't even growl.' Well, when
they finally got in all they wanted wuz ter know if Mr. Byrd could help
feed the soldiers until Monday. Mr. Byrd told 'em he would. Soon after
that the war ended and we wuz called ter gether and told us wuz free.
Some uv'em stayed there and some uv'em left. Us left and moved ter
another plantation."

Mrs. Byrd who had previously given the writer an interview on folk-lore
asked the writer to return at a later date and she would try to think up
more information concerning superstitions, conjure, etc. The writer
thanked her for the interview and promised to make another visit soon.

Ex-Slave #18

INTERVIEW WITH (MRS.) MARIAH CALLAWAY EX-SLAVE

[TR: A significant portion of this interview was repeated in typescript;
where there was a discrepancy, the clearer version was used. Where a
completely different word was substituted, 'the original' refers to the
typewritten page.]

Mrs. Mariah Callaway sat in a chair opposite the writer and told her
freely of the incidents of slavery as she remembered them. To a casual
observer it will come as a surprise to know the woman was blind. She is
quite old, but her thoughts were clearly and intelligently related to
the writer.

Mrs. Callaway was born in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia probably
during the year 1852, as she estimated her age to be around 12 or 13
years when freedom was declared. She does not remember her mother and
father, as her mother died the second day after she was born, so the job
of rearing her and a small brother fell on her grandmother, Mariah
Willis, for whom she was named. Mrs. Callaway stated that the old
master, Jim Willis, kept every Negro's age in a Bible: but after he died
the Bible was placed upstairs in the gallery and most of the pages were
destroyed. The following is a story of the purchase of Mrs. Callaway's
grandfather as related by her.

"My grandfather come directly from Africa and I never shall forget the
story he told us of how he and other natives were fooled on board a ship
by the white slave traders using red handkerchiefs as enticement. When
they reached America, droves of them were put on the block and sold to
people all over the United States.

The master and mistress of their plantation were Mr. Jim Willis and Mrs.
Nancy Willis who owned hundreds of acres of land and a large number of
slaves. Mrs. Callaway was unable to give an exact number but stated the
Willises were considered wealthy people