Stroyer lived on the plantation with his mother, father, two sisters and Uncle Benjamin. Stroyer's father took care of the horses and mules and at a young age Stroyer learned to tend to the animals and he also learned how to ride them. Stroyer describes his first whipping he received from his owner, because he was caught riding one of the horses. He was very surprised by this, because his mother and father were the only one's to have whipped him. "I cried out in a tone of voice as if I would say, this is the first and last whipping you will give me when my father gets hold of you. When I got away from him I ran to my father with all my might, but soon found my expectation blasted, as father very cooly said to me, "Go back to your work and be a good boy, for I cannot do anything for you" (Stroyer 69). This didn't satisfy Stroyer and he went to his mother, who confronted the owner. His mother also received a beating. Stroyer was disappointed that his mother couldn't help him. "Although mother failed to help me at first, still I had faith that when he had taken me back to the stable yard and commenced to whipping me, she would come and stop him, but I looked in vain, for she did not come" (Stroyer 70). This is when Stroyer first realized that he and the rest of the Negroes were doomed to a life of cruel treatment. .

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             Stroyer and his family continued to endure severe whippings, and Stroyer was to see his family separated at his first slave trade. Stroyer describes the excitement of some of the slaves who hoped to leave their cruel slave masters for someone better. Others were crying and weeping for they knew they probably would never see their families and friends ever again. "As the cars moved away we heard the weeping and wailing from the slaves as far as human voice could be heard; and from that time to the present I have neither seen nor heard from my two sisters, nor any of those who left Clarkson on that memorable day" (Stroyer 84).