The "Good Old Days"
In Ringgold County

Five Negroes and A Dog Funeral

By Mrs. B.M. LESAN

From the Mount Ayr Record News, December 10, 1924

Before the Civil war there was an old slaveholder by the name of MURPHY, who lived near Albany, Mo. He was killed in battle in 1864. The next spring his wife told five of her slaves if they would come up to Iowa she would give them their freedom. She also gave them an old team, wagon and harness. They came up into Ringgold county. When they arrived at Lesanville they found there was an old log cabin west of the creek that they could live in and plenty of work do. They lived in this cabin until January 1st, 1866, when they moved to a cabin that had been vacated near the Lesanville school house. This family consisted of a man they called old "Uncle George" another named Sam MURPHY, his wife Sarah MURPHY, and her daughter Martha and son Tom. Martha was about twelve years old and Tom about ten years old. Sam worked for the men in the neighborhood and Sarah worked for the women. Tom started to school January 8th, 1866, and Martha on March 1st, 1866. This was their first school, as it was a high crime in states caught teaching a negro to read or write.

In slavery days the slaves always took the family name of their masters. Earlier in Sarah's life she was married to Martha's and Tom's father, when they were slaves of a man by the name of WASHINGTON.

One Sunday morning Sarah had gotten her little flock all ready to church and laid Tom in his crib while she got herself ready. She had scarcely laid the babe down when their old master, WASHINGTON, walked into the cabin followed by a southern slave buyer. They examined the father, much like a horse buyer would a horse. He bought the father and took him away immediately and the mother and children never saw him or heard from him again. After the husband was sold her master hired Sarah out in the city for which he received a high price as Sarah was a good cook, was neat and clean, efficient and proficient. After a while her master wanted her to marry another slave, which she refused to do, telling him she would never marry another slave or raise any more children to be sold away from her. This greatly peeved her master as the young slaves raised on his own plantation were a great asset in his stock of trade. But when he found he could not peaceably overcome her stubbornness he sold Sarah and her children to MURPHY. Here she married Sam a few years later.

After they came to Ringgold county old George died in 1866 and was buried by the county in the Mount Ayr cemetery. In 1868 Sam took sick with a fever and soon died. Dave LESAN and Clara TERWILLIGER prepared his body for burial. The woman offering to help as the only other man in the neighborhood at home that day hated a negro so badly, he refused to touch him. Sam was buried by the county by the side of old George.

Soon after Sam’s death Sarah, Martha and Tom moved to another cabin about three-fourths mile from any other neighbor. They got along all right in the day time, but as it got dark the negro superstitions got the better of them and they would sneak over to Dave LESAN’s barn and sleep in the haymow. They had slept there several nights and always made their "get away" before daylight, but one morning they overslept and when Dave went to the barn to do the chores there they were, sound asleep. They confessed then that they were afraid to stay at home and had been coming over every night and sleeping in the haymow. Dave took pity on them and told them they could move over in his old cabin near his new house.

While they lived here a strange dog came through the country. He was sick and bit and snapped at everything, so the neighbors killed him and tied up their own dogs, but one dog became angry at being tied up and chewed his rope and raved and caved until they thought he might have hydrophobia, so they shot him, but did not kill him. Then they tried to kill him with a club, but he made it very interesting for them as he fought to the last. While "Old Scott" as this dog was called was making so much racket the negro family’s dog broke loose and came to join forces with "Old Scott." The men got mad and said "if their dogs had to be killed the negro’s dog had to go too." So they killed five dogs and buried them in one grave, back of Dave’s orchard. It was about dark when they finished. The next morning when Sarah and Tom found they had killed "Old Sherman" their wrath knew no bounds. Later they became reconciled.

That afternoon "Nigger Tom" as he was called, who was about 13 years old, and Arthur LESAN, about 12 years, and Owen and Frank LESAN, about 9 years old, decided they would have a funeral over the dogs’ grave. Arthur read the obituary and exhorted on all the good traits of the several dogs, and laid particular stress on how they had gotten into trouble and lost their lives by associating with bad company. Then "Nigger Tom" preached the funeral sermon, Owen did the necessary praying and Frank led the singing. They sang that good old hymn that runs something like this:

Where now is good Old Daniel?
Where now is good Old Daniel?
Safe in the promise land.
He went into a den of lions.
He went into a den of lions.

only they substituted "Old Scott’s" name for Daniel’s. Then they sang a verse for each dog, substituting a dog’s name for the names of the old patriarchs.

Arthur did not stay till the funeral was over, but later came back to a plum thicket near the orchard and listened to the boys, who were having one "hilarious" old time singing all the "backwoods" ditties with all their variations. But when the last sad "rites" were over and the five lamented dogs’ spirits were consigned to the realms of dog heaven, Arthur hit the trail from the plum thicket to the house to tell of the sacrilegious proceedings. When the boys arrived from the funeral they were met by two very angry fathers and one "furious" old nigger mammy. Frank and Owen were soundly whipped and sent to bed, but "Nigger Tom" did not get off so easy. Old Sarah led him into the yard by the hair, stripped off his shirt, tied him to a tree, and took the blacksnake whip and stripped and cross-barred his back. Tom screamed, begged, prayed and swore, but the show went on. Dave went out and tried to get her to quit but she said, "No, Sah, that niggah knows better than that." She was a strong believer in the old southern whipping post.

But all things have an ending, so did this performance when old Sarah gave out. The next day when she and the fathers were talking it over, they could all laugh as hard as any one. They could see the funny part then. In a few months, after this, Sarah, Martha and Tom moved to Mount Ayr, where she worked around town, Tom working in the country most of the time.

In a year or so Sarah married a negro from Bedford by the name of MARSHALL. They lived in Mount Ayr a few years. Martha soon developed consumption and died. Then Sarah’s husband took the same disease and died. She soon moved to Bedford where she died. She was loved and respected by all and Tom was always treated as well as any other boy in the neighborhood and was counted in on everything as he was only a few years older than the other boys who thought so much of him they would have followed him into a den of lions, and he would have fought for the boys quicker than for himself. Tom left the county in 1880, went to Bedford where he married a negro girl. He only lived about a year when he got sick and died. This was the last of the five negroes and I think it was the last of the dog funerals.

Note - Come now, ye good old fault finding critics and do your dirty work on this, my maiden effort.

Transcribed with all original language.

The "Good Old Days" is a series of articles that appeared in the
Mount Ayr Record News in the 1920s about the early history of Ringgold County

Articles in this series:
Five Negroes and A Dog Funeral
Indian War of 1855
When Mount Ayr Was Wet
My Experiences of the First Two Years in Ringgold County
When Saloons Cursed Mount Ayr
How Pioneer Mount Ayr Met the Rebel Guerrillas
The Modest Styles of Long Ago
A Kidnapping Incident in Early History of Ringgold County
Early History of Ringgold County Settlers, Part 1
Early History of Ringgold County Settlers, Part 2

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