Did you ever in your early life meeting someone who was then alive who was born before 1900?

[LookinForMayberry]

Originally Posted by Freesponge

And otherwise do you know anyone who you met while alive who knew someone in person who was born before 1900? How far back can you go in the earliest born person you were ever able to ask a living person about who was living when that person was alive and knew that person in person ? I mean like asking your grandfather about his relationship with his grandfather , and remembering what he said to you about his grandfather … how far can you go back

My dad's mother was born in 1897. We did not talk about her parents or older siblings.

If you have an interest in the 19th century, there are many resources for you to explore. It was a very exciting time for the human race. You can also research your own family history, where you will find many stories about your ancestors. It is a very rewarding experience for those with an interest like yours.

[katharsis]

My grandfather. Born 1892, died 1985, so he was alive for the first 31 years of my life.

[Luta57]

I was born in '57 and knew my great grandparents, all born in the 19th century. Two of my great aunts taught in one room school houses, one of which was converted into the county museum that I loved to visit as a kid. I have a number of family items like crocks and blue jars, plus a host of kitchen items that I still use.

When working as Home Health RN case ,manager, I had a lovely 96 year old client named Mary whose family emigrated from Czechoslovakia at age 8 and recalls, while aboard ship at sea, the message coming to their ship with the news of the Titanic sinking. She shared her few clear memories of coming into the US by way of Ellis Island; fascinating stories.

I was given my great grandmother's Singer treadle sewing machine on which I learned to sew as a child and which I use and faithfully maintain to this day. I intend to teach my granddaughters to sew on it as one of them will inherit it one day. My great grandmother, Clara, was a seamstress and made her living with this machine after becoming widowed. I have a portrait of her in 1890's dress and a huge, plumed hat. The Singer is a treasure, patented 1897; I have all of the parts for ruffling, etc. and the original instruction booklet.

I've inherited the old family B&W pictures and portraits and found one that is of my maternal grandmother; her and I looked nearly identical when both in our 20s. I only wish that with the genealogy research that my now-aged mother did, she'd done more to record who is in these many pictures of my predecessors so that I could now identify these tough and determined immigrants photographed standing outside their log and sod cabins on land they settled and eventually farmed and built proper homes on.

It's been a challenge to develop the understanding in my grandchildren that the world was in color back when I was a kid, but that the film was not yet invented to capture color. Until they understood, they voiced the impression that because the pictures are B&W, my world was similarly without colors. It's simply hard for them to conceptualize the many advances in technology that have occurred over the course of my lifetime; they lack the perspective to understand the way things were and I enjoy teaching them the homey basics like jelly and jam making, gardening, canning, mending clothes, and etc.

So very many of the things I knew and experienced as a child and have practiced as an adult are fast becoming the lost arts of homemaking. I'm on a mission to teach my grands the basic skills and knowledge of animal husbandry, pen to freezer meat preparations, gardening, wild crafting, and preserving food for storage. It's work, but better quality foods and a cost savings, esp given current economic trends.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

You must be very young. All my grandparents were born in the late 1880-90’s.

Not really. I'm 53, which is not "very young," but it's pretty young to have grandparents born in the 1880s and 1890s.

Think about it. Grandparents born in 1890--parents born in 1920--you born in 1950. These would be average generations. And you would now be 72.

The average person I'd consider "young"--say, 20 to 35--has grandparents born in the 1930 or 40s.

[ChicagoMeO]

My grandmother must have been born in the late 1800's because she came to America in 1920 with the other European immigrants and bought a house which each generation lived in thru my generation. She immigrated from Poland.

What was nice about her and i did not appreciate it when i was little, she brought her Polish home made cooking with her and we got to eat food from scratch and home grown garden vegetables.. so good! I wish she was around now. i would have talked with her more and learned more.

[sheena12]

Only one of my grandparents was born in the 20th century, My paternal grandmother.