CHAPTER I.
_Sketch of my Parentage .-- Early separation from my Mother .-- Hard Fare .-- First Experiments at running away .-- Earnest longing for Freedom .-- Abhorrent nature of Slavery._ I was born May 1815, of a slave mother, in Shelby County, Kentucky, and was claimed as the property of David White Esq.

He came into possession of my mother long before I was born.

I was brought up in the Counties of Shelby, Henry, Oldham, and Trimble.

Or, more correctly speaking, in the above counties, I may safely say, I was _flogged up_; for where I should have received moral, mental, and religious instruction, I received stripes without number, the object of which was to degrade and keep me in subordination.

I can truly say, that I drank deeply of the bitter cup of suffering and woe.