Which Ancestors Could You Comfortable Lifeswap With?

[Viktoria]

Before her marriage my several times great grandmother was a monthly nurse - I'm a midwife so that's probably closest to my comfort zone

I suppose that would be when women were kept in bed for three weeks and then if they could afford it for the week after too.
Nowadays it is all so quick and whilst staying immobile so long is not good(it can cause lack of circulation in the legs can’t it,and a condition known as “white leg “can develop. )Girls expect to be back to normal far too soon nowadays.

Not many working class women could afford help but mother’s were often on hand and neighbours too.
Nice you have followed in her footsteps.

Viktoria.

[River Tyne Lass]

That is nice that you have followed in your ancestors 👣 footsteps and that this is in your comfort zone.  I know that some of my ancestors jobs would definitely see me out of my comfort zone.

I have a bloodline ancestor called Mary Senior.  In one census some decades after her husband Edward died I saw her in another household described as a 'sick nurse'  and if I recall rightly she was in her seventies!  Poor thing! Just at an age when it might have been nice for her to put her feet up after years of raising a large family and running a pub.  I hope they didn't over work her.

[iluleah]

That is nice that you have followed in your ancestors 👣 footsteps and that this is in your comfort zone.  I know that some of my ancestors jobs would definitely see me out of my comfort zone.

...and that goes into is it nurture or nature ( or a bit of both)........ do we carry genes from our ancestors that repeat their skills? I think we do, we certainly repeat patterns of behaviour of our ancestors, like marrying at a young age so why not their work skills or choices of work.

[pharmaT]

I don't think I could comfortably lifeswap with any of my ancestors.  Their lives were so very different from mine's I literally wouldn't know where to start.  I also don't think I'd be capable of doing the things they did.

I have one x x grt aunt (can't remember exactly how many greats of the top of my head), she became a nun and took herself off to Spain during the civil war to nurse people from both sides, she died out there.


Then there was one of my 3x Great Grandmother who was widowed at a young age leaving her with 3 children under 5.  She took over management of the family farm, running it single handed  until my grt grt grandfather was old enough to help.  While doing this she educated her children at home to a level her obituary described as "as if they had been to a very good school".  She also ran the Sunday School and sat on local committees.  Apparently she was renowned for being someone you could go to for advice.


Another 3x grt grandmother survived being widowed, then being abandoned TWICE.  Time in prison (10 years) for getting desperate and steeling some food, outlived 4 of her 8 children including one who died while she was in prison.


So much stronger than I have or could ever be.

[mgeneas]

None of 'em. I need electricity and central heating to survive in my mature years

[coombs]

None of them. I am happy with the modern ways of living as opposed to living in a cramped London tenement with 8 people in 1 room, washing in a tin bucket and using an outside loo. Or even a remote rural cottage in Suffolk with only oil lamps and a fireplace for light and warmth at night/in the winter.

But I would spend a few hours with some, ask them questions on their heritage (James Smith, Matthew Bradford, Sarah Coombs) then say "I have to go back to the future".

[Taylor94]

Wouldn't mind Switching with my ancestor Sir Thomas Halford 2nd Baronet, At least I would get to live in Wistow Manor and a Comfortable Life, Gorgeous House which still stands today. I wouldn't mind switching with my 4th grt grandfather Henry Ellis who was a Game Keeper for Lord Stamford in the 1850s-1880s afterwards lived comfortably on a pension from the Estate and his personal Wealth. Or perhaps any of my Dudley ancestors, all fairly Wealthy Farmers and Land Owners who had the status of Gentlemen and one was sent to Oxford University.