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Paying It Forward on Western Missouri Homestead Pays Off

When Grandfather was away at war and my grandmother lived with her children in western Missouri in the 1860s, an old Native American chief would come to her door to ask for flour or cornmeal. Grandmother always gave it to him. She didn’t know it at the time, but she was paying it forward.

The day the rumor spread that Native Americans would burn the town and the nearby houses, the old Native American brought horses and took my grandmother and her children to his camp. He let them stay there until the scare was over.

Mrs. Hazel Bacon Dern
Hope, Arkansas


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.