Assisted Living

Uncommon now, but until the first half of the 20th century, if a parent lost a spouse and reached an age of maturity, it was customary for that parent to move in with a daughter. Woe to him who raised no daughters; sons are mostly unreliable.

Swedish style home

Sofia, my great-grandmother, wife of great-grandfather Carl, died in 1918. Carl lived until 1938 with his only daughter, my grandmother, Esther. My other great-grandmother, Hannah, died in 1923 and Esther's father-in-law, Nils, lived with them until his death in 1927.  Add in her bachelor brother, my great-uncle Dave, who lived with her family until his death in 1974.

Add to that 7 kids.


So...

Nuclear family: husband, wife, 7 children = 9.
Extended family: father, father-in-law, brother = 3.

12 for 3 squares / day.  And on Sunday, always more.

Sunday dinner

And they kept coming.  The kids were gone but her 2 sisters-in-law moved in in the '60's.

But the subject of this post is not in praise of my grandmother (see Esther's post for that story), rather to brief you on the step prior to moving in with your daughter.

You must dispose of your "stuff".

As they say, "you can't take it with you" and that includes the move to the daughter's home. In your case, you have my sympathies. In this day and age the detritus of life accumulates to an amazing volume.  It is your duty to do this of course as the economy depends on your constant "consuming". Unfortunately, much of what we have is not "consumable" but "accumulatable"  (is that a word? you get my gist I think.)  How to get rid of it all?  Many resort to the "estate sale" usually before they are dead and about to move to the "home" - the modern version of the "daughter's place".  An estate sale is when you have someone undervalue your priceless possessions,  open your home to a parade of bargain hunters - usually on a rainy weekend - and let them traipse through and walk off with your belongings all for pennies.

"Will you take a dollar for that Remington bronco buster bronze thing?"  "I'll give you 5 bucks for that Norwegian sweater."

Then you pay 50% or so commission for the service and more to have someone come in and clean and disinfect your home. A losing proposition.


The counter-part to this modern day travesty is "the farm auction".  The difference is of course, it is your friends and neighbors rather than strangers who come to rob you.  And you get the privilege of standing in the back of the crowd and watching.  It is a painful experience to discover how little value other people hold for your belongings. Front and center are the auction addicts, drooling, ready to grab whatever they can for a song.  And next week when you stop by the flea market in town, there it all is.

My great-grandfather Carl owned a farm on Stowe's Lake, north of Brandon. When his son and son-in-law bought the hardware in Lowry in 1916, he held a farm auction to dispose of farm equipment, tools and animals.  Proceeds were roughly $2800.  The auctioneer took only 3%.  People were more civilized back then. More than 1/2 the total came from the sale of livestock:

• 8 calves @$17 ea         $136
• 9 cows @ ~$50            $450
• 3 red steer @ ~$30       $ 90
• 3 red heifer @~35        $105
• 6 horses                        $700  (3 black, 2 bay, 1 roan)
• 69 chickens @.60         $  41
• ...

And the rest

• family organ       $15.00
• wheel barrow      $ 1.50
• hay rack              $ 4.00
• binder                 $10.00
• corn planter        $21.00
• wagon                 $28.00
• manure spreader $53.00
• 100 bu oats         $48.00
• surrey                  $40.00
• ...

I know that income and costs were much lower 100 years ago, but this had to be a painful day.

  

There is a lesson here for all of us approaching this day of reckoning.  That manure spreader you hold so near and dear will only bring you $53.  A good Lenten resolution is to get rid of 1 manure spreader a day for each of the 40 days. And perhaps extend it to the 50 days of Pentecost.  Ponder it.

Copyright © 2019 Dave Hoplin