Don't forget Samuel Whitmore Jr. 1696-1793. Fought at Lexington and Concord at 79, killed two or three British grenadiers, was shot in the face and bayoneted, left for dead and subsequently recovered and lived another 18 years dying of natural causes.
@@Vandal_Savage Yep, I'm sure of that. bless his old heart. Well, what's that old saying, "the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." I've worked in nursing homes, and some of the old fellers still felt a little "spry", shall we say?
In 1904, my great grandfather, a barber, slightly knicked his hand pulling a cork out of a hair tonic bottle. A few months later, he was dead of what was probably blood poisoning. We all take for granted: public sanitation, clean drinking water, the development of antibiotics, and "Modern Medicine" overall.
You don't need modern antibiotics near as much as you think. Oregano oil. You should never take antibiotics more than 5x in a life time because it kills your immune system longterm
I have a similar story. My great grandmother received word one of her sons was killed in WW1 and the body was being shipped home. She busied herself with chores. One day she was working in the garden and cut her hand on something (we just don’t know what) and died shortly after with blood poisoning! All this while waiting on her sons body to come home 😢
well my tribal reservation does not and never has had clean drinking water, thanks US Government. We don't have access to clean water in a first world country. What in the hell.
Superb video. Towards the end he says they probably thought they were living in the best of times. Makes you wonder if 200 years from now there’ll be a future Townsend video asking if future people could survive during our lifetime.
So many aren’t surviving our time so much death from poverty and lifestyle diseases and so many still don’t have good healthcare access or funds etc. it’s pretty barbaric! As averages those at the midpoint of middle class and above live 15 years longer than those below that point.
@@lijohnyoutube101When I was an assistant editor for a history journal, we published an article on how life expectancy changed at the beginning of the industrial revolution. In Belgium, the life expectancy dropped from 27 years to 17 years when people moved into town. So, when you complain about not surviving modern life, think about having a life expectancy where, at best, you'll probably not survive to 30.
@@lijohnyoutube101Here's another example. Barbara Hanawalt scoured the coroner's rolls of medieval England and found that the average marriage only lasted ten years because one spouse would be dead by then. In other words, if you lived long enough to marry, you had a 50/50 chance of dying before the age of 30-35. You would have six children, only half of whom would live to adulthood. That was the life of an average couple. I've seen theories that "many" people would have lived to be 70 or 80, but they don't explain what they mean by the word "many." One out of a thousand? One out of a hundred? Imo probably not, except in rare times of unusually good harvests and absence of epidemics.
@@edennis8578 oh yea people joke about OSHA but factory and city life was dangerous. Farming also had issues but the barbaric working conditions in the city, bad living conditions, lack of sleep, often poor nutrition, transfer of diseases in cramped environments etc etc The horrific nature of the Triangle Waist Company fire and the locked doors to prevent breaks and theft. The book The Jungle by Sinclair is also a great read! Yes we have made progress but our society particularly in the US is barbaric. We don’t value life, we say we do but in reality we value profit WAY WAY WAY more than life. We have very very little emphasis on quality of life. If someone has half a pulse no matter the horrific nature of their life we have totally normalized whatever it is, deal because all we care about is alive. It’s pathetic…and it’s inhumane. It’s 2024 and look the two employers with the by far percentage of employees on aid, they are Walmart and McDonald’s. The walmart family is collectively currently work around 250 BILLION dollars. That amount of money is so HUGE it’s impossible to even understand the enormity of the size of their wealth. Walmart doesn’t need to be employing at poverty wages to the point it’s employees can’t even pay for housing, food etc. they pay the employees that way due to inconceivable insatiable greed.
My Dad's family would have had no problem being transported back into colonial times. Grandpa was an Oklahoma sharecropper during the Great Depression, still farming with mules because he couldn't afford a tractor. Dad and his twin brother were born and raised in a log cabin, with an outside well for water, kerosene lamps for light, and a wood-burning stove and fireplace to cook on and for heat. They kept hogs, chickens and a couple of cows, and Grandma had a big garden. Dad and his twin brother would hunt squirrels, rabbits, and whatever else they could find for something other than hog meat. If the kids started looking "puny," Grandma would send them out to scour the ditches for greens so that they would get some vitamins. For something sweet, they grew sorghum. There was one guy in the county who had a mill and he charged a share of the syrup for using it, you had to bring your own mule to run it though. For money to buy necessities, Grandma and the older kids would second-pick harvested cotton fields for cotton to sell. They did the same for harvested corn fields to feed the hogs. The family didn't have electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water until they moved north after Grandma got a job building bombers during WWII. Grandpa still farmed though, but now with a tractor. Grandma worked as a riveter at Boeing for 30 years. There are B-52s still flying that she helped build.
