Getting by during the Great Depression

[Warden]

My Grandmother told me before that during the depression, my Grandfather who at that time was a train (railroad) fireman, lost his job but the company offered him a job as a cleaner, which he took.

Although he was bitter at the demotion he also thought he was lucky to still have a job when so many where out of work.

On my wife’s side of the family one of her relatives also worked on the railway as a guard and he had a bad accident when he was crushed between two wagons. His family could not afford for him to loose his job, so he went back to work and other members of the family (I assume his children) would sneak onto the train and do his job and then sneak off at the end of the day.

Harry

 

[LelaViavonie]

THese are some amazing stories!

My grandfather told me that he used to sleep on a carboard box in the living room and that he would help out the local farmers and that was how he brought "some" food home. He said for a days work.. he could only bring 3 things home.. and this was to feed a family of 8...
I truly love spending the day with him and enjoying a cup of tea while he tells me his stories

 

[tuppence]

My dad's side of the family grew up in Missouri on a farm during the depression. They were really poor- all born out there with no birth certificates or anything because they couldn't afford hospitals and they were too far away. One of my great uncles told me that every morning their dad would give them each one bullet to get their breakfast, and if they missed they'd use rocks or whatever! Don't know if it was true or not, but made a good story- he always was one for telling tall tales, though lol

That is probably true Lauren, because as a boy my husband was sent out with two bullets.

 

[jtcarrey]

times have changed huh? I'm not fond of peacock in the morning though

 

[Lauren]

That is probably true Lauren, because as a boy my husband was sent out with two bullets.

I'm amazed at that. And all of them are (or were) such amazing people.

My mom's side of the family came from England, to Canada, then down into Los Angeles. They didn't have much money either (well, no one did) but always got by. My great grandfather was a watch repairman. For fun they said they'd get together at each other's houses to play cards and they were all musical- would play all the hit songs by ear- that's how my grandma and Deanna Durbin met- though their families. She said it was so fun because they'd all play instruments and sing- and she had the most amazing voice even back then when they were little. My grandma used to take the street car downtown to work at Clifton's Cafeteria in the 30's. After she and my grandfather were married she never worked again, and she loved it that way.

 

[Paisley]

Years ago, a neighbor told me about how her family fared during the Depression: her father was a certified public accountant and drove a new Mercedes. That was one factor in my decision to work in the accounting field.

 

[dhermann1]

NOBODY in America drove a Mercedes in the 1930's. Maybe a Cadillac, maybe a Packard, but absolutely positively not a Mercedes.
Anyhoo. My parents both made it through the depression pretty comfortably. My father's dad was a lineman for the phone company. I guess up until the big break up of the 70's the phone company was famous for being a job for life. My uncle and his daughter (my cousin) also wound up working for the phone company. My dad graduated from high school in 1934, a bad year to be looking for work. He got accepted in the art school at Cooper Union, which was free, and held down two separate jobs at the same time as going to school. He was working sweeping the floors at a commercial art studio around 1937, when someone saw him sketching during his lunch break. He was hired as an artist on the spot.
My mom's mother was a NYC school teacher, and worked right through that time as well, tho I believe there were times the city was not able to meet its payroll. Her dad had been a jockey, and during the 30's he held jobs on and off as a horse trainer, often at breeding farms like Brookmeade Stables in Kentucky. Having 1 1/2 incomes and only one child, they got by well enough to always have a live in housekeeper, and were even able to afford 6 months in Europe in 1937, They did it very much on the cheap. I've posted a few pics from that trip on other threads.

 

[flat-top]

Can anyone recommend any books about The Great Depression? Amazon has many, but I'm not sure which one to go with.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Can anyone recommend any books about The Great Depression? Amazon has many, but I'm not sure which one to go with.

You'll find a really compelling popular overview is in the first volume of William Manchester's "The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-72." He starts his account with a description of ordinary life in the rock-bottom summer of 1932, and continues on from there, with occasional looks back at conditions between 1929 and 1931.

Also in the same vein, but much more contemporaneous, is Frederick Lewis Allen's "Since Yesterday -- the 1930s in America," which is in the same sort of narrative style, but which begins on September 2, 1929 -- the day the pre-crash stock market hit its peak -- and goes continuously thru the start of WW2 on September 1, 1939. A book that's difficult to put down once you've started it, and one I've read dozens of times since I first discovered it in junior high.

A more recent collection of essays on different aspects of Depression life is "Exploring Cultural History: Living Through The Great Depression," edited by Tracy Brown Collins, published by Greenhaven in 2004. (Full disclosure -- I wrote one of the chapters in this book.)

 

[Paisley]

NOBODY in America drove a Mercedes in the 1930's. Maybe a Cadillac, maybe a Packard, but absolutely positively not a Mercedes.

That's what I recall her saying. It's possible that my memory or hers is off. [huh]

 

[John in Covina]

My dad said he would go with his mom to the fruit and vegetable stands in the early evening. Then they would see what the vendor had to get rid of and had dropped prices for quick sale. They often would come back with some large portions that would be put up by canning or pickling.

 

[Miss Sis]

Although my Nana's family weren't too badly off, as my Great Grandfather managed a Dry Cleaning business, she still didn't turn down dancing with her Tap troupe in local theatres for a shilling (not much, even then) on a Saturday night!

