Odd Wisconsin Archive
Born into slavery in North Carolina on Jan. 1, 1829, Hattie Pierce, of 1442 Williamson St. in Madison, personally experienced the social upheavals that most of her neighbors had only learned about in school.
Before the Civil War, she always belonged to same family, who had also owned her parents. "I was never sold at auction or any other way," she recalled. "The man I belonged to didn't sell people. He was a fine man." Besides, she said proudly, "No one in my family was ever sold. They wouldn't ever part with us because we did our work so good. I think hard work is good for anyone."
Her family moved to Freeport, Louisiana, when she was a child and there she later met and married John Pierce, another slave, in 1857. When emancipation came at the end of 1863, "It was a big excitement. I was happy because I knew that at last the good Lord had opened a new door for my people." But it also meant turmoil, as life in the South turned upside down. She and her husband wandered from state to state with her former owner, who agreed to pay them $50 for two years of work but was unable to. She kept his I.O.U. for decades.
Eventually the Pierce family returned to Louisiana. Hattie bore 11 children altogether, and her husband was elected to the state legislature and later became a judge in New Orleans. Her son Sam worked the Chicago to Los Angeles run as a Pullman porter for many years. In 1908 he was assigned to the Milwaukee-Madison route and brought his wife, son and mother with him. Sam later worked at the Capitol from the Progressive era into the 1930s as personal messenger for governors Blaine, Zimmerman, Kohler and LaFollette.
In 1924, when she was 95, Hattie Pierce journeyed alone from Madison through the South to try to visit all her grandchildren. There were more than 50 of them, however, and she returned north without finding them all.
She remained in good health, outliving all her children and becoming the oldest resident of Madison and Dane Co. During World War II, when she could no longer follow the news herself, she asked her grandson every day if "they had ended their warfare" yet, since she had witnessed so much devastation from war. In 1932 she told reporters, "I've been in Madison for 25 years, and I like it, so I reckon I'll be here for 10 years more." In fact, she lived long enough to celebrate her 115th birthday on Jan. 1, 1944.
:: Posted in Odd Lives on February 24, 2009
Did You Know?
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is currently featuring Odd Wisconsin objects in the latest exhibit: Odd Wisconsin. And don't miss the Odd Wisconsin book by author Erika Janik published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
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