@@odysseusrex5908 Grandma never said anything about Boeing ever contacting her about not remaining at her job. I think the reason why many women left the work force after WWII is that they were young, their men were back home, and they wanted to start families. Grandma already had kids in grade school. Boeing liked having a few small women riveters because they could get into places that the larger men couldn't. I suppose that once robotics were developed this wasn't so much of an issue anymore but grandma was retired by then.
Every time we twist a faucet and potable water comes out, we should be glad to live in the times we have. A History professor of mine described it as the single greatest advance in Public Health ever made.
The times and places we live in It's started to hit me pretty hard recently how much of a luxury that is, knowing that even in first world countries there are people without clean water.
@@sparkyphantom92 Considering you don't personally know the OP or their struggles and life circumstances, you may want to think before leaving such a clueless comment.
I've done the dirt camping with very little food and shelter. At this point in my life, roughing it is a hotel that doesn't have room service. Cheers from sunny, if crazy, California.
When I was 8 or so I had swine flu, I had a 104 degree fever but thanks to modern medicine I made a speedy recovery. When I was 20 or so, I had a large tumor on my ovary which was removed with a very simple surgery leaving only 4 small scars. Even recently I had Cellulitis, and it cleared up after a week on antibiotics. I also have very bad vision, but that's an easy fix with glasses. Thanks to modern medicine these are small inconveniences to me, but 300 years ago could have easily killed me or left me completely disabled.
I really appreciate the constant references to the diaries, journals and other writings of actual people from those times like William Byrd, Nicholas Cresswell, etc.
I was homeless and lived in a tent in New England. There were times when I went days without food or water and the winter was anything but easy. I had times that I prayed to die before I turned 30.
tbf both asthma and allergies are not necessarily something innate to your genetics and could be different just by growing up in different conditions, but yes, your chances aren't looking too great
well you can take consolation in the fact that you would have been exposed to horses early on and would not be allergic to them (research shows early exposer to allergens prevents allergies)
Beautiful video! I am very proud to be the descendant of a Huguenot man who moved his family to the frontier of Tennessee. I don't know much about him except he loved good food and wine, but he gave it up for his faith.❤
Me too! I just got over a bout of the throwing up disease and I thought I was going to die just yesterday! lol But, when that started happening back in the day - people really did die of what we consider now to be - Oh, I just had a stomach bug.
My husband's great grandfather left his home in New York state at 17, tagged along with a wagon train and walked to California, a year later decided to go home and so walked to Panama, crossed the isthmus, was captured by bandits, freed, and caught a ship back up the East Coast. Maybe when you see so many people die young you figure what have I got to lose? Amazing.
In my case I can say with near certainty that I wouldn’t have seen my 20th birthday. Some of my Swiss ancestors tried moving to a Swiss colony in North Africa (Algeria) in the 1850’s. After losing four of their eight children to cholera and typhoid in 1854 and 1855 they went back home. In the 1870’s they tried again and moved to Canada where one of them had 18 children and didn’t lose a single one. Luck played an important part.
And THEN, have a dozen kids!! The Lewis and Clark expedition was amazing. I’m glad I read about it with my kids. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch was another good book to read with them.
The big difference between us is in the 18th century, children would just die of disease, while in modern times we vaccinate to provide the same resistance that they get by surviving an infection. Medical technology is the main area in which we really move beyond the 18th century. Everything else largely just serves to allow more work to be done with less labour, or for more humans to live in an urban area. The absence of this is overcome through learning - just like a colonist from England would also need to do. People don't survive hard times because of toughness, people get tough because of surviving hard times.
Actually they don't get tough, in fact they have worse health and quality of life outcomes. Manual work takes it's toll on body even today people who do roofing or flooring are basically crippled by the time they are 50.
Since you mentioned the Lewis & Clark expedition: one of my favorite bits of biomedical history is that the Corps of Discovery were supplied with powerful laxatives called “Rush’s Thunder-clappers” after their creator, Dr. Benjamin Rush (considered the founder of American psychiatry and an ancestor of the doomed Titanic sub guy Stockton Rush). These were used to help treat constipation due to the explorers’ unbalanced meat-heavy diet, and they contained so much mercury that even 200 years later, archaeologists were able to trace their route using chemical analysis of where they stopped to poop.
