John Thompson and Kitty Owens reunited and married after 25 years

EX-SLAVES MARRIED.

Two Old Darkies United After a
Separation of Twenty-Five
Years.

The Groom Had But Ninety Cents To
Pay Magistrate Camp For
His Services.

Two ex-slaves who had not seen each
other for twenty-five years, were married
yesterday by Magistrate B. F. Camp at
his office in Court place. The principals
were John Thompson, aged eighty-five
years, and Kitty Owens, aged seventy.
Before the late war both were slaves in
the family of Mr. George Girding, who
owned a large plantation in Morgan
county, Tennessee. At that time Thompson
was looked upon as an old man,
while the woman was called ‘mammy’
by the children in the family.

After the two slaves were made free
by the war they went out in different
directions to make a livelihood. The
man decided to follow the river, and he
secured a place in the dining-room of a
steamboat. He continued at this until
several months ago, when he retired.
Thompson had saved enough money to
keep him in comfort the rest of his days.
He looked up some of his children, now
living in Louisville, but found that they
did not appear to take any interest in
their old father, not seeming to care
whether he was alive or dead. It was
while visiting his children that the old
man met Kitty Owens. They did not
know each other at first, and it was only
after they had compared notes that the
two recognized each other. A marriage
was shortly arranged between the two.
Yesterday they went to the County Clerk’s
office together, where a license was secured.
The two old people were accompanied
to Magistrate Camp’s office by
a curious crowd. Here the ceremony
was performed.

Thompson had been married three
times, and his companion only one time
less. As the old couple was leaving the
office Magistrate Camp remembered then
that his fee had been overlooked.

“Lor! Yo’ Honah, I hasn’t got any
mo’ money,” said the old man. The
facial expression of the old darky underwent
a complete change as he fumbled
in his pockets. Finally, Thompson got a
small amount of change out of his many
pockets. This was given over to the Magistrate,
who found it amounted to a
total of ninety cents. The old man explained
that he had divided his savings
so they would last until he was
one hundred years old. He took only
one of these piles weekly, never touching
the rest until the next week. The bridegroom
said that he hoped to save enough
out of the next few weeks’ allotment to
pay the balance of $1.10 to the Magistrate.
The old man and his bride were
then allowed to depart happily for their
home.

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