Lives of The Downtrodden in Early America 

My Granny told me how they lived. Cabins and wagons. Lye soap and iron wash tubs. Shake roofs and corn shuck beds. Handmade clothes and shoeless summers. She lived it and talked often about it to me. I appreciate our pioneer history.

These scenarios are familiar to me. I remember visiting my grandparents in central Alabama in the 1960's, before mobile homes became popular. Some of the children, whom I played with, lived in what might be called "dirt floor shacks", because they had no floor. Some had tar paper for walls. Others, you could see the light through the cracks in the rough hewn boards. It only stands out to me looking back, because the architecture of someone's house was of little concern to me as a 6 year old. As an adult, when I hear people complaining about mobile homes and calling their occupants "trailer trash", I comment to them; they wouldn't criticize or ridicule people for living in a trailer, if they saw what they used to live in.

My dad was born in 1933 and had childhood memories of living on a farm in the late 30's thru the mid 40's before they moved to town. My grandfather was born in 1901 rural Alabama and moved to rural Louisiana in a covered wagon as in 1902. I remember all his tales of rural life up till they moved to town. His father was born in 1881 and I got to hear his stories thru my grandfather. My grandfather's grandfather was born in 1848 rural Alabama so I also had those stories passed down thru my grandfather. I was born in 1965 and a kid of the 70's so we have it made compared to the rural farm life of my direct ancestors.

My great great grandpa in 1841 took a steam ship from New Orleans up to Cainsville Iowa now known as Council bluffs. From there he decided to travel with the mormons. He bought a wooden hand cart put all his belongings in it and dragged it over 1000 miles to Salt Lake City Utah. He thought mormons were crazy so 2 years later he walked back to Colorado and built a log cabin north of Denver that is now a museum.

Don't take your roof for granted.

If you want to learn about rich people, study history. If you want to learn about poor people, study archaeology.

My father was born in 1912. His father my grandfather died in a truck accident. Dad was 7. He had to work just like a man doin hard farm work to support grandma & brothers & sisters. My dad came thru the great depression. He made $00.50 cents a day.

Everyone experiences two deaths. The first is when your heart beats for the last time... The second is when your name is spoken for the very last time. I love how he keeps Sarah's memory alive by telling a piece of her story. I love this!

My grandpa was out on his own when he was only nine years old after his mother died. Couldn’t read or write and was taken in by a family to work on the farm for room and board. A stall on the back porch with a pallet to sleep on and may some old wore out hand me down cloths. Even my dads family didn’t have running water much less electricity. Sometimes you don’t have to go back that far in time.

Nails were not a commodity you go to Home Depot for. They had to be hand made by a smith and were not cheap.

This is why I like Thomas Hardy's novels - he wrote about the working folk, farm workers and dairy maids in particular.

"crossing the proverb" means that the wife was an exception to the proverb. even though she had no house to clean, she kept her family clean. she was not dizzy with idleness

My father told me a story of how his mother reacted to having electric for the first time. She went around the house, screwing corn Cobs into all the light bulb sockets. She was afraid that the electric would run out.

when I was a kid we didn't have a toilet or hot water, we finely moved in a nice big house in 1966, we then had a bathroom and hot running water, it was so nice to have my own room, it was greatly appreciated,

Nails were so valuable that if moving the family would burn their old dwelling to retrieve the old nails to use again on their next dwelling.

It’s surreal watching this video, listening to a story written about a simple family who lived 300 years ago.... their story being heard by people all over the world today.

I admire the fact that you don’t just do videos on the middle/upper classes from the 18th century as I see many channels doing. You give a more human aspect to the past that most people think is cold and without character.

I can tell you from personal experience (living on the ground in the high desert in winter for two months) that the experience of NEVER getting completely warm from an external source of heat is one that you just can't appreciate until you've had it. It's a TREMENDOUS hardship. Thinking of that, the well known practice of families before the 1800s sleeping all together in one bed is easy to understand -- life would have been almost unbearably cruel without that opportunity to snuggle and be warm without having to produce all the heat oneself.

In school I hated history, I binge watch this almost everyday, this is history done right.

Here I am 2019... living in a slightly chilly house. ITs a paradise compared to what thease sad poor people....

For anyone interested, John Woolman wrote extensively about poor and oppressed people in colonial America. He died in 1772. His writing was at least a century ahead of his time.

The preface of Sarah Kemble Knight's book says it was published in 1825. Kind of funny to think that they were probably reading her journal as a book of "the old days", too.

My grandparents immigrated to the US in early 1900s living in a 1770s NH farmhouse. My dad said he chased the horses down in the field so he could work the fields with them. It wasn’t that long ago!! How soon we forget.

