Father’s boyhood days, after he was 12 or 13 years old were spent on their home farm in Montgomery County. The country then being so sparsely settled educational advantages were very limited. There were no public schools then and only a few if any, months of private, (or as they were generally called subscription) schools each year. The teachers usually were very poorly qualified and the instruction was very inferior. Father assisted Grandfather in cultivating the farm during the spring and summer, helped in harvesting the wheat and oats and in the fall assisted in gathering the corn crop. Then during the winter perhaps for two or three months he attended school. Therefore during his school days in Missouri his environments were so unfavorable that the additional education he acquired was only a meager knowledge of such studies as spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. But he was ambitious to become a better scholar and by close application to his studies at home, he became when a young man, a fairly good English scholar, and for that day, a man of more than ordinary information.

When he was about seventeen or eighteen years old, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and when he was nineteen, he was admitted into membership in the Missouri Annual Conference of that church and became the boy preacher of the conference. The first three or four years of his ministerial life were spent in Southeast Missouri as a circuit rider. I have heard him speak of appointments assigned to him by the Annual Conference, to the Farmington (St. Genevieve County, Missouri) and Potosi Circuits. I remember to have heard him relate some incidents which occurred while he was a young itinerant preacher. One that interested me happened while he was on the Farmington circuit. He was a guest at the home of a prominent member of the church, and the waiter on the table was the pretty young daughter of his host. In those days it was the custom for each person to pass his plate to the host at the head of the table for a helping of meat. He complied with the same and when his plate was returned to him, there was a generous helping of fish. Unfortunately for him, especially on that occasion he absolutely could not eat fish and he was in a dilemma as to what to do.. The young lady who passed him other dishes of food praised the fish as of very fine quality and hoped he would enjoy it. He was young and of course under the circumstances was very much embarrassed. On the spur of the moment he hastily decided that for once he would try to eat fish. He did so, but the first mouthful so nauseated him that he asked to be excused, and went out of doors to get rid of the obnoxious morsel of fish. Returning to the table he apologized for his hasty exit, explaining to the host that ha could not eat fish. Thereafter, he said, when he visited that family, fish was not a part of the menu.

He remained in Southeast Missouri until the year 1831. The Annual conference was held late in the fall of that year and when the appointments were announced by the Bishop near the close of the conference, his was the Greene County Mission in Southwest Missouri, which was a new territory, in which up to that time there were no organizations of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

After the close of the conference, Father decided he would visit his father and other relations in Montgomery County before going to his new field of labor. He spent two or three weeks on this visit and then returned to Farmington, his last circuit before the conference to get some books and clothing which he had left there. He remained at Farmington and vicinity a few days and then started horseback to Southwest Missouri about the beginning of the year 1831. He carried in a pair of saddle bags a few books and some wearing apparel, about all of his worldly possessions except his horse, saddle and bridle. It was a long tiresome journey. Almost all of the country through which his route lay was rough and mountainous and was very thinly settled and it took him some time to reach his destination, being often delayed by rainy weather and high water. There were no bridges over any of the creeks, and he had to wait sometimes a day or two after a big rain until some creek became fordable. There were so few families living on the road he traveled that frequently he had difficulty in obtaining a night's lodging, and a few times traveling several miles after dark before he found a stopping place with some settler.

While pursuing his lonely journey, and when only a few days travel from his destination, one morning he overtook some people who were evidently movers, judging by the appearance of their two covered wagons, drawn by fairly good, but tired looking horses. He soon learned when at the first opportunity he engaged in conversation with the oldest of the men, with the wagons, of whom he saw four, all walking to lighten the burdens of the jaded teams that they were emigrants from Tennessee and were going to Greene County, Missouri. The old gentleman, who he supposed, was the father of the family, and appeared to be about fifty years old was a tall rather portly man, had red hair beginning to get slightly gray, and who said his name was Joseph Rountree. That he and two sons had gone the previous year to Greene County bought some land and built a log dwelling house on the land and near a small creek, and then returned to Tennessee, late in the fall and made preparations to emigrate to their new home. He said they had been very much delayed on their journey by rain and swollen streams, after having to travel a long distance before they could find a crossing or ferry over some of the larger creeks and rivers. They crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry boat at Kaskaskia, Missouri.

