The black Mullins' family (Manda and Sam) was living on a farm around or near The Breaks, Virginia (in the mountainous region of southwestern Virginia near the southeastern Kentucky border). The white people did not want them there. They finally made them leave, or ran them off. The family sold their farm for $300 and bought a horse and wagon. They crossed the mountains into Kentucky and settled in the small town of Pikeville, Kentucky.

Manda Mullins, my great-grandmother, was born in 1849. Charley Mullins, my grandfather, was born 1872. I was born 1946.