Many people in that time were driven from England by the Enclosures Act which, combined with improvements in farming efficiency, left many ordinary people jobless, homeless and in grinding poverty. Many just starved in hedgerows. The alternative of crowded inner cities competing for jobs in the new industries was just as bad. To them the grinding poverty in America would have been an improvement over the alternatives. You can see why so many despised the Crown. We really need to feel for our ancestors and what they endured. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_England_(painting)

I love how passionate he is about history. I would love going to class if he were my teacher lol. You just got a new subscriber!

Primary sources from poor people are somewhat rare since they only get written by people who managed to extricate themselves from poverty and have the spare time and resources to write a memoir.

Those poor women, having to clothe, feed, and house so many children. I grew up in rural New England in the 70s in a one room shack w/out running water or electricity, and life was a real struggle, especially for my mom, but damn, we had nails and a front door!!

I went to rural Mississippi in 1990 and visited people who lived not much better than this. Very sad to see the extent of poverty in the world's richest nation.

In New England nowadays you can wander miles out into what is essentially uninhabited wilderness and find the remains of foundations and stone walls. It makes me think about who piled those rocks up hundreds of years ago and what it would have been like when they were trying to scrape together a living from the hard ground.

People with out always seem to give the most.

Why would even one person give this video a "thumbs down," never mind 564? I just do not understand how anyone could be critical of this free gift of historical insight by Mr. Townsend.

Keep in mind, the difference between living in poverty, and living primitively, are skillsets. Sarah Kemble Knight's story, may be describing a "primitive" hut, but people satisfied with enough to eat, acceptable comfort level, and acceptable accoutrements, due to adequate skillsets, where the second story, may be describing "poverty", as the father, didn't have the skillsets to be living that way. For example: I was an outdoor survival instructor for the DoD for 25 years, and have been on MANY outdoor survival outings, with nothing but a good bushcraft knife. Sara Kemble Knight, may have described my camp as "retched", however, the medium sized debris hut I had constructed, was warm, cozy, and comfortable, albeit, a little small. Inside she would've found a nicely done, Dakota firepit, primitive tools, traps, and weaponry, primitive cookery/crockery, and water storage, a bundle grass chair that was as comfortable as any modern chair, and a nice, comfortable, draft bed that would keep you warm even on the coldest nights. I spent two weeks in this shelter, when the winter weather, was between -10, and -20 degrees f. Never once did I get cold, short of my trips to the latrine. My debris hut, stayed between 70, and 80 degrees inside, even on the coldest nights. I had plenty of food stores (Purslane that grew under the snow), did a bit of ice fishing, and trapped small animals, had a "nut cache" with Hickory nuts, black walnuts, pig nuts, had rose hips aplenty, so I never went hungry, as I managed to find plenty of calories. In case you're wondering, this was in South Central Ohio, near a medium sized lake, not far from the Ohio river.

I can't imagine what my indentured servant ancestors went through in Virginia in the late 1600s and early 1700s. I feel so soft and spoiled by comparison.

My ancestors cleaned out a chicken coop to live in when they came to this country in the late 1600's. They handed down their resourcefulness and creativity, so centuries later I know how to make something out of nothing. I'm so grateful and proud of my heritage.

I 🖤 how rich travelers needed help from those in poverty. Just goes to show that every body has something to offer😉

Used asked my grandpa to tell my about the good old days. ( Born 1907). He Said: "Boy they weren't good, they were hard ,we worked hard just to eat. I wouldn't wish that on anybody." He left school in 5th grade to work They were really frugal. My grandma saved Everything, Might need it later, she'd say. buttons, screws, fabric, etc....My great grand parents born 1880s were even more frugal they were alive yet when I was a teenager I was born 1959.

I live at what the government says is below the poverty line, retired and living on a fixed income. Strangely though, I probably have a more comfortable life than that rich woman who wrote that travel journal in the early 18th century. Couldn't even imagine what it would have been like for the poor people of her time. She travelled, on horseback, which must have been tough on the back, battling the weather and bugs. A rich woman. Here I am, a poor retired guy, and last year I flew to the Caribbean and then a couple of months later, to Europe. I complained about having to wait around the airport and how slow the lines were moving. 21st century complaints. Going to Cancun in January. I'm a poor guy, worked in construction, factories and tended bar all my life. I'm sitting here comfortably, just finishing a grilled cheese sandwich and watching the end of Monday Night Football on my 42 inch, flat screen TV. I'm one lucky guy when you compare me to those that were living 200 years ago.

I could listen to you read for ages

Antibiotics would have saved countless lives , we’ve never had it so good . Really good segment, thank you 🙏

You would make a great teacher. I am learning so much about history through such a humbling aspect as cooking can be!

I watch all your videos and I think, 'If only history teachers made learning as interesting as you do'. Really. Well done.

This is so interesting! This kind of content is exactly why I love your channel, sir! Thank you.

