“in traveling from this world to the next, the road is no wider for the prince, than the peasant.”—sancho panza.
in that period of our country’s history known as “slave time,” the white people encouraged the colored race to serve god, and received its converts into their own churches, and worshipped with them.
in most of the meeting houses, there were galleries, or separate apartments, in which the colored members sat, and listened to the gospel preached by white ministers.
their membership was received into the baptist associations, on equal terms, and the colored ministers often preached during the several days sessions of these assemblies. elder horace carr did, when the association was held at red river church.
speaking of the separate apartments in the churches, the writer has a vivid recollection of the[24] orderly colored congregation that occupied the upper gallery of old harmony church, three miles south of port royal, in robertson county.
near the front, could be seen such devout christians as old uncle allen northington, aunt sydney norfleet, aunt sylvia carney, aunt lucy parks, aunt becky northington, aunt cely northington, etc. it was a rare occurrence that a colored child was seen at church, but you would notice numerous white children sitting in the laps of their good old “black mammys” as they called them. but while this christian brotherhood was being enjoyed, another day was dawning, in which a new order of things was to take place. the primitive order, with its picturesque types, was doomed to pass away. the broad plantation of the old southern planter was to undergo material changes, and every influence for good was becoming more and more in unison with the great master chord of christianity.
surely the hand of divinity was in it all, or it would not have been so.
the civil war came on, and the institution of slavery was abolished.
it was not only aunt kitty carr, uncle granville wimberly, and a few others, that were referred to as “free born,” but all were free!
“riverside;” home of the late e. l. fort.
the desire for schools and churches of their[25] own was awakened, and the right kind of white people were ready, and willing, to lend them a helping hand. among the first to lead substantially in this direction, in montgomery county, was dr. p. f. norfleet, of port royal.
brief sketch of this fine old gentleman: dr. philip ford norfleet was born in the early part of the past century, at his father’s homestead on the nashville road, one and a half miles south of port royal. in later years the place was known as the dr. j. t. darden farm.
in his early twenties he was sent to a medical college, and was later on considered one of the best physicians of his day.
he was a charter member of harmony missionary baptist church, organized in 1835, and while it was said of him, that he sowed his share of wild oats in early life, after joining the church he doubled his diligence in good works.
he was married during his twenties, to miss elvira hopson, and several children blessed their union.
he was a man of wealth, owning a large cotton plantation near friar’s point, mississippi, to which he made annual trips on horseback, usually at crop selling time, and returning with vast sums of money.
not caring to risk the health of his large and[26] happy family, in the malarial districts of the mississippi swamps, he made his home at port royal.
the original norfleet residence, with few exceptions, remains intact, and is at present owned and occupied by mr. w. e. alley, a prosperous farmer, and substantial citizen of montgomery county.
for the benefit of his family, dr. norfleet kept a number of efficient servants.
among them two very refined house maids, kitty hopson and adeline norfleet; frank, the carriage driver; mary, the cook, and louis, a roustabout.
of these, only one survive, adeline, who in her old age, finds no greater pleasure than in talking of her white people.
although the norfleets were the acknowledged aristocrats of the country, they were also benevolent to a marked degree.
apropos of their liberality, i deem it not amiss to mention the case of ed and fronie hawkins, a very unique, feeble minded couple of white people, who lived in a small one-room log cabin, near turnersville, in robertson county, and subsisted mainly on charity.
mr. hawkins, familiarly known as “old ed,” was a tall, lank figure, with a shock of long sandy hair, that hung in strings around his neck, while[27] his sallow complexion and deep set small blue eyes, completed the make-up of an unattractive personality.
fronie, his dumpy dame, in point of height, measured very little above her husband’s slender waist. she had small brown eyes, fair complexion, and an abundant suit of coarse red hair, which she wore in a massive club, or coil, at the nape of her neck, held in place by a rusty horn tuck comb.
about three times a year, they made begging trips to port royal, dr. norfleet’s home being their objective point.
fronie would generally start a few days in advance of her husband, in order to get her charity donations together.
he would follow later, and help carry them home.
dr. norfleet wore white linen suits in summer, and on one occasion, gave fronie a second hand suit for ed.
dr. norfleet was tall, and his pants legs were long, so she conceived the idea of packing her donations in the legs of those he had given her. she sewed up the legs at the bottom, put a stout loop on the back of the binding at the top, and hung her improvised receptacle on a hook behind the office door; everything that was given to her,[28] she dropped it down the pants legs—sugar, coffee, second-hand clothes, chunks of meet, etc., all in a jumble.
when they were well nigh full, she began to wish for mr. hawkins. he came at last, and she led him to look behind the door.
he was delighted, and scarcely taking time to rest from his journey of six miles on a warm day, he placed the well stuffed pants astride his neck, and struck out up the nashville road, without even bidding dr. norfleet’s family good bye.
fronie followed close at his heels, holding by the legs, in her right hand, a fine fat pair of muscovy ducks, mrs. norfleet had given her. on passing mr. william brown’s residence, just up the road, mr. brown’s son, robert, happened to be at the front gate; young robert bourne had a keen sense of humor, and their ludicrous appearance threw him into such a fit of laughter that he rolled over and over on the ground.
but the hawkins’s kept straight ahead, bound for turnersville before sunset, but they were doomed to an unexpected delay.
the ducks grew heavy, and fronie set them down by the roadside to rest her tired arm.
it happened that she stopped at the head of the ten-foot deep gully, just beyond the old mallory homestead, where the old harmony[29] church road branched off to the right from the main nashville route. the ducks set to fluttering, and tumbled down the embankment and into the gully, breaking the string that held them together. ed flew into a rage, because she let them get away, and swore he’d whip her on the spot, if she did not catch them. she chased them up and down the gully till she was almost exhausted, when a passing fishing party came to her assistance.
the late george washington’s family contributed liberally to the support of this couple, and in speaking of the washington home, fronie always referred to it as “the fat house,” meaning rich people.
the young people of port royal neighborhood, spent many pleasant times in years gone by, masquerading in comic costumes, as ed and fronie hawkins.
they were known far and wide, as a very amusing couple, but when old age came to them, and the liberal friends who had kept “the wolf from their cabin door” had passed away, it became necessary for them to be carried to the county poor house, and from there, i’m sure, their innocent souls went straight to heaven.
