1001108									Ex-Slave -    #18
                          Interview with (Mrs.) Mariah Callaway                    172
                                      Ex-Slave.

	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 hob 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. On  their plantation were raised
sheep, goats, mules, horses, cows, etc. Cotton, corn and vegetables were 
also raised. The Willis family was a large one consisting of six children.