Pioneer Colored Christians. Harriet Parks Miller
and handed them to me. I kept them closely guarded, till my oldest daughter, Mary Waters, was going to move to the State of Ohio to live, and not knowing what might happen to her there, she asked me for them, and I willingly gave them to her. I always regretted that I did not keep a copy, for it would be a curiosity to the present generation.”
As she quietly sat, and told me all this, her grand daughter, Eleanora Carr Johnson, was an attentive listener, never having before heard such details of antebellum history. The afternoon seemed too short; so pleasant was the interview that I regretted not having gone oftener, to see her. She referred incidentally to a little prayer book, “Morning and Night Watches,” by Rev. J. R. McDuff, D. D., from which I had often read to her, in days gone by, and expressed a desire to hear a certain chapter once more.
Feeling that she would enjoy hearing it, I had carried the little book along with me, and read to her as follows: “May it be mine to cheerfully follow the footsteps of the guiding Shepherd through the darkest, loneliest road, and amidst thickest sorrows may I have grace to say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’ ”
“Lord, increase my faith, let it rise above all trials, and difficulties. And if they arise, may they only drive me closer to Him who has promised to make me more than conqueror. I am a pilgrim, pitching my tent day, by day, nearer heaven, imbibing every day more of the pilgrim character, and longing more for the pilgrim’s rest.
“May I be enabled to say, with the chastened spirit of a passing world, ‘Here I have no continuing city.’
“May this assurance reconcile me to all things.
“Lord, hasten Thy coming, and Thy kingdom.
“Scatter the darkness that is hovering over heathen nations.
“Stand by Thy Missionary servants. Enable us all, to be living more from day to day, on Thy grace, to rely on Thy guiding arm with more childlike confidence, looking with a more simple faith to Thy finished work.
“Be the God of all near, and dear to me.
“May all my ties of blood, scattered far and wide over the earth, be able to claim a spiritual relationship with Thee, so that those earthly bonds of attachment, which sooner or later, must snap asunder here, be renewed, and perpetuated before the great white throne.”
As I read, she clasped her hands and looked reverently upward, as if her soul were drinking in the spirit of the great writer.
She followed me to the front gate, and thanked me for my visit.
It was the last time I ever saw her.
CHAPTER II.
“MARK THE PERFECT MAN, AND BEHOLD THE UPRIGHT, FOR THE END OF THAT MAN IS PEACE.”
Having given my opening chapter to an interview with Aunt Kitty, I will now tell of her husband, Rev. Horace Carr, who was born on the Aquilla Johnson farm, on Spring Creek, in District No. 1, Montgomery county, Tenn., 1812. By way of explanation, I will state that white children, in antebellum times, were taught by their parents, to call middle aged colored people Aunt, and Uncle; hence “Aunt Kitty,” and “Uncle Horace,” by the writer.
From early childhood, Uncle Horace was noted for his truth, and honesty.
In maturer years, strangers who met him on the highway, were impressed by his polite manners, and upright countenance.
The late Col. Jno. F. House, of Clarksville, once said of him, that he had the dignified bearing of African royalty.
He was married during the early 30’s, and was often heard to say, that God never sent him a greater blessing than Kitty Winston.
It will be remembered that the offspring of a free born parent, either mother, or father, was also free, and after several sons, and daughters were given to Aunt Kitty, and Uncle Horace, they desired to be in a home of their own; Mrs. Carr having become a widow, she was administratrix of a very nice little estate, and Uncle Horace was one of her most valuable slaves, and when it was talked around that he wished to hire himself from his mistress, very few believed that she would consent for him to leave the premises.
He first talked to influential citizens of his neighborhood, as to the possibility of securing a suitable location for his humble home, and Dr. P. F. Norfleet, of Port Royal, promised to use his influence in that direction.
So he sent to Mr. William Weatherford, owner of a fine farm on Red River, in sight of Port Royal, and laid the case before him.
In the meantime, Uncle Horace summoned up courage enough to propose hiring himself from Miss Nancy, as he called Mrs. Carr, for the sum of $200.00, to which she consented.
Mr. Weatherford kindly granted the homestead site, near a secluded place on his plantation, known as “Horse Shoe Bend.”
Cabin (Aunt Judy’s House) on the old Fort Plantation,
in which Rev. Horace Carr preached
his first sermon.
A small log house was soon erected, and the Carr family, with their scant belongings went to dwell therein.
And now the problem of making a living confronted them.
How was it to be done?
“We will work, and save, and trust in the Lord,” Uncle Horace would say.
And they did.
He made boards, bottomed chairs, did crude carpentering, and kept the ferry on Red River, at Port Royal, during the high water season, while his industrious little wife spun, wove, sold ginger cakes to the village groceries; now, and then, accompanying the stork on its grand mission of leaving rosebud baby girls, and boys in the homes of families, where she remained a week or two, with their mothers, in the capacity of a tender and experienced nurse.
There are many mature men and women in our midst today, who first opened their baby eyes under Aunt Kitty’s watch-care.
She and Uncle Horace were economical, and usually saved fifty, or seventy-five dollars, above his promised wages to Mrs. Carr.
On Christmas eve morning, of each year, after moving to their home near Horse Shoe Bend, he would wend his way quietly back to the old Carr homestead, with his well earned $200.00 for Miss Nancy, who always felt safe in making her Christmas purchases a week or two ahead of the holiday season, knowing he would be true to his promise. And she always had a present for his family, often a pig, with some corn to feed it.
People of that date, were practical, in their present making, at Christmas time. Uncle Horace professed religion when quite young, during a revival at Red River Church, under the ministry of Elder Reuben Ross, a distinguished pioneer Baptist who came from North Carolina, to Tennessee, over a century ago.
After his profession, he felt a great desire to preach, and as the years passed, the desire grew stronger, till he felt convinced that he was Divinely called. So about ten years before the Civil War, he was ordained to preach.
His ordination took place in Red River Church, the primitive building on the hillside, a mile or two north west of Adams, Revs. F. C. Plaster, and W. G. Adams, officiating.
There was a large congregation present, and the ceremony was said to have been a very impressive one.
Mr. Lawson Fort was present and took great interest in the proceedings, and followed Uncle Horace out on the church grounds and said to him:
“Horace, I am a Baptist preacher’s son, but I do not belong to any church, though I have great respect for religious people.
“I want to say to you, whenever you feel like preaching, or holding a prayer meeting, come to my house, and feel welcome, and I will see to it that you are not disturbed by patrolers.