320126
	]~LNsLÂv:B~ sToi‘.i~s	p~ On~
	(Texas)	*


Â3RAM SELLS wa~ born a slave on the Rimes P1~ntatton, which was located. about 18 r~aile~ south-~ ~a~t 0±‘ Newton, TexF4~s. H~ does not know his &~ge, but must b~ well alone in the 8O~, ~s his recollections o~! slatery deys are keen. He lives at J~ae~-~ town, Texas.



‘II ~as birthed on the Rimes Plantation, now called

Earrisbur~. My ~eat.~r~and-daddy‘s naiv was Bowser Rimes and. he

w~s •brung to Texas from Lo~isi~a Rnd CUe ~t 138 year old. }te‘s buried ~n tne old Ben Powell plate close to Jasper, My ~ran&-.daddy, that‘ s John ‚ he lives to b~ 103 y~ ~.r old ~nd he buried ~n th~ Eddy plantation at Jasper. My d~dy, Mose Pirn~s, he die young ~t 86 and

~	buried in Jasper County, too, My mnmrny~s n~r~e was Phoebe ~.nd ~he was 1~irthed a Rirn~z nigger ~d bru.ng to Texas fror~i beck In Loiuis1~na, The ye~r slaves was fr~d, I was inherit by a maTi fl&~fl~d Sells, what marry into the Rimes f~x~i1ly and that‘s why my nar~e‘s S~~l1s, ~c~use it cbpnge tl~n~ with the ra~rri~e. Us was j~s‘ ready to be ship back to Louisiana to the n~w ~as~~s p1ant~tion Wh~U the «In d of tht~ war bre ait up the trip.

	“You see ‚ ~e all had purty ~good tirue on Massp. Rimes1 s p1axit~tion~ None o±~ them c~rin‘ ‘bout being ~ot free. They has to work h~~rd ~ii t1r~e, but that don‘ mean so much, tcaus~ they bave to work iff~n th~y w~s on they own, too . Th~e old folks was ~ 1 owed Satuird;:~y evenin1 ort‘ or when they‘s sick, and us little ones~ us not do ‘iiuch but bring in the wood and ki~d1e the fires arid tote water ~nd he‘p wash clothes and feed th~ little pigs and chickeni,