Father told the courteous gentleman, whose very affable demeanor and speech evidenced that he was a person of good manners and fair education, that he too, was on his way to Greene County, Missouri, that he was a Methodist minister, and expected to establish a Methodist Church there in a section of the state, which, at that time, was classed by the Annual Conference as a Mission, with no Methodist church organization within its bounds.. Mrs. Rountree, the mother of the emigrant family on hearing that the young traveler was a Methodist preacher, informed him that she too was a Methodist and joined with her husband in extending a cordial invitation to the young minister to travel with them during the remainder of their journey and to stop with them when they reached their destination. He gladly accepted the kind invitation and thus began a friendship between the homeless young man in a new, strange country, and this pioneer family, which continued throughout their lives. One member of this emigrant family, a young girl, was Louisa Amanda Rountree, under sixteen years old. She was a blonde, and had red hair and brown eyes. Apparently she greatly impressed the young preacher on first sight. He was a small (5 feet, 9 inches) and rather slender young man of dark complexion, had black hair and gray eyes.

They continued their journey together. The young minister camping with the movers at night and thankfully accepting their hospitality, and in a few days arrived at the new Rountree home in Greene County, Missouri Be accepted their kind invitation, and young Slavens made his home temporarily with them.

Soon after arriving at their destination he began his efforts to establish a Mission Methodist Church in Greene County. At that time there were very few white people living in that section of Missouri. There was a trading post about two miles from the Rountree home which furnished supplies to the few settlers and to sortie Cherokee Indians, a tribe of half civilized aborigines whose camp became known as “Cherokee Town”. This was some ten or twelve miles from the trading post, and the Indians arrayed in their blankets, leggins and moccasins were often at the post to exchange their furs for some supplies. The braves, as the Indian men were called, were sometimes accompanied by their squaws (Indian wives) and babies or papooses. The braves were armed with bows and arrows and a few of them had guns. The braves generally rode their ponies, while their squaws walked carrying their papooses on their backs.

In planning for the establishment of the first Methodist Church in Greene County, the young circuit rider, to whom that duty had been assigned by the Annual Conference, found that it was an arduous undertaking. There was no church house and he had to find some place in which to hold religious services. The Rountrees had invited him to preach in their home and accordingly he accepted the invitation and made it one of his regular preaching places.. Another was in a little log building used for a schoolhouse near the store where later the town of Springfield was founded. Some persons contend that the town began with the establishment of the trading post or store by John P. Campbell in 1829, but the new settlement was not known as Springfield until after Father preached his first sermon in the little log school house. He was therefore the first minister to hold religious services in Springfield, Missouri. He continued his ministerial work without ceasing, having secured the assistance of a few men and women who had been members of the Methodist Church before their emigration to Southwest Missouri. He organized a church composed of these former members, among whom were Mrs. Joseph Rountree and her daughter Louisa and also some other persons who had been converted under his ministry since he came to Greene County There were about twenty members in the church when first organized, but the membership continued to increase until at the end of the first year of his labor on the Greene County Mission Circuit, it had more than doubled arid it continued to grow as long as he was pastor of the church. The new church was organized in the log building which had been used for some time as a schoolhouse. The teacher of the school was Joseph Rountree, who was the first person to teach school in Greene County, Missouri. He was a good English scholar and I think he had bean a school teacher in Tennessee, before emigrating to Mi.ssouri. He was a man of excellent character r and although he was riot a member of any church he was strictly a. moral man r was scrupulously honest in dealing with his fellow man and throughout a long life was universally regarded by everyone who knew him as one of Greene County’s most highly respected citizens.

About two years after Father became acquainted with Joseph Rountree and his family, with whom in the meantime he and they became intimate friends as he visited them often, both in a ministerial and social capacity. He became a member of the family being united in marriage with Mr. and Mrs.. Rountree's daughter, Louisa Amanda on June 17, 1832. Rev. William Redmond presiding Elder of the Southwest Mission district performed the marriage ceremony. Not very long after their marriage they established a home in the little village of Springfield, beginning their first housekeeping in a small one story log house and they were one of the very few families living in Springfield then. The previous fall Father had attended the Annual Conference of the Church and he was again returned to the Greene County Mission CircuitS Although his salary as circuit preacher consisted of local donations and allowances from the conference of a small amount, still upon this he undertook to support himself and his young wife... They had received some help from Mother’s parents in purchasing their household goads, or, probably most of their furniture, beds and bedding were given them by her parents As the salary he received as pastor of the church, together with the conference appropriation did not amount to more than two hundred dollars, they evidently were able to procure only the poorest kind of a living during their first years experience of married life. But by strict economy they succeeded in living within their income which however was augmented to some extent by food and other aid from her parents. Father devoted his attention continuously to his clerical work during this year and many new members were added to the church..

