Lovely Lady Liddia

She was born on a plantation and was later sold to her master named Fairley.  By the time she was 15, she was the mother of three children.  She met and married Alex Fairley on the Fairley Plantation.  He and she didn’t have to work so hard on the Family Plantation.  They were very kind to their slaves.  Alex and his boy worked in the fields along with other slave families.  Lyddia worked in the house as a maid; helping Mrs. Fairley with her children.   There she learned many things about ways of life.  She learned how to sew, cook and how to be a gracious hostess.  She was a beauty to be hold, and very kind.  When she was very young, they sent her to a finishing school back east.  Most of all, she learned to read and write.  No one knew it, but her Master’s children taught her.

Everything was peaceful until the War Between the States, North and South started.  Lyddia heard the master and his friends talking about war every day.  Their sons would soon go and fight the war.  That summer Master Fairley’s oldest son, Wesley volunteered to help fight the war.  Soon after, their other son went to fight.

After that, the Fairley Plantation would never be the same.  Mrs. Fairley lost interest in things that once meant so much to her.  She didn’t entertain anymore, when she received a letter from her sons she would go in her bedroom and cry for days without eating or drinking.  The Master would send for the doctor and Lyddia tried talking to her.  It took days for her to come back to herself.  Then the word came; her sons were killed.  They were in the same regiment.  Again, she went into her room and didn’t recover.  The Master sent for the doctor, but she had gone to rest.  Master Fairley buried her on a hill above the plantation house where she had requested to be buried.

Then Master Fairley began to mope around the house.  He would visit the grave every day.  The Fairley Plantation was no more the beauty spot of the world.  In a month’s time, things began to change.  No more pretty white sheep eating grass on the green pasture or pretty horses roaming in the fields.  It seems like the birds didn’t sing anymore.  I think what hurt the most was when their daughter married a Yankee.  They talked about it very much when the war started.

About a year after Misses’ death, it was spring planting time.  The war was over, homes were destroyed.  Master was broke.  Master Fairley was making no effort to plant.  The slaves would be hard at work, but there was no sign of farming.  So one day it came, Master said to Lyddia, “I can no longer keep you people (slaves), I’m old, I have no money, no grain to feed the livestock.  The place is rundown.”  A man came by and told them that in the South, slaves can own their own farm.  All you have to do is pick out a place, work it, build it up; it’s called homestanding.  You all are good workers; in on time you’ll own your own land.  Lyddia asked him, “What are you going to do?”  He replied, “Misses gone, we’ll be gone, I’ll go live with my daughter, Elizabeth in the north, as bad as I hate to do it,”  he said with tears in his eyes.  You can take all the livestock, turkeys, and chickens, maybe this will be a start.  You all were good to us; never gave us any trouble.  So they prepared for the journey, south.  It took days to build crates and repair an ox wagon, which was used to carry some of their belongings.  Master Fairley was packing his bags to go visit his daughter up north.  The day finally came.  It was late April when Master Fairley caught the stagecoach.  Then Lyddia and her eight children; six boys and two girls started their long journey south.  He embraced Lyddia and said, “God go with you and bless you.”  He handed Lyddia his gun that he loved so much.  Lyddia asked, “Do you mean to give me your gun?”  He nodded his head saying, “yes."  That was the last time they saw each other.