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The following is from the database "Slave Narratives" accessed through Ancestry.com
The narratives were made in the 1930's from interviews with former slaves.
The following excerpts were selected as MULLINS / MULLENS descriptions in Texas.
State: Texas Interviewee:
Wilkins, Alice
Merchandise Store". Dey cum
to de town of Waco an' follow old Dr. Burlerson, who has started
Baylor University, at Independence,
Colonel Speight an' Shapley Ross, de father of Pete Ross, who
was a cousin of Governor Bill
Ross. All dese folks lived in de same town in Missippi. Dey cum
together in de covered wagons
drivin de oxen to dem. Some of de other famblies dat lived in de
Brazos bottom but did not cum
from Missippi as I knows of, was Tom Mullins,
Billingsley an' de ole
man Mose Warner who had a plantation
dat was called de "Warner plantation," an' still is to dis day.
Den dey was Dr. Bedwell an'
de Shaklefords dat bought my mammy. Dese folks descendents married
an' had famblies of dey own,
Dr. Dunklin had a daughter dat married Gen. Harrison's grandson,
Allison Harrison, who was a
son of Captain John H. Harrison, dis Dr. Dunklin was a young man wen
de Civil War started an' he
was goin to old Baylor at Independence until hit moved to Waco den he
goes to Baylor at Waco, he was
not twenty-one den, an' wen de war begins he jines a company wid a
lot of other Waco an' Central
Texas boys, I does not remember who all was in dis company except
de names of Mullins,
Billingsley, and Downs, besides Young Dunklin, Captain John Harrison was
in
de war but I does not know if
he was in dis company or not, hit was organized at Waco an' dey
marched as far as Dr. Dunklin's
home on de Brazos bottom jes back of de Harrison place.
State: Texas Interviewee: Glasker,
George
"My mammy and pappy cum from
Alabama wid de Mullins fambly befo' de Civil
War. I forgot de
name of de oldest Mullins,
but he had three boys, dey was Ben, Porter
an' Issac. Porter Mullins
had
a son named Tom
dat I belonged to, dis Tom Mullins went to
de Civil War wid de company dat was
organized in Waco wid a young
man by de name of Ryan for dey Captain.
"Dis was Massa Tom Mullins, w'en he was a young man.
"I started to tell yer 'bout
de boys goin' to de war, Massa Tom Mullins was
in Hood Texas Brigade
wid de company dat I tole yer
'bout from Waco, de captain's name was Ryan. I has heard him talk
'bout de battle of Bunker Hill
an' Gettysburg so I think dat he was in dem bof'. I know dat he was
wounded in de shoulder an' hit
give him trouble all his life.
"After he cum home from de war
he married a Miss Lizzie Strange, dey had several chillun's but jes
one is still livin' Charley
Mullins of Reisel. After Mistis Lizzie Strange died he married Mistis
Sallie
Jackson, who was a Mistis W.
A. Frazell an' was livin' in de Brazos bottom at de time she married
Massa Tom
Mullins on de ole Frazell had several chillun w'en she married Massa
Tom, dey was
Mistis L. M. Turner, Reisel,
Mrs. Irene Gillespie Reisel, R. S. Frazelle an' W. A. Frazelle, Mart.
"De ole man Frazelle, who was
de father of dese chillun was a cavalry man in de Civil War, wid de
First Texas, an' was wounded
in battle, but he lived to cum home, I does not 'member whar he was in
dese battles but hit was somewhar
back in de old States, for I kin 'member him gittin a fourlough an'
cumin' home on horseback, an'
how he had to dodge de bushwhackers an' how he had to sleep at
night in de nigger cabins to
keep from bein' captured by de Yankees.
"Den dey was de days w'en Massa
Tom Mullins, Captain John H. Harrison, Dr.
W. W. Dunklin, Ab
Bedwell, Shell Hogan, an' de
two Ross Boys, Pete an' Bob Ross, brothers of Gov. Sul Ross, an'
Shapley Ross, an' I think one
of de Billingsley boys, would meet at old Proctor
Springs in Waco, whar dey would
have a reunion an' as dey would live de days of de war over again
in stories, dey would take a
sociable drink an' de one dat could 'member de most stories of de war
was de one who won de drinks
on de other fellows, dey forget all de hard times an' 'members jes de
good times.