On February 13, 1834 an important event in their lives occurred when their first child, a son, was born, whom they named Zenas Ludolphus. The Zenas part of the name was for Uncle Zenas Rountree, but 1 do not know why Ludolphus became a part of his name. I never knew or heard of any one of either of their families of that unusual name. Probably they may have seen the name in some religious or historical book and liked it.. He was always called Dolph by the family and all who knew him. I have heard Mother say that he was the first white child born in Springfield, Missouri. I think probably there had been one or more children born previous to Dolph ‘s birth in the country adjacent to the little village but none in the town.

The Annual Conference was held in the spring of 1935 and when the appointments were announced Father’s was The Shawnee Indian Mission, near Fort Leavenworth in the state of Kansas and where later the town of Leavenworth was founded. Father and Mother were surprised and I have no doubt they were very much disappointed when they learned they would have to go to Kansas and Father would have to become a missionary, this time to a tribe of Indians.

It had been a courageous undertaking for the young itinerant preacher when he left the more civilized section of Southeast Missouri and came to the Mission Circuit to which he had been appointed in the sparsely settled region in the southwest part of the state where he had labored faithfully and with good success for four years. But it requited a higher order of courage for the same minister and his young wife, not yet eighteen years old, and having the care of a young babe, to leave their relatives and friends and go to the Mission in Kansas, a country at that time having as inhabitants many savage and only a few partially civilized tribes of Indians and a few trappers, hunters and traders, many of whom were but little more civilized than were sortie of the red men of the plains.. But notwithstanding their youth and the stupendous work they were undertaking and without any assurance of support beyond the meager allowance appropriated by the Annual Conference, an amount wholly inadequate for their living expenses they heroically accepted the appointment, and bidding their friends and relative adieu, they went to their new home in the west, with a firm determination to do their duty regardless of consequences.

They had no doubt been greatly distressed in regard to how they would be able to move to their new field of labor. They ha no means of defraying the expense incident to transporting themselves and their belongings to the Kansas Mission, having saved nothing from their scant income during the past year. I d not know whether Father still owned his horse or not, but I thin it more than likely he either soLd it or left it with Grandfather Rountree as he would not need it at the mission, and it would b ai expense and of no use should he take it with him. They were relieved of their dilemma with regard to moving, however, as some of their relatives conveyed them and their household goods 1: covered wagons to Independence, Missouri and thence to Westport and a mile further on crossed the state line and close by was the Shawnee Mission in Kansas. There, young and of course Inexperienced in the ways of the Indians, they began their lifE among these people.

They found on reaching their destination that there was a small dwelling house to be used by the missionary. There were no furnishings in the building and they had to depend wholly upon the small amount of furniture, beds, bedding and cooking utensils they had brought with them. The house had a chimney and Mother did her cooking on the fireplace in pots and ovens.

The Shawnee Indians, it seemed, were a semi—civilized tribe and were kind and friendly in their rude way. They were dressed in their native garb; the men were clothed in blankets, which reached below their knees, and leggins and moccasins, and the squaws had shorter blankets and a skirt reaching to the beaded moccasins on their feet and a cloth or sometimes a red handkerchief covering their heads.. The Indian men and women all wore their hair long and the women’s hair was generally plaited and hung down their backs. The men wore their hair loose and frequently decorated with bright colored feathers.. The attire of these Indians was similar to that of the Cherokees, whose village was near the James River south of Springfield, Missouri, whom Father and Mother had seen frequently when they came to the past store to trade their furs for supplies..

The Shawnees had a number of wigwams and a few rude huts sometimes called hogans near the preacher’s house on their reservation. Near this reservation was Fort Leavenworth, garrisoned by some Federal soldiers, and the nearness of the federal troops, was very gratifying to the missionary and his young wife in this strange land and among the savage looking Indians. It is said that the town of Leavenworth which later sprang up near this Indian reservation derived its name from this government fort. It was only a mile or two from where some years later the town of Kansas City was founded. And the town of Westport, which eventually became Kansas City, was a small village when Father and Mother were at the Shawnee Mission.

As soon as they got established in their new quarters, Father made arrangements to start a school to teach the Indians to spell and read English. Several of them could talk some in English, and they were very anxious to spell and read. It was a big undertaking to get them started. They knew absolutely nothing of the language and had to be taught like little children beginning with the alphabet and were really mare difficult to teach than small white children. But they all, especially the boys and girls and young men and women of the tribe, made fair progress in their studies considering the fact that they were wholly ignorant of the same when the effort to teach them began.

