How would you describe the location where you lived as a child?
A small grain and livestock farm located in a rural area along side a tributary of the Missouri River, called Buffalo Creek.
What was the main source of heat in your childhood home?
Most of the heat was provided by kerosene, fuel oil, and wood chopped from the nearby creek beds.
How was this source of heat supplied? Did you obtain it yourself or was it delivered?
The fuel oil was supplied by a delivery truck, the kerosene was bought locally in town in 50 gallon barrels, and the wood was chopped by hand from the nearby creek beds.
Considering cleanliness, convenience, and quantity of heat produced, how does that source of heat compare to what we use today?
It was very inefficient source of heat compared to the natural gas and electric heat of today. It also created a lot of pollution.
What was the main source of lighting in your childhood home? What source of energy was used to provide the lighting?
The main source of lighting in our childhood home was glass domed kerosene lamps and sunlight.
What, if any, was the main means of public transportation? What provided the energy for this transportation?
The only public transportation of that time was by train, and it was powered by a diesel engine.
What was the main means of private transportation? How common was this mode of transportation? What was its source of energy?
The main source of transportation was horseback and we only took short trips. The horses were powered mainly by oats.
What fuel was used for cooking?
The cooking stove was powered mostly by the wood that was chopped from the nearby creek beds.
If you bought your food, rather than growing or raising it yourself, how was it packaged?
Most of the food was packaged in paper, wax paper, cardboard boxes, and tin cans.
In what kind of container was milk contained?
Milk was kept in glass bottles. However most people milked their own cows for fresh milk and cream and it was kept in metal milk cans and glass bottles.
What kind of soap was used to wash clothes? How was its effectiveness compare to today�s soaps and detergents?
The soap was homemade and it was called LyeSoap and it, ah, was not real efficient at removing stains, but it did get the dirt out.
What were the main fabrics used in clothes?
The main fabrics that were used were cotton and wool.
Were clothes easier or harder to care for than today�s clothes? Explain.
The clothes were much harder to care for than today�s modern fabrics. The clothes all required ironing to take out the wrinkles, and also cotton and wool were not stain resistant as many fabric are today.
What machinery did you use for farming?
We used state of the art equipment for the 1920�s. We had much smaller tractors than the tractors used today. These models had only 10% of the power of modern tractors in means of pulling and speed. The harvest equipment was slow and cumbersome. The old thrashing machines were stationary and they were powered by a large diesel engine. The grain had to be brought to the thrashing machine and hand fed to separate the grain from the husk.
What were your recreational activities?
We played mostly with homemade toys made from wood or scrap fabric. the toys were made by our parents of other relatives. However most of the time we spent our time in make believe games like Cowboys and Indians. We played a lot of Hide and Seek, Ghosts and Goblins, Starlight Starbright, and multiple card games. Then when we got really bored we would chase the farm animals.
How many people lived in your house when your were young? What was their relation to you?
Four people lived in my house, my mother, father, and sister.
What was the average income of a family in this area?
The average income was around $1,000 a year, it was average for the area.
How large was your house compared to your house today?
About one fifth. It was a two room house, and my house today 12 room house.
How many hours per week did your parents work?
My parents worked at least 70 hours per week and basically sunup to sundown.
What was the cost for the fuel in your home?
The kerosene was about a nickel a gallon, and the fuel oil was about 10 cents a gallon.
How old were people when they started driving?
People started driving automobiles around the age of 14 and you drove farm equipment as soon as you could touch the petals.
How much did a car cost?
I really don�t know, but I would say about $300 for a nice car.
How did you keep food refrigerated?
We didn�t. Others used icehouses. In the winter you would store your ice in the icehouse and in the summer the iceman would bring the ice for you. Still others built cellars deep below the frost line; there it would stay at a constant 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
How did you get rid of garbage?
The food scraps were often feed to the pigs and dogs and cats and any other animal that wanted some. The burnable garbage was burned and the tin cans and metals would be hauled off.
Did your house have hot water? How was the water heated?
The water was pumped from out side and then brought in to be heated on the wood burning stove.
How often did people bathe?
We bathed once a week, and in between we took sponge baths. There was a big square tub that would sit in the middle of the kitchen near the stove. Then we would boil the water, but first put cold water in and gradually add hot water till it was the right temperature. First it was the children, then the adults.
What types of medicine did your family have in your house?
We had aspirin, Epson salts, iodine, alcohol, and a lot of salves.
How did you dry your clothes in the winter? In the summer?
In the summer they where hung on clothes lines, and in the winter they would dry in the house on a clothes line.
What electrical appliances, if any, did you have?
We didn�t have electricity then.
People talk of the "good old days." Is there anything you would want back from what you had when you were young?
Only the slow pace of life. Our family lived within walking distance, I only lived a few miles from my relatives.
Comparison
I found that while comparing with my partner that our grandparents lived similar lives in similar times. Her grandmother had 15 people living in her house during the time period the interview was concerning. My grandfather did not have that many at the time the interview concerned, but he soon would later have just as many siblings. Both families lived on a farm in the midwest. because both of the families lived by a creek they had similar recreational activities. Both houses used a wood burning stove, and both bought their fuel in town or chopped it by hand. The two families also use iceboxes and cellars to keep their food cool. Both families disposed of garbage in the same manner, by burning, feeding it to animals, or having it hauled off. Both houses were lit in the same manner by kerosene, or gasoline burning lamps. All in all, these were two farmer families that grew up very similarly in the same time period.