Allen Thomas

Allen Thomas said he would be 97 on the fourth of August. He was born in Duncan Woods in Orange County, Texas. His father, Lockin Thomas, drowned in the river at Beaumont before Allen ever saw him. His mother was Hetty Anderson. He was owned in turn by several ranchers in Jefferson and Orange counties: John Adam, whom he called mean; a man named Stowers; Moise Broussard of Hamshire, who was harsh but never beat him; and finally Amos Harrison of Turtle Bayou in Chambers County, who had bought him from Lewis Pinder. He had a brother, Kelly, and a sister, Lessie Williams. He said enslaved people were beaten with clubs, some to death.

He and his mother worked at the spinning wheel many nights until one or two in the morning, and he carded the cotton. He never saw soldiers, but he heard the cannons. As a young man he came to Beaumont and stayed there the rest of his life. When interviewed he was a familiar figure on the city's streets, carrying a sack over his shoulder for things he found. He told the interviewer he could sense spirits by their strange scent and the warm air that hit your face.