Betty Guwn was born a slave on March 25, 1832, on a large tobacco plantation near Canton, Kentucky. The plantation’s second-largest product was corn. Betty was the personal attendant of the mistress. The house was a large Colonial mansion, and though she had many responsibilities, when she was caught up on her household duties, she was sent immediately to work in the fields. Discipline was stern on the plantation, and Betty was lined up for punishment with others on several occasions.
Betty was married while quite young by a method customary among slaves. If the slaves to be married were from different plantations, the slaveholders of the two estates bargained, and one slaveholder sold his rights to the other, on whose plantation the couple would then live. Betty’s master bought her husband and set them up a log cabin, which was no more than a shack. Their cabin began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The ventilation was ample, she said, and her husband could shoot a prowling dog from any of the four sides of the one-room cabin without opening the door. Cats could come into the cabin anywhere through the cracks between the logs. The slaves had “meetin”’ some nights, and her mistress would call her and have her turn a tub against the mansion door to keep out the sound.
Her owner was very wealthy and also owned and managed a cotton farm of two thousand acres in Mississippi. Once a year he spent three months there picking and marketing his cotton. When he got ready to go to Mississippi, he called all his slaves around him and asked for volunteers to go with him. They had heard awful tales of the slave auction block at New Orleans, which was not far from the Mississippi plantation, but the owner would solemnly promise them that they would not be sold if they went down of their own accord. Betty continued her story:
My missus called me to her and privately told me that when I was asked that question [about going to Mississippi] I should say to him, “I’ll go.” The master had to take a lot of money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to start, my missus took me into a private room and had me remove most of my clothing. She then opened a strongbox and took out a great roll of money in bills. These she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of dresses over this belt, and when she was through I wore a bustle of money clear around my belt. I made a funny figure, but no one noticed my odd shape because I was a slave, and no one expected a slave to know better. We always got through safely, and I went down with my missus every year. Of course, my husband stayed at home to see after the family, and he took them to the fields when they were too young to work under the taskmaster, or overseer. Three months was a long time to be separated.
When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among us slaves. We were watched sharply, especially for soldier timber for either army. My husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson [Donelson]. He said he would free himself, which he did, and when we were finally set free, all our family prepared to leave. The master begged us to stay and offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard [Burkhart?], Kentucky, to live. At that time I was about 34 years old.
My husband has been dead a long time, and I live with my children. If the good Lord spares me until next March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without crutches and eyeglasses, and I have never been sick until this year when a tooth gave me trouble, but I had it pulled.