Stories of Girls

Mickinock and His Daughters

My Great-grandfather, Bernt Thompson, knew this guy and his family and tribe. Mickinock used to come by Bernt's house and borrow his shotgun and coonskin coat to hunt for food for his starving people. Whatever he killed, he would bring an offering back to Bernt and his family and return the shotgun and coat. My Great-grandmother, Ane Thompson, would go with Bernt to bring the children buckets of milk and loaves of cheese and bread. It was a friendship and mutual neighbor society between the Thompsons and Mickinock (who was head of his tribe,) despite some of the local community's animosity and prejudice toward the reservation and their people.


Once, Mickinock came into the Thompson's house(he never knocked, just walked in,) saw the new baby sleeping Anna (my grandmother) on the bed, snatched her up and stole her away. Hours later he returned her to her mother, snug as she had been when sleeping on the bed. It seems he wanted to show off Bernt's blonde-headed offspring to his people and family--the daughter of his friend. She was very blonde--the blondest of all Bernt's children and that seemed to fascinate the Good Medicine Man. Years later, Bernt's great-granddaughter,Sally, met up with Mickinock's great-granddaughter a long way away from the Minnesota territory where their great-grandparents had coexisted. They were good friends, too.

Bernt and Ane Thompson with their family, including my grandmother, Anna, the tiny blonde girl on the front row between them. She's the one "borrowed" for an afternoon by Mickinock.



More stories....

Wendy Lawton tells stories. Sometimes she uses words. Sometimes she has used porcelain. Starting tomorrow I will run a story about her childhood on my When I Was Just a Kid blog. It's a good story about her, but she also has piles of stories that have been published and some that have been handcrafted into porcelain dolls. And here's the kicker--she wants to share them with 3 people in a unique drawing. I'm not fooling!

The "I'm Not Fooling" Contest
The contest drawing entries can be posted in the comments section and will run from March 7 to April 1st, 2008. You have this window to post a comment on Wendy Lawton's story on When I Was Just a Kid.

On April 1st at midnight I will draw three winners from the comments made on her interview. If you want to be in on the drawing to have a chance to win here's what you must do:

1. Come up with a suggestion to Wendy for her to use in her next Daughters of Faith book. It must be a girl who made a difference in faith and life as a CHILD, on whom Wendy can find plenty of historical evidence and story in order to write a full length book. She may not use it, but she will follow up all pertinent suggestions. She can be a part of official history (like Harriet Tubman) or if her story can be substantiated historically, it can be a girl who is not listed in history books.

2. Leave an email address on the comment for me to contact you.

3. If 20 posts/comments are made, all entries will be eligible to win Wendy Lawton's beautiful interpretation doll of Harriet Tubman, who was the main character in her book, Courage to Run. This doll is valued at $695. and was a limited edition collector's item.

So, see? Not so hard to do. And you will want to get all of your friends to post, because the doll will not be offered without 20 eligible comments.

First place winner will receive her entire collection of autographed Daughters of Faith books published by Moody Publishers. This includes the brand new Pocohantas.

Second place winner will receive her autographed teen book series.

Bonus will be the Daughters of Faith limited edition autographed Courage to Run doll, Harriet Tubman.

Tune in tomorrow to learn more about the books, the doll and Wendy, the author/creator/artist.

You won't want to miss this.