SEPTEMBER 7, 1861

Zee born in Kansas City, Missouri, was the youngest of three sisters and a brother. She was the baby and really didn't fit in with her other siblings. They didn't include her in many activities, so she turned to her 'Uncle Billy, a lot because he would listen to her, do things with her and tell her stories.

One day while playing hooky from school, because she hates book learnin', she was in the woods near her home when she saw some men come calling on her folks. She heard some shots and upon sneaking up to the house and looking into a window, she saw her parents dead on the floor. The drifters wrecked the place searching for valuables. Horrified and afraid that they might kill her, too, she ran off.

She kept running until she arrived at the Kansas River. There she saw a train that had stopped at the watering station. Quickly she climbed aboard the caboose and peering into the window, she saw lots of different children; different sizes and different ages. While no one was watching the door, she opened it a crack and slid inside. Hunching near the window trying hard not to be noticed, she sat in the last seat near the door in case she had to make a break for it. Everybody just thought she was an orphan and soon she was pretending to be one. When she heard that their next stop would be Dreamville, Nebraska, she started to feel a little better because her cousin, Jesse, lived in Dreamville. She just knew that he would help her.