Before There Were Cars Or Trucks

[68 Ford Stepside]

My Great Grandparents had a mule for plowing, a horse for pulling the buggy & feet. They never knew what a car or a truck was. If they could come back, they would be amazed at how quickly we get around now. Have A Great Ford Day !

[1972hiboy]

Thats a great pic! My great-granfather was using a horse to pull a plow until 1953. My grandmother remembers clearly " that horse was mean!" hen was this picture taken?

[68 Ford Stepside]

Somewhere around 1850. I bet you didn't notice great grandma was smoking a corn cob pipe. I think great grandpa had a moonshine still down by the creek. Their names were Addison & Lucey.

[69timemachine]

Wow, that is a cool pic! Reminds me of the stories my grandma told me of when she was a little girl. Apparently, her father, my great grandfather, was really great friends with THE Frank James. Apparently friends enough that Frank rode the train down and stayed a few weeks with the family on our farm. That would have been interesting to have been around for that visit!

[Kurt Combs]

Very cool picture. I wonder how old they were in that picture. He had dark hair, so I wouldn't put him past early fifties. Nice boots, bet they were made in American, unlike my new Justins.

[mcheath]

Very neat picture, rare to have something like this of your family, you are lucky.

My father grew up in Oklahoma in the 30's with no car, tractors, electricity, phone, running indoor water, (outhouse) and they had a dirt floor in the house. They were sharecroppers and used mules to plow and pull their wagon. Trips to town once a month in the wagon, took several hours to do the trip, which by car now can be made in 15 minutes. All the kids were born in the house, most died young or at birth. It's a life unimaginable to me, but was not really all that uncommon in rural areas well into the 20th century. Your 1850's great-grandparents, Addison and Lucey, would have felt right at home on the farm my dad grew up on during 1930's Oklahoma.

[crazyhorse]

Mr Stepside , that is a great picture of your grandparents.
Did they farm in South Carolina?

[68 Ford Stepside]

Mr Stepside , that is a great picture of your grandparents.
Did they farm in South Carolina?

My great grandparents, my grandparents & my parents were South Carolina farmers. I'm the first in the clan that chose not to slop hogs for a living. You could say I broke the family tradition.

[68 Ford Stepside]

Wow, that is a cool pic! Reminds me of the stories my grandma told me of when she was a little girl. Apparently, her father, my great grandfather, was really great friends with THE Frank James. Apparently friends enough that Frank rode the train down and stayed a few weeks with the family on our farm. That would have been interesting to have been around for that visit!

It would have been interesting to meet Frank, but I really would have been interested in meeting Jesse. No, I'm not that fast on the draw, but these old outlaw cowboys intrigue me.

[68 Ford Stepside]

Very neat picture, rare to have something like this of your family, you are lucky.

My father grew up in Oklahoma in the 30's with no car, tractors, electricity, phone, running indoor water, (outhouse) and they had a dirt floor in the house. They were sharecroppers and used mules to plow and pull their wagon. Trips to town once a month in the wagon, took several hours to do the trip, which by car now can be made in 15 minutes. All the kids were born in the house, most died young or at birth. It's a life unimaginable to me, but was not really all that uncommon in rural areas well into the 20th century. Your 1850's great-grandparents, Addison and Lucey, would have felt right at home on the farm my dad grew up on during 1930's Oklahoma.

Here's a neat photo of two sharecroppers in 1940. Probably out in the midwest somewhere. I'd bet money this ladies dress & apron were made from seed sacks. Have A Great Ford Day !

[abe]

Both cool pictures! My grandfather (I bought my '54 F-100 from him) was born in 1898. He started farming with horses and mules. He never learned to read yet ran a very successful dairy. His milk bottles bring over $250-$300 around here today at auctions! My Mom was the first born. She used horses in the field. I don't know when he changed over to tractors. He lived to be 100. Think of the changes he witnessed? Born when McKinley was president and died while Clinton was president.

[crazyhorse]

I plowed a mule too.
When I was 16 years old and in high school and driving a school bus 1 1/2 hours AM & 1 1/2 hours PM,
I also farmed with 2 mules and made 18 bales of cotton, + had 9 acres of corn and also a garden
and some oats , water melon and canteloupe patch & a few other patches.
I had help thinning the cotton and picking the cotton , other than that I did it all.

A good well trained mule is very valueable and important on the farm.
Mules seen plowing today on the computer is NOTHING like it was done on the farm.
Plowing with a good mule is very easy and you can control the mule with your voice .

Mr Stepside , thank you for putting this thread and the pictures up.
That apron & dress could also have been made from flour sacks.
Flour came in 50 pound sacks and you could pick the same color sacks
or pick different colors too.
Lots of the smaller kids wore 25 lbs. flour sacks .
Just wash the sack, cut a hole in the bottom of the sack for the head to go through
and a hole in both sides for the arms.

Well I didn't mean to be so long so will stop for now.
Thanks also for the great information about some of the old days.

[68 Ford Stepside]

I plowed a mule too.
When I was 16 years old and in high school and driving a school bus 1 1/2 hours AM & 1 1/2 hours PM,
I also farmed with 2 mules and made 18 bales of cotton, + had 9 acres of corn and also a garden
and some oats , water melon and canteloupe patch & a few other patches.
I had help thinning the cotton and picking the cotton , other than that I did it all.

A good well trained mule is very valueable and important on the farm.
Mules seen plowing today on the computer is NOTHING like it was done on the farm.
Plowing with a good mule is very easy and you can control the mule with your voice .

Mr Stepside , thank you for putting this thread and the pictures up.
That apron & dress could also have been made from flour sacks.
Flour came in 50 pound sacks and you could pick the same color sacks
or pick different colors too.
Lots of the smaller kids wore 25 lbs. flour sacks .
Just wash the sack, cut a hole in the bottom of the sack for the head to go through
and a hole in both sides for the arms.

Well I didn't mean to be so long so will stop for now.
Thanks also for the great information about some of the old days.

You're very welcome crazyhorse, never forget where you came from.

[69timemachine]

It would have been interesting to meet Frank, but I really would have been interested in meeting Jesse. No, I'm not that fast on the draw, but these old outlaw cowboys intrigue me.

Yes, they intrigue me as well. My great grandpa has some mystery around him for sure! They say he was left-handed and was a fast draw and excellent shot. We still have one of his revolvers (he carried two), both were matching nickel plated .38's with custom ivory grips, having a cow skull carved with rubies in the eye sockets. The other was destroyed in a possible plot to do him harm. He lent it to his neighbor, and shortly after its return, he drew to shoot a snake and upon firing, he didn't hit it. Thinking he somehow missed, he fired again, and still no hit. Upon checking his barrel, both slugs were wedged in the barrel and it miraculously didn't explode in his face! It's possible the neighbor was hoping to purchase our land from my great-grandma if he had gotten killed. Yep, grandma left us with a lot of interesting stories about her dad!

[68 Ford Stepside]

Another shot of the early days & early ways although there are cars in this one.