Looking back on the Depression era, I have many fond memories. Probably the foremost memory is the relationship between us children and our parents, and the warm, loving home they provided.
Families did things together whether it was work or play. They planted the fields, tended them and harvested the crops in the years they were fortunate to have a crop. Families went to ice cream socials and basket dinners at school and after services at the church on Sundays. They went to shivarees, parties at homes and at the school on holiday evenings by lamplight. Families attended brush arbor revivals by the river, Sunday School and church, which were held in the schoolhouse with a visiting preacher each week.
Some of my memories of my family during the Depression era are going to a country school with my three brothers, Mother baking homemade bread, Dad shooting ducks in winter, picking greens (lamb’s-quarters) in early spring, making fudge in the iron skillet, having taffy pulls and mother going to club to make quilts.
Glenna Turner
Hardesty, Oklahoma
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.
