The information that we received suggests that suburban families were more likely to prosper from the economic wealth of American during the 1920's than rural families. Some rural families were able to afford such luxuries as cars, phones, running water, and other items that were to become a standard in every suburban home, but most rural families could not enjoy these luxuries. Those that had washing machines, and other items still had to work hard and save for them. The following are accounts of those rural families of the 1920's.
Danielle Nanni
The prosperity associated with the 1920's did
not really affect my family at all. My mother's (Barbour) side of
the family lived on a farm in Virginia so they did not have many luxuries
to begin with. The Nanni's were caught up in to going to movies and
dancing. They loved to do those things. They really did not
have a reaction to the Prohibition era. The Nanni's or the Barbour's
were rot big drinkers at the time. The Barbour's were still having
at least eight children but compared to the earlier generation, it was
a lot less.
Jeff Manning
The Manning family was very poor and from generation
to generation they lived the lives of farmers. Farm families such
as the Manning family raise all of their own food and made their own clothing.
They had no electricity or motorized vehicles. For entertainment
they owned an old piano that the kids taught themselves to play.
Although my family did not have electricity, they sometimes visited a family
that did and everyone would sit around and listen to the radio. This
is how the family learned of such public figures as Babe Ruth.
James Proctor
Throughout the 1920's my family lived on a farm
in Kentucky. They grew food for themselves and did not take part
of the good life of the 1920's. They did not have electric lighting,
a radio, or even a television. This was the way it was for most farmers
throughout the early 20th Century because they were so far away form civilization.
Nick Wilson
My family farmed in Russell Springs Kentucky.
My Family had no running water and no plumbing. We had an outhouse
that we used to go to the bathroom in. Entertainment was basically
just reading the bible around the family. No car was in the
(White) family either.