Harriet Evans Paine

Paine was born as a slave to Jim and Rebecca Evans in Tennessee, around the year 1822.[1] They were owned by Swan and Jerusha Hardin.[1] The Hardins followed their sons to Texas in 1828.[2] In Texas, Paine was the "thimble girl," threading needles for Jerusha's mother.[1] In 1834 she became a servant in Benjamin Franklin Hardin's home.[2] Hardin lived on a plantation outside of Liberty.[3]

Paine participated in the Runaway Scrape; and during 1836 and 1837, served Mexican officers captured at the Battle of San Jacinto and housed at William Hardin's plantation.[2] It is said that she treated the prisoners kindly.[1]

In 1839, she moved with Franklin's family to Seven Pines, a house within the town of Liberty.[3]

Paine had children with two other slaves, Henry Rowe and Mr. Green. Her children were named Henry Rowe Jr. and Calvin and Melinda Green.[2] It is unknown what happened to all of her children and no marriages were recorded, although it was noted that she was "not allowed to live with her husband."[2] She also lived with her children behind the main house.[1]

After Juneteenth, 1865, when slaves were freed, Paine continued to work for the Hardins, most likely having "signed a Freedmen's contract with Franklin Hardin."[2] She worked at Seven Pines until 1916, when there was a fire that nearly destroyed the house.[1] Paine rescued the Hardin family's letters and documents.[2] Paine died in 1917.[1]

Her stories and oral histories have been preserved by the Hardin family and are housed in the Hardin Collection at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center.[1]

• The Hardin Collection