Description
“IS FAITHFUL EMPLOYEE – “Aunt Lou” Worked in Kansas City Depot 41 Years – Was a Slave on Plantation Near Weston Where She Was Born 67 Years Ago” - - Kansas City, Missouri, April 9. Her entire lifetime since freedom from slavery devoted to one position, is the remarkable record of Mrs. Lulu Robinson, an old negress, who for 41 years has been employed in the passenger depots of Kansas City in the West Bottoms. “Aunt Lou” has, in her 41 years of residence in Kansas City, been absent from the city and from her position only one month. She has seen the city grow from a small steamboat landing surrounded by a vast expanse of woods and fields, and less than 100 frame houses, to the largest railroad center In the United States, and the gateway to the south- - west. Although she can neither read nor write, and does not know the difference between pieces of money, she has a wonderful memory and can recount many interesting reminiscences of early days in Kansas City, and recalls the pioneer settlers, many of whom she knew personally. “Aunt Lou” was a slave. She was born in Missouri 67 years ago, and 65 of the 67 years of her life have been spent within the state. She was born on the plantation of Sam Cavanaugh, near Weston, in Platte County. At the age of 5 years she was hired to John McMinnis, who owned an adjoining farm, as nurse girl, and at 7 years she was separated from her parents and family and sold for $600 to James Robinson, who lived in Buchanan County, fifteen miles from St. Joseph. About the same time an older brother and sister were auctioned off on the block at Weston. When the war broke out “Aunt Lou” was sent with a number of other slaves into Texas, and hired out to work the cotton fields. The trip to Texas from St. Joseph was made by wagon and on foot and required 3 months. While on the journey they were held up a week near Lexington, Missouri, by the fighting. After the war she returned to St Joseph and hunted for members of her family, all of which she found except 2 brothers and her father, of whom she never heard after her separation. “Aunt Lou” and her mother and brother came to Kansas City in the fall of 1865. She and her brother found employment in the old shed that answered as a depot at that time for the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, and stood on the site of the present Union depot. At the time she first came to Kansas City the depot consisted of one large room. Later an additional room was built on. She washed the dishes and took care of the woman’s waiting room, while her brother did the cooking. She was working in the old depot at the time it burned, and was employed for a year in the shed at the state line that answered the purpose of a depot while the framework of the first part of the present structure was being built. Since that time she has been steadily employed in the present Union depot. She was scrub woman for a number of years, but for the past 4 years since Mrs. Shull has been matron, she has really been pension, having very little to care for. Her mother, who she says had three different coats of skin whipped off of her during the slavery days, was cared for by “Aunt Lou” out of her meager earnings until her death 10 years ago (~1896). She now shares her earnings with a crippled brother. She is the mother of ten children, having been married twice. During her employment in the depots “Aunt Lou” has found and returned a fortune in jewelry, valuables and money lost by passengers. At one time, shortly after the present Union depot was occupied, she found a sack containing $500 in gold coin. The money belonged to a woman on her way from Colorado to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and was obtained from the sale of Colorado lands. The woman left it in the toilet room and did not miss it for some time. She rewarded “Aunt Lou” with a $5 gold piece for her honesty.Date(s) of Creation
4/9/1906
