Interviewer: Eliza Ison
Person Interviewed: Belle Robinson
Location: Garrard County, Kentucky
Place of Birth: Garrard County, Kentucky
Date of Birth: June 3rd, 1853
I found Aunt Belle sitting on the porch, dressed nice and clean with a white handkerchief pinned on her neck. When I went to her and told her who I was and the reason for my visit her face beamed with smiles and she said “Lawdy, it has been so long that I have forgot nearly everything I knew”.
Further investigation soon proved that she had not forgotten, for her statements were very intelligent. She was working on a quilt and close investigation found that the work was well done. Aunt Belle tells me “I was born June 3rd, 1853 in Garrard County near Lancaster. My mother’s name was Marion Blevin and she belonged to the family of Pleas Blevin. My father’s name was Arch Robinson who lived in Madison County. Harrison Brady bought me from Ole Miss Nancy Graham and when Mr. Brady died and his property was sold Mrs. Brady bought me back; and she always said that she paid $400 for me. I lived in that family for three generations, until every one of them died. I was the only child and had always lived at the big house with my mistus. I wore the same kind of clothes and ate the same kind of food the white people ate. My mother and father lived at the cabin in the yard and my mother did the cooking for the family. My father did the work on the farm with the help that was hired from the neighbors. I was too young to remember much about the slave days, but I never heard of any slaves of the neighbors being punished. My “Mistus” always took me to the Baptist Church with her. I do not remember any preacher’s names or any songs they sang.”
Bibliography: Interview with Aunt Belle Robinson, Ex-Slave of Garrard County.