As soon as freedom
was declared, he sent for my mother to come to the Kanawha Valley, in
West Virginia. At that time a journey from Virginia over the
mountains to West Virginia was rather a tedious and in some cases a
painful undertaking. What little clothing and few household goods we
had were placed in a cart, but the children walked the greater portion
of the distance, which was several hundred miles.
I do not think any of us ever had been very far from the
plantation, and the taking of a long journey into another state was
quite an event. The parting from our former owners and the members of
our own race on the plantation was a serious occasion. From the time
of our parting till their death we kept up a correspondence with the
older members of the family, and in later years we have kept in touch
with those who were the younger members. We were several weeks making
the trip, and most of the time we slept in the open air and did our
cooking over a log fire out-of-doors. One night I recall that we
camped near an abandoned log cabin, and my mother decided to build a
fire in that for cooking, and afterward to make a "pallet" on the
floor for our sleeping. Just as the fire had gotten well started a
large black snake fully a yard and a half long dropped down the
chimney and ran out on the floor.
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