Ben Allen, Ike Martin, Former Slaves, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** >From the July 29, 1932 Winnfield News-American Uncle Ben Allen and Uncle Ike Martin Among Few Old Slave Darkies Now Living Sixty years has not dimmed the memory too much of one Uncle Ben Allen, old time slave darky who now lives in Monroe and says he once lived in Winnfield the property of the Kelly family. He moved from here in 1872 according to the information given by him to a reporter of the Monroe Morning World, which paper carried a story of Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben claims that he followed "Marse Dan" Kelly through the Civil War. This "Marse Dan" is the father of Dr. Dan W. Kelly, a former Winnfield physician, who now lives in Oak Grove. The passing of the old slave darkies is marked with some degree of regret among the white folks. Uncle Ben's story calls to mind the familiar figure of Uncle Ike Martin, who can be seen most any day making his rounds. One of his favorite resting places is in the rear of Swanson's cafe, where his is always accorded a welcome as well as a good meal. No doubt Uncle Ben and Uncle Ike knew each other. The story of Uncle Ben as told by the Morning World is: A few scattered remnants of woolly white hair clung to the polished ebony skull of the ancient mendicant. A battered hat, the worse for wear and appearing almost as antiquated as its owner, clung precariously between two shaky knees, feeble and tremulous with the passage of more than 100 winters. The purpose was plain. Obliging people were at liberty to drop a nickel or a quarter or a dime within that worn out crown. What once had been a hard handed son of toil, a tiller of the earth in better days, a follower, with "Marse Dan" Kelly, of the Stars and Bars of Confederacy, had degenerated, had become merely an old, age-weary negro beggar, distinguished only by his claim to have passed through 109 years of life. "Uncle Ben" Allen, who yesterday made one of his periodic trips from his home on Short Wood Street to the heart of the city, holding out his hat, from his seat in front of the post office, for alms, declares that he was born June 16, 1823 at Jackson, Miss. Still a child, he says, his family was purchased by a white family named Kelly, owners of a plantation at Castor, Caldwell Parish. During the war between the states, "Uncle Ben" served as personal servant to "Marse Dan," one of the Kelly boys. After the surrender at Appomattox, he returned to Louisiana, farming near Winnfield. Since 1872 he has resided in Monroe. Married when a young man, he is once again a lonely figure, his wife and eight children, after having lived to ripe old age themselves, having preceded him to the grave. "Ah's allus 'leaned on de Lawd'," "Uncle Ben" says, in explaining his longevity. "Ain nevah been ailin', 's I knows of, an' ain' nevah took no medicine 'cept back in the ole days. Den dey made all us niggahs take it. An ahs still fellin' right pert." (Submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, LA)