Brass Napoleon Award Would You Have Liked Living During the 19th Century?

Would You Have Liked Living During the 19th Century?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 18 15.8%
  • No.

    Votes: 67 58.8%
  • Maybe.

    Votes: 29 25.4%

  • Total voters
    114
Erm Maybe?

A lot depends, if it is 21st Century me I am going to miss as others have noted modern medicine, modern amenities and comfortable clothing. Most of all I will miss being able to fact check myself in real time. On the other hand I should be able to prosper somewhat as a moderately competent patent troll or once I have required draughtsmanship skills I last employed all the way back in the 20th century at university and providing I do not blow myself in testing one or two devices or chemical applications (I think this is how it worked, no wait....boom) maybe even a real inventor. That might be a big maybe with I think the odds on being a bit explody when I forget what happens to steel at very high or very low temperatures or similar.

If I were actually born there to one of my ancestors...well

On my father's side of the family I am Lincolnshire solidly throughout the 19th Century so either millers with a potential spell in the poorhouse and then back to resurrecting the business of milling just as windmills were going out of fashion but luckily the head of the family had made enough money to diversify the family business or grocers all the way.

On my mother's side of the family it might be Irish connection so mostly jockeys and Catholics or oddly enough a member of the Jewish community in Ireland. It being a later disapproved of interfaith marriage between those two lines that would see my specific great grandparents decide to move to England where one of their sons would tie the knot with the daughter of Cambridgeshire farmers. Now as to where those Cambridgeshire farmers were in the 19th Century I am not exactly clear as to when they graduated from being tenant farmers to freeholders but you know I could get lucky?

So barring a chance of having arrived in time to go into the poorhouse in that one branch I probably would not be dirt poor but not gentleman level loaded either. Maybe I could even afford that ticket to America?
 
No!

No way in HE**!

I lived in a shack my Dad renovated that me, my Mom and Sister lived in while Dad built out 'kit' home from Sears, complete with basement. I remember taking baths from the sink, the smell of the fuel oil stove, and going to the outhouse and checking for snakes before sitting down!

I was home the day my Dad took his '57 Chevy, tied a rope around our shack, and pulled down the entire structure! We moved into the basement that night, living there until we finished the rest of the house.

Now, this was with electricity and a black and white TV with three whole channels to watch and the only remote we had was me, when my Dad would tell me to get up and change the channel! And this was long before color TV, computers, and the internet and when phones actually RANG!

I cannot even to begin to imagine living in the 19th century! I was in the US Army for 20 years and would often go to the field on training exercises, living in the rain, mud, and snow, mostly in a two man pup tent, eating C rations or MRE's and STILL lived better than almost anyone from the 19th century.

Going on reenactments for the weekend, living under a rubber blanket for two days, eating hardtack and bacon, munching on an apple once in a while, drinking coffee and water, sweating in wool clothes and STILL sighing in relief when I got home to a hot shower, my lazy boy chair in front of my big screen color TV after munching down a Big Mac? Pure heaven!

No thanks to my friends and fellow forum members who say 'yes' or 'maybe' to living in that time, but if anyone offered me a trip back to the good ol' days forever, I'd punch him dead in the mouth!

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible:
Otto L. Bettmann

I voted "maybe." Most of my ancestors were peasant farmers with children born pretty much every year, although few of them survived... Others were coal miners, with several of those killed in accidents of various kinds.

Had I lived back then and been a sailor aboard a Yankee clipper or packet steamer, or on a river-boat or paddle-wheeler, then yes, I would have mightily enjoyed living in the 19th Century. Had I been dragged away from home and hearthside, and sent to war, then absolutely no. Most people lived in rather grim circumstances, so "no." Much would depend on circumstances.
 
I voted yes! Because I have been without electricity, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, cell phones, iPads, computers, etc.. growing up we had a wood cook stove for cooking chopped wood Year-round which keeps us healthy. The stove also helps to heat the house during the winter months. You carrying water from the creek in two buckets for cooking, washing dishes, or taking a bath or sometimes you would go to the creek for a bath. You would buy ice from the iceman for the icebox, raise cows for milk and food, pigs, goats, chickens. You made your own toys, read books by candle lights. You walked to school, to the store, to church or if you were lucky rode in horse and buggy. Life was simple.
 

