Janie Gallman
From:
South Carolina
Project 1886 -1-
District #4
Spartanburg, S.C.
From Field Notes
Folk-Lore
May 26, 1937
FOLKLORE: EX-SLAVES:
Journeying on Cudd Street this morning and stopping at the "Old Ladies'
Home" (an institution for negroes), the writer found two ex-slaves
sitting on the porch passing the time of day with those who passed the
house. They both spoke very respectfully and asked me to come in.
One was seated and she asked me to have a seat by her. Her name was
Janie Gallman and she said she was 84 years of age. Upon my telling her
my name she stated she knew my father and grandfather and had worked for
them in days gone by. "If your father or Mr. Floyd was living I wouldn't
want for a thing".
She was born in slavery on the plantation of Bill Keenan in Union
County. The place was situated between Pacolet River and Fairforest
Creek and near where Governor Gist had a plantation. Her mother and
father were both owned by Bill Keenan and he was a good master. She
never saw any of the slaves get a whipping and never saw any slave in
chains. When she, her father, and mother were set free, she said, "My
master gave my father a barrel of meal, a cow and a calf and a wagon of
corn when he sot him free. He gave every one of his slaves the same. He
had a big plantation, but I don't know how many acres of land there was,
but it was a big place."
She was married three times and her mother had 12 children, but she has
never had any.
Her young life was spent in playing with the children of the white
overseer. They used to jump rope most of the time. Whenever the overseer
left home to spend the night anywhere, his wife would send for her to
spend the night with the family. The overseer was "poor white trash".
She had plenty to eat in slavery days. Her father and mother had their
own garden, and she did her share of eating the vegetables out of the
garden. She remembered seeing plenty of wild turkeys as a child, but as
for hogs and cattle, she did not remember them running wild. She had
heard of conjuring, but she did not know how it was done--never saw
anybody who had been conjured--yet she had seen ghosts two or three
times. One night she saw a light waving up against a piece of furniture,
then come towards her, then flicker about the room, but she wasn't able
to see anybody holding the light. She had heard of headless men walking
around, yet had never seen any.
A neighbor told her a woman ghost came to her house one night, just sat
on the front steps and said nothing, repeated her visits several nights
in succession, but said no word as she sat on the front step. One night
the neighbor's husband asked the ghost what did she want, why she sat on
the steps and said nothing. The ghost then spoke and told him to follow
her. He followed her and she led him to the basement of the house and
told him to dig in the corner. He did and pretty soon he unearthed a
jar of money. The woman ghost told him to take just a certain amount and
to give the rest to a certain person. The ghost told the man if he
didn't give the money to the person she named, she would come back and
tear him apart. He very obediently took the small amount of the money
and gave the balance where the ghost directed, and he never saw the
woman sitting on his steps any more.
Another time she heard footsteps approaching a certain house in the
yard, but she could never see anybody walking, though she could
distinctly hear the gravel crunching as the ghost walked along. "God is
the only one who can do any conjuring. I don't believe anybody else
can."
=Source:= Aunt Janie Gallman, 391 Cudd St, Spartanburg, S.C.
Interviewer: F.S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S.C.
Next:
Lucy Gallman
Previous:
Amos Gadsden
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