Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by
the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the
mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child
was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The
mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and
her son and she were loved by them in return.

Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take
Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the
Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of
slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the
Mooneys.

One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and
follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the
miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it
empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing
together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon dog
as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we boys
climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and we
soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us mad
and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an old
flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting.
When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching
goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would
catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight,
cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to
help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the
field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me