After I went to college and got my BA in Computer Information Systems and didn't get an IT job for a long time I felt like crap. After finding about my 4th great grandfather who studied to be a doctor in England in the 1830s and was from a wealthy merchant family from Poole Dorset. I read a journal he wrote after he moved to Michigan and ended up farming instead of becoming a doctor. In his letter he sounded very disappointed just like I was after getting my degree and getting nothing more than factories or restaurants. Eventually I had some IT jobs like tech support call center and some programming.

I can tell you a lot about the lives of the poor in the 21st century, which may give you some insight to the details of the poor of old; when you get cold, you can't get warm because you can't just make a fire now days and then your fingers and toes swell up and become red and painful, horribly painful and itchy, it's called chilblains and can last for weeks. I live now live in fingerless gloves and a jumper and cargo trousers and hug a radiator and it's still too cold.

I love your cooking videos, but this is just perfect and what anyone who loves the study of history is seeking. You have made RU-vid a better place because of what you and your friends do. I wish this was shown in schools and homes everywhere in America. Thank You!

Poverty hasn’t changed much in its requirement for versatility and out of the box thinking. What has changed is what people considered to be poverty!

My family were poor Irish Catholics who immigrated to Boston and Ulster-Scots from West Virginia

My Great great grandfather raised his family in a two room cabin with a loft for his children to sleep in and just dirt floor. The walls of it were still standing on family property when I was a boy.

This was compassionately and thoughtfully done. Thank you for making this historical look on poverty in Early America.

"Poorer than any Highland Scot or bog trotting Irishman." An interesting description of being poor.

I love hearing stories of the past.

My daughters grandmother showed me the cabin she lived in as a child. Their floor was the ground.

I was at an event at Fort Osage in Mo. One of the men there had a camp of just what was in the estate of a French boatmen who died about 1750. A blue duffel coat two blankets, a ‘mosquito net’ that was a thin cheese cloth like affair about the size of a pup tent with ends. A ‘mess kit,’ ‘house wife’ and fire kit. Small items such as a couple of knifes, fusil and-shooting supplies, pipe and tobacco, a brandy jug and some extra clothing. It seems he was in late forties when he died.

When William Bird compares the man to being poorer than any highland Scot or bog trotting Irishman. I was like, "He summed up my ancestors pretty well" Poor but proud.

I wish you'd narrate an audiobook of one of these journals. You'd be great for it!

bog-trotting Irishman 😂 as part Irish, I find this strangely endearing (although I’m aware it was meant to be quite derogatory)

My Grandma: "If The Lord is willing and the creek don't rise."

This guy has the friendliest demeanor and expression.

I find learning about how people in the past lived fascinating. Many years ago, I read a book that talked about peasant life by looking into obituaries and how people died. It was so interesting. I’m so thankful to have found your channel!

It’s like his reading us a bedtime story

I like videos like these. Real people doing real things . Just living life

This has got to be one of the most enjoyable channels I've ever seen on RU-vid. Townsends videos are informative, well edited, and fun to watch. He's like the Bob Ross of 1800s living. Kudos guys, keep up the amazing work

Reading historical journals are always fascinating and this channel is just as fascinating love peering into any historical windows the thought of what life was like back then is awesome thanks Mr.Townsend

I grew up without running water or indoor toilets. We had a loom, gardens, and only went to town for church and school. You do not have to go far back at all.

My grand father didnt have electricity until he was 18 year's old. Great grandma's house that he grew up in did not have running water until 1992. This was in West Virginia on a 200 acre farm with two 3 bedroom houses that was purchased for only $500.

My father's family came from Ireland in the late 18th century and some were indentured servants in coastal Virginia. Later on they farmed around Patrick henry county, va. My grandfather who was born there in 1870 eventually moved to West Virginia after his wife died. He resettled, remarried and had a few more children. My father grew up working in the coal mines and on the family farm. Oh how I would love to farm and get out of the rat race.

The sad thing is, I have seen the same kind of poverty today in developing countries (living in a ditch next to a road and no money to buy grass in order to build a roof after a storm), with equal contrast of wealth. It makes me think: How do we define development and have we really developed at all when we let that happen? My family lived in a house with no running water and which was so cold on the inside that we had to break the ice of the drinking water bucket at breakfast and when coming home in the evening. When we built a new house, we moved into it before it was finished and slept on the floor before it was even had all the indoor walls: we took an advantage of the central heating that had to be on anyway, prevent pipes freezing and bursting. It was wonderful to wake up in a warm room and the following year we had flushing toilet indoors and tap water! 50+ years on and I still appreciate every day of having clean water coming from a tap and dirty water disappearing down the plughole or when flushing the toilet.

This video gave me such a sense of peace and comfort. Watching this is like a warm blanket.

