The Negroes were considered by the forefathers the most docile of all races of savages. Whether this was correct or not, those of DeKalb County were not hard to control. Now and then one heard of "runaway" slaves, but they had no desire, it appears, to injure their masters.

The old type of darky has almost become extinct. It seems but justice to refer at some length to a number who became well known locally from one cause or another. There were a few who had the instincts of a gentleman, some whose individuality made them favorites with the whites, and many with striking traits that created more or less notice. Not only did the negroes prove the most amiable of savage races, but the writer dares say that he recalls no instances among the whites of anything finer than the humble dignity of Wolsey Givan, the gentle urbanity of Wells Allen, the Chesterfieldian politeness of Dave Sellars, the serene patience of Mary Fuston, or the tireless devotion of Violet Overall to the little babe left to her care by the death of Mrs. Horace L. Hale.

Slaves were numerous in the county. Scores of citizens owned from two to a dozen, while a few held a much larger number. The original stock in most instances was brought from the older States by the pioneers. There was not very much trafficking in this species of property in DeKalb County. Of the slave owners adjacent to Liberty, these are recalled with little effort: James Allen, John Stark, W. G. Bratten, Reuben Evans, Francis Turner, Isaac Turney, Abraham Overall, Ezekiel Bass, Edward Robinson, Henry Frazier, Dr. G. C. Flowers, Daniel Smith, Nicholas Smith, Horace Overall, W. B. Stokes, James Tubb, Isaac Turney, Thomas Stokes, John Bethel, Eli Vick, James Fuston, Joseph Clarke, William Vick, William Sellars, Jasper Ruyle, William Avant, Sampson Williams, Thomas Givan, Peter and Jacob Adams, Leonard Lamberson, the Brazwells, Hayses, Groomses, Roys, and Bates.

The Foutches, Sneeds, Wrights, Lawrences, Goodners, Rutlands, Grandstaffs, Turners, Floyds, Prestons, Davises, and others possessed "human chattels" at Alexandria; while well-known slaveholders around Smithville were W. H. Magness, Giles Driver, Nicholas Chambers, Thomas Bradford, and Bernard Richardson.

Free Negroes were few in number. Lige Whitely, of Smithville, was one of a family of free men of color. He was a vendor of ginger cakes, holding forth at the courthouse well on days of occasion. From the letter of a correspondent out of the State this is quoted:

Often, thinking of Liberty, I see everything as plainly as sixty-five years ago, even Nat and Banks Evans, 'Lizabeth Flowers, Jim Bethel, Luke Turney, Wells Allen, Gib Clarke, Nye Givans, Wolsey Givan, Cato Bate, Strawd Overall, Jeff Overall (the old colonel's fiddler), Albert Smith (who assumed the name of Porter), Allen Fuston, Virg and Rans Robinson, Sut Bass, Pomp and Tom Ruyle, Burrell Stokes, Caleb Tubb, and Ike Lamberson. By the way, Ike passed as an infidel, the only one I ever saw among the colored folks. Any Negro there who could claim descent from Wolsey Givan considered it a great honor. Strawd and Jeff Overall were noted characters.

Is the Negro's religion mere emotion, signifying nothing? The writer testifies to a permanent change in the conduct of "Aunt" Violet, who was cook in his father's home for twenty-five years. Though she and her mistress grew up together, for a few years Aunt Vil would have "tantrums" two or three times a week, swearing like the army in Flanders and otherwise working off her temper. One day news came that her son Bill had been stabbed to death by Doc Allen, another Negro. She made no hysterical outcry, but fell writhing on the floor in mental torture. Some months later she was converted, and from the day of her conversion to her death she was never guilty of profanity nor of giving way unrestrainedly to her temper.

And when her mistress was dying she came shuffling from the kitchen, and the two, who had known each other for fifty-nine years, embraced. There were three or four outlying Negroes prior to the war. The most noted were "Arrington," "Jim," and "Old Yaller." According to the scant information obtainable, it appears that sometime in the first half of the nineteenth century Henry Hart, who owned large tracts of land on Dry Creek, decided to sell his realty holdings and move from the country. Several thousand acres were purchased by Henry Frazier, then a young man, who, after the War between the States, was slain on Snow's Hill by Capt. W. L. Hathaway. Hart disposed of his Negroes in the South, including Tom, who was sold to a planter named Arrington. Tom ran away from his new master, returning to DeKalb County, and hid in caves and cane thickets for quite a while. He was fed by such Negroes as Ike Lamberson, Jeff Overall, the Allen slaves, and others. While not appearing vicious, he became a terror to the women and children, because, like the wild things, he prowled at night. It is possible that he did not hesitate to appropriate a lamb, fowl, or hog, or to raid a kitchen when moved by hunger. There were many large caves in the country and immense canebrakes, and it was not difficult to avoid detection by day. Arrington evaded capture four or five years, then disappeared. He may have sought new fields or died unattended in one of the caves that exist only in limestone sections.

