had a big, large plantation. She had a lot of hands and big quarter
houses. Oh, I 'member you could go three miles this way and three miles
that way. Oh, she had a big plantation. I reckon it was mighty near big
as this town. I 'member they used to take the cotton and hide it in the
woods. I guess it was to keep the Yankees from gettin' it.

"I lived in the quarters with my father and mother and we stayed there
after the war--long time after the war. I stayed there till I got to be
grown. I continued there. I 'member her house and yard. Had a big yard.

"I can read some. Learned it at Miss Nancy Davis' plantation after the
war. They had a little place where they had school. I went to church
some a long time ago.

"Abraham Lincoln was a white man. He fought in the time of the war,
didn't he? Oh, yes, he issued freedom. The Yankees and the Rebels
fought.

"After the war I worked at farm work. I ain't did no real hard work for
over a year."




Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: John Wells, Edmondson, Arkansas
Age: 82


"I was born down here at Edmondson, Arkansas. My owner was a captain in