Ms Fayman
From:
Maryland
Maryland
11/3/37
Rogers
MRS. M.S. FAYMAN.
Reference: Personal interview with Mrs. Fayman,
at her home, Cherry Heights near Baltimore, Md.
"I was born in St. Nazaire Parish in Louisiana, about 60 miles south of
Baton Rouge, in 1850. My father and mother were Creoles, both of them
were people of wealth and prestige in their day and considered very
influential. My father's name was Henri de Sales and mother's maiden
name, Marguerite Sanchez De Haryne. I had two brothers Henri and Jackson
named after General Jackson, both of whom died quite young, leaving me
the only living child. Both mother and father were born and reared in
Louisiana. We lived in a large and spacious house surrounded by flowers
and situated on a farm containing about 750 acres, on which we raised
pelicans for sale in the market at New Orleans.
"When I was about 5 years old I was sent to a private School in Baton
Rouge, conducted by French sisters, where I stayed until I was kidnapped
in 1860. At that time I did not know how to speak English; French was
the language spoken in my household and by the people in the parish.
"Baton Rouge, situated on the Mississippi, was a river port and stopping
place for all large river boats, especially between New Orleans and
large towns and cities north. We children were taken out by the sisters
after school and on Saturdays and holidays to walk. One of the places we
went was the wharf. One day in June and on a Saturday a large boat was
at the wharf going north on the Mississippi River. We children were
there. Somehow, I was separated from the other children. I was taken up
bodily by a white man, carried on the boat, put in a cabin and kept
there until we got to Louisville, Kentucky, where I was taken off.
"After I arrived in Louisville I was taken to a farm near Frankfort and
installed there virturally a slave until 1864, when I escaped through
the kindness of a delightful Episcopalian woman from Cincinnati, Ohio.
As I could not speak English, my chores were to act as a tutor and
companion for the children of Pierce Buckran Haynes, a well known slave
trader and plantation owner in Kentucky. Haynes wanted his children to
speak French and it was my duty to teach them. I was the private
companion of 3 girls and one small boy, each day I had to talk French
and write French for them. They became very proficient in French and I
in the rudiments of the English language.
"I slept in the children's quarters with the Haynes' children, ate and
played with them. I had all the privileges of the household accorded me
with the exception of one, I never was taken off nor permitted to leave
the plantation. While on the plantation I wore good clothes, similar to
those of the white children. Haynes was a merciless brutal tyrant with
his slaves, punishing them severly and cruelly both by the lash and in
the jail on the plantation.
"The name of the plantation where I was held as a slave was called
Beatrice Manor, after the wife of Haynes. It contained 8000 acres, of
which more than 6000 acres were under cultivation, and having about 350
colored slaves and 5 or 6 overseers all of whom were white. The
overseers were the overlords of the manor; as Haynes dealt extensively
in tobacco and trading in slaves, he was away from the plantation nearly
all the time. There was located on the top of the large tobacco
warehouse a large bell, which was rung at sun up, twelve o'clock and at
sundown, the year round. On the farm the slaves were assigned a task to
do each day and In the event it was not finished they were severely
whipped. While I never saw a slave whipped, I did see them afterwards,
they were very badly marked and striped by the overseers who did the
whipping.
"I have been back to the farm on several occasions, the first time in
1872 when I took my father there to show him the farm. At that time it
was owned by Colonel Hawkins, a Confederate Army officer.
"Let me describe the huts, these buildings were built of stone, each one
about 20 feet wide, 50 feet long, 9 feet high in the rear, about 12 feet
high In front, with a slanting roof of chestnut boards and with a
sliding door, two windows between each door back and front about 2x4
feet, at each end a door and window similar to those on the side. There
were ten such buildings, to each building there was another building
12x15 feet, this was where the cooking was done. At each end of each
building there was a fire place built and used for heating purposes. In
front of each building there were barrels filled with water supplied by
pipes from a large spring, situated about 300 yards on the side of a
hill which was very rocky, where the stones were quarried to build the
buildings on the farm. On the outside near each window and door there
were iron rings firmly attached to the walls, through which an iron rod
was inserted and locked each end every night, making it impossible for
those inside to escape.
"There was one building used as a jail, built of stone about 20x40 feet
with a hip roof about 25 feet high, 2-story. On the ground in each end
was a fire place; in one end a small room, which was used as office;
adjoining, there was another room where the whipping was done. To reach
the second story there was built on the outside, steps leading to a
door, through which the female prisoners were taken to the room. All of
the buildings had dirt floors.
"I do not know much about the Negroes on the plantation who were there
at that time. Slaves were brought and taken away always chained
together, men walking and women in ox carts. I had heard of several
escapes and many were captured. One of the overseers had a pack of 6 or
8 trained blood hounds which were used to trace escaping slaves.
"Before I close let me give you a sketch of my family tree. My
grandmother was a Haitian Negress, grandfather a Frenchman. My father
was a Creole.
"After returning home in 1864, I completed my high school education in
New Orleans in 1870, graduated from Fisk University 1874, taught French
there until 1883, married Prof. Payman, teacher of history and English.
Since then I have lived in Washington, New York, and Louisianna. For
further information, write me c/o Y.W.C.A. (col.), Baltimore, to be
forwarded".
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