Lindsay Moore Interview Notes Viola Muse Transcription, encoding, and edition Amelia Dixon Edition Laura Heffernan Edition Tru Leverette Edition Clayton McCarl

This document was produced as part of the Viola Muse Digital Edition, based at the University of North Florida.

https://violamuse.unfdhi.org/items/show/120 USA Florida Jacksonville Jacksonville Historical Society Viola Muse Collection (1959-18) Folder 12, item 8 Notes from Muse's interview with Lindsay Moore, a Jacksonville resident who was formerly enslaved in Georgia

Handwritten, two pages

Document transcribed and encoded following the criteria of the Viola Muse Digital Edition (violamuse.unfdhi.org), based at the University of North Florida.

Mr. Lindsay Moore—, 1114 Madison StStreet. Born in Monroe County, Ga.Georgia. Forsyth.

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1865 – 15 761850Born
Muse appears to calculate the year of Moore's birth based on his age at the time of Emancipation.

Cotton, corn, wheat.

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Carried water to men, split &and tote wood like a lizard.

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Master was mean—. 2Two overseers—, 1one white &and 1one colored. bothBoth whipped.

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Bull whips.

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About 50fifty slaves on plantation. Iron pots in fire place— (spiperspiderIn the original we read spiper. The term is spelled correctly in the following sentence. See spider. &and lid). breadBread baked in spider—, meat in pot. Round oven made of cast iron put in fire placefireplace.

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Meat., corn bread. biscuitBiscuit every Sunday. allAll you could eat.: peas, greens, sweet potatoes, turnips.We have interpreted All you can eat to refer to the list of items that follow it, but this is not entirely clear from the notes, and these observations about food are not included in the Lindsay Moore Narrative. No chicken except steal it.

Evaporated water from smoke housesmokehouse &and made salt. Water from spring. Dug well after freedom.

All negroesNegroes left except mother &and him. stayedStayed from May to next March. Got paid at XmasChristmas. Paid in anything except in cotton. Cotton brought in big money, so they kept it.

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Master, had two slaves, Harry &and Mr. Moore. John B. Overtree, master, used to take them six miles in town to shoot &and would bet on them.

Father was Nelson Moore— 103 —.

Mother was Eliza (Harp.Harper) Moore. Moore appears to have been partially erased, like the — 103 — above it, but it seems to belong. We have assumed its partial erasure occured inadvertantly when erasing the above. We have expanded the abbreviation Harp. to Harper, but have not found corroboration of this surname, which is not mentioned in the version of this interview published in SN3 (see the Lindsay Moore Narrative).

Father was owned by Jim White, another slave holdedslaveholder 1one mile away.

Mr. Moore was 42 yrsyears old when father died. Mother 65 when died—, 10ten yrsyears before father.

Betsy Overtree was mistress.

Marzell was oldest. Francis, Bethard, Emily, Pussy.

Jim went to war—, returned at XmasChristmas of 651865—. Soldiers carried him away across Lookout Mt.Mountain. keptKept him from May until XmasChristmas day. Wore gray suit, brass buttons, wore caps.

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Northerns wore blue &and brass buttons. capsCaps. brassBrass buttons on caps.

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Put food and milk in well in large buckets to keep cool.

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Learned blacksmithing at 17seventeen yrsyears. atAt 9nine miles from birth placebirthplace., under a yankeeYankee shop—. coloredColored man, name Jerry Justice, had forge in shop. Jackson G. Smith owned the shop.

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3Three years in learning &and left. ranRan shop for self at 6six miles below Forsyth, GaGeorgia. stayedStayed 1one yryear.

Helped tan hides 2two yrsyears after freedom. workedWorked for John Willis. Hired by year and earned __________.We use a series of underscores here to represent a space Muse appears to have left to fill in a number later. Promised his father brother himself &and sister $300.00 &and board for yr'syear's work. Also, a cotton patch besides. At end gave only cotton that they made. Left there, went to another man,. gaveGave cotton patch &and boarded them, &and when sold, got good sum,. 5Five bales of cotton (, sold at $300.00 for lot).

