I have in my possession a letter, written
during the Civil War and yellowed with age. It was written January 5, 1863, in
very fine handwriting, by my grandfather at Lexington,
Kentucky, and addressed to my grandmother at Louden City, Illinois.
I would love to share every bit of it with you, but as it is such a long letter
I will send the last paragraph. Here it is.
Write
soon in answer to this for I have not received my pay yet and I have been
informed that they will only pay us 1 1/2 months pay this time. That will only
be nineteen dollars and 50 cents, leaving twenty-six dollars unpaid. Pray for
me that I may be brought safely through my trouble and meet you in heaven. Give
my love to all my friends.
Farewell for the
present.
Joseph Beck to Lydia
and Family
Mrs. John
Patterson
Krebs, Oklahoma
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.
