It is likely that enslaved people lived in one-room cabins with a fireplace and dirt floor. They had a simple diet of breads made of corn, greens, and a bit of pork. The Leas did not believe in whipping slaves. Enslaved people shared what they learned about the news of the day from people from other plantations and other visitors. On Sundays, the Leas observed the Sabbath and only the most necessary chores were performed. Lea included servants in morning and evening Bible readings. Leisure time was spent taking care of their personal chores, fishing, hunting, and tending their own gardens. Story-telling was enjoyed by people of all ages. Five year old children likely worked a number of chores, including carrying water, gathering firewood, milking cows, and tending to animals. It is also likely that they would sweep the yard and tend to babies in the nursery. At ten years of age, children worked in the fields and developed skills like toolmaking, caring for equipment, and grooming horses.
Temple's will of 1834 In his will, Temple left: • To Vernal, Jim and his wife Nancy and their children Franky and Bob. • To Margaret, he left Vianna, Eliza, Charlotte and the boy Joshua. • To Antoinette, Lulian, Martha, Silvy, and child Tom (or Torra) • To his wife Nancy, Dinah, Polly, Polly's child Jet, and the child Bingley • To Virilla and her husband R.R. Royalton, Sophia - to be equal with his other married children who already received slaves Other enslaved people and other property, such as household furnishings, stock, and other property were to be managed by Lea until their youngest child became of age or was married.
Eliza Young
Eliza lived in the Tidewater region of Virginia when she was lured from the plantation by a white man who offered her and her friends a buggy ride. They ended up on an auction block and she was purchased by Temple Lea. His daughter Margaret and Eliza became very close. Eliza was a cook on the Lea plantation. Eliza was one of the four people that Margaret inherited from her father. She went with Margaret to Texas and became part of the Houston household. Appreciated for her cooking skills, she also managed the work of Vianna and Charlotte.
Joshua Joshua was born about 1822 in Marion, Alabama, likely at the Lea plantation. He was owned by Temple Lea until his death in 1834, when he was inherited by Margaret Lea, who was just a few years older than Joshua. Joshua would have worked in the vegetable,
sugar cane, and cotton fields; harvested fruit; repaired equipment; and tended to animals. He was an intelligent young man who learned several trades. After
Margaret Lea and
Sam Houston married in 1840, Joshua went with them to
Galveston, Texas, where they stayed initially with Lea, who had a house there by that time. By that time, Joshua had two children—Joe and Lucy—with an enslaved woman named Anneliza.
Vianna Vianna was the oldest enslaved person that was inherited by Margaret. The others were Charlotte, Eliza, and Joshua, who she likely looked after. Vianna died in February 1848 of pneumonia, having been with the Leas for almost 20 years.
Other slaves Charlotte, about the same age as Joshua, was held by the Leas as long as Joshua could remember. Lea brought Polly, Jet, Bingley, and Dinan with her when she moved to Galveston. She inherited them from Temple after his death. Of African descent, they were required by an ordinance of Galveston, a large slave market, to register with the mayor's office. It was common for black people to be kidnapped from the streets and sold at the slave auction. ==Religion==