Document text
FOTZLOR:
11;1'3 V-.M:'COIANt
MeLennan County, Texns,
District 9.
NO or Words175°
rile :TO. 240.
&age a0, 1.
Interview with Sarah Ann Ross Pringle, (White ioneerl Aarlin, Texas.
"I wus born ten 1117A9 east of Aeridian Aissippi on the 25th, dy of Sep-
-tember 1845. The first that I reAember about my ohildhood was my
mother and Ay old black 3!Irlmy. She it was who helped to raise the large
foliily If children on the old plantationtnoar the Tom Bighee -river which
was the treding/point for -11 the -mutation near they call e4 the landing
0
Tomkins Sluff.
"Althd it is ::eveuty three years *In.,e the war betwee;1 the states ended,
l'on clearly remember when y brether went with the first volunteers.
We all went to the trains to e, then off. The first call was for all the
sinRle don ,the tvcond took the married men and the third took the old
ten nr:d the yoAig boys. he boys carried sinitrel rifles and wore home-
-spun aits. 4y father went the lnet year. I had an uncle who also 'went
nnd w wounded while on picket duty, hA to be let (m the battlefield
but was oaptured by the Jnion soldiers and we never heard of him apnin.
I also hDd a cousin who was eratured by the Yankees, spent eighteen months
in a '4orthern prison, but was finally released, and sa710 p rt f the way
home ridi(ig a mule. 1Pen he reached homRhiu mother did not recognize him
at firptos they believed him killed, but when it was known that he had
returned,the co,umanity held aecobration over him return vA great was
the rejoicing.
I
e shared the col) on lot,with the rest of the south for the want of
FOLKLORR:
MI3NvYtt'COUN,
getennan County, Texas,
District B.
NO Of Werd0175°
Nile NO. S40.
2ege mO. 1.
REPIMINON.
Interview with Sarah Ann Ross Pringle, (White 2ioneerI Marlin, Texas.
"I was born ten miles east of Miriam* 4tisippi on the Seth, ily of Sep-
-Umber 1845, The first that 1 remember about my ohildhood was my
mother and my old bleak mammy. 3he it was who helped to raise the large
family of children on thelold plantationpnear the Tom Bisbee river which
wap the trading' point for rll the plantation near they oalle4 the landing
Tomkins Bluff.
"Altbd it is seventy three years *Imo* Abe war between the states ended,
I oan clearly remember when my biOther went with the first volunteers.
tve all went to the trains to gee them off. The first oall as for all the
single men ,the second took the married men and the third took the old
men and the young boys. be boys (tarried again'sl rifles and wore home-
-spun emits. 14 father went the last year, I had an uncle who also'went
and was wounded while on picket duty, bad to be left on the battlefield
but was captured by the Union soldiers and we never beard of him again.
also bad a cousin who was captured by the Yankees, spent eighteen months
in a "orthern prison, but was finally released, and same part of the way
home riding a mule. Ikon be reached bomehis mother did not recognise him_
at firpotAas they believed him killed, but when it was known that be bad
returnedpthe oommunity held a ddhatbration over his return and great was
the rejoicing.
I
shared the gammon•let,mith the rest of the soon for tOo slant of
FOLKLORE:
Kiss ffie want_
MeLennan county, Texas.
District 8.
.111.11111
the
neoessities of life.
Pile O. 240.
kage 1). 2.
The slaves remianed faithful but in the
lack of the most comlon things like salt, coffee, etchere was the
danger of a riki'd by the tnakees.. We hrd a neighbor a/Ars newton, nrho hpd
gone over to colomb iss. on a visit to her husband who wrs utationed
there, and whil- she was away the Ya%ke4 soldiers one tho' Pnd burned
her gin t^ek hnr oowe, bogs and chickens and two of the slaves with
the nrovisions thet she hAk There was Ilthinr, the sloves,coalti do about
It, Auch as they too woild feel the iris they ware forood to stand by nnd
sec the feather beds ripAid 1- n in the soldiers search for money nnd
the provietons taken.
The enfederate gavernient farnishe
other women who hA no one to help make
ruine our flour iills Nhen they burned
to grind our corn with then we hrd to
Indione did.Re had no coffee durliT the
provisions for war widows and
their crops.The Yankee soldiers
our gins and we-hed n,:)thing left
use stones to crush it like the
blockade of the 6owthern ports
so e /earned to rarch potato petlinge okra and ocrn and use them for
substitutes. le sorawt the salt from the'flor)r of the old smoke houses
that were used in the days before the war when all these V'tnrs lore so
plentiful. e sifted this salt Ind ran it thro' home mrde c:se hoppers,
and this seperated the salt from the dirt.
