After they had remained away for a while, many of the older slaves, especially, returned to their old homes and made some kind of contract with their former owners by which they remained on the estate.
My mother's husband, who was the stepfather of my brother John and myself, did not belong to the same owners as did my mother.

In fact, he seldom came to our plantation.

I remember seeing him there perhaps once a year, that being about Christmas time.

In some way, during the war, by running away and following the Federal soldiers, it seems, he found his way into the new state of West Virginia.

As soon as freedom was declared, he sent for my mother to come to the Kanawha Valley, in West Virginia.