Nettie Pompey was living at 2021 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, when she was interviewed about her mother, Mary Jane Hampton, as well as about her own experiences as a slave. At the time, Nettie was ill and confined to bed because her doctor wanted her to have complete rest. The fieldworker reported that Nettie was “very pleasant and was very glad to tell about the kind treatment she had received.” She was living on an old-age pension of $20 a month.
Mary Jane Hampton was born in New Orleans in 1820. She was a slave on the plantation of Noah Hampton. Hampton was kind to his slaves, never allowing any of them to be whipped or mistreated in any way. The slave children were treated as well as the white children in the big house.
As a child, Nettie was a favorite of the family, and she always wanted to sit near old Hampton. Although the white children objected, Hampton always told them to let her alone: “I can look after her just the same as I can you.” After Hampton died, his wife, until her death, kept Nettie.
One day after freedom, Hampton’s son, whom they had not seen for a long time, unexpectedly rode up to their cottage. With him he brought a book containing the birth dates of every one of the slave children. He gave it to the mother and told her to always keep it, as he wanted all of them to remember their ages.