This I Remember

My great grandfather on my father's mother's side accomplished a lot in his life. He was born in 1875 and died in 1975, at 99 1/2 years old, and his mind was sharp till the end. 

I am lucky that my mother and my cousin took time to interview Papa and make a book of his memories. Below are some excerpts.

The following excerpts are from This I Remember - the first 18 years, 1875-1893.

"A woman had only one dress a year that she called her nice Sunday dress, and she wore it on all occasions when visiting and going to church. She would wear the same hat for three or four years. Commercial face powder was unknown, and women used flour for face powder. Lipstick and nail polish were unknown to a country woman. A beauty parlor was unknown. Country people did not have bought toothbrushes, toothpowder, toothpaste, hair oil, or hair tonic.

"Women wore dresses instead of shorts. A woman would not let her dress skirt come above the top of her shoes. It took 10 yards of cloth to make her a dress, and the cloth cost 5 cents per yard. Both men and women wore shoes instead of slippers. A woman was considered an outcast if she was caught around a saloon.

"Children walked as far as 3 miles to school.

"Father only called the children one time to get up in the morning.

"Father and Mother would tell you what to do instead of you telling them what you intend to do.

"The price of a good milchcow was $25.00.

"All wells were dug by hand and walled up with posts.

"A rail fence was the clothes line and wire was unknown.... The first barbed wire came into use about 1885.

"...There were no screens on the doors and windows to keep flies out of the house and no poison to kill them with. A member of the family would stand by the table and try to fan the flies away with a peach tree limb or a fan made out of paper while the rest of the family ate their meal.

"A boy got to go to school when he had caught up with the farm work, or it was too wet to work in the fields. If he got through the blue back speller and Guffey's Fourth Reader, he was pretty well educated.

"Every man and boy from 18 to 60 years of age had to work on the public roads 5 days each year or pay $5.00 per year to be exempt for the year.

"A man worth $10,000 was considered a rich man."

~~~

If you want to read more about Papa, his sneaky elopement, and some of the love letters he wrote to his wife, you can find that on my blog.

Thanks for visiting.