Nathan Greene (abt. 1830)

Born about 1830 in Mississippi, United States

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Mississippi, United States

Biography

Nathan Greene is a part of US Black heritage.

Nathan's son George Green was interviewed in Little Rock, Arkansas in about 1938 about his life and his time as an enslaved person.

"I was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, in Monroe County. Seven miles from the town of Aberdeen, out in the prairies, that is where I was born. I figure out my age by the white woman that raised me. She sent me my age. When they was working the roads, my road boss, I told him I was forty-five years old and he didn't believe it. So I sent to the white woman that raised me from a month-old child. When I left her, I'd done got grown. Her name was Narcissus Stephenson; she had all our ages and she sent mine to me."

"My father's name was Nathan Greene. I reckon he went by that name, I can't swear to it. I wasn't with him when he died. I was up in Mississippi on the Mississippi River and didn't get the news in time to get there till after he was dead. He was an old soldier. When the Yankees got down in Mississippi, they grabbed up every n----r that was able to fight."

"I don't know whether my father used his master's name or his father's name. His father's name was Jerry Greene, and his master's name was Henry Bibb. I don't know which name he went by, but I call myself Greene because his father's name was Jerry Greene. No Bibb owned him at first. Jerry Greene was born in North, Alabama in Morgan County. That's were he was born. Bibb bought him and brought him down to Mississippi where I was born."

"My mother's name was Adeline Greene. Grandpa's wife's name was Louisa. She was one of these kinder mixed with Indian. She lived to see a many a year before she died. She lived to be a hundred and fifteen years of age before she died. I knowed Grandma Louisa. Up until I was a man grown. She was about my color with long straight hair and black (hair). Old Lady Bibb was her mistress. She died way after freedom. I don't know my mama's age. I was here in Arkansas when she died. Didn't know she was dead until a month after she was buried. She died in Mississippi. Grandma, mama, and all of them died in Mississippi."

"I was nineteen years old when I left the country. My mother gave me her consent, - to marry then, too. She came to town a few years later."

Slave Owners

1. Henry Bibb

Interview: George Green was interviewed in Little Rock, Arkansas by Samuel S. Taylor as part of the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The results are made available by the Library of Congress. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ [1] Library of Congress - WPA - Slave Narrative - George Green - Vol. 2, Arkansas, part 3; pages 104-111, images 105-112 of 394.

Possible Enslaver

"United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HR71-PZW2 : 15 March 2022), Henry Bibb in entry for MM9.1.1/MVCD-BXB:, 1850.

"United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WKLR-KC2M : 16 October 2019), Henry Bibb, 1860.

"Find a Grave," database and images (Find A Grave: Memorial #116971355 : accessed 7 April 2023), memorial page for W Henry Bibb (1790–13 Oct 1872), citing Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; Maintained by Gail Fisher Walker (contributor 47571214).