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Antique Teakettle a Prized Possession

By Capper's Staff
Published on October 30, 2012

The one item I prize most in my antique collection is an iron teakettle my grandparents started housekeeping with in January 1856. Grandmother died when Mother was 2 years old. Grandfather took her and lived with his mother until the Civil War broke out, then he went into the service. No man could stay home. Old men too feeble for service were killed by the bushwhackers in that part of the country. Women and children were alone and scared to death all the time. Mother said there would come a runner telling them the “Flopp Ear’d Dutch” were coming, killing all women and children.

Everyone the log cabin accommodated would gather at Grannie’s house, where they would put the children to bed. They would make coffee and tea in this teakettle while they watched all night.

Mother said often the “Flopp Ear’d Dutch” never came, and would have been their friends, not foes, had they known it.

Grandfather came through the war OK and lived until February 25, 1912.

Mrs. Chas Newman
Rogersville, 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.