Great-grandpa, father of my grandfather, owned several farms and almost all of town. He wanted to have a farm to leave each of his sons. It turned out that he also left each of them a business in town.
You might think he was wealthy. Not so. My great-grandfather got his holdings in an unscrupulous way. He traded whiskey to the Native Americans for their land. It was not ethical but at that time it was legal.
My grandfather inherited a farm and I believe the assay office. He eventually sold the assay office because it was not his area of expertise. He lived on the farm and raised his family there until he decided the grass was greener in Oklahoma.
The only great-uncle that I knew still had his farm and house when i was a child. I would not know how to find the farm now but If the house is still there I'm sure that it now has indoor plumbing and electricity.
His house in town is still there and looks exactly the same as it did then. I saw it a couple of years ago.
Another great-uncle is listed on a monument in front of the City Hall. He died of illness during World War I and was listed with the war dead.
Great-grandpa did not feel the need to supply the same inheritance to his daughters. I guess he felt that when they married their husbands would provide for their needs.
None of the land or businesses are owned by family any more. I can only imagine what all that land would be worth today. I could be independently wealthy, for goodness sake.
The same happened with my mother's family. The boys were given homes, while Mom married Dad and didn't get a wedding present from her parents. My parents paid for their own wedding as well. Times have changed, I guess?
ReplyDeleteI suppose they have changed.
DeleteThe same happened with the grandchildren I took custody of. My son-in-law sent an allowance to my grandson, but not my granddaughters. I made my son-in-law bank it, instead, for after graduation. At least the boy did not have extra money to flaunt. How I despise the sense of equality that probably will never go away.
ReplyDeleteIi is so sad that any parent can favor one child over another for any reason.
DeleteIt is hard to imagine how inequality can be so casually justified. But it was. And in many places, it still is. What a crazy old world.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange how minds work. Justice is tempered by perception.
DeleteGenealogy is so interesting even though at times it can be a tangled mess. You would definitely be a millionaire today.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun daydream.
DeleteWell, some people are so poor that the only thing they have is money...at least you are not that person :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. My life is full indeed.
DeleteFamilies take interesting paths. This one is especially so.
ReplyDeleteR
I have a feeling it was a hard family to try to survive in. I was always amazed that my father was so loving and giving. He did not learn it at his mother's knee.
DeleteTime changed, many paths resulted.
ReplyDeleteEach of us has made to choose one of the different one.
And life goes on.
Yes times are changing. One day all people will be treated fairly.
DeleteMakes you wonder, doesn't it? O tempora o mores! :-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
True. The times and the morals of those times accepted the behavior more readily than we do.
DeleteHe did see the value in land for his kids. Yeah, I am of the vintage where my Grandmother always said, "Marry well." She also said, "When poverty walks in the door, love flies out the window." I think I've always found that to be true. One has to have the basic creature comforts in life before it's easy to go on and enjoy other fine things of life.
ReplyDeleteYour grandmother seems to have given you good advice.
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