 'is Liza's oldest
boy.'"

Mississippi Federal Writers
Slave Autobiographies

[JAMES CORNELIUS
Magnolia, Mississippi]

James Cornelius lives in Magnolia in the northwestern part of the town,
in the Negro settlement. He draws a Confederate pension of four dollars
per month. He relates events of his life readily.

"I does not know de year I was borned but dey said I was 15 years old
when de War broke out an' dey tell me I'se past 90 now. Dey call me
James Cornelius an' all de white folks says I'se a good 'spectable
darkey.

"I was borned in Franklin, Loos'anna. My mammy was named Chlo an' dey
said my pappy was named Henry. Dey b'longed to Mr. Alex Johnson an'
whil'st I was a baby my mammy, my brudder Henry, an' me was sol' to
Marse Sam Murry Sandell an' we has brung to Magnolia to live an' I niver
remember seein' my pappy ag'in.

"Marse Murry didn' have many slaves. His place was right whar young
Mister Lampton Reid is buildin' his fine house jes east of de town. My
mammy had to work in da house an' in de fiel' wid all de other niggers
an' I played in de yard wid de little chulluns, bofe white an' black.
Sometimes we played 'tossin' de ball' an' sometimes we played
'rap-jacket' an' sometimes 'ketcher.' An' when it rained we had to go in
de house an' Old Mistess made us behave.

"I was taught how to work 'round de house, how to sweep an' draw water
frum de well an' how to kin'le fires an' keep de wood box filled wid
wood, but I was crazy to larn how to plow an' when I could I would slip
off an' get a old black man to let me walk by his side an' hold de lines
an' I thought I was big 'nouf to plow.

"Marse Murry didn' have no overseer. He made de slaves work