Tell us about "grandma's "good old days"? (grandparents, depression)

[galaxyhi]

Tell us about your grandmother's and grandfathers "good old days", and would you want to go back in time to live Then?

My grandmother was born and raised very early last century, in the Appalachian mountains, a very small town. Population today is still only 1,200 as of 2010 census, and it is the county seat. She was the youngest of 17 children.

She grew up:growing their own food, learning to cook on a coal fired stove, a cow and pig and chickens in the barn. A mule for transportation. The chicken feathers were saved after being plucked for pillow stuffing. Feed sacks and flower and sugar sacks ( cotton printed material...NOT today's burlap or woven plastics) became everything from handmade clothing, curtains, quilts, anything needing cloth material basically.

She was about 10 when the great war came about (WWI). She married as an "old maid"....she was 26 before marrying! That tgen was considered "old maid" material.

She was fortunate enough to go to Normal school, a kind of Junior High after elementary school, because the family pulled together to pay for it. She always wished she was able to finish to high school.

Coal was basically dug right out of the ground in her area. Most of the men worked the coal mines as well as farmed things like tobacco and the family food crops.

When she married, she came with a mule and some chickens, and a 4 acres plot, donated from huge family farm. It was considered enough to farm on, to build a house and barn. My grandfather came from a town about 75 miles away. He cane with a whole $20 to start the family. Grandmother had 7 kids herself, tgey all were born at home by the assistance of a "country doctor" or midwife.

Water was fetched from a well, dropping a bucket down to gather it. There was an outhouse for, um, you know. My great aunt ( grandmother's older sister) STILL did NOT have indoor plumbing until 1978, when the town government insisted 8t be added to all properties, and gave no interest loans. I fondly remember visiting her, but the only thing I hated was: no tv, and definitely hated the outhouse and cleaning out #2 from the lard buckets we used at night to avoid the trip to the outhouse in the dark!!!

The only phones in the county was downtown, in the general store and one in the courthouse/town hall. If you got a call, some kid would run out to your farm to tell you to cone, and you would be reconnected to the party who called you.


They didn't have anything in the market when it crashed, but the depression took it's toll.

My grandfather borrowed a truck, loaded it up with their belongings and headed north to the mid west to find paying work. The WWII helped out a lot.

That's a smattering of my grandmother's history, what's your "grandma tales"???

I some times think it was a much simpler time, but it WAS some hard work!

[ReachTheBeach]

My maternal grandmother died at about my age from diabetes complications that are easily avoided with current treatments. My paternal grandfather was crippled by AS from middle age until he died around age 70. The genes were passed down and my siblings and I have all had some effects (I have undifferentiated spondylitis), but with the exception of my older sister who briefly was in a wheelchair (but has recovered enough to have a mostly normal life), it has not held us back. They catch it early, make you aware of it and prescribe anti-inflammatories plus steroids and/or biologics for bad episodes. My wife and I had trouble conceiving and our kids are the result of in vitro fertilization. No, I don't yearn for a simpler time.

[seeriously]

I must be missing something. What do my grandparents hardships have to do with today's retirement?

[galaxyhi]

Originally Posted by seeriously

I must be missing something. What do my grandparents hardships have to do with today's retirement?

Today's retirees have it cushy comparatively.

Today's retired people HAVE grandparents FROM " the good old days"....


Today's kids have grandparents who grew up with many of the things we each have and use today...tv, phone, cars cars cars, etc.

They have absolutely no relation to the "good old days "...


I thought it might be nice to know what the retired , soon to be retired generation knows of the "good old days" and THEIR grandparents "WORKING LIFE" OR perhaps great grandparents "RETIREMENT".

For instance my grandmother went from a mule to a fully loaded Cadillac Sedan de Ville. From boiling water on a coal stove for washing dishes by hand, to having an automatic dishwasher. From having to walk all the way into town to use a phone, to having her own pushbutton direct dial phone.
She went from books only for entertainment to radio to bw tv to color tv to cable tv.

Ah, the good old days....

[jim9251]

My grandma told me about her "good ol days" being forced to live on a reservation, her parents land stolen, enduring day after day of scraping by and basically living on dirt.

Good ol days indeed.

[brightdoglover]

My three immigrant grandparent all died young, one before antibiotics (pre WW2) and certainly were poor. My Jewish grandparents had refuged from pogroms in the Ukraine and were grateful to live in the U.S. with its non-lethal anti-Jewish environment in Philadelphia.

My American-born grandmother dropped out of the second grade to work in a box factory (child labor was still legal) and later was on welfare and cleaned houses and was in and out of the state hospital. She stopped working for bad health in her 50s and ended up in a county home.

I never heard of retirement until I was an adult and it took longer than that for the idea or even possibility to sink in.

[Hefe]

There's nothing about my grandparents' "good old days" that I would wish for myself or anyone else.

[Minervah]

Not so much for my grandmas. They escaped persecution and death in Europe. They migrated to the UK and then to America for a better life which they had but always missed the country of their birth and those left behind and who had scattered in the Diaspora. They talked about this a lot and there was always a certain sadness about them. I don’t know if they ever really felt comfortable living here since they did not really leave their homelands by choice.

[NYgal1542]

I only vaguely remember one grandmother, my father's mother. She and her children came to America from England about 1917. Her husband had been killed in a quarry (where he worked) accident. Three boys, two girls. Grandmother had a house in Buffalo, NY. She was not a nice woman and took her anger out on my mother when something went wrong. She was in her 90s and I was about 9 when she died.

My mother's parents were both born in Wales and came over but not sure what year. Mom, her sister, and a step-brother were born here. Never met those grandparents as they passed before I was born. I believe both died from cancer.

[Lodestar]

Every grandchild on my father's side got started on coffee at an early age in grandma's breakfast nook. She'd serve it up with sugar and real cream and pour it into the saucer for us to sip cooled off.

All my grandparents had bitter times but not one of them ever talked about it to the grandchildren. It was only later researching family history that I found out about the tragedies.

On my dad's side they basically worked themselves to death at a young age. But they made a good life for those of us who followed.

And when they all got together what I remember most was how much they cared about each other and all the laughter.