Mother spun thread. gotGot out 10 cuts a day. 100 rounds to make a cut.

Saw cloth woven. Women spun thread. Men wove cloth. He helped clean the rods in weaver.

Helped pick, weigh cotton,. pickedPicked out cotton seed.

2Two picked 2two bales a day.

Coarse bagging used for cotton bales.

Lye soap used.

Made trough of wood. Put ashes in trough. Poured water on ashes &and let her drip. When bucket got full, put it in pot with greecegrease saved from hog killing. Saved all greecegrease. Cooked cracklincracklin' bread.Crackling bread is 'corn bread made with cracklings.' A crackling is 'a crisp piece of skin or other tissue remaining after the fat (usually of a hog) has been rendered' (DARE). Laying collard leaf on clean place in fire placefireplace &and put 4 A technical limitation currently prevents us from center–aligning this heading. bread on leaf before fire &and let it cook.

Master came around to blacksmith shop where he was working, &and he shoed the ex–mastersex–master's horse, &and he was as surprised to find Mr. Moore doing work so well. gaveGave him $5.00 gold piece.

Daughters after married: Francis Hoodran, Emily Mabry, Bethard Hood, Puss Mabry (married brothers). married brothers is written to the right of the list of names, with lines drawn to Emily Mabry and Puss Mabry. In the original, married brothers is written to the right of the list of the daughters' names, with lines drawn to Emily Mabry and Puss Mabry.

Wooden tubs made of oak &and iron bands.

Made shoes with wooden pegs.

Saved feathers for beds.

Women wore hoop skirts.

Women wore narrow ones.

Married at age of 24. Wife wore straight dress.

First bed springsbedsprings were seen when he became old man.

Remembers first buggy, called Ghee, &and white preachers used to ride the circuit.

Remembers shin—plastersshinplasters,.See shinplaster. resembledResembled present paper money. Had two rolls of it.

Remembers ShermansSherman's Army. whenWhen it came through, took up southernSouthern R. Roadsrailroads. tookTook rails, heated them, &and twisted them around trees so couldn't use them again.

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Army turned their horses into wheat fields, which were almost ripe for harvesting, and let them ruin it almost ripe for harvesting and let them ruin it.The phrase almost ripe for harvesting and let them ruin it is crossed out in the original, but because the sentence does not make grammatical sense without it, and because it seems to be correct in context, we restore it here. Headshead 'the foliaged part of a plant', as in "a single head of grain" (MW). were putting out. Wheat was in the boot.boot 'a sheath enclosing the inflorescence' (the budding and unfolding of blossoms) of a plant (MW). Stalk has head &and boot at head top.

Burned down gin house.

ArmyCalverySee calvary. was mixed white &and colored. Had brass band with them. Camped over nightovernight. leftLeft next morning. cameCame about 3 or 4 in evening.

Negroes followed soldiers to Macon. allAll left except about 5five. Some came back. Mr. Moore was used as water boy for Yankee captains. Gave him pass. Negro who used to live there was guarding the spring, &and when he went with pass, he was allowed to get water, &and the soldiers stood back. Moore sold water to other Yankee sol–diers &and bought first pair of boots he ever had,. Also bought suit &and cap.

White doctors—. carriedCarried medicine with him. Had saddle bags. Most rode on horses, some buggies. Different colored teacher sent to Atlanta every two years.

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Family lived much better after slavery. Lived high. Father farmer— until son 17seventeen yrsyears old.

Mother cooked at home for own family.

Has two children—: Jim Moore &and ArThis name was written over other text and is illegible in the original. packerPacker in Atlanta. Lula has 3 children. Griffin, GaGeorgia.

Political meetings formed. Those from up northNorth wrote back &and said, "don'tDon't come up here,. Times are tough."

1One –room schools. Teachers had to stand 4fourth or 5thfifth –grade exam.

Used ox—. brokeBroke many an ox.

sameSame kind of plows as today.

Foods were high in price. sugarSugar was about 14￠ cents /lbpound. meanMeanThe meaning of the term mean here is not clear. (ham, 35￠ cents /lbpound.). Lard, 15￠ cents /lbpound.

Never fought in warWar.

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