A JOURNEY WITHOUT A DESTINATION

The firs child born to this couple [Harry ‘Hab’ Tally and Jane Rally] was a girl and they named her Susie. It was told that Susie was born in 1847. I was told that Susie was a healthy child and developed (learned to walk) early in life. She continued to grow, the Tally’s continued to work hard in order to provide for the family. It was just a few years before they had another baby, a girl was born. They named her Mollie. It was told that Mollie was born in 1854. Shortly thereafter, yes, comma, you guessed it, another child was born. That’s right, it was a girl. She was named Mary Hilda. I was told that Mary Hilda was born May 5, 1856. These girls grew and remained on the plantation with their parents. As soon as they were large enough to work, they were sent into the fields, along with their parents, and other slaves. Since they lived on plantation, their parents had no voice in saying what they could do and not do, as related to working in the field. The slave master had no respect for them as being young ladies. The sisters had to work the same hours as the men and were expected to accomplish the same task just as skillful as the men. There was little they could do for themselves when it came to working in the fields. They were commanded to work from sun up until sun down. As the old folks said “from dawn til dusk/” This caused the girls to become closer to each other because they depended on each other. These sisters helped to plant crops (cotton, corn, cane, beans, and etc.) they helped by chopping cotton, thinning corn, stripping cane, as well as plowing the fields. Whatever the owner had in store for them to do each day that is what they did. Even though these slave girls know nothing of a better life, deep in their hearts they believe that somewhere there must be a life different from what they were experiencing each day on the plantation. Every day these three sisters found themselves working side by side doing the best they could at whatever task given to them. No one could desire any better work than what was done by these three sisters. It is believed that these sisters worked daily dreaming and talking about a day when they would leave the plantation, go to another state and meet the men of their dream, marry and have children of their own. They did not want to become wives of these slave boys on the plantation in South Carolina because they knew if they married the boys on the plantation, there is where they would spend the rest of their lives working in their owners (master’s) fields. If they had any children, they would be slaves just as their parents were. Therefore, these sisters began to dream of the day when they would leave the plantation and find a new home in a new state. This dream did not prevent the sisters from doing the work in the fields. They continued to work and try to find any information to their owners talk but they could not intelligently understand what they heard. They had not been taught, they could not read, and they could not write, what they heard was foreign to them. However, they understood enough to know there was life beyond the plantation in South Carolina. These sisters continued to work, listen and dream. …they left their home looking for better place to live. Not know where they were going, now how they were going to get there. They stepped out on faith. It …brought to … mind when God told Abraham to leave home and go to a place that he had never heard of. The difference being, God told Abraham to leave for a specific reason. These three sisters left searching for a better life, knowing nothing about anything, perhaps not even which way to go. God must have been in the plan because they were so successful in their leaving home and entering a land they had never heard of, yet they ended up in secure place, married men, and started a community. They were blessed and became successful women.