and so my father was sold to him.

The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as
a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who
lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners
but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his
"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can
remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook
"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa
Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other
slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he
were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right.

When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I
remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left
the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and
had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded
myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it
was all about.


Ed. Note: Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture.




Submitted by:
William Webb Tuttle
District No. 2
Muncie, Indiana