Since Preston Tate had died on January 20, 1928, the fieldworker got his narrative from a story published in the Portland Daily Sun. Tate was born on December 15, 1854, in a cabin on the “old Bill Tate plantation” in Grainger County, Tennessee. He and Tolbert Bragg (q.v.) were held by the same person. One of the events of slavery and Civil War days related by Preston was a battle near Mossy Creek, Tennessee. He and other children were playing when they discovered that they were surrounded by soldiers. Frightened by shots “and shells flying thick and fast,” they hid behind trees, crawled through thickets, and emerged from the battle unharmed.
Preston said that since not every boy in a family was fortunate enough to have a Sunday suit, one suit was rotated among them. When it came his turn, a boy was overjoyed on Sunday morning when he could dress up in a homespun suit and homemade shoes. The other boys in the family had to wear their everyday clothing, which consisted of only a long tow shirt. He said if you took a sack, cut an opening in the bottom for the head, and split each side for the arms, you would have something like a tow shirt. Sometimes it was difficult to distinguish a boy from a girl by their clothing, as it was not unusual for them to dress alike.
Preston made three trips to Indiana, the first in 1881, before settling permanently. He claimed that the climate made him ill on the first trip, so he returned south and did not return to Indiana until he had regained his health. His last trip south was to get married, and on March 5, 1884, Preston arrived in Portland with his bride, Mollie Eaton (see Mary Emily [“Mollie”] Eaton Tate). They stayed for a couple of days in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Branner, who at that time lived on the corner of West 3rd and Ship streets east of the Lake Erie depot. Afterwards, they lived with Preston’s stepfather, Tolbert Bragg, on West 2nd Street.
The following year, 1885, Preston bought a lot at the corner of South Western Avenue and 2nd Street, cleared the trees and underbrush, and built a three-room house, into which he moved his wife and infant daughter, Maude. At first, these rooms were covered only with laths. After working all day at a sawmill, Preston spent evenings putting paper on the laths. Only later were the walls plastered. As the years passed, additions were made to the small house to keep pace with other improvements in the community.
For thirty years Preston worked as a fireman at William North’s sawmill in South Portland. After the mill burned down in 1914, he worked at Detamore’s stone quarry. For his last twelve or thirteen years—in fact, up to the day of his death—he worked at Frands’ greenhouse.
Preston’s wife, also a former slave, was still living at 657 2nd Street in Portland when he died.