The author describes what life would have been like for our ancestors between 1860 and 1876. This book is part of a series – “The Everyday Life in America Series”, which consists of six books, by as many authors, which start in “Early America” and go through 1945. This book is the third in the series. For this time frame, the first thing we think of is the Civil War, and indeed the first chapter discusses the life of a soldier. Sutherland describes the enlistment process, daily life as a soldier (mostly pretty boring), and life in the military after the end of the war.
The rest of the book describes where people lived, what jobs they held, and daily trials and tribulations. People were still moving west, but now the railroad helped them get there. Most of the population were still working on farms, whether they were landowners or just hired hands, but more were moving to the city, and some were becoming professionals. Working in a factory became more commonplace, for women as well as men, and unfortunately, children too. While the majority of the population was still connected with farming, climate conditions, crops, and yearly cycles of life varied greatly depending on location. Some farmers were basically subsistence farmers, growing or producing almost of what they needed, while others grew crops mainly in order to sell it, in order to buy everything else.
During this time frame, several aspects of daily life changed, starting the process to become more like life as we know it today. Daily postal delivery, at least in larger towns, started. Doctors started becoming more educated and professional. Cities, especially in the Northeast, were growing, but had not yet realized that a number of things needed to change to support that growth, especially when it came to dealing with fires and sanitation. As people moved west, they built schools and churches as soon as they were able in their new communities. Most towns of any size had at least a few craftsmen, such as blacksmiths. And social clubs were an important part of life for many people.
If this was your family, how would you research them? This is the first book in the series to have photographs. This is the time frame when, if you are fortunate, you may start seeing photographs of your ancestors. In researching your ancestors, keep in mind what type of community they were living in. They would have had very different experiences depending on the size and location of their community. As with the previous books, this one also has an extensive bibliography, which could be helpful for more in depth research in specific areas.