New Lanark Historical House and Museum

Comment

Comment by Maryanne Mesple on February 24, 2013 at 3:15pm

Great story! I love family history. Thanks for sharing

Comment by Mona Short on February 24, 2013 at 12:59pm

My father was the 13th child in a family of 18 born in Shreveport Louisiana in the 30's.  My Grandfather was a sharecropper and a preacher.  They had dirt floors and no electricity or indoor plumbing.  They slept on homemade mattresses on the floor.  When my fathers oldest brothers and cousins came back from WWII they built a house for the family.  They were so proud of their house with electricity, that being light bulbs with a pull string, no electrical outlets or fixtures.  They had an outhouse until that house burned and they rebuilt in 1974.  The homestead, which is still there today had indoor plumbing and proper electricity and gas to the house.  My cousins and I had to help dig the septic.  My Grandfather continued to use the outhouse until he passed in 1986 at the age of 102, because he said everyone knew what you were doing when you went in the bathroom :)

Comment by Maryanne Mesple on February 22, 2013 at 10:08pm

I have lived like this :-) but we were not fortunate to have a trundle! I slept in a bed with 3 other siblings plus several cousins for a small while and we were all in the one bed at the same time ... my designated spot was the very foot of the bed, lucky for me I was small! Could you imagine in today's world here in the US telling brothers and sisters that they have to share a bed much less a room with the whole family?

Comment by Mona Short on February 22, 2013 at 8:36pm

It's a home.  It is suppose to show how the lower working class families had to live in extremely overcrowded conditions years ago.  Many had only the one room for the entire family. 

Comment by Maryanne Mesple on February 21, 2013 at 11:51am

Is this an infirmary or a home? I get the sense of hospital with the lighted bed and bowl with a spurtle in it, but the trundle bed speaks of home