f;~ ‚ j ~ ~ ~ Interviewer Samuel S. Taylor Person Interviewed A~nsy O. A1exan~ier ~2422 Center ~ L i~+~L e Roc~k, Arkan~s Age 74 ~ ~ ~ ~ “I was ~born In the country several miles from Charlotte In Macklenberg, County, North Carolina in 1854. “My father‘s name was John Alexander and. my mother was Esther MeColley. That was her maiden name of course. “My father‘s master was named Silas Alexander and. my mother belonged to Hu.gh Reed. I don‘t know just how she and. my father happened to meet. These two slaveholders were adjoining neighbors, you might say. “My father and. my mother married during the war. I was the first child. I had. three half brothers and. three half sisters from the father‘s side. I didn‘t have no whole brothers and sisters, I am the only one on my mother‘s side. ~ïy father was not in the war. “I don‘t know that the pateroles bothered him very much. My father and mother were well treated by our master and then both she and my father were quiet and their masters were good to them naturally. “During slavery times, my father was a farmer. ~ mother farmed too. She was a hand in the field. They lived in a little log cabin, one room. They had a bed. in there, a few chairs and a homemade table. They had a plank floor. I only know what I heard my people speak of. I don‘t know what was what for myself because I was too young. “From what I can understand they had a big room at the house and the slaves came there and ate there. They had ~ colored woman who prepared their #767