CHAPTER 1

As dawn broke over the Southern Missouri hills one frosty morning in 1855, nineteen-year-old James Sanders was walking briskly toward the barn to do his chores. As he walked he heard the usual sounds – a rooster crowing, hens clucking, cows mooing, and the restless noises made by the horses.

Milly, his sister’s favorite riding horse, came trotting up for her usual morning petting. Because she was rejected by her mother at birth and had to be milk-fed from a bottle, Milly considered herself to be a member of the family.

The farm was typical of most farms in the Midwest at that time – small but productive, the farmhouse modest but comfortable, nestled among some large shade trees with rolling hills in the distance. Nearby were a chicken house, a cellar, a large fenced-in vegetable garden, and an apple orchard.

Rising early wasn’t a problem for James since he normally went to bed at an early hour. So it was his practice to tend to the farm animals’ needs before having his breakfast. They were always ready and waiting to be fed and watered.

He saw Caleb, the hired man, coming up the hill from his home down in the valley a short distance away, his faithful dog following behind. Caleb never failed to arrive in time to help with the early chores and was a welcome sight each morning about this time.

After their usual greetings, “morning’ James, “morning’ Caleb”, they went on about their work. Unless some problem had arisen that needed discussing, that is. Otherwise, Caleb knew as well as James what needed doing.

James’ work was made better by the anticipation of a hearty breakfast later of ham, eggs, biscuits, and strawberry preserves at the big table in the kitchen, warmed by the heat of the open fireplace where meals were prepared by his mother, Emmaline.

His father, Samuel, was already having his breakfast along with other members of the family – Nell, 15, and Jessie, 14. Sam, 5, had just gotten up for the day and was being cared for by sister Harriett, 17, who was a big help to her mother.

In addition to farming, Samuel taught grades one through eight at the one-room school house a short distance away. He was well respected in the community and an important figure along with the doctor, preacher, and the general store owner. The school building was also used for church meetings on Sunday morning, as well as serving as a community center.

As soon as he had finished eating, Samuel said to Jessie, “Hurry along, son, we’d best be on our way.” Since James, Nell, and Harriett had already finished the eighth grade, only Samuel and Jessie, warmly dressed, left for the one-mile hike. It was necessary for them to get there early, especially in winter, to get a fire going in the fireplace, to draw buckets of fresh water for the students to drink, and to sweep the snow off the walk up to the school and to the outhouse if needed.

As they said goodbye, Samuel said, “The rest of you mind your Ma and James and do what they ask you to do.”

“OK, we will,” they said.

Soon after their arrival, all the students began to straggle in with lunch buckets ready to begin another day. Samuel never knew how many would show up because of illness, or simply kept home to help with a particular project on the farm that day. On a good day, he had about fifteen students.

Back at the farm, James lingered a little longer than usual at breakfast with his mother after the others were gone. This was a quiet time for them, and they looked forward to it as often as possible. There were many things to be discussed about the running of the place, and Emmaline depended on him so much.

Emma had been thinking a lot about James lately. He was soon to be twenty, a handsome young man about 5’11’ with dark brown hair and eyes, and girls were starting to notice. She wanted him to be happy, of course, but didn’t know what they would do if he should decide to marry and maybe strike out on his own, perhaps even moving on West looking for a place to settle as some young men were doing those days.

She also worried about all the turmoil in the country over the issue of slavery and all the heated discussions pro and con. With Missouri being a border state, it was especially troubling. There were mixed feelings on both sides of the issue. Few if any of the settlers in the state owned slaves, and certainly none in this area of small farms. It was Emma’s hope that neither Samuel nor James would become involved in such political matters.

But right now she was concerned mostly with their life on the farm. If James had his eye on any particular young lady at the moment, she wasn’t aware of it.

Getting up from the table, James said, “Well, Ma, I’d like to just sit here in the warm kitchen, but I’d better get back to the barn and see how Caleb’s getting along. I’ll tell him he can come down and grab these extra biscuits and the last of the coffee, if that’s all right. I know he always hopes to hear that when I get back from breakfast. In fact, I think that’s why he gets here so early in the morning.”

“Of course James, tell him to come on down, and bring him later at noon if he’ll come,” said Emmaline.

When James arrived back at the barn, Caleb reported that Missy, one of the cats, had given birth to four little ones during the night. He said, “You might want to tell the girls about it.”

James laughed and said, “Well, you can tell them yourself when you run down to the house. Ma has some coffee and leftover biscuits and jam for you.”

As Emma stood watching James striding toward the barn, her thoughts turned to Caleb and she looked forward to seeing him as usual. She had such a soft spot in her heart for the young man. He’d had such a rough time of it in his young life.

He had worked for Samuel and Emma as a hired hand for about five years. And she and Samuel had known his parents, Fredrik and Bertha Reinhardt, for many years. Fredrik had migrated from Germany after being released from an orphanage where he had spent most of his life. He had heard tales about the good life in America and the land available for the taking. So after making a lot of inquiries, he managed to get a job working his way across the ocean on a ship carrying many passengers.

Upon his arrival, Fredrik found that things were not as rosy as he had expected. He spent a year or more struggling to find enough work just to feed himself, before he finally got a job as a farmhand in upstate New York. There he met a young woman by the name of Bertha Mason.

His biggest problem since coming to the U.S.A. had been his difficulty in speaking the language, so Bertha took pity on him and tried to help him. Later their friendship developed into love, and they quietly became man and wife with her parents’ approval.