I can cook from scratch with 18th century techniques thanks to Townsends. I spin, weave, knit all fibers. I grow flax for linen plus all that takes to process. We had a derecho which took out everything 21st century. Had my Townsend lanterns and could cook over a fire. Big favor we had running water! But I do keep big bottles of water in storage. Skills! Skills. Having basic survival skills and skills to swap.
Yeah, but knowing medicinal skills then wasnt like it is now. I wouldn’t go to a barber/do tor back then. I would find a green woman/herbalist. And Im one. I would grow my own.
My 5th great grandfather was a 9 year old drummer boy during the revolution. He served with his 11 and 16 year old brothers in a unit separate from their father. They were Loyalists so by 1783 they were refugees in Quebec, Canada. When he was older he served in the War of 1812. He died at age 86 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada!
My grandfather was born in 1892. When he got married they had a wagon pulled by horses. He and my grandmother had a farm all through the depression and didn’t really know what depression meant. It is each generation’s job to make life a little better for the next. Look at how much has changed just since 1900
If anyone here has kids, a cartoon series called Liberty's Kids from 2002 actually follows the Revolution from the perspective of three kids. Joseph Plumb Martin is actually in it too!
Very old guy here: Your passion and erudition comes across like the best and most inspiring teachers I remember from school 60+ years. Thank you for doing what you do. And . . .Oh god for a shot penicillin!
My 5X great grandfather was George Graham 1756-1840 he was born in 1756 in New Jersey. At the age of 17 he went to fight in the Revolutionary war and In 1776 he was shot in the thigh during the battle of long island. Even after everything he went through he fought on with a limp and lived to be 84 years old. After the war he got married and moved to Southwestern Pennsylvania where his family still resides. Looking back on everything that could have gone wrong and didn't it really gives you perspective on how good you really have things today.
My great grandparents immigrated from Europe to the US in 1867. They voyaged on one of the “coffin ships,” a freighter that had a deck added below after its original cargo was unloaded. These ships were so named because of the numbers lost at sea. Their party of ten included their aging parents, an uncle, and their children, including an infant. I’ve read that these temporary decks allowed six feet of headroom, just enough to stand. Families were allotted a 6-by-6 foot space on deck-people stacked like cordwood. My imagination can’t do justice to those conditions. I am forever astonished that they all survived. Alas, twelve years later, my great grandfather was shot dead while plowing.
Wow. Truly an inspiring video. All the comments too, with details about the immigrant/colonist experiences from the British Isles. Immigration and survival in the past really was a different game. They crossed that sea.
I am old enough to remember the 1970's, an era of no cellphones and landline phones only, no internet, no personal computers, no GPS or directions online with road maps only, if you missed seeing a movie during it's original theatrical run you missed seeing it, and if you missed watching something on TV, you missed watching it!
@@rosskardon7195 VHS and Betamax came out in the 70's old timer so not really no. Also all those movies came back out in the 80's so once again, no not really. You just had to wait a few years.
I could survive, but with the help from my husband. He has tactical survival skills. He had to live in the woods for months on his own without anything but his pack while on certain missions. He helped me come up with the perfect camping gear. If we went back to those times, could I bring my life straw and my compression bandadges?
Thanks for sharing with us Jon. Enjoyed the looking back and reminiscing about reenacting the Rendezvous' and the fun and adventure they brought to us and knowing we could survive off the land . Stay safe , Fred.
Great video like always. As someone with medical problems who can't really take anything for pain (allergy to the most common) aside from Tylenol, it's difficult to be in varying levels of pain/nausea every day without pause. So I can understand having to endure a ton of discomfort and always looking for ways to get done what I need to get done. I always try to think about the things that I'm happy I don't have to deal with despite it all. Anyways, looking to the past helps to inspire because there is always a lot to learn and it's fun and cool to be able to implement things into your daily life (like, maybe you end up using an 18th century recipe as the base of a new dish you make at home, etc, etc). Thanks for all you do at Townsends!
Kind of like what happened with some of the earliest European settlers, where a lack of knowledge could heavily contribute to mortality in a settlement.
I always think about cutting hay with a scythe and stacking it in haystacks. And then having to winnow the grain. Watering stock… best I can think is they must have driven the animals down to the water. Hauling water for just one horse would be an incredible chore.
As a woman, I'd have to worry about working while pregnant and childbirth. Not only that my child might die but many women still die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
I was thinking the same thing. Each of my three children were transverse birth C section births. Would any of us have survived? Most likely not. Child birth, Childhood illnesses and injuries, the lack of antibiotics...it gets pretty bleak.
