02 September 2012

What Was Your Life Like In 1940?

Ancestry.com has this time machine that will tell you what your life "would have been" in 1940 had you been alive. I suppose that's all fine, but I'm not one really for these fun and games and speculation on what would have been.  My parents weren't even alive in 1940, so I'm not all that certain speculation about me would really help me with my research. I know--I'm a little bit cynical.

What I am more interested in is, what my ancestor's lives were like in 1940, if anything.

My paternal grandparents were married with one child in 1940. I know they didn't have running water and did not have electricity as my father remembers when they got electricity and that would have been after World War II. Other details I'm not so certain of. The house my grandmother lived in would have been standing and probably the garage. I know that one barn and the silo were built in the 1950s. I'm guessing there would have been a phone, but I'm not certain.

My maternal grandparents were not married in 1940. I'm not certain if their homes had indoor plumbing or electricity or not. I'll have to look into that.

Are there questions about 1940 that you have not asked? Now that I think about it, I've got questions.

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