Adobe House Stood From 1907 to 1978

We lived in a tent and a small shack after we came to Oklahoma in 1907. On Thanksgiving Day of that year we moved into a new adobe home, 16 by 24 feet.

The adobe blocks were made on the farm. The virgin sod was plowed, then disced. Water and a small portion of soil were worked with a spade and hoe into a very tough mixture. The mud mix was packed firmly into a hardwood mold, 8 by 12 by 16 inches, and let stand a few minutes before it was cut loose from the sides, and the mold could be lifted from the block. The adobe block was not moved until it was dry enough to turn, then each day it was turned until it was dry on all sides.

The blocks were laid like bricks in a wall, with mud as mortar.

Ten years later three more rooms with adobe walls were added, and the house was plastered inside and stuccoed outside. It still stands in 1978. 

Fern Pounds
Elmwood, 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.