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Toddler Bit by Rattlesnake

By Capper's Staff
Published on August 3, 2011

My mother was born June 10, 1853.
When she was 3, her parents decided to move from Indiana
to Missouri
in a covered wagon. When they stopped to prepare a meal, my grandmother put her
3-year-old out on the ground to play. Mother promptly was bit by a rattlesnake
on her right hand. Each person in the large camp area seemed to have a
different remedy, but they found a doctor among the travelers, and he gave her
a strong beverage, and she recovered!

My mother lived to be 92. She had
12 children, but I never saw her mad once. Everything was always all right with
her.

Minnie Mercer
Maryville,
Missouri


Back in 1955 a call
went out from the editors of the then
CAPPER’s WEEKLY asking for readers to send
in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early
settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from
grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were
received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first
My
Folks title – My Folks Came in a
Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine
other books have since been published in the
My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to
make those stories available to our growing online community.