Fredrik also learned a lot from Bertha about the country, including how many young couples were going West to find a better life. Frederik couldn’t get this idea off his mind, remembering all that he had heard about the available land before he left Germany. So later, after working hard and managing to save a little money, they joined a group going by covered wagon to seek their fortune where they might find it. By that time, they had their first child, a baby girl named Lucy.

Although excited about the journey in the beginning, they soon began to grow weary. Though they had started out in early spring, there were days when the weather was most unpleasant – windy, rainy, cold days for a while, only to be followed by hot sunshine beating down.

Also, traveling with a young child less than a year old was difficult, especially managing laundry problems. And little Lucy became ill on several occasions, which was quite a worry for Bertha. So by the time they reached Missouri, they and a few other couples decided that this would be a good place to stop and make their home.

It was rough going for the next few years. The families helped each other build cabins and get settled in. They were able to grow most of the food they needed and have feed for the two cows, the chickens, pigs, etc.

Shortly after their arrival in Missouri, Bertha had given birth to a baby boy. They named him Caleb. He was a healthy youngster, and by the time he was five years old, he was able to do some of the lighter chores. This was a big help because Fredrik had developed an illness, which the doctor finally decided was Consumption and that there was very little he could do to cure it. All he could advise was to rest as much as possible.

After a time, things got so bad that Bertha was forced to make a decision she had tried to avoid. Because his help was so desperately needed at home, she stopped sending Caleb to school after the fifth grade. Caleb was heartbroken. It broke Bertha’s heart also, but she had no choice in the matter. Fred was barely able to get out of bed in the morning. To make matters worse, their daughter Lucy ran away after her 17^th birthday and married a young man who lived fifteen miles away just to escape it all.

As it turned out, the doctor was right. Fredrik died a painful death a short time later. After he was buried, Bertha sat down with Caleb and said, “Well it’s just you and me, child. May the Lord have mercy on us.”

In the days that followed, Bertha and Caleb managed the best they could, but it wasn’t easy. Some neighbors lent a hand, especially Sam Sanders who occasionally paid Caleb to help with chores at their farm.

By the time Caleb was sixteen, he was working almost full time at the farm. Although the income was a big help to Bertha, it was rough on Caleb doing this in addition to his own chores at home. But he loved working for Mr. Sanders, his old teacher.

The Sanders family was quite happy with Caleb around. He proved to be reliable and trustworthy and a good worker, always eager to please. He was a quiet man, a couple of years older than James and well liked by everyone. From time to time James would kid his sister Harriet, telling her that Caleb had his eye on her. Her reply always was, “Will you stop that, James? You know that I’m not interested in him except as a friend. You just like to get something started. Make him stop, Ma.”

Emma would say, “James, let your sister alone,” and he wouldn’t say anything more for a couple of days.

Actually, James was right about Caleb. He did have his eye on Harriett. He had for a long time. But that’s all he did – just look and dream. As the hired hand around the place, he felt there was little hope that he could someday become a member of the Sanders family, even though that had always treated him as a friend.

The truth was, although Harriett was a good girl and did her share of the work around the place, she was not as friendly or attractive as her mother used to be or as little sister Nell showed signs of becoming. So James secretly hoped that Harriett would consider marrying Caleb someday, thinking he would make her a good husband.

Of his two sisters, Nell was clearly his favorite, but he tried not to show it. Nell had always been fun to be around, dashing from place to place, happily riding Millie. It was quite obvious she’d have no problem finding a suitor when the time came.

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Like his father before him, Samuel Sanders had worked hard all his life. There was a lot of work involved in just running a farm, and during the times when school was in session, it was especially difficult. But Sam sometimes wondered how they would get by without the extra money he received from teaching. It helped to keep the farm operation going to provide for their daily needs.

But now James had taken over most of the heavy-duty farm work. With the help of Caleb and with lighter chores being taken on by the other children, Sam was able to relax a bit more. So no one thought anything about it one morning when he was late for breakfast, except Emma. When everyone had finished and he hadn’t appeared, she decided to check and found him in bed, appearing to be sleeping. But when she got closer to the bed she realized that something was wrong. She called for James, who suspected immediately that his father had passed on. He hurriedly left in the wagon to fetch Doc Brown.

Less than an hour later, the doctor walked slowly downstairs, with a sobbing Emma following along behind. He said, “I’m sorry, children, to have to tell you that your father passed away. His heart simply stopped beating. It may be some consolation to know that this is one of the most painless ways of passing on – to just go in one’s sleep. He was a fine man and kept any worries that he might have had about it to himself. And, knowing him, I’m sure he would have wanted all of you to be as much help to your Ma as you can in the days ahead.

This was quite a shock to the family. They simply couldn’t believe their beloved father had gone so unexpectedly. It was especially puzzling for young Sam. Living on a farm, he was familiar with death, but couldn’t believe it had happened to his Pa. It was also difficult for Emma, just to have no warning.

The funeral was held two days later. Almost everyone from miles around came to pay their respects. The men dressed in their best suits, if they had one, and the women dressed in their long calico dresses and colorful sunbonnets. Most of them had known Sam personally as the man who had taught their children to read and write. Many brought covered dishes of food, which were eaten picnic-style on a table in the church yard. He was buried in back of the little building.

Even though deeply grieved, life went on. James was a big help to his mother through it all, and she realized more than ever that he was now a man. She was so proud of the way he took charge of the running of the farm and kept things going. In fact, he even agreed to take over Samuel’s classes until a new teacher could be found, even though it wasn’t what he liked doing.