Then too, Father had an even greater undertaking in his effort to preach to these Indians. A few of them knew some English words, but not enough to be able to understand a sermon in English and most of them knew no English. It was necessary then for him to have art interpreter, and he obtained the services of an old hunter and trapper, a white man who had an Indian wife and who could speak the Shawnee language. Accordingly he carefully prepared his sermons using the most simple and easily understood words possible, which by being slowly interpreted, often times repeating a sentence two or three times, until they were able to understand. Be continued this slow manner of preaching to them and in the meantime instructing them daily in their school and before the end of the year, many of them could comprehend much of his sermons without the aid of an interpreter. Nearly all of the boys and girls, young men and young women and some of the older bucks and squaws had learned to spell and some had learned to read a little.

I do not know whether a church organization was effected among these Indians daring Father’s service among them as a missionary. If I ever heard him or Mother refer to it I have forgotten what they said. I think however that he probably did establish a small church organization.

There were no other white people on the reservation during their sojourn there, except a few squaw men, as white men having Indian wives were called, and also the white man who had a trading post, or store, on the reservat ion and who exchanged groceries and other merchandise with the Indians and trappers for their furs.. This owner of their trading post also sold Father groceries and provisions. Much of their food though was provided for them by the Indians. There was an abundance of game of many kinds, such as deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits and some bear. The Indians, a few of whom had firearms but most of whom were armed with bows and arrows, killed game sufficient for their own needs and also to supply the preacher and wife with all the meat they needed. They also had some small fields in cultivation upon which were grown corn, potatoes, pumpkins and squashes. These little fields were tilled by the Indian squaws, who in fact did all of the work on the reservation. The Indian men or braves regarded labor of any kind with contempt. They would hunt, fish or trap game, but work of any kind they would not do. The squaws, who were no better than slaves, did it all.

Mother learned a good deal of the Indian manner of cooking from the squaws. She said they often cooked several different kinds of vegetables together in a pot and the mess thus concocted was greatly relished by the Indians. Mother said the squaws sometimes brought her some of their “hodge podge". Of course She and Father tried to eat this, but knowing how filthy the squaws were about their cooking, they found it unpalatable, and she had to throw most of it. away. She said the squaws taught her to cook hominy. Their manner of doing this was very primitive. They put a lot of wood ashes and water in a vessel and in this mixture they put some Indian maize or corn. They let the corn remain in the mixture to soak for several hours until the outside husk became loosened. Then they took out the corn and washed it many times in water until the ashes were washed off and all of the husks were removed. Then it was ready to be cooked and when boiled in water until it was very well cocked and tender, it was very good and nourishing food.

The squaws also taught her to make moccasins leggins in the manufacture of which they were experts and did very beautiful and artistic work embellishing the footwear especially with beads of various colors.

Mother said the squaws were usually very kind to her and would frequently come to visit her and some of them would bring their babies or papooses with them. Brother Dolph in a few months after they went to the mission was beginning to crawl. Often when the squaws would come, he would be playing on the floor and the squaws would put their babies down on the floor to play with the white papoose as they called him. She dreaded for them to play together as the Indian papooses were invariably infested with vermin and sometimes her baby after being near an Indian papoose would become lousy too and cause her a lot of trouble.

Mother said there was-a young Indian, a boy nearly grown, the son of the Chief of this tribe whose name was Jim who frequently came to see the pooty white papoose as he called brother Dolph. He would play with baby for hours trying to amuse him. He had a fine Indian pony which he frequently rode on his visits to her house and he would want to take mooch pooty papoose to ride on pony, but she would not permit him to do so.

Father and Mother remained only one year at the Shawnee Mission. During that time they had some experiences that were by no means pleasant. The white man at the stare, or trading post frequently sold some of the Indians whiskey, which the Indians called "firewater”. Then they would proceed to get gloriously and somewhat beastly drunk and sometimes would become very noisy and quarrelsome to such an extent that they would have to call on the soldiers at the garrison to quell the disturbance. Usually however, the Indians, when not under the influence of intoxicating liquor, were very peaceable and gave Father and Mother no trouble whatever,

There was sometimes a disturbance from another cause.. There were two other tribes of Indians, the weaws and the Peankeshaws both of which were nomadic and were of a thieving marauding disposition. They were enemies of the Shawnees and on one occasion while Father and Mother were at the mission, these tribes made a raid on the Shawnees and captured and drove off a lot of Shawnee cattle and a few ponies. This occurred when most of the Shawnee men were on a hunt but as soon as it was known, the Shawnee braves, armed with bows and arrows and some who had guns with them, started on their ponies to try to recapture their stolen property. They came back in a few days with some but not all of the stock. Mother said when the Weaws and Peankeshaws made their raid on the Shawnee reservation, they came without warning, yelling and riding their ponies at full speed and their great outcry stampeded the Shawnee stock, which the raiders rounded up and drove off.