@@sharpaycutie2 that is an ignorant statement. Please do some research before speaking on this topic. Nature isn't perfect. People and animals die from pregnancy and labor related complications.
One of the things we often don't think about these days is the mortality rate from disease in children under the age of 5. In my area, if you go through the various cemeteries, you'll find any number of small gravestones of someone's child who died back in the early 1900's.
Looking back through my genealogy shows that most generations past my grandparents' one lost children to disease. When I caught rheumatic fever as a child, my grandpa and grandma drove 300 miles to see us because they just knew that I was going to die. Fortunately for me, penicillin was available in the early 1960s. Polio is nearly unheard of today but even in my parents' time most people knew someone who had been crippled because of it.
@@Snargfargle One of the sad stories from my family history is a small headstone in the local cemetery, a girl who died in 1903 at the age of 3. She was my grandfather's cousin. Back in the late 70's, another of his cousins was visiting my aunt, and went to pay his respects at the cemetery. When he saw the headstone he stopped, and said "Oh. You know, I always thought that I'd had a sister, but was sure my memory was right. My parents never talked about her." One of my sister's friends father had survived polio as a youth, but needed crutches to walk.
Not just diseases, disabilities. They're extremely common among people today, because modern medicine has created ways to treat or help people cope with them. Those same disabilities in those days would have killed a lot of people at a young age, or caused them to meet their doom.
The closest I've come was back in 1997- at the Eastern Primitive Event.My wife and I spent two weeks there, in our camp (circa1750s). Our only use of modern tech during that time was a single plastic cooler for some fresh foods and using porta johns.This was during October in rural North Central Pa.Water was in a wooden keg, cooking was on a fire and brazier, fires started with flint/steel, i shaved with a straight razor, heated wash water on the fire, lit the camp with candle lanterns and candles. Much of our gear was from Townsends, Panther Primitives and Smoke and Fire.
The living history, reenacting community may be best suited for a permanent transition back in time. Having spent 25 years living, learning, teaching in the 18th century and early 19th and having the tools and skills I can say I can instantly live in the 18th century. For how long, who knows.
I work as an interpreter and foodways demonstrator at a living history museum and am surrounded by amazing people with skills that were mostly forgotten generations ago. Much of what I cook on the open hearth is grown, raised, or processed right there in the village and I often joke to guests that if there was ever an apocalypse, the “villagers” would probably survive! (Well, unless there were zombies involved!)😁
My answer is yes. First off and least important, I can and do shoot flint lock firearms, also I am a gunsmith who builds muzzle loading rifle. I also do blacksmithing. Its very much related to gunsmithing. I also learned how to do carpenter work without using power tools. My Father was an old time carpenter who used these tools and taught his sons to use them(old time german wood workers). And I grew up in the time when people had gardens, and preserved what they grew. I can hunt game, but would have no need to. Chickens, pigs geese, and other animals are easly cared for and lastly , my Grandfather was a bee keeper and I learned that from him. Im 74 and have been doing these things since chilhood so Im set. A little gardening advice. If you want your vegetable to thrive, plant flowers a around your garden. Bees will pollinate all your plants ..
My great grandfather from Indiana died young of TB leaving my great grandmother a young widow with two small children. Back then they still believed that the night air caused many diseases which was why many used bed curtains. He spent many months away from home working on a farm with migrant workers no doubt he caught it while bunking together with his fellow workers.
@@lovelily8310I do believe that there is some truth in that as even a cold seems to get worse at night but that belief was blamed for way to much back then . Thank you for your input 😊
@@b.savage8953 Dew point - 100% relative humidity. Breathing in humid air can make the process more labored, and the water vapor also traps plenty of particles like allergens, mold spores, bacteria... that gets breathed in and collected in the lungs, making one more susceptible to infection. Being cold is also not very helpful to our immunity.
@@teeteetuu94 Those factors can increase the probability of contracting TB but I've yet to see any proof that those conditions can cause TB . Thank you for your input .
It's a pity isn't it? Nick Cresswell was like *the* original swashbuckling rogue adventurer. He survived more horror and extreme danger than many people do in their entire lives, yet even in his journal, on what he thought was his deathbed, he didn't lose heart. I would very much like to see a miniseries about him. In the same vein as the BBC/HBO John Adams series.
I think the first question really is how well do you know yourself. Trying to live with out everything we take for granted would definately show the difference between what a person thinks they can do and what they actually will do. I think the most sensable approach would be to pick a challange, say see what can be foraged for food in the local area and try just living on that for a few weeks. There would be so much to learn.
