I was born in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina and know little of my ancestry and age. While listening to the gossip of my masters" wife, I learned that my parents were sold to a different plantation when I was but a toddler. I do not know what they looked like, sounded like, or even what their names were. My memories of them have crumbled to very little pieces, as if they were falling through a poorly woven fishing net as time progressed. I learned at a very young age to think of nothing but my own survival and of little else. .
My master was known as William Boyd and known to neighboring plantation owners as "Big Will" because of his emasculate size. When standing next to him, my chin reached just below his shoulder. His huge body frame and unforgiving eyes made almost every slave cower in his presence. It was him who gave me the name Evaline. I once caught gossip about a field slave named Henry Norser who was found sneaking in the garden trying to get food for his young son. Apparently Master Boyd caught him and demanded that he give the fruit back. As Mistress Lisa put it, "The savage just stood there, as tall and big as possible, and refused to hand the fruit over." So Master Boyd, with Henry's son tied up so he could watch the incident, beat the poor man to death as a warning to the rest of the slaves. The poor boy was traumatized for weeks but was forced to continue on as usual the next day. .
My job was to prepare and serve meals, look after children, clean the laundry, and make sure there was never any noticeable dust in the house. I was content with my tasks because the field slaves worked in much worse conditions which made it harder to keep up with the Masters demands. Whether it was rain, sleet, or snow they would be out there in their thin, cheap clothing working as hard as they would on a perfectly good day. .
Whippings were very common to all of Master Boyd's slaves.