Edgefield South Carolina

Slave Narrative of Henry Ryan

Interviewer: G. Leland Summer Person Interviewed: Henry Ryan Date of Interview: August 18, 1937 Location: Newberry, South Carolina “I live in a rented three-room house with my daughter. I am too old to do much work, but I work where I can get little jobs that I can do. “The slaves did not expect anything after Freedom, for the South was in such a bad fix. They just got jobs where they could find them. Most of them worked as share-croppers or wage hands on the farms, and have worked like this since that time. Some few have rented farms. … Read more

Biography of Sheldon Griswold Catlin

Sheldon Griswold Catlin. A notable figure in the commercial life of the City of Leavenworth was the late Sheldon Griswold Catlin. He was a Yankee, of Connecticut birth and ancestry, and possessed the genius of a typical New Englander for trade. Bulwarking his genius in this direction was a remarkable integrity of character and a wholesomeness and breadth of mind which made his presence in any community a source of strength and uplift. It was in 1863 that he came to Leavenworth and became a member of the old wholesale shoe firm of George O. Catlin & Company, a business … Read more

Slave Narrative of Matilda Brooks

Interviewer: Alfred Farrell Person Interviewed: Matilda Brooks Location: Monticello, Florida Age: 79 A Governor’s Slave Matilda Brooks, 79, who lives in Monticello, Fla., was once a slave of a South Carolina governor. Mrs. Brooks was born in 1857 or 1858 in Edgefield, S.C. Her parents were Hawkins and Harriet Knox, and at the time of the birth of their daughter were slaves on a large plantation belonging to Governor Frank Pickens. On this plantation were raised cotton, corn, potatoes, tobacco, peas, wheat and truck products. As soon as Matilda was large enough to go into the fields she helped her … Read more