Slave Narrative of Rev. Eli Boyd

Person Interviewed: Rev. Eli Boyd Location: Dade County, Florida Dade County, Florida, Folklore Ex-Slaves Reverend Eli Boyd was born May 29, 1864, four miles from Somerville, South Carolina on John Murray’s plantation. It was a large plantation with perhaps one hundred slaves and their families. As he was only a tiny baby when freedom came, he had no “recomembrance” of the real slavery days, but he lived on the same plantation for many years until his father and mother died in 1888. “I worked on the plantation just like they did in the real slavery days, only I received a … Read more

The Discovery Of This Continent, it’s Results To The Natives

Columbus Landing on Hispaniola

In the year 1470, there lived in Lisbon, a town in Portugal, a man by the name of Christopher Columbus, who there married Dona Felipa, the daughter of Bartolome Monis De Palestrello, an Italian (then deceased), who had arisen to great celebrity as a navigator. Dona Felipa was the idol of her doting father, and often accompanied him in his many voyages, in which she soon equally shared with him his love of adventure, and thus became to him a treasure indeed not only as a companion but as a helper; for she drew his maps and geographical charts, and also … Read more

Slave Narrative of Daphney Wright

Interviewer: Phoebe Faucette Person Interviewed: Daphney Wright Location: Scotia, South Carolina Age: 106 106 Year Old Ex-Slave Just around the bend from the old mill pond on the way to Davis Swimming Pool lives a very old negro woman. Her name is Daphney Wright, though that name has never been heard by those who affectionately know her as “Aunt Affie”. She says she is 106 years old. She comes to the door without a cane and greets her guests with accustomed curtsey. She is neatly dressed and still wears a fresh white cap as she did when she worked for … Read more

Beaufort County, South Carolina Census Records

1790 Beaufort County, South Carolina Census Free 1790 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1790 Beaufort County, Census (images and index) $ Hosted at Census Guide 1790 U.S. Census Guide 1800 Beaufort County, South Carolina Census Free 1800 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1800 Beaufort County, Census (images and index) $ Hosted at Census Guide 1800 U.S. Census Guide 1810 Beaufort County, South Carolina Census Free 1810 Census Form for your Research Hosted at Ancestry.com – Ancestry Free Trial 1810 Beaufort County, Census (images and index) $ … Read more

Slave Narrative of William Sherman

Interviewer: J. M. Johnson Person Interviewed: William Sherman Location: Chaseville, Florida In Chaseville, Florida, about twelve miles from Jacksonville on the south side of the Saint Johns River lives William Sherman (locally pronounced Schumann,) a former slave of Jack Davis, nephew of President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy. William Sherman was born on the plantation of Jack Davis, about five miles from Robertsville, South Carolina, at a place called “Black Swamp,” June 12, 1842, twenty-three years prior to Emancipation. His father who was also named William Sherman, was a free man, having bought his freedom for eighteen hundred dollars from … Read more

Slave Narrative of Samuel Simeon Andrews

Interviewer: Rachel A. Austin Person Interviewed: Samuel Simeon Andrews Location: Jacksonville, Florida Age: 86 For almost 30 years Edward Waters College, an African Methodist Episcopal School, located on the north side of Kings Road in the western section of Jacksonville, has employed as watchman, Samuel Simeon Andrews (affectionately called “Parson”), a former slave of A.J. Lane of Georgia, Lewis Ripley of Beaufort, South Carolina, Ed Tillman of Dallas, Texas, and John Troy of Union Springs, Alabama. “Parson” was born November 18, 1850 in Macon, Georgia, at a place called Tatum Square, where slaves were held, housed and sold. “Speculators” (persons … Read more