ANCESTORS

                                                          ANCESTORS

   I have been “doing genealogy”. As people say, for many years now, but now that I am not as mobile as I used to be I have been spending more time looking at old pictures and reading more old writings, such as Journals, photo albums, journals and City and State histories.

  
   It is strange how things happen but last week I was looking at some old picture albums and the thought raced through my mind, “these places were real, however much different than they are now.” Also the people were real, they were real live people. They were here 100 years ago, however in complete different circumstances than today! They were alive, flesh and blood and suffered from cold, heat and fatigue just like we do. I am sure it was more often than we do as well as much more severe.

   I have a picture of my mother and my grandfather when they lived in what they called their “tent house.” I am sure it left a lot to be desired but never the less it provided protection from the elements. I have pioneers who crossed the plains in covered wagons who may have thought of as place like this being a BIG improvement that pitching a tent for overnight and then taking it down in the morning, for months while they traveled. 

                     --This is the Tent House----

   
   My wife spent her adolescent years in a house very different than what most people want now. It had at least one addition added on after it was built, and maybe two? Her bedroom was upstairs. Upstairs in those days was not the same as what we call upstairs today. The stairs were built on the outside of the house and in the winter were covered with ice or snow. The heater for the upstairs room was also very interesting. Getting heat to her room was very interesting. They heated the upstairs bedroom by cutting a hole in the ceiling of the kitchen, which was the floor of the bedroom. Needless to say if there was a fire in the kitchen it was somewhat warm upstairs, and if there was no fire it was COLD.

   The preferred method of getting ready for bed in the winter was to put a brick in the oven of the kitchen stove (or a flat iron on the stove—which a lot of people now days have no clue what a flat iron is),

Then you would wrap it in a towel or quilt, run up the stairs on the outside of the house and toss it in your bed, and hope you went to sleep in a hurry.

--- The old Wickman Home-----

   My Sister and I both used a system similar to my wife’s brick or flat iron, except she used a rubber hot water bottle. She would fill the hot water bottle with scalding hot water and wrap it in a homemade quilt. I just preferred a heavy quilt without the brick.

   It is interesting that still, to this day, when my Sis does not feel well she grabs her Hot water bottle and fills it up and heads for the recliner. As she sits in the reclining lounger she swears it makes her feel a lot better.

   Now back to my Picture albums. Most of the men in the old pictures wore beards and I wondered if it was just too hard to shave every day or if there was another reason? Also most of the men wore stripped or blue denim bib overalls. (If you do not know what bib overalls were, ask your parents or grandparents as I am sure they will remember.) I wondered if most of them wore them because that was all that was available? If course they did not have a Shopko, Macy’s or Walmart. They were lucky to have a country store with a few pair of overalls tossed on a table in between the long handled underwear.

   

   A lot of my ancestors were “Utah Pioneers” and they had a lot of stories and I have read most of them before, but for some reason this recent reading and looking at picture seemed to hit me and made me think that they were real people, not just pictures. They had to make tough decisions almost every day, almost always tougher than I have to make in my times.

   

   All at once it was strange to think of them having to plant seeds, or trees and then wait months or years, for some trees to produce any fruit from their labors.

   Now we just jump in the car, drive about five minutes or less, buy anything we want, and usually some you had not thought of, and then be hack home in half hour or so. Of course that also made me think how different our lives are today compared to our pioneer ancestors 150 years ago.

   I used to love and sit while my Mom and Dad and Aunts and Uncles sit and told stories about their lives in the “Olden Days.” Now I am the one who tells the stories and the olden days do not seem to be so old? I was part of my “Olden Days” just like each generation will be part of theirs when they sit and tell stories to their grandkids. It seems strange to think how each generation has interesting stories to tell the next generation as we all grow older.

   I think sometimes it is hard for the younger generations to actually believe that I grew up, at least for several years without us having a family car. Also no TV—how could they survive? We also had no telephone in our home, while I was a teen. No refrigerator for the first 10 years of my life. (For those who wonder how people survived without a refrigerator) ask your Grandpa?

   In the late 30’s and early 40’s most of the girls clothes were home made and most of the boys with the exception of the “bibbers.”

   Like most people in small towns almost everyone planted a small home garden. It was not like today where they are mostly planted as yard decorations. In the depression days they were planted for food. And of course they demanded constant care, which usually yas the kids job. At least it seemed that way to us!

   It may be where we lived and maybe the weather really has changed, but when I was growing up we did not talk about snow storms in the inches, We usually did not worry about then autil we were talking about them in feet!

   I often hear the comment,” I would not change growing up in a small town like I did for anything.” I often wonder if that is a “truism” or just a topic of conversation?   

   Well thank GOD for ancestors and I hope that our kids have some great ones??

WRBaldwin 11 Mat 2017