The case of Jim is of interest from the fact that his trial for murder is given in the reports of the Supreme Court of Tennessee (4th and 5th Humphreys) and is the precedent for conviction in a capital offense on circumstantial evidence. Belonging to a farmer named Williams, he was tried for murder in 1843, was convicted, and appealed. The case was remanded and resulted in a second verdict of guilty in 1844. Appealing to the Supreme Court again, the case was affirmed. His lawyers were Sam Turney, Brien, and Haynes. Jim was hanged at Smithville, making a sensational statement on the gallows.

Isaac, the property of William Avant, was murdered in the kitchen of William Williams on Dry Creek on Saturday night, January 11, 1843. Proof showed that a slave named George (against whose owner executions were in the hands of an officer) and Jim (against whose owner an attachment had issued) were both in the neighborhood, concealing themselves in the woods, and were harbored by persons living near the place where Isaac was murdered. Isaac had been hired to catch George. The latter and Jim, both well-armed, heard of Isaac's purpose and made frequent threats against his life. One night while Isaac was sleeping on the floor with his head to the fire he was shot twice by someone outside and died in about an hour. Dr. Fuson examined the body, and William Avant found tracks fifteen or twenty steps from the kitchen, where Isaac was killed. The night had been cold. The tracks were visible only at a mud hole near the kitchen and at the spring branch. They seemed to have been made recently by someone running, and showed a deficiency in one of the soles. When Jim was caught in a cave by Francis L. Boyd, it was found that a piece was wanting in the sole of the right shoe. The measure of the track with Jim's shoes corresponded with the width, but was about half an inch shorter than the shoes. David Coger, a witness in the case, testified from tests that tracks made while one was running would be half an inch to an inch and a half shorter than the shoe that made it, and the tracks would be shortest in soft ground. One of the Negro women swore that Jim had admitted the deed, while others gave damaging testimony.

Some young physicians secured Jim's body and, to avoid detection, conveyed it from hiding place to hiding place, finally cutting it up, tradition says, and throwing the pieces and bones in Smith Fork Creek just below the Gin Bluff cave. The violation of graves was made a felony by the act of 1831, which explains the doctors' fears.

"Old Yaller" was Jim Stokes, a slave owned by General Stokes. From some cause he was always absconding, hiding in the neighboring hills. One morning he discovered from his hiding place that Col. James Tubb's residence was on fire and succeeded in putting out the flames before much damage was done.

In gratitude Colonel Tubb purchased him from Stokes, a delight to "Yaller Jim," since his wife was one of Colonel Tubb's slaves. Jim was the father of ten or twelve children by this woman.

This is of pathetic interest: Caleb was Colonel Tubb's body servant, a very large black man possessed of much humor, who had a deep affection for every member of his master's family. He had superintended the digging of graves for all the burials that had taken place, and the Colonel had enjoined upon the survivors of the family the duty of burying Caleb next to himself at the head of the family section.

After the war freed him, and after Colonel Tubb's death, Caleb remained faithful, caring for Miss Addie Tubb, the youngest girl, and Mrs. Caroline Fite, a widow. When they died he went to Dowelltown, but suddenly left there and went to parts unknown. Years passed, when one day an old colored man asked the stage driver from McMinnville to Smithville for a ride. He was wanting to get back home to die and be buried beside his master and "the chilluns," as he pathetically explained. Though he was black and his language broken, in his old heart was a yearning as loyal as that expressed by Jacob: "Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." Before the stage reached Smithville the Negro's life had gone out. James Tubb, Jr., was notified, and he carried out the promise exacted by his father as to the burial of old black Caleb.

According to the report of the Adjutant General of Tennessee in 1866, Col. J. P. Brownlow, the enlistment of Negro troops in the Union army from this State numbered 17,770. A number may have been from DeKalb County, though the writer has heard of but one, Banks, belonging to Reuben Evans.

Some of the early laws relative to Negroes were these: They were not permitted to practice medicine. When found off their master's premises without a pass, they were arrested by patrols. Before 1831, for certain offenses slaves (also free Negroes) could be nailed to the pillory by the ears and have their ears cut off. By the act of 1831 free negroes were not allowed to remove to this from any other State and remain more than twenty days; while by that of 1833 no stage driver or boat captain was allowed to carry free negroes from one place to another without a certificate from the county court clerk; but if the black were a slave, verbal or written authority from the owner was sufficient. Free Negroes were allowed to vote until 1834, when they were disfranchised by the new State constitution. A bill was introduced in the legislature of Tennessee in 1859-60 providing that all free Negroes except certain minors should be sold into slavery if they remained in the State after May 1, 1861. It failed to become a law.

DeKalb County | Tennessee