"But I kin 'member two who went
to de war an' did'nt cum back an' dey was Lott an' Oliver Strange,
dey was both killed, but dey
left dey chillun to take up dey lives for dem. Lott was de father of Mistis
Lizzie Strange dat Massa Tom
first married, den dey was Mistis Carrie who married Massa Shelton,
an' Mistis Rachel an' de one
who married Massa John Punchard, (Mistis Mary). Dese three
daughters is still livin' in
de town of Mart, Texas, an' dey had two brothers named will an' Robert
Strange, de last one is dead,
but Massa Will is still livin' at Mart too.
"I has told yer 'bout de life
on de plantation befo' de Civil War, de way de slaves an' de w'ite folks
dat
we call de quality lived, an'
den 'bout dem goin' to de war, an' 'bout de ones dat cum back an' de ones
who did'nt, how dey has gone
on wid dey lives an' how dey folks dat dey leave to follow de trail dat
de pioneers made for dem, has
kept on de way de trail leads dem. As de ones who made dis trail has
left dey names in de pages of
de history of de days of de trail blazin' we jes hope de ones of dese
famblies will follow in de trail
dey fore-fathers made.
"I often look upward an' wonder,
if de green fiel's will seem half so fair, if any de wrong has taken,
An' fail to "be in" over there.
"My mammy and pappy cum from
Alabama wid de Mullins fambly befo' de Civil
War. I forgot de
name of de oldest Mullins,
but he had three boys, dey was Ben, Porter
an' Issac. Porter Mullins
had
a son named Tom
dat I belonged to, dis Tom Mullins went to
de Civil War wid de company dat was
organized in Waco wid a young
man by de name of Ryan for dey Captain.
"I 'members dey was de young
men from de community near de Tehuacana creek, in de Brazos
bottom whar we all lived, some
of dey names dat was in dis company, was W. W. Dunklin, de son of
de ole man Dunklin who had a
plantation jes back of de Harrison place, Tom Mullins
an' a young
man by de name of Downs from
Waco an' young Billingsley, from de Billingsley plantation farther
down de river near Marlin.
"As yer go on down de Brazos
an' de Tehucanan Creek yer will find dat de Mullins
an' de Billingsley
families cum next, de Mullins
fambly dat I belonged to was connected wid de Morgan fambly dat
was massacred by de Indians
in what dey called de Marlin-Morgan Massacre. If yer 'member about
dis, dey was a little girl named
Stacy Ann Morgan de Indians left for dead, but she rolled under de
floor of de cabin w'en dey was
killin' de famblies, an' jes she an' her little brother dat hid in de brush
out by de lot fence an' de one
dat run to de nearest settlement to give de alarm, was all dat escaped.
"Well dis little girl lived
to raise a fambly of her own an' she had a daughter named Nancy who
married Issac
Mullins, an' dey had a son dey named Porter
Mullins who lives at Reisel Texas to dis
day. Dis Porter
Mullins has de pipe dat his gran-mammy, Stacy Ann Morgan, smoked
as she would
sit in de corner by de fireplace
an' tell de chillun an' de gran-chillun about dem days w'en de Indians
would make dey raids, so dese
stories is 'bout all de ones dat I kin 'member 'bout de things dat was
handed down to us little nigger
chillun's.
"But befo' I tell yer de stories
of de Indians I will tell yer a little more 'bout de folks an' how dey
lived dat I knew w'en I was
growin' up. One of dese things dat I 'members was 'bout how dey had
desperadoes in Texas, de one
dat I 'members de best was 'bout how de desperado by de name of Bill
Longley killed Thaddow Rice,
who was de father of Missus Porter Mullins
of Reisel. De Rice's had a
dance at dey house an' dis desperado
named Longley got into a quarrel wid one of de boys at de
dance an' de man who was givin'
de dance, Mr. Rice tried to make him be quiet an' dis Longley pulled
out his gun an' shot him, den
dey wounded dis Longley but he made his escape an' dey finally caught
him at Giddings Texas, tried
him an' hung him. Dey is a story 'bout how dat w'en dey went to hang
him, de crowd had wimmen an'
men bof' from all over de country an' dey crowded up to see him
hung, an' he called out, "Stan'
back gentlemen an' let de ladies see de show".
