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Attended a One-Room Schoolhouse in a Valley

By Capper's Staff
Published on August 14, 2012

My mother and I drove to find my new one-room schoolhouse, which was 16 miles from Waukon. It seemed a long distance, we felt lost and asked a nice man if we were on the right road. He became my husband June 12, 1929.

The school was in a valley. The birds were singing their beautiful songs and French Creek runs through this valley, it still floods several times a year. The pupils couldn’t attend regularly, because of the floods in the creek.

Sometimes at school, we caught suckers (fish) with a butterfly net and fried them on an open fire on racks and ate them with our lunch.

Clara Leppert
Lansing, Iowa


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.