His widow died 1907. When I found her estate papers, there were
> accounts of her last year's expenses.  Listed in the accounts were
> "medicines for the black family".    This was a family, black and white,
> that went through  slavery, war, reconstruction and life together.  I
> believe this is called RESPONSIBILITY.

++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Mother-in-law often told of the times that she, as a very young girl had
to get up very early to bake biscuits to be broken up and fed to the
chickens, since the former slaves were no longer helping to grow grain for
their Woodville, MS family.

But the former slaves stayed on the property, having nowhere else to go and
nothing else to do, so the family tried to feed and clothe them although
there was no longer any real income.  It was a very, very difficult time for
everyone.  A part of the family had been at Vicksburg getting the terrible
shelling and bombardments while living in caves in the hills while the
breadwinners were with Jackson in the Virginia Valley.

  On the other hand, my maternal ancestors were serving in the Union Army
from the area of Springfield in southern Missouri while their family members
and livestock were prey to the roughneck Confederate sympathizers of the
area and had a very rough time of it.  The health of the menfolk was broken
by their service and most of the families were dirt poor from then until
they died.  The children and their families didn't recover until WW I, some
50 years later.  My Grandfather managed for a team of mules and a wagon and
left home at age 15 to work his way to, and seek his fortune, in the gold
fields in Colorado.  I think we can all thank God, no matter the temptations
and travails of today's "civilization", that we weren't trying to raise
children at that time.
John Shroeder

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