The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-01-06
An q Z soJouHnER.
Catherine DorseYs or Providenocs
CIaims TO be 1T Years Old.

III tins CITY, says n fr0UlQe7ce Jour
nal Il the home Of Mrs. Celia Boon,
/ the latter mother. a wee bit Of d
woman W. * 6 skin betraYs Che African
| blood w;sAin b.,r veins, but whose fe
lures also assert = mixture OF the liz
dian lie current there is much inter-
est ceuterinr around tbs little woman,
for while she looks sprighsR 10 ? GER
tan degree aud ~conyerses quite fluent
IL. she claims 70 be III years oi age.
II wrinklM skin whiteneg hair, and q
bent form 1 speak in support Of her
claim. then she has good advocates.
The little woman is Catherine Dorsey.
and she says She was born in Ann
Arundel county, Maryland. abouS twen-
" miles from Baltimore. Her naother
and grandmother she knew were full
blooded Indians. ana her father was d
typical African He never knew
his right name. ais he was stolen
from a beach in Africa and brought To-
this country when he was 3 years Of
age. Her mother was born on the
plantation Of Margaret Hopkins, and
she remained there until she was the
mother of ten children. Two Of these
died when they were infants; the
others were Joseph. Samuel, Anthony
and John. and Rachel. DarkeY,. Nancy,
and Catherine. The old lady says she
was born free aud had a certificate TO
Edhat effect until quite recently, when
she lost it; her daughter, HRS. Boon,
had one dated June %, 1854, which
certified to her birth and free person.
Her father. she says, was married be-
fore he became the husband of her
mother, and by his first wife had seven-
teen children. making twenty-seven III
all born to him; lie lived. she SAYS, to
be 104 years of age. These facts, she
asserts, can be su%bstaintiated BY refer
ence to the books of record ID Ann
Arudel county. Her children number
now living. She first came north about
twenty-eight years ago, aud since then
has made nine Journeys to her former
home. She fixes her age at III years,
and In support of this says that she was
10 years old on the dark day. which,
according to history, occurred on May
10. 1850. She remembers distinctly
that the BIRDS and barnyard fowls went
TO roost when darkness settled upon
the land, and that the colored people
were very much alarmed az faek
phenomenon. They sank upon Their
knees and began to cry aud pray. while
she, not feeling scared, tried to Thread
q needle to sew some dolls clothing.
She could not do so on account of the
darkness, and asked her mother 10.
help her ACCOMPLISH thai aet HArA
mother reached forward Sc zed her,
and made her kneel with the rest, tell
ing her that the Lord had set his seal
upon the land; that there would no
longer be any sunlight but that the
earth would Ehareaftar he shroudad in
darkness. Her mother was tile only
Religious, preaching women in that
place, and she remembers that the
white people came oyer to the quarters
and joined ia the worship which the
terrors Of the hour induced Her fathers
name as given him by those who pur-
chased him was Isaac DeLaad. and
after her brothers grew up they chang
ed their names because they were nick
named Lamb; one of them selected the
name Of Dorsey, and very si%ngularly
she afterwards married 4 man named
Dorsey. She remembers some of the
ineiaaats of the war of tAee RRe7~GSslliaitsii0 0 II,
but does not recall ever having seen
Gen. Washington, although she
heard him spoken Of very often.
She recalls Wis ting the camps,
particularly of the regulars. as
she styled them, and of the miljt Il.
the latter being scattered through
the woods She rode on 4 cart TO camp
and sold corn PONIES to the soldiers.
She a remember three wars, but can
not recall dates. The col0red people
ID her days were very Ignorant anal
Woodworking, and to enjoy their re-
ligion were often compelled to 10 into
the woods, where, u~ndisturbed by wick
ed tield-drivers or cruel overseers. and
simply s~npplications to Him who prom
ised to free al in HIS good time. Their
work was hard then, not only lastlng
through the day. but sometimes rum
ming through the night Corn bread
was the principal food taken to the
field. She had never been punished,
and no white persons haudIiad ever
been laid upon her In violence or anger.
She had done everything in a field that
strong nan could do such as yoking mp
the steers. plowing, sowing, hoeing
rcaping. driving 10 the woods, loading
up the frewood. returning home and un-
loading it. She now has her faculties,
can thread q needle, does sewing tor
pay, and stands up to the tub and
washes her OWN clothes. She rarely
slept after 4 o'clock ID the morning.
and ii the weather IS good she walks
about the streets near her daughters
residence before breakfast. Later ID
the day she makes trips about the
neighborhood and is frequently made
the recipient Of money aud d~elicacies
from ladies and gentlemen who are
acquainted with her history. Such IS
the little womauss story. II IS an
Interesting narrative and II NAV be-
that someone IN the south Will peruse
it and compare II with the records Of
Ann Arundel county, Maryland.