I love these episodes especially. We can learn a lot from Mr. Townsend. I'd love to see a series of episodes going into the past and applying those lessons to today.
Love the way that you bring this home to our lives today. That's really the greatest value in studying history and the gift of public history like you do--how we apply lessons of the past to today.
👍 Good description of conditions in colonial times. However, I was most impressed with your final thoughts of encouragement to overcome our fears and adversities today - excellent message.
As is the case so often, your videos give us an opportunity to learn from the past to help us prepare for the future...... May we have eyes to see and ears to hear......
Thank You Jon! In those times people were dependent on each other for all their needs. Unlike today when we find everything under one roof made by huge industries and computers from all over the world. I believe there was a closer relationship with others to survive. Today people have grown apart in many cases. People were tougher then and far more able to have the skills to survive, being taught to do so because they had to. Today few people have the skills to provide the basics. The skills have become money. My GGGGrandparents came here from Ireland in 1815 into Philadelphia. He was born in 1772 and died in 1860. So he was in his 40s when arriving, which was pretty amazing in those days. Of course in 1815 the frontier was further west and Pennsylvania quite established. But to take that journey that late in life in those times was quite courageous. Thanks Again and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
@@nicholasgarcia399 I grew up in the Navy. We moved hundreds of miles every 2.5 years. The Navy only covered so much in moving expenses (by weight). AC's are heavy.
John & the Townsends crew really give us a window to the past. My earliest ancestors in the US were indentured servants sent to the South and they somehow survived. Maybe I would have a shot too.
I have over 28 years experience in emergency medical care and clinical medical care. I have a solid understanding of human anatomy. I have a firm understanding of germ theory. I understand haw to sterilise instruments. I would become a doctor in town. Even without modern antibiotics, I could do some good in that role.
I say Yes - many of us would. Because we did. We're here because yes we did. When I was close to death with pneumonia on home care and I watched so many Townsends videos. Not only for the music and how easy it is to listen to Mr. Townsends, but also because it's inspiring to realize we can overcome hardship. I've heard other surgeons and doctors comment during livestreams that these videos are on in recovery rooms and help their patients.
My direct ancestor came off the boat in 1687, in new England, two weeks after his 21st birthday. He went straight west and didn't stop until he ended up in French territory. He got a native American wife and fell in with a group of French fur traders. The rest as you say is history. We look at there lives and say that's amazing, but I'm sure if they could see us they would be more amazed.
"Pox Americana," by Elizabeth Fenn sheds light on the smallpox epidemic of 1774-8. In the process she uncovered native trade routes in the west that hadn't really been identified. Absolutly riveting read.
@@DyslexicMitochondria _You_ *overestimate* it by gargantuan amounts, because you live in a lucky modern age where thanks to vaccines, antibiotics etc. you don't need to live and die by your "natural immunity." Ffs still back in early 1900s around 30%-50% of children died before age 5 due to diseases alone. Going back to colonial era it'd be much worse.
Food for thought is your forté. I love listing to your commentary on common things and am prompted to be thoughtful about the subject. Thanks for your enthusiastic observations
I would accept the challenge! But I would need a time traveler clause that I would allow me to return to my timeline when I absolutely needed to (think Naked & Afraid)
Would you still be willing to take on the challenge if you had to deal with those same situations and hardships in our present day,(with no time machine to take you out of it)?
We take a lot for granted these days. Even in the 1800s, and early 1900s, in North America, the main focus of people was survival. They didn't have the modern amenities that we have in this day and age. Cheers!
As I am now, no way. Diabetic, have worn glasses since I was seven, some serious allergies. I almost died giving birth to my youngest child, even with modern medicine and technology. Though I love studying history, I'd never be able to survive there.
@@BlackMasterRoshiDepends on the type of diabetes. If they are type one, then they'd straight up die in childhood. It was only until the 20th century that type one diabetes was a manageable condition instead of a fatal one......
@@BlackMasterRoshi Mmhmm those things are largely due to what we consume these days, which is nothing like what it was back then...plus other stuff I won't mention because most people don't like to hear so-called cOnSpiRaCy tHeOriEs (aka truth bombs)
Sure we could! Survival is down to the individual, knowing to wash our hands regularly, knowing to clean injuries with brandy or whiskey, knowing not to smoke or chew tobacco, knowing about what foods provide necessary vitamins; that kind of knowledge gives us a big percentage boost! Not a guarantee, but a boost.
