Biography of a Slave

Charles Thompson, born in Atala County, Mississippi-Division of Kirkwood’s Slaves Among his Six Children-The Writer and his Two Sisters Fall to Mrs. Wilson-The Parting Between Mother and Child-Deprived of a Fond Mother Forever-Old Uncle Jack-Wilson Buys Uncle Ben from Strucker-Uncle Ben Runs Away and is Hunted with Blood-Hounds-Two Hundred Dollars Reward. I was a slave, and was born in Atala County, Mississippi, near the town of Rockford, on the third day of March, 1833. My father and mother both being slaves, of course my pedigree is not traceable, by me, farther back than my parents. Our family belonged to a man named Kirkwood, who was a large slave-owner. Kirkwood died when I was about nine years old, after which, upon the settlement of the affairs of his estate, the slaves belonging to the estate were divided equally, as to value, among the six heirs. There were about seventy-five slaves to be divided into six lots; and great was the tribulation among the poor blacks when they learned that they were to be separated.