In 1909, two Oklahoma brothers aged just five and nine set off on horseback from near Frederick to Santa Fe—and back—alone.
Their father, the larger-than-life "Catch-'Em-Alive" Jack Abernathy, gave them his blessing, a shotgun, a New Testament and a checking account. The following year the boys rode all the way to New York City to greet their father’s old friend Theodore Roosevelt, became national celebrities along the way, met President Taft and even drove a car home.
How Curious explores the extraordinary adventures of Bud and Temple Abernathy, and asks what their story reveals about childhood, independence, and the American West of a very different era.
Download the episode transcript here.
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Bud and Temple Abernathy in their Brush automobile
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This statue of Temple and Bud Abernathy stands outside the courthouse of Frederick in southwestern Oklahoma
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Part of the display dedicated to Bud and Temple Abernathy in Frederick's Townside Museum
Part of the display dedicated to Bud and Temple Abernathy in Frederick's Townside Museum
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A Brush automobile on display at the Frederick Townsite Museum
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Frederick resident Virginia Walker owns the land which once belonged to the Abernathy family
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A marker near to Frederick, Oklahoma