My husband was at school at ..,arion (the was before wo marrie
and his professor organized a company of volante re on the campus, sixty
members of the class signed up to go. This was the 13th, Uissippi Regiment
Company S. Barksdale Brigade. He was wound., five times during thh, war.
POLKIJORE:
ass ffie Cowan.P.4.
aotennan County, Texas,
District 8.
411e NO. 240.
kvge O. 3.
"My husband was wounded and captured at the battle of Nashville serving
eighteeh months in a/Vorthern prison but recovered 'rid was finally sent
home.
"4e starte6 for Texas in the year 1865yright after the war WV8 over,
we twe(!ty years old, We came in covered wagons driving oxen. There
had ben a drouth its some parts of the country we travelled over and
when ,7e reached water -holes we were overjoyed.Wt did not stop to see
if they were sanitary, there tiey we -Al to quench our thirst and the
stock 'Ind so we would camp by these eateholea springs or rivers and
mand and b'aut '.A)tild drink
"If you can picture the beautiful wild flo,lers of texas in the spring
the blue bwinet. the Indian blanket with its coat of red, the yellow
rose of Ieyas,the golden rod,,Ath its yellow plumes waving in the air,
the rlrple t;list es, flci the wild daisies, the scent of the pine tre s
of tilw:t texas and the beautiful magnolia trees which grow so tall in
the 1ey oode of Te as, you on imagine our parties raptare at this
new country tr wd.ch we had ca,me.
nieter many weeks of travel -7e came t adisonvIlle Texas, where I stayed
with my Aunt .,nd Uncle14r ad Ars garland Ross wha, were descendents of
'Betsy .088 mPker of the first American flag). I had toy brothers who
had already come to Iekas end settled at 40880, they were Albert and
iirnotley Ross In 1870 they sent for me and T went over t; Kosse to keep
trase for them.
FOL71.0R:
Miss ffie Clowan.P.,
McLennan Iteanty, Texas,
District 8.
zile NO. 240
l'age #0. 4.
4hen we came to Texas folloeing the close of the war, the. state
was ghihl,hro' the reconstruction period. The,state wee anderetilitary
rale hnd lease wee 4overn,r. Congress passed a law that every white
man in the South mast take an oath whether he had held any st!te or
Federal office before the war and if lhter he bed aided the cease of
the Confedernay. Those who had done these things were disqualified as
votes i the election s. This naturelly barred Jost or the leading white
citizoqs ef the state. This give the negro the right to vote hnd hold.
office.5o e you k,ohif the effect was t- lo e the gove het in 1.ho bend
of whht e a:lled the "oarotAbhggers ilite len from the '!orth and the
fre d logroes.
I am tellinh yea jut what I remember, wheh we had to go to town during
thlh t' e we ever vent without some of our Aen with ad, the negroes were
htrtiened et all the cross rovds rici bridges ehen there wah eny thing
of lAhortence thkine place. If trey s oke or 2414 iheultinh things to
as we hert our way and ighored them bat dnred ot let oar men whip them.
Finally it got so va he 3.J.Davis war goVorner that the tn-Klux-Klen
whe orrh ised.It Was told by the carpet bhggers that it wah to ihtilidrti
the no roes ad teke nwtly their vett p privilige.
"Bliti can toll you this that it certiahly' hid 'her to mnko it sEfer for
the white women. Then a gro lvd been iesalting they soon learned that
he 11VP to give an account to the AillanJt is also tree that they hhd
meetihgs in secret mostly in a claded places, ad they discussed the
things that here anjast a d tht the Pin onlyeoul right by their
ne=0AB:
ti'Tall„ 26I.
1,0Y,.ennan County, Texas,
District S.
file O. 240
Page NO. 5.
acts of rightleg these wrongs. I never knee of the Man doing anjaet
things until long efter tee reconetraction times, Then anerinoipled
peplo hid behind the name of the Kian. do -leree that .the way was
mede mach better for ae eft.r the is-lan began to ()Herat.. It is a Jell
keoen A ttee of historical record that the rule of Goveroer 1.J.Davis
was anjaet and be beeame verz7 an opalar.
Li the ceep,ign of 1872 hen Richard coke of /act) ran against
vis ,es h d some real e citing times.