Right around the corner from my house is "Poor Farm Road". All of the debtors / poor people were apparently sent to an institution there (involuntarily in many cases). I believe they worked the farm, essentially to feed themselves, under the supervision of their keepers.

Then in many states, they had "Poor Farms" for the indigent. They went in the Spring to plant the crops. stayed for the summer and tended the crops, then in the fall, they brought in the crops. All product for sale for those that could afford it. The poor got the potato skins and carrot peels for potato and carrot soup. . Later, they turns into county work farms or cheap prisons. For the habitual drunks. Or now known as "County Correctional Facilities".

I enjoy seeing and hearing your pleasure in relating these stories!

I find your demeanor so calming and humble. Thank you

First great video already,thanks for preserving history.

I find the stories of the poorer or middle tier families interesting. The frugal and resourcefulness they have is just jaw dropping. I have several copies of The American Frugal Housewife by lyndia Child in my library.

I really enjoy these types of videos. There are no pictures or videos. Only these words with a few paintings. You bring those words to life. Thank you.

i gotta say i really enjoyed and appreciated this episode more than any other , its just the right ambient and you dressed up and went up there somewhere that we would be immersed in the stories and the feel ,i really hope you do more of these episodes,i know they must take lots of effort but i just gotta say it was a masterpiece if i ever saw one.

Your channel is so cool and I am enjoying about a video or two a day! Thanks for the history and recipes!

These kinds of videos are very comfy. Thank you for making them!

I love channels that link a way to see the materials they used in making the video so thank you, I also think it's respectful to credit those sources in this way so well done sir.

This is amazing, I love that you are sharing this with us and all who come across this video. I always imagine the suffering,positive and bad occurrences and the thoughts on the moments that our history is filled with. We shall learn and grow with this, and all stories derived from our pasts teach and humble those who learn from it. Thank you again for sharing this.

I love history, I'm glad I ran across your link a few days ago.

This video is wonderful. Thank you.

I appreciate your sharing these journals and stories. You help me imagine what the lives of these brave humble folks must of been like…Thankyou!

I just recently stumbled upon this channel. What a wonderful glimpse into our nation's history. As a bushcraft hobbyist and lover of history, what a treat. Thank for sharing your knowledge with the community.

I've been watching your channel for years, wondering all the while, "why haven't these guys been picked up by The History Channel," or something similar. But, truth be told I think I'd hate to see your show watered down by tons of commercials and the inevitable PC glazing-over from script writers and producers. I guess I'm just saying thank you for what you do, and I'm glad we have this platform to appreciate you on (even if youtube is now being complicit in censorship.)

Makes me appreciate the many comforts I have.

Excellent presentation. Thank you for the wonderful video!

Thank you for this video, and your wonderful, soothing voice telling the story! Your material was incredibly interesting but I kept nodding off, because your voice is so soothing!

Literally a treasure to youtube. This man is too pure for this earth.

You should do weekly journal readings. I really enjoyed you sharing this thank you.

This adventure you record is a gift forward to generations we may never know. Keep up all your good hearted sharings. You are appreciated.

I love your passion for history man. Nice to know there are others who also deeply appreciate the beauty in discovering the past.

This is way more interesting than learning about the lives of another family of English aristocrats. As a regular person I love to learn how other regular people lived, as that would have been my life had I been born a few centuries earlier.

I have gotten rid of many subscriptions but kept yours. Great information.

This type of content is just so fascinating! Thank you!

Another WONDERFUL video, illuminating the parts of history often overlooked. ❤️

Thank you for doing living history videos.. I love them

Speaking of 1728 and the Virginia/North Carolina border, I read this recently: In 1728, a Virginian named William Byrd wrote his History of the Dividing Line, a critical commentary on North Carolina society. Speaking of the town of Edenton he wrote "this is the only Metropolis in the Christian or Mahometan World, where there is neither Church, Chappel, Mosque, Synagogue, or any other Place of Publick Worship of any Sect or Religion whatsoever. What little Devotion there may happen to be is much more private than their vices. “The People seem easy without a Minister, as long as they are exempted from paying Him. Sometimes the Society for propagating the Gospel has had the Charity to send over Missionaries to this Country; but unfortunately the Priest has been too Lewd for the people, or, which oftener happens, they too lewd for the Priest. For these Reasons these Reverend Gentlemen have always left their Flocks as arrant Heathen as they found them." “The established church, here as elsewhere in the colonies, also suffered from a dearth of worthy candidates for the pulpit. In some instances, clergymen disgraced their callings and brought scandal to the church by keeping concubines or being drunk in public.” He didn't seem to like North Carolinians.

Love it; well done as always. Best wishes for a (hopefully) happier year!

THIS is the history I find so so interesting!! I'm glad I found this channel!!