Where my grandparent’s lived in Pekin, IL – Credit: Zillow

I’ve been combining two of my hobbies in one this month. When I sit down to sit with Mr. FixIt when he watches some of his shows, I pull out my laptop and work on Ancestry and Google Earth at the same time. One of the best tools to help you with genealogy is the US Census. The other day, I was searching backwards in my maternal grandparents’ life together to see where they lived before I came around. I knew they had lived in Indiana and Illinois before and during the Great Depression, so I decided to look up their addresses on Google Earth. 

I couldn’t find their home in Mishawaka, Indiana where my mom was born. The address is now a modern home so it’s obvious the land has been developed. I did find their home in Pekin, Illinois and was thrilled to see it. According to the 1930 Census, PopPop and Grandma lived in a rental house for $20 a month. Mom was four years old and Uncle Bob was two. They were poor as church mice, but they owned a radio. I imagine my great grandfather bought it for them. PopPop was 31 and Grandma was 25. (They were 21 and 17 when they married.) They were both able to read and write although neither of them went past 8th Grade in school. He worked as a mechanic for a construction company and Grandma was a stay-at-home mom. Since the house I found on Zillow with the same address was built in 1887, I am certain this is the same house they lived in.

They lived with two of PopPop’s brothers and their wives and families. At the time it was a boarding house. Grandma told stories about having to cook on a little stove on the landing between floors. It must have been nice for them to have family around, even though there wasn’t much privacy. During the Depression, they were happy to just have a roof over their heads. 

When work petered out, they packed up and came back home to WV. They worked as sharecroppers in order to have a place to house their growing family. By the time they moved into the house at the farm, there were six children. Grandma told me her children would have starved to death if it weren’t for the two cows they had. They always gardened. They grew a patch of cane and a traveling man came every fall to squeeze the juice from the canes. Then she boiled that syrup down in the kitchen. My Uncle Bud says it used to rain in the house because of all the humidity that condensed on the underside of the tin roof.

As long as I can remember, grandma made do with what she had. She was so frugal, she would patch the sheet where their toenails and PopPop’s beard wore the cheap cotton away. She saved up feedsacks and when she had enough of one print, she’d take it down to Aunt Myrt to have her make a dress or shirt for one of the kids. She might trade some butter or something from the garden as payment. Aunt Myrt never sewed with a pattern. You could show her a dress out of the Sears & Roebuck Catalog and she could make it in any size.

When a blanket became too worn to use, she sandwiched it between two old patched sheets and she would have a new-to-her “quilt.” She and her sisters-in-law and some neighbor ladies would come over and help her tie the layers together with bright colored yarn. Their work clothes were always patched together but they usually had one outfit that served as their Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ duds.

I’ve even found pots that had a hole in them that my PopPop patched with two washers and a nut and bolt. They had an old grinding wheel that looked like a stationary bike. They once had a big copper pot they used for making applesauce and apple butter over an open fire in the backyard.

One might say these were simpler times, and perhaps they were in some ways. But they weren’t necessarily easy times. I have to admit, I have become so used to everything being conveniently available on a shelf in a grocery store. I didn’t learn till recently you can make brown sugar by mixing white sugar with molasses! I’m turning 72 in a couple of months and I’m still learning new things…new ways to make things with ingredients instead of ready made. 

You can look at these times as a crushing blow, a giant step backwards. You can get anxious or depressed or even disassociate yourself from it all. Or, you can treat it as a challenge…a game…see just how little you need to get by. You can learn to enjoy the simpler things. 

You can find peace in many ways:

You can go out and stand on the grass in your bare feet.

You can read or write…stories, novels, cookbooks, journals.

You can plant flowers or a garden and get your hands dirty.

You can spend time with God every day…walking in the woods or a park, reading the Bible, praying.

I think I’m going to become “Everyone’s Grandma” and teach the youngun’s some old timey skills. It’ll give me something to look forward to and help me contribute to a new beginning.

🩵🌷🩵

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”   ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

***Gratitude Journal***  
Today I am grateful to have a platform where I can share my knowledge and help others become more self-sufficient in the coming months and years. I give God the glory through my work.