I was raised in a small rural area of Oklahoma in the 70's I'm 59 now and could survive back then I really don't think I could unless I lived in the city Thank You for another great video. 🇺🇲🤠👋🇺🇲
I am a retired , outdoor survival instructor for the DoD. I've spent 6 months at a time without human contact in the woods, with minimal equipment, TWICE in my life. I never became too uncomfortable, and did not go hungry. I maintained my weight. Even in the winter time, so...... Yes. I could, and would survive.
Most of the subscribers to this channel should be just fine because we are educated in everything from making an apple pie in a dutch oven to start our own blacksmith business and everything in between.
There is a British show called 24 Hours in the Past, which has actors try to live in the Victorian era (I know, not the same, but it's still interesting) as the working poor. It's available for free on UA-cam, and there's lots of other shows like it starring Ruth Goodman that are definitely worth the watch.
My mother said people in the past including her relatives had an understanding of plant medicine that saved them when they were sick, so if you survived infancy, you could survive.
@@dzikijohnny there is evidence to suggest that areas with higher poverty rates tend to experience higher crime rates, the relationship is not strictly deterministic. Other factors such as social inequality, access to education, employment opportunities, and community support systems also play significant roles in shaping crime rates. So, while poverty can contribute to crime, it's not the sole determining factor.
I love the food videos, homestead videos, Ryan doing recipes, and this right here etc. I love watching how Townsends have gotten more expansive! Btw! I hope you will do another Morel Mushroom video as it is getting to that time of year I think! :)
I was born with a constellation of health problems and it's unlikely I would have survived childhood in colonial American. On the off chance that I did, I still would have gone blind from then-untreatable cataracts in late middle age. It's sobering to think about, but advances in medicine in my lifetime are such that if I had been born just one generation earlier I'd have had less than even odds of making it to adulthood.
@@orbitalair2103 When I had my own initial surgeries, out of morbid curiosity I looked into the history of treatments (I used to be a historian before switching careers) that had been used by a couple of early civilizations. The likelihood of success was depressingly low and the risk of a fatal post-operative infection depressingly high. I suspect the reason why people even still attempted it at times was because blindness in the ancient world was, in ordinary circumstances, nearly enough a death sentence on its own. Reading about this made me really appreciate my surgeon's skills and the modern microsurgical techniques and tools she had at her disposal!
@@orbitalair2103 Around the time of my own surgeries, and out of morbid curiosity, I looked up what's known about the procedures attempted in some early civilizations (I was a historian before switching to a new career path). They had a hellishly low likelihood of success and a strong risk of fatal infection. I suspect the reason people still attempted it was because going blind was itself in ordinary circumstances seen as tantamount to a death sentence.
A great video. I am a Boer. I find it so fascinating how tough our forefathers lifestyles were. From arriving in the Cape, to the Great Trek and the Boer wars. So many parallels with the pioneers of northern America. I see the hardened faces in pictures of the men during the Boer wars and always wander the same question, could we do what our forefathers did. I think not. There is a book called the Boer war in colour by Tinus Le Roux. So many pictures, each one explaining the different mens lives their names etc. Alot of effort went into it. If you're a history fiend. Highly recommend it. Awesome video again.
I really enjoy your outlook. I dont think they thought their times were difficult. These things, im sure, were "just part of life." I like to watch your videos and take lessons to improve my life. I especially like the food preservation videos. My goal is to survive with less so I can live prosperously in my personal endeavors.
Watching this with a cold that would probably kill most back in the day, as survivalist as I'd like to think myself im pretty grateful to live in an era that has clean running water and modern medicine
Don't forget Samuel Whitmore Jr. 1696-1793. Fought at Lexington and Concord at 79, killed two or three British grenadiers, was shot in the face and bayoneted, left for dead and subsequently recovered and lived another 18 years dying of natural causes.
It was probably from flirting with another man's wife. :) and the family hushed it up..
@@GnomeInPlaid The man was a beast. I don't they make them like him anymore.
@@GnomeInPlaid at 97 years of age he was doing pretty well to be flirting with anybody, let alone another man's wife 😂
@@Vandal_Savage Yep, I'm sure of that. bless his old heart. Well, what's that old saying, "the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." I've worked in nursing homes, and some of the old fellers still felt a little "spry", shall we say?
Chuck Norris’ ancestor.
