Part 144 (1/2)

”The dwellings of the slaves were palmetto huts, built by themselves of stakes and poles, thatched with the palmetto leaf. The door, when they had any, was generally of the same materials, sometimes boards found on the beach. They had _no floors_, no separate apartments, except the guinea negroes had sometimes a small inclosure for their 'G.o.d house.' These huts the slaves built themselves after task and on Sundays.”

Rev. Joseph M. Sadd, Pastor Pres. Church, Castile, Greene Co., N.Y., who lived in Missouri five years previous to 1837.

”The slaves live _generally_ in _miserable huts_, which are _without floors_, and have a single apartment only, where both s.e.xes are herded promiscuously together.”

Mr. George W. Westgate, member of the Congregational Church in Quincy, Illinois, who has spent a number of years in slave states.

”On old plantations, the negro quarters are of frame and clapboards, seldom affording a comfortable shelter from wind or rain; their size varies from 8 by 10, to 10 by 12, feet, and six or eight feet high; sometimes there is a hole cut for a window, but I never saw a sash, or gla.s.s in any. In the new country, and in the woods, the quarters are generally built of logs, of similar dimensions.”

Mr. Cornelius Johnson, a member of a Christian Church in Farmington, Ohio. Mr. J. lived in Mississippi in 1837-8.

”Their houses were commonly built of logs, sometimes they were framed, often they had no floor, some of them have two apartments, commonly but one; each of those apartments contained a family. Sometimes these families consisted of a man and his wife and children, while in other instances persons of both s.e.xes, were thrown together without any regard to family relations.h.i.+p.”

The Western Medical Reformer, in an article on the Cachexia Africana by a Kentucky physician, thus speaks of the huts of the slaves.

”They are _crowded_ together in a _small hut_, and sometimes having an imperfect, and sometimes no floor, and seldom raised from the ground, ill ventilated, and surrounded with filth.”

Mr. William Leftwich, a native of Virginia, but has resided most of his life in Madison, Co. Alabama.

”The dwellings of the slaves are log huts, from 10 to 12 feet square, often without windows, doors, or floors, they have neither chairs, table, or bedstead.”

Reuben L. Macy of Hudson, N.Y. a member of the Religious Society of Friends. He lived in South Carolina in 1818-19.

”The houses for the field slaves were about 14 feet square, built in the coa.r.s.est manner, with one room, _without any chimney or flooring, with a hole in the roof to let the smoke out_.”

Mr. Lemuel Sapington of Lancaster, Pa. a native of Maryland, formerly a slaveholder.

”The descriptions generally given of negro quarters, are correct; the quarters are _without floors, and not sufficient to keep off the inclemency of the weather_; they are uncomfortable both in summer and winter.”

Rev. John Rankin, a native of Tennessee.

”When they return to their miserable huts at night, they find not there the means of comfortable rest; _but on the cold ground they must lie without covering, and s.h.i.+ver while they slumber.”_

Philemon Bliss, Esq. Elyria, Ohio, who lived in Florida, in 1835.

”The dwellings of the slaves are usually small _open_ log huts, with but one apartment, and very generally _without floors_.”

Mr. W.C. Gildersleeve, Wilkesbarre, Pa., a native of Georgia.

”Their huts were generally put up without a nail, frequently without floors, and with a single apartment.”

Hon. R.J. Turnbull, of South Carolina, a slaveholder.

”The slaves live in _clay cabins_.”