his freedom because his mistress found it more advantageous to free him
than to watch him.

Austin lives near Greenwood, Jackson County, Florida, on a small farm
that he and his children operate. He says that he does not know his age,
does not remember ever having heard it. But he must be pretty old, he
says, "'cause I was a right smart size when Mistuh Smith went off to
fight." He thinks he may be over a hundred--and he looks it--but he is
not sure.

Austin was born between Greene and Hancock Counties, on the Oconee
River, in Georgia. He uses the names of the counties interchangeably; he
cannot be definite as to just which one was his birthplace. "The line
between 'em was right there by us," he says.

His father was Jack; for want of a surname of his own he took that of
his father and called himself Jack Smith. During a temporary shortage of
funds on his master's part, Jack and Bill's mother was sold to a planter
in the northern part of the state. It was not until long after his
emancipation that Bill ever saw either of them again.

Bill's father Jack was regarded as a fairly good carpenter, mason and
bricklayer; at times his master would let him do small jobs of repairing
of building for neighboring planters. These jobs sometimes netted him
hams, bits of cornmeal, cloth for dresses for his wife and children, and
other small gifts; these he either used for his small family or
bartered with the other slaves. Sometimes he sold them to the slaves for
money; cash was not altogether unknown among the slaves on the Smith
place.