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Woman Remembers Life in Covered Wagon

By Capper's Staff
Published on June 12, 2012

I truly know what it was like to live in a covered wagon. When I was a girl I went with my parents on a leisurely trip from Nebraska to Arkansas. We lived in the wagon for a year then. And for eight months longer, until we got our dugout finished, we continued to live in the wagon and a tent.

As a bride I went with my husband in a covered wagon to the Panhandle of Oklahoma where we took up a homestead and lived in the wagon and a tent until our sod house was finished. I was so proud of that house and so happy when we moved in! My happiness didn’t last long, though, because the sod house caved in! Luckily, no one was inside. So it was back to living in the wagon and tent again.

I never expect to have to live in a covered wagon again, but I know how.

Mary DeHaven
Kennewick, Wash.


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.