I am 82 years old, and I was born
after my parents’ immigration west. My parents came to this country from Sweden in 1864.
My father came by steamboat, but my mother came by sailboat and it took her
over three months to cross the ocean. Her first husband died at sea. My
father’s first wife died shortly after they arrived in this country, and he and
Mother each had one child.
They met and were married in Illinois. In the spring
of 1865, Father and several other men left for Kansas. They came by train to Atchison, by wagon to Irving and then Father walked 50 miles to
take a homestead. To his dismay, he found that he had forgotten his citizenship
papers, and he had to walk back after them!
He staked a claim near Cleburne, and in the fall
he sent for Mother and the two children.
There were a lot of Indians along the river fishing and
trapping. They were friendly, but would help themselves to anything.
Once when Mother was alone with the children, several
Indians walked in and took everything Mother had to eat. As they were leaving,
one of the men looked at Mother sitting in a corner crying with her small
children on her lap. He turned to the others and said something. They marched
back and put everything they had taken back on the table. Mother was very
thankful because times were awfully hard then.
Mrs. John Johnson
Home, Kansas
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.
