I was recording my cousin's story about growing up in Louisiana when he said, "You know we ain't originally from Louisiana. They brought them here from Mississippi. They was young when they brought them here. They momma died and they live with them folk."

He was referring to Patsy and Dan Hill, who were about 10 and 8 when their mother died. She is listed in the 1860 Mississippi Mortality Schedule as Mrs. Hill, a 25 year old slave. She and her mistress died of Pneumonia in January 1860. The slave owners took care of the children when their mother died. “Lived in the same house with them and when they moved to Louisiana, they brought them here.” I asked him if he knew why they moved to Louisiana. He said, they were farmers and they heard the land in Louisiana was good for growing anything.

In the 1870 Federal Census, I found Patsy and Dan living in Richland Parish, which is in northern Louisiana. They were living within close proximity to the family that owned them less than a decade earlier. Most of our family members still live in Louisiana, some on the same land farmed by Dan and Patsy.

Read more at http://users.stlcc.edu/jjohnson/family/main.htm