"I was born March 10, 1843 on Dolphin Street, Mobile, Alabama. My mother’s name was Charlotte Ulrich and my father’s was Peter Pedro Ulrich. I am the mother of 11 children and we has over 100 grandchildren. Dere is so many great grandchildren and great great grandchildren we jes’ quit countin’ when we comes to dem. I has four generations, and dey give me a party three years ago, and so many of my off spring come der wasn’t any room for half of ’em and even dat was not de beginning of de lot of ’em. I got a gang of ’em I never did see, and never will see, I don’t reckon. Dey just write and tell us dey got ’em.
"My father was owned by a rich old boss named Captain Bullmay. He owned a raft of boats, and my father was a cook on one of dem boats. Mamma only raised two of her children. De Ulriches sold me when I was a girl to Dr. Odem in de same county, and I worked in his field, spun thread to make cloth, pulled fodder, put de spinning in, and after a while, I don’t know how long, he swapped me off for two boys. My new owner was Gilbert Faulkner. He was a railroad section man. I worked in de field for him until we was set free. I had some good times and some bad times both. De man I married worked on the railroad for him. His name was Moses Evans. Dat was in Helena, Arkansas. My husband’s been dead more dan 30 years now. I got four daughters and three sons living and a host of grand and great grand, and great great grandchildren living. Since my husband died, I just live from one child to the other and some time de grandchildren takes care of me, I havn’t done no kind of work since my children got big enough to work. Dey been pretty good to me all my days.
"’Bout a year ago de government done started giving me a pension, $11 a month. It helps some, but don’t very much, every thing’s so high, honey. When freedom come I asked my old owner to please let me stay on wid dem, I didn’t have no whar to go no how. So he just up and said, ’Ann, you can stay here if you want to, but I ain’t goin’ to give you nothing but your victuals and clothes enough to cover your hide, not a penny in money, do no nigger get from me.’ So I up and said, ’Why boss, dey tells me dat since freedom we git a little change’, and he cursed me to all de low names he could think of and drove me out like a dog. I didn’t know what to do, or where to go, so I sauntered off to a nearby plantation where a colored slave kept house for her bachelor slave owner and she let me stay with her, and her boss drove me off after two days, because I kept company with a nigger who worked for a man he didn’t like. I was barefooted, so I asked Moses Evans, to please buy me some shoes, my feet was so sore and I didn’t have no money nor no home neither. So he said for me to wait till Saturday night and he’d buy me some shoes. Sure 'nough when Saturday night come, he buyed me some shoes, and handkerchiefs and a pretty string of beads and got an old man neighbor named Rochel to let me stay at his house. Den in a few weeks me and him got married, and I was mighty glad to marry him to git a place to stay. Yes I was. ’Cause I had said, hard times as I was having if I seed a man walking with two sticks and he wanted me for a wife I’d marry him to git a place to stay. Yes I did and I meant just dat. In all my born days I never knowed of a white man giving a black man nothing, no I ain’t.