I was born in Diamond Grove, Missouri in 1864. That was just before the end of the Civil War. My mother and I belonged to the couple Moses and Susan Carver. He was a kindly German immigrant who was an abolitionist at heart. However, his need for help on his two hundred acre farm overrode his opposition to slavery.

My father was enslaved on a neighboring plantation. He was killed in an accident shortly before my birth. I was told that he was hauling wood when he fell from the load and the wagon rolled over him.