She strengthened her sons to do the jobs assigned them, well and fully,
never to shirk responsibilities, to face life with inner strength
acquired through their faith and trust in a merciful God. She taught
them to deal honestly and without fear of their fellow man or the
ridicule such action might bring on them from heedless people.
The slaves were to Ann her people, her coworkers, of whom she never
required more than she could herself accomplish in a like period of
time. This Dutch-Irish girl was firm in her determinations, wise in
seeking counsel, strong in her will to do the right thing close-mouthed
and eternally busy. Those who remembered her said she never went about
overseeing(sic) that she hadn't her knitting needles going fast and
furiously on the needed sox or jackets, caps and mufflers the boys all
wore during the short, cold winters.
Ann made a practice of allowing any slave who wished to, to buy
his-freedom. An amount agreeable to each was set and the man was free to
go about his business for the sum of his services....say 85 dollars per
year for a teen-age boy and 133 dollars for an adult. Cousin John Cavitt
wrote the story of Indian Bill buying himself free.
The amazing and intrepid little woman, Ann Cavett Cavitt, worked from
before sun-up to sun-set teaching the jobs that were to be each person's
part of this community, administering to and prescribing for the sick,
overseeing every area of the work in house and field until she got an
overseer whom Volney...always the prankster...made a fool of cause the
boys all knew he was not living up to their mother's expectation of a
good worker. Ann planned and saw to the building of a cedar log house
for each family of her people, watched as the glass was made and poured
for window lights, saw the brick formed and kilned in an earthern kiln
on the place. She told Uncle (Indian) Bill what she expected done and he
saw to it that the Negroes did their jobs well.
Even though Bill was free and his own man when he died....the Cavitt
boys asked that he buried on their land where he had lived and worked so
long, served so faithfully and honestly, loved Mr. Andrew's boys as
though they were his own, yearned over them in their trials and helped
settle them in their new home.
--
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The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched.
It must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller
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Last Blue Promise...Poetry and Links to All my Web Sites
http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/meath/45/index.html
...It is in silence where music lies...
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Listowner CARRINGTON and CAVITT surnames
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