In 1904, my great grandfather, a barber, slightly knicked his hand pulling a cork out of a hair tonic bottle. A few months later, he was dead of what was probably blood poisoning. We all take for granted: public sanitation, clean drinking water, the development of antibiotics, and "Modern Medicine" overall.
You don't need modern antibiotics near as much as you think. Oregano oil. You should never take antibiotics more than 5x in a life time because it kills your immune system longterm
Yep…….sepsis
This.
I have a similar story. My great grandmother received word one of her sons was killed in WW1 and the body was being shipped home. She busied herself with chores. One day she was working in the garden and cut her hand on something (we just don’t know what) and died shortly after with blood poisoning! All this while waiting on her sons body to come home 😢
well my tribal reservation does not and never has had clean drinking water, thanks US Government. We don't have access to clean water in a first world country. What in the hell.
Superb video. Towards the end he says they probably thought they were living in the best of times. Makes you wonder if 200 years from now there’ll be a future Townsend video asking if future people could survive during our lifetime.
So many aren’t surviving our time so much death from poverty and lifestyle diseases and so many still don’t have good healthcare access or funds etc. it’s pretty barbaric! As averages those at the midpoint of middle class and above live 15 years longer than those below that point.
@@lijohnyoutube101When I was an assistant editor for a history journal, we published an article on how life expectancy changed at the beginning of the industrial revolution. In Belgium, the life expectancy dropped from 27 years to 17 years when people moved into town. So, when you complain about not surviving modern life, think about having a life expectancy where, at best, you'll probably not survive to 30.
@@lijohnyoutube101Here's another example. Barbara Hanawalt scoured the coroner's rolls of medieval England and found that the average marriage only lasted ten years because one spouse would be dead by then. In other words, if you lived long enough to marry, you had a 50/50 chance of dying before the age of 30-35. You would have six children, only half of whom would live to adulthood. That was the life of an average couple. I've seen theories that "many" people would have lived to be 70 or 80, but they don't explain what they mean by the word "many." One out of a thousand? One out of a hundred? Imo probably not, except in rare times of unusually good harvests and absence of epidemics.
@@edennis8578 oh yea people joke about OSHA but factory and city life was dangerous. Farming also had issues but the barbaric working conditions in the city, bad living conditions, lack of sleep, often poor nutrition,
transfer of diseases in cramped environments etc etc
The horrific nature of the Triangle Waist Company fire and the locked doors to prevent breaks and theft. The book The Jungle by Sinclair is also a great read!
Yes we have made progress but our society particularly in the US is barbaric. We don’t value life, we say we do but in reality we value profit WAY WAY WAY more than life. We have very very little emphasis on quality of life. If someone has half a pulse no matter the horrific nature of their life we have totally normalized whatever it is, deal because all we care about is alive.
It’s pathetic…and it’s inhumane.
It’s 2024 and look the two employers with the by far percentage of employees on aid, they are Walmart and McDonald’s.
The walmart family is collectively currently work around 250 BILLION dollars. That amount of money is so HUGE it’s impossible to even understand the enormity of the size of their wealth.
Walmart doesn’t need to be employing at poverty wages to the point it’s employees can’t even pay for housing, food etc. they pay the employees that way due to inconceivable insatiable greed.
all the processed foods and diabetes and dying just for a selfie. This time period will be widely mocked
My Dad's family would have had no problem being transported back into colonial times. Grandpa was an Oklahoma sharecropper during the Great Depression, still farming with mules because he couldn't afford a tractor. Dad and his twin brother were born and raised in a log cabin, with an outside well for water, kerosene lamps for light, and a wood-burning stove and fireplace to cook on and for heat. They kept hogs, chickens and a couple of cows, and Grandma had a big garden. Dad and his twin brother would hunt squirrels, rabbits, and whatever else they could find for something other than hog meat. If the kids started looking "puny," Grandma would send them out to scour the ditches for greens so that they would get some vitamins. For something sweet, they grew sorghum. There was one guy in the county who had a mill and he charged a share of the syrup for using it, you had to bring your own mule to run it though. For money to buy necessities, Grandma and the older kids would second-pick harvested cotton fields for cotton to sell. They did the same for harvested corn fields to feed the hogs. The family didn't have electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water until they moved north after Grandma got a job building bombers during WWII. Grandpa still farmed though, but now with a tractor. Grandma worked as a riveter at Boeing for 30 years. There are B-52s still flying that she helped build.
That sounds like the way my fathers family lived.🤗❤️🐝
Fabulous family story! Thanks for sharing.
What an INCREDIBLE STORY of your family!
That's very interesting. Not too many of the Rosie the Riveters kept their jobs after the war.
