You've heard of the Beebe family, of course. Roswell Beebe at
one time owned all the land that Little Rock now sets on. I was born in
a log cabin where Fifth and Spring streets meet. The Jewish Synagogue is
on the exact spot. Once we lived at Third and Cumberland, across from
that old hundred-year-old-building where they say the legislature once
met. What you call it? Yes, that's it; the Hinterlider building. It was
there then, too. My father and mother had the kind of wedding they had
for slaves, I guess. Yes, ma'am, they did call them "broom-stick
weddings". I've heard tell of them. Yes, ma'am, the master and mistress,
when they find a couple of young slave folks want to get married, they
call them before themselves and have them confess they want to marry.
Then they hold the broom, one at each end, and the young folks told to
jump over. Sometimes they have a new cabin fixed all for them to start
in. After Peace, a minister came and married my father and mother
according to the law of the church and of the land.
The master's family was thoughtful in keeping our records in their own
big family Bible. All the births and deaths of the children in my
father's family was in their Bible. After Peace, father got a big Bible
for our family, and--wait, I'll show you.... Here they are, all copied
down just like out of old master's Bible.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124