Sometimes it seems that life in the 19th century was a simpler time – a time when folks were more connected to the earth, when folks were taught practical life skills and could rely upon their neighbors to help them out during difficult times. Our Victorian friends were never distracted by their smartphones and everything did indeed move more slowly. Yet when I closely examine life in the 19th century I'm always reminded that my Civil War heroes lived less than idyllic lives.

One thing that is often forgotten or ignored by my favorite period movies, the ones where beautiful ladies dance in ball gowns and fall in love with heroes, is that hygiene was not so great during the 19th century. Folks generally took baths once a week and some people relied only on “hip baths” (basically washing from a bucket). Body odor was common and while some people tried to compensate with perfumes and flower petals under their arms, this really wasn’t very effective.

Based on the depiction of horse drawn carriages in movies and in my imagination, I have often romanticized this form of transportation. I always picture those fancy horse and buggies that tourists can hire in places like Charleston or Savannah. Well the truth is horse poop littered the streets pretty much everywhere folks went during the 19th century. Members of the upper class actually wore shoes with lifts on them because the streets were so coated in horse poop. Another fact that doesn’t get much attention is that the horses sometimes died right in the middle of the street. Due to their size there wasn’t a quick or easy way to remove them so people would often leave the dead horse where it fell. Needless to say this was not a pretty (or romantic) sight.


Heartbreak was abundant in the 19th century. About one third of children born in this time period died before they reached adolescence. It would have been considered highly unusual for a family not to have at least one child die. In fact it was unusual for anyone to live past the age of 50. Life expectancy for the 19th century as a whole was 40 years for men and 42 years for women. Medicine or rather what passed for medicine in the 19th century was generally awful. Many procedures were quite painful and they usually didn’t cure what they set out to treat. Most Victorians had no idea where their organs were located inside their bodies and figured there was something wrong with their “humours” when they suffered symptoms of serious illnesses. They also didn’t know how illness was transmitted. Treatments largely consisted of forced vomiting, pooping or bloodletting to remove “impurities” from the body.


And finally, what about the wars? The United States was involved in over 60 wars and major military battles between 1800 and 1900. Aside from the American Civil War, the 19th century also saw the Spanish American War, the Philippine American War, the War of 1812, the Mexican American War and a whole lot of wars with Native Americans.

So, would you have liked living during the 19th century? Cast your vote and share your reasoning in the comments. As for me, I often romanticize this time, but I'm not sure how well I would have actually done "back in the day."



Sources:
“Health & Medicine in the 19th Century” by Jan Marsh
“Child Mortality” by Max Roser
TeachUsHistory.org
Very interesting thread. I love studying this time period but would in no way like dealing with living in it. Not with our 21st century knowledge and conveniences.
 
I voted yes! Because I have been without electricity, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, cell phones, iPads, computers, etc.. growing up we had a wood cook stove for cooking chopped wood Year-round which keeps us healthy. The stove also helps to heat the house during the winter months. You carrying water from the creek in two buckets for cooking, washing dishes, or taking a bath or sometimes you would go to the creek for a bath. You would buy ice from the iceman for the icebox, raise cows for milk and food, pigs, goats, chickens. You made your own toys, read books by candle lights. You walked to school, to the store, to church or if you were lucky rode in horse and buggy. Life was simple.
Where do you live?...in Mississippi??
 
Yes, only if I could have been a 'Robber Baron".

I agree only if one of the super rich....

A mansion with the 10-12 ft high ceilings to offset the lack of air conditioning, they are first to have some degree of indoor water, servants to offset the plethora of labor saving devices we have today, I might give it a try

As poor pioneer or middle class, probally stick where I am.....
 
No!

No way in HE**!

...if anyone offered me a trip back to the good ol' days forever, I'd punch him dead in the mouth!

That's just about my reaction. I find it infinitely far, far better (for me) to read about the 19th century from afar. I'm too used to my modern comforts. The nights when I get home late from work and decide to shower in the morning---that lapse of time is long enough (sometimes). A week? A WEEK??? Goodness, I can only--and desperately only want to--imagine how dreadful the smell!

Indoor plumbing, Air conditioning, heat (with just a touch of a switch), easy trips to the grocery store for food... I'll stay in the crummy ol' days.
 
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