"I kin 'member de story of how
de w'ite folks from Waco an' de town of Marlin cum to de Brazos
bottom to hunt, an' my Massa
Tom Mullins would go wid dem, dey was Unc'
Alec dat had charge of
de stables, some times w'en
he would drive up de cows from de pasture he would carry his old gun
an' shoot some rabbits. One
time dey was some of de hunters cum down from Waco an' Massa Tom
went huntin' wid dem, Ole Alec
say "Massa Tom, dont you shoot any of dem
rabbits down in de
bottom, de birds is gittin'
so dey fly fas' for me, but I takes my gun an' sometimes I kill a rabbit
w'en
I go after cows".
State: Texas Interviewee: Compton,
Jake
"When we kum to Waco dar was
a good many more families, Major Downs lived on South Third
Street, Dr.
Dick Mullins an' Dr. Parks I 'members also. De first Bank was run
by Mister Fort an
Jackson an' was on Third an'
Austin Avenue, later a second bank was out up by Mr. Flint an'
Chamberline, across de street
from Mr. Fort's an' Jackson's bank.
"De nex thing of special interest
to me dat I 'members was de Yankee soldiers campin' near our
home when we lived in...
"I especially 'members de blue
uniforms an' de brass buttons, an' how we chillun went to de camp
after dey left an' found some
flap jacks, apples an nuts an' how we ate dem up an' how good dey was.
After dat we watched for de
Yankee soldiers when dey camped near where we lived an' we'd always
go an' hunt fur sumpin dey lef'.
"We raised corn, oats, hogs,
cattle, sheep, an' goats, an' all de vegetables dat we wanted. With cows
an' plenty of milk an' butter
we had plenty to eat. We did not raise cotton at first, not until after
Freedom, an' when de wimmen
bought de calico hit was fifty an sixty cents a yard. Dey made de
cloth on de spinnin' wheel an
de loom.
"When I was jes a boy I used
to help to cut de oats with a cradle an' tie dem with my hands. After
Freedom an' we went back to
Waco I went to school where Central Texas College for Negroes was,
on North Sixth Street. We had
three teachers, Professor Wright, who was a white man, an' de other
two negroes, a professor Jones
an' his wife. After I was grown an' thro' school I worked on de farms
of Mr. Overton Davis an' Mr.
Harrison at Abbott.
"When Waco first commenced to
have new settlers the Old Suspension bridge was oneof de first
things dat was built. Bridge
Street was jes commencing to be built up. De farmerscome to town
drivin' oxen to dere wagons
a few had buggies an' a few had horses, but dey mostly had oxen an' mules.
"De first gin dat I 'members
was over in East Waco, an' hit was built by a man named Bannister, the
farmers fur miles kim to dis
gin. De first church dat was built fer de niggers was down on First Street,
where de oil mill now stands.
It was called St. James.
"De fust court dat I 'members
was called a Bureau, dey had a Judge an he was hit all, Jedge an' jury
too, he passed sentence on all
de law-breakers. Dey held it first one place an' den anudder, finally
dey built a Courthouse what
de City Hall now stan's, hit was a two-story brick building. Dey later
moved hit to where Crow Brothers
Laundry was later. Dey used to have day an' night watchman fur
de Courthouse an' de jail. De
mos' of de cases was for cattle an' horse stealin'.
State: South Carolina Interviewee:
Sparrow, Jessie
"I dunno, child, I don' 'member
nuthin more den I tell yuh de udder time. Is yuh been to see Maggie
Black yet? I dunno how old she,
but I know she been here. No, child, Maggie ain' dead. She lib right
down dere next Bethel Church.
She move 'way from Miss Mullins house when
Gus die. Coase I ain'
ne'er been in she house a'ter
she move dere, but dey say she hab uh mighty restful place dere. Dat
wha' dey tell me. Maggie oughta
could tell yuh aw 'bout dem times. I ain' know nuthin more to tell
yuh. Don' tell yuh aw I know."
"Honey, what can you tell me
bout dat white man dat been shoot up bout Mullins
de other day. I
hear people talk bout a man
been shot by another man, but I ain' know nothin more den dat, Ain'
hear none of de details only
as dey tell me dey catch de man dat got away next Dillon tryin to get
back home. I tell you it a bad
place up dere in Mullins durin dis tobacco
time. Dey tell me dere be
such a stir up dat people be
rob en shoot all bout dere. Dat de reason I stay back here whe' ain'
nobody to worry me. Some of
dem be seekin for you when you sleep en den another time dey get
you when you gwine long de road.
I don' like so much fuss en rousin en mix up round me. Dat de
reason I does stay here by myself."
