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Missouri .
	Ex-Slave Story	Page 1 .	~	j4





	“I‘s born in 1630 on C~istor River ‘bout fourteen miles east of Fredericktown~ Lb. My birthday is December 24. Yes, sir, I, is 10? years old dey say and dey ~Ot de records up there in de court hause to ~rove it. De first tiv~e I married A~ä~V~rnger in 1866 and was fr~a~ ned by Squire ~ddison in Fredericktown. In 1912 on ~ugu~t 11 nie and de ~‘arson was married in de Methodist church here and dis was de lar—
	gest one in Fredericktown. Bout six or seven hundred come for de		ce1~	.~
	ebration. I guess I is ‘bout de oldest Derson in Madison County.
		“~:y fathers come from P erry County . He was naraed i~bernathy .	?~ty

father‘s father was a white man. My white peo~le corne from Castor and dey owned my mother and I was two years old when my mother was sold. De white people kept two of us and sold moth~r and three children in New Orleans. iv~e and ray brother Georçe was kept by de Bollingers. This was in 1832. De white people kept us in de house and I took care of de babies most of de time but worked in de field a little bit. Dey had six boys .

“Our house joined on to de house of de white folks. Many times I •
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~iept on de floor in front of de fireplace near de mistress. Dey got

hold of a big buffalo.ru~‘and I would sleep oni~t. De Bollinger boy, ~	~ . ~ Billy Bollinger, would go to de cabin and sleep with George, ray brother.

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