We saw our first railroad tracks when I came with my parents in a covered wagon from Texas. There was whooping and cheering from the men and the boys – and all of us had to take a walk on the ties.
When the wagon train stopped for the night, the older children taught us little ones how to make shadow pictures on the tent walls. I was only 3 or 4, but someone taught me to make a bunny rabbit. When we came to streams, the men and big boys would carry us smaller ones across on their backs to save the teams and because we thought it was fun. I have no idea how long we were on the road and there is no one left to ask.
I remember that when we reached our homestead, we ate off a wash tub turned upside down, and the grass around the place was so high that we children could hide from each other in it. Our first school was three miles away, and the men dragged a big log through the tall grass to make a trail so we wouldn’t get lost.
Mrs. E. Mathis
Custer City, Oklahoma
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.
