But we were all claimed and held as property; the father and mother were slaves! On this same plantation I was compelled to stand and see my wife shamefully scourged and abused by her master; and the manner in which this was done, was so violently and inhumanly committed upon the person of a female, that I despair in finding decent language to describe the bloody act of cruelty.

My happiness or pleasure was then all blasted; for it was sometimes a pleasure to be with my little family even in slavery.

I loved them as my wife and child.

Little Frances was a pretty child; she was quiet, playful, bright, and interesting.

She had a keen black eye, and the very image of her mother was stamped upon her cheek; but I could never look upon the dear child without being filled with sorrow and fearful apprehensions, of being separated by slaveholders, because she was a slave, regarded as property.