Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 2 March 2016.
I’ve been reading through the diaries that were sent to me from Indiana and I’ve found a few surprises about life in the late 1800’s. Here are 10 wagon facts I never thought about:
- You had to wash your wagon
- When you purchased a new wagon you traded in your old wagon, like we do today with our cars
- Wagons broke down ALOT! Poor road conditions, skittish horses and driver error contributed to the break downs.
- You were responsible for the cost of damages caused by your runaway horse and wagon
- There were ALOT of serious accidents around wagons – falling out of, getting run over by, getting injured by overhanging tree limbs, etc.
- When your wagon needed repairs someone would come to you but it was much more expensive than if you somehow got the wagon to the wagon shop to be repaired.
- Depending on the repair needed, it could take a few hours or several days to get the part
- Wheels fell off wagons frequently
- If you were going to take a train you hired a livery person to pick you up and take you home, unless you had relatives to help you out.
- Family members borrowed each other’s wagons for various jobs that needed to be accomplished
Who knew?!
 |