In the early part of the century,
when a person died, the country undertaker might prepare the corpse in a shed
at his residence. And when the body had been made ready for burial, it often
looked as well cared for as if it had been embalmed in a city mortuary.
The body of the deceased was
brought home for perhaps two nights before the funeral. Usually two or three
friends would “sit up” near the coffin after the family retired.
One night my brother and mother
were sitting up at a friend’s house. While the undertaker was in attendance, he
would wring soft cloths taken from a pan of salt water and place them on the
dead woman’s face, neck and hands. As he left he asked Mother if she would
continue the treatment every two hours. “That way, Phoebe’s face and hands will not
turn so dark,” he explained.
With my brother beside her, Mother
carried on. This pioneer woman had never done such a task before, but she added
it to a long list of unusual jobs she had learned to do since coming from Ohio to Kansas
to marry before her nineteenth birthday.
Thelma Blosser
Loucks
Canton, Kansas
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.
