The man that had left there jus
tore that church up. I went up there one Sunday and I didn't see
anything that I could do. I think I'm not able for this. I said they
needs a more experienced preacher than me. But the presidin elder keeps
after me to go there and I says, well, I go for one year. Next thing it
was the same thing. I stays on another year and so on for six years.
When I left there that church was in pretty good shape.
"I think preaching the gospel is the greatest work in the world. But
folks don't seem to take the interest in church that they used to."
Maryland
Sept. 30, 1937
Rogers
GEORGE JONES, Ex-slave.
Reference: Personal interview with George Jones, Ex-slave,
at African M.E. Home, 207 Aisquith St., Baltimore.
"I was born in Frederick County, Maryland, 84 years ago or 1853. My
father's name was Henry and mother's Jane; brothers Dave, Joe, Henry,
John and sisters Annie and Josephine. I know my father and mother were
slaves, but I do not recall to whom they belonged. I remember my
grandparents.
"My father used to tell me how he would hide in the hay stacks at night,
because he was whipped and treated badly by his master who was rough and
hard-boiled on his slaves. Many a time the owner of the slaves and farm
would come to the cabins late at night to catch the slaves in their
dingy little hovels, which were constructed in cabin fashion and of
stone and logs with their typical windows and rooms of one room up and
one down with a window in each, the fireplaces built to heat and cook
for occupants.
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