"Ma Aunt Comfort tole de white boy ta thro’ a knife at ma muthuh. The boy hit ma muthuh jus’ ’bove de eye an’ den grandmuthuh whop’d Aunt Comfort fur tellin’ the white boy to do this.
"In ever cab’n thar war fiddles an’ on Sunday we could have a good time. One of de games we wud play out in frunt of the cab’n was ’Swing-Ole Liza Single’. This here game wuz play’d by havin’ two rows line up an’ a man wud dance up or down the line an’ swing each one. We wud all sing an’ pat our han’s an’ feet ta keep time for the dance.
"Thar wuz some preachin’ goin’ on in the cab’ns an’ out under the arbors on Saturday nights an’ Sunday. The preacher wuz a slave too. Two songs that we ’member they sung war: ’We’ll Bow Around the Altar—Whil’st My Lord Answers Prayer’, and ’Git in the Chariot and Ride Right-Along’.
"Our fauthur wuz also a slave of a Mr. Patterson but he wus treat’d well. When Mr. Patterson died our fauther was will’d ta Mr. Patterson’s daughter. Our fauthur, Jacob Franks, wuz a trusted negro an’ a teamster who drove frum Ste. Genevieve ta the plantashun. He used ta swim the river ’Aux Vases with his team. He’ud bring bak things frum Ste. Genevieve that war hard ta git. Salt wuz hard ta git at this time.
"Our muthuh, Eliza, married Jacobs Franks wen she wuz 16 years ole jus’ after she wuz free. She wuz always rather puny an’ wuz worth very little as a slave. Onc’t she was sold with three others an’ brot’ only $50. Our muthuh has 5 children livin’, 19 great grandchildren, and two great grandchildren, Paul Evans, 6, and Andres, 3. Our fauthur died 43 years ago an’ our muthuh married a Mr. Overton an’ he is also dead now.
"A Mr. Jones bought our aunt an’ tok’ her ta Shelby County, Missouri. Our aunt had two children by Mr. Jones. One of ’em wuz so white dat Mr. Jones couldn’t sell him fur a slave.
"When de slaves war freed, we war tole ta go anywhar we pleas’d. For’nately muthuh married at onc’t, but others did not care ta leave thar way of livin’ ’cause they had no money, no homes, and did not know how ta do thar own work. But Jim Blackwell, who had been a slave fur John Coffman, saved up a lot of food in his cab’n an’ then when he was freed, he went out in da woods an’ built him a home of his own. He cut down de trees an’ made his cab’n thar an’ liv’d.