I reeember 'Then my brothers.
wet to arlin to'vote. The Alto men from ell over the voting box :Inra
inutructei to cnle -nted and to voteAif neceesarytat the peint of the
gun's. The 'Judge of the election was a white an ee oalle the loereteb
-,-bagger Judge, he had be 1.eotiono.ring to the iegroes all ue
down the brasoe bottom an they came in droves on eileotir.al day
The hte men also OPM0 n droves Pod if y of them oeme unarmed they
were farniehed somthIne to oot .11.th end ere told if they -ere refass
the privilige If voting)ta commence ehating. Some man deol.ded to try
shooting to scare the negroes off and so he started sl]oting, I think,
on the ieeart fteuee lawn. be the negroes heard t,:eio they iled let°
L
their .eugons eed bugg43s a d left town. lbee the -011te men 'went abed
ved h d their vote. rEelember that ee eere so anens,e aheat my broters
whee teey did no return that night woe efrvid there h d been some
tr,ble, bat ehee dey beeele oteae they returned and eeie they bed to etay
to oe ,brF;te the victory at the polls.
"Ice remEnber -Jell how the ii ones was ov r *Davie giving coke thy
?OLETJORE9
lass 1ffie Cowan,P.i.
licLennin mounty, Texas,
District 8.
Pile O. 240.
-cage JO. 6.
trouble of contesting the result of the election a d refusing to give
up the governors chair. How he brought soldiers to the capitol and teln-
-gra,bed Grant for aid, how 4rant refused to hriv(3 anything toll() ,-Ith it,
and how coke also bad his friends to go armed or rather from every donnty.
and comlunity in To as it as snid that there were commites of friends
who ,1 nt prepared to right for Coke to take the office. or two days
we we -e held in suspense for fear of some serious trouble whentaVis
when be saw the determination book of these friends rf -okes and gave
up hoe of aid from the !President reluctantly gave up -the fight.
"I romemoer nn alusing anecdote about Gov Lokes eampnign, Once when
he as mnking a soeech I heard hill tell this story. He oomoared the days
of reconstruction and the war heteet t e states_ to a fight between two
1r,
goats, o e wto a big at d the other a little one. "he big goat kept
eating tho little One up until 111 a ws othi g left bat the litle,goatS
tail, hut the little goats tril ,Wt kept rlght on -lagging. o it was
with the esouth it kept right on filfhting as long as there '1/a: nything
to fight with and nom in the dLys of rec nstruction pose sod, they
we ,id still fight on for their right*:
"2rom the time Governor "ichard kite took the office of Governor, and
the rangers were do;ng their part under Cept-iL Ross, things began to
change ,nd gradually times became normal. Ihe negro s'71.diers and guards
were done away with, and once Aore iNben the white men who had fought for
their stnte rights,as they sn it,:ere given bock their citizenship peens
decended upon us.
POLTLORits
Miss ffie
MeLennen .ountylo Texas,
District 8.
tle 30, 240.
Page 1100.
m4b012
we came to sexes tt:eve were lnrge rriches as well as ,lantnti ns
Tbe timbered country er-)un andisonvillemes fine for the proteetn
;took in the .linter t“1 t1 -re verre mr,ny big. ranches. To the rnHoh
life woe 1, -re fn-?IrwtiT; tvr. the lwtatio life.
'ben the sLrinm n)11 .-odoo'o were on the mc42 wo-Ild often be -7
fre..1 home helpi e to ronna-nr the enttle, Ihen 4. hnd our fourth of July
celebrations the best riders WoaId give exhibitions o their skillia in
riding the wAd bore.. .and backing bremeho's There were cattle thieve'
liter on, bit lu,t4ose early days peoAe era rr- hoest before so many
came from ther s follow1m, the endi, of the wvr bet:Am ti:e state
"As 1 10k bek over. the „past and se he big rr1nc es n11 ter -d into. f
farms, i lonp or the days-une br when,
"I could see the eattlii'gresing, O'er the hills at enr1F dam,
I couli eee the eampfiree-, smoking, at the breekin or the lorn,
I ivn bear the bronehoes neighing, I can hear tbe cowboys sing,
I'd like te be in ozne,on they !anima...up in the -spring.
"I, was •mnrried in late for Mese i,xne to Uwe Pringle an old frien4
frnm th e.o tnte of OlsWel. He c t- Xeseo in 1865 4. "a moved
to in 1880 where we refired our frimily. Ur ringle rum postmaster
under .leveland edminietration. Re war also a seho-,1 teacher and in
batAnes at vnrioas time. I hove the folio -11w, livine children, J
who murried Jadp4 .atillow of /ort :orth. jaunts wh teFiches in the WIWI
eablio schools, l'arker ef Oklabom ‘ity, Kate 712o larried a minister by
the name of lhathison:
make my boas.
In Denver, and ars MO 40014.