Martha Jackson ~ Choctaw Freedwoman
The parents of Aunt Martha Jackson, a black Negress,
and evidently almost a fullblood negro, were slaves of one Sampson Folsom and
his wife, Kitty. Her father died when she was almost a baby and she was too
young to remember when the slaves were freed, but when they were, she went to
Spencer Academy to do just any kind of work that they wanted her to do* She
assisted in the cooking, sewing, cleaning, and did just anything that a girl of
thirteen could do. She went to
Mr. Alexander Reed was caretaker at
time after school began A Mr. John Coulton was
Superintendent for about three years. Then, Mr. Culton left and Mr, John Reed
took his place, and, in Aunt Martha words: "He was the last Superintendent
I knew and I worked there six years.” In addition to my work around the
school, I washed and ironed clothes for the teachers. I helped the seamstress
too. They made all of the boy’s clothes, and they sure dressed them nicely.
They made their little jackets of gray jeans, and lined them, so they would be
warm for winter. They fed them well too. They had men cooks, generally. One I know was
Mr. Sam Pipkin, a white man he was the best cook I ever saw. The teachers were a
ll men but they had women seamstresses. I remember two of the teachers were
named, Harrison and Pennybacker.
They
had a commissary there and had just everything in. it that they needed. Of
course, they ran out of things, but would haul supplies from
There
was an orchard at Spencer too, and they raised little patches of things to eat
and we canned lots of stuff for winter eating. They kept milk cows too. There
was a
When school began in the fall, every boy was cleaned
up and his hair cut, for fear of lice and diseases. They were cleaned up good.
The boys had to cut each other’s hair. The larger boys were assigned to take
care of the smaller onea, and see that they were properly dressed, changed and
bathed frequently, and ready for meals etc. The large boys cleaned and scrubbed
their rooms, changed the linens, gathered up the laundry and took it to the wash
house. Every boy was assigned certain tasks.
Some waited on tables, acme worked in gardens and
patches, some cut wood, some milked, some cleaned yards, and then they changed
around, took turn about.
We had a big bell that could be heard eight miles
away, on a clear day. I heard it after I moved eight miles away. That bell was
rung at
Everybody
had tasks to do until school took up at nine o*clock in the morning and after it
turned out at four. Mr. Coulton was mighty strict about the morning prayers and
so was Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed would let us colored folks go into the church
sometimes but we could never go to any parties or dances. I never went to
parties or dances until after I left there.
The
boys were not supposed to speak Choctaw, but they did sometimes, and as boys
will, they sometimes fought a little and had to be punished but they were
generally kept so busy they had not much time to get into trouble. Occasionally
one would take a notion to run off, but they always brought them back. I know of
who one little fellow was brought back three times.
Sometimes
when the boys would get through with tasks on Saturday, they were permitted to
go fishing,
or squirrel hunting down on the creek. The only game I ever saw them play was
croquet. The school accommodated about forty boys and was always full.
There
was a hospital room at the academy too where they took the pupils when they were
sick. Mrs. Morrison was "Mother” to the boys and nursed them when they
were sick and if they were sick enough to need attention at night, she took them
to her room. She was still there when I left but she went away.
It
was at a big school “turn out* that my old master and mistress came to, that I
got acquainted with them again and went back to work for them. My old master's
name was Mr. Sampson Folsom and my old mistress - his wife's - name was Mrs.
Kitty Folsom. I called her "Miss Kitty.” I would work in the field and in
the house and would do just anything they had for me to do. They were Choctaw
Indians. My parents were their slaves when I was born. After I went to live with
Mr. and Mrs. Folsom we would sometimes go to Sunday School over at
Mrs.
Bailey was living then and was Miss Kitty's friend and we spent a night there.
Mrs. Bailey had been the second Mrs. Robert M. Jones. She was a white woman. We
went on across Horse Prairie, and crossed
I
was very small. After my daddy died, Mamma moved up to a place called Dougland
where she died and is buried. It is now called Virgil.
My
first husband was a half breed Choctaw Indian. Some called him "Nubb,”
His name was Louis G. Folsom. I was his common-law wife. Our three children, all
dead now, were Daisy, Emma, and Robert. Daisy was stabbed to death by Harrison
Wilson, a Choctaw-negro. Emma’s husband shot her and she died from the shot, a
long time after that.
I
live here in this old shack alone. There was a log house here first but it was
about to fall down on me, so I got this second hand house and had it put here.
It was not much house to begin with, but it has been here about forty years. An old negro, named Matt Freeman, made the boards
for the roof where we first re-built it here, about forty years
ago. He is about ninety years old now and lives at Sawyer.
My next husband was Ab James, a half breed Choctaw
Indian, we were not married. Our son was named Davis James. He has been dead
four years, buried at Doaksville, so are my other children.
Miss Kitty was a Colbert, my mother belonged to her
folks. Mamma was Sukey Colbert, my father belonged to the Folsoms and was named
Jarret Jackson. I ain’t never been married. I'm a
I had my log house built here long before we filed on
any land. Then, after the Choctaws adopted us negroes and said we could have
forty acres of land, I want to the
Source:
Rights:
Volume:
47
Interview ID:
7410
 |
Subjects: |
Choctaw
Freedwoman
Horse Prairie
Reed, Alexander
Coulton,
Rose Hill Farm
Alikchi
http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/whc/pioneer/paper.asp?pID=3113&vID=47