 

[Chas]

Before 1934 I would make moonshine, bathtub gin, beer or cider and sell it to gangsters and my friends.

After 1934 it would depend on whether I was a farmer (in which case I would be poor, but could eat) or a city boy. In the latter case I guess I would be riding the rails looking for work.

 

[VivaciousLady]

Unfortunately, I can't remember the story too well, but one of the older men from my church was telling me how his most vivid memory from the era was watching some of the well-to-do businessmen on a street in an upper-class commercial area dig for their meals from the trash cans.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

Hi All;

My mom was rather well off till the depression. She used to tell how they turned her mom's flower garden to a vegatable garden and that her and her sisters would follow the milk wagon to collect the horse manure for the garden. The house was still in the family when I was little. Huge place and the flower garden must have covered 1/2 an acre. By that time the place had been restored even down to the upright piano that was in the parlor. My aunt said it took quite a while to buy grandma's piano back for her. It broke her heart when they had to sell it.

She would also tell of having to carry a freshly boiled potatoe to school to keep their hands warm and then eating it for lunch.

 

[Bluebird]

I only found out recently from my dad, that my great-grandfather and great uncle were rum runners! They worked for a factory in Canada and would drive parts down to Detroit (with booze in amongst the boxes). My great-grandmother never knew what her husband and baby brother were up to. Good thing too, she was NOT the type of lady that you crossed!! ( I would have loved to have been a fly on that wall if she had! Tee hee)

 

[flat-top]

Also in the same vein, but much more contemporaneous, is Frederick Lewis Allen's "Since Yesterday -- the 1930s in America," which is in the same sort of narrative style, but which begins on September 2, 1929 -- the day the pre-crash stock market hit its peak -- and goes continuously thru the start of WW2 on September 1, 1939. A book that's difficult to put down once you've started it, and one I've read dozens of times since I first discovered it in junior high.

Lizzie, I picked up this book, and must say, I love it so far. The author's detailed description of the culture is amazing, and sets the tone for what's about to happen. I can't wait to read further.
Thanks Lizzie!

 

[Big Man]

My grandparents were doing fairly well prior to the Great Depression. They weren't rich by any means, but they were doing well. They had a car, they had electricity, running water, and an indoor bathroom (build off the back porch) - all of which were not "typical" for most homes in that area at that time. My grandfather had a good, steady job at the McDowell Hardware. They had already put one of my aunts through college and another aunt was in her junior year in college. My dad was seven years old.

Then, in March of 1932, my grandfather died. Times and living conditions changed radically. My grandmother's only "regular income" was a small widow's pension from my grandfather's Spanish American War service. My grandmother made ends meet by taking in boarders, doing washing and cooking for others, and selling excess produce from her garden, selling eggs, and chickens. She quickly learned how to squeeze the most value out of every penny she had, and was able to finish putting my aunt through college.

It was a most difficult time, but through it all the family forged a closeness that still remains today. Even though all except my dad are now gone, that "bond" we were exposed to has impacted all the way to my children and how they view family relationships.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

Love all these stories. I don't have many Depression-specific stories from my family; I should rectify that and start asking more questions. I do recall that my grandfather's family was pretty poor, and they drank their cereal with water, instead of milk.

 

[maggiethespy]

My grandfather had 4 brothers and 4 sister, most of which were born to help farm cotton because it was cheaper to have kids than to hire laborers. When he was very small, their farmhouse burned to the ground and they had to live in the barn which was only slightly converted into a home. There were two rooms, one was a bedroom for their parents and a living room. The other had three beds and was where all of the kids slept. The barn is still standing, but doesn't belong to the family anymore.
Here is a picture of the barn in 1940:

(my grandfather and his twin are in the plaid. He's the one on the right)

And this is my grandfather and the barn today (you can still see the wood on the other side:

This is the bedroom that my great grandparents slept in. Granddad said the bed was beneath the window.

My granddaddy and his twin brother had 1 pair of shoes between them. They generally ended up wearing only one shoe-- my grandfather wore the right because he was right handed and my great uncle wore the left because he was left handed. Sometimes one wore both shoes. Most of the time they didn't wear any. They worked the cotton fields as soon as they were old enough to carry a sack, and as such all 9 kids had back problems and eventually surgery. They would miss school until all of the cotton had been harvested. Granddad told me a story about harvesting the cotton one day (he called his twin brother Bud, by the way):

"One day, ole Bud and me were in the bed of the truck while Daddy was driving it in to be bayled. We figured, lookin' at the trailer hitch, that it was broad enough we could walk across it while he was driving. So, I walked across that hitch like a wing walker and jumped into the cotton trailer. Bud went on after me. Well, Bud hit the release on that hitch with his foot and next thing I knew we were rolling backward from the truck-- all the sudden we were going faster and toward the ditch. We landed in it, and the trailer stayed upright. Daddy figured out what had happened 'bout the same time we came to a stop, so he backed up, helped us out of the ditch, hooked it back up to the truck and told us to sit in the bed. He didn't say anything else about it. I think he thought it was funny."

These boys got into an awful lot of trouble, but managed to charm their way out of it-- he got sent to the principal's office when he was in 5th grade and instead of being punished got the principal to let him stay and listen to the last game of the World Series on the radio.