The Loverchecks lived in Missouri, where both North and South soldiers passed through. As was the custom, both groups searched every home and took anything that appealed to them.
One of their neighbors prepared for the soldiers by stringing barrels of carpet rags all over their house, both upstairs and down. When the first group of soldiers saw the mess, they didn’t even want to go inside, but just cussed and said the other side had beaten them to that home.
Another incident happened when the soldiers took the folks’ only team and left them a sick mare and a great big old stubborn mule. The girls, as the boys had gone to fight, had a terrible time harnessing and getting the crops in the ground. When it came time to cultivate or plow the com, that ornery old mule stepped on the com rows all the time. So the harvest was very small that fall. Those times were very grim, but the antics of that old mule were funny years later.
Ruth Williamson
Gering, Nebraska
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.
