During the Civil War, when my grandfather, William Butler Barlow, was a boy of 14, he was attending morning services at Mount Zion Methodist Church in Washington County, Kentucky, when it was surrounded by guerrillas. He said that the first hints he had that something was wrong was when the church all at once began to grow dark, and he saw several men drop their pocketbooks into their boot tops. Looking toward the windows, he saw a man sitting on a horse at each window with a drawn gun, while others entered the church and robbed the members of their money and any other valuable belongings. Then, before leaving, the guerrillas exchanged their worn horses for the better ones belonging to the congregation and rode away.
Frances Anderson
Louisville, Kentucky
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.