This pioneer story was told to me by Aunt Matilda:
“My husband was very impatient to get started for the West where lots of free land was to be had. In 1882, we started from Illinois to Kansas in a covered wagon. We had two children, eight and six years old, and I was expecting another arrival. My husband told me we could make it in time for our baby to be born in our new home.
“The days were long and the journey rough as we picked our way in the jolting wagon. Sometimes there was a faint trail. More often, there was nothing. As we neared eastern Kansas, I knew my time had come.
“There was no doctor or midwife to help me, and with only the help of my husband, my baby girl was born in the covered wagon. No one will ever know the agony I suffered. I prayed to God to let me die. But, somehow, I pulled through and have lived to a ripe old age.”
Mrs. J. Singley
Marion, Texas
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.