whom were born and reared in Charles County--the county that James
Wilkes Booth took refuge in after the assassination of President Lincoln
in 1865. I had one sister named Jenny and no brothers: let me say right
here it was God's blessing I did not. Near Bryantown, a county center
prior to the Civil War as a market for tobacco, grain and market for
slaves.

"In Bryantown there were several stores, two or three taverns or inns
which were well known in their days for their hospitality to their
guests and arrangements to house slaves. There were two inns both of
which had long sheds, strongly built with cells downstairs for men and a
large room above for women. At night the slave traders would bring their
charges to the inns, pay for their meals, which were served on a long
table in the shed, then afterwards, they were locked up for the night.

"I lived with my mother, father and sister in a log cabin built of log
and mud, having two rooms; one with a dirt floor and the other above,
each room having two windows, but no glass. On a large farm or
plantation owned by an old maid by the name of Sally McPherson on
McPherson Farm.

"As a small boy and later on, until I was emancipated, I worked on the
farm doing farm work, principally in the tobacco fields and in the woods
cutting timber and firewood. I slept on a home-made bed or bunk, while
my mother and sister slept in a bed made by father on which they had a
mattress made by themselves and filled with straw, while dad slept on a
bench beside the bed and that he used in the day as a work bench,
mending shoes for the slaves and others. I have seen mother going to the
fields each day like other slaves to do her part of the farming. I being
considered as one of the household employees, my work was both in the