@@odysseusrex5908 Grandma never said anything about Boeing ever contacting her about not remaining at her job. I think the reason why many women left the work force after WWII is that they were young, their men were back home, and they wanted to start families. Grandma already had kids in grade school. Boeing liked having a few small women riveters because they could get into places that the larger men couldn't. I suppose that once robotics were developed this wasn't so much of an issue anymore but grandma was retired by then.
Every time we twist a faucet and potable water comes out, we should be glad to live in the times we have.
A History professor of mine described it as the single greatest advance in Public Health ever made.
The second greatest being refrigeration. Meat spoils very quickly if it isn't kept cold.
@@rtyria Not really. They preserved meat with smoke and salt back then. I'd place the "sanitary sewer" at number two. Pun intended.
Id back the refrigeration fresh meat and cold beer 👍
The times and places we live in
It's started to hit me pretty hard recently how much of a luxury that is, knowing that even in first world countries there are people without clean water.
That’s is true, thank a plumber.
I’m barely surviving now, I don’t think a lack of indoor plumbing is going to help.
I hear that 😅
@@sparkyphantom92 Very privileged take
@@sparkyphantom92 Considering you don't personally know the OP or their struggles and life circumstances, you may want to think before leaving such a clueless comment.
@@sparkyphantom92 Some of us are more concerned with trying to get at least one meal every day
I've done the dirt camping with very little food and shelter.
At this point in my life, roughing it is a hotel that doesn't have room service.
Cheers from sunny, if crazy, California.
When I was 8 or so I had swine flu, I had a 104 degree fever but thanks to modern medicine I made a speedy recovery. When I was 20 or so, I had a large tumor on my ovary which was removed with a very simple surgery leaving only 4 small scars. Even recently I had Cellulitis, and it cleared up after a week on antibiotics. I also have very bad vision, but that's an easy fix with glasses. Thanks to modern medicine these are small inconveniences to me, but 300 years ago could have easily killed me or left me completely disabled.
I really appreciate the constant references to the diaries, journals and other writings of actual people from those times like William Byrd, Nicholas Cresswell, etc.
I was homeless and lived in a tent in New England. There were times when I went days without food or water and the winter was anything but easy. I had times that I prayed to die before I turned 30.
God had a different plan for you.
I'm glad you're still here.
I'd have died as an infant. Born clubfooted in both legs, very serious asthma, allergic to horses.
tbf both asthma and allergies are not necessarily something innate to your genetics and could be different just by growing up in different conditions, but yes, your chances aren't looking too great
Ich habe einen Klumpfuß!
(The only German I know.)
well you can take consolation in the fact that you would have been exposed to horses early on and would not be allergic to them (research shows early exposer to allergens prevents allergies)
@@aminorityofone As a toddler, an asthmatic attack from a horse, I ended up in the ER...
I'm with you. I have asthma, allergies, and bad eyesight.
Beautiful video! I am very proud to be the descendant of a Huguenot man who moved his family to the frontier of Tennessee. I don't know much about him except he loved good food and wine, but he gave it up for his faith.❤
Could I survive the 18th century? I died 4 times just watching this.
Excellent video, Townsends team!
Me too! I just got over a bout of the throwing up disease and I thought I was going to die just yesterday! lol But, when that started happening back in the day - people really did die of what we consider now to be - Oh, I just had a stomach bug.
I love your comment. Sincerely, my ghost. 😂
YOU DIED
@@purefoldnz3070 👻
Rest in Peace.😢
My husband's great grandfather left his home in New York state at 17, tagged along with a wagon train and walked to California, a year later decided to go home and so walked to Panama, crossed the isthmus, was captured by bandits, freed, and caught a ship back up the East Coast. Maybe when you see so many people die young you figure what have I got to lose? Amazing.
Why the heck would he walk to Panama to get back to NY? Wouldn't it have been easier to just start a trek back across the US?
@@thetaekwondoe3887 not necessarily. The ocean route was actually faster and less expensive.
In my case I can say with near certainty that I wouldn’t have seen my 20th birthday. Some of my Swiss ancestors tried moving to a Swiss colony in North Africa (Algeria) in the 1850’s. After losing four of their eight children to cholera and typhoid in 1854 and 1855 they went back home. In the 1870’s they tried again and moved to Canada where one of them had 18 children and didn’t lose a single one. Luck played an important part.
And THEN, have a dozen kids!!
The Lewis and Clark expedition was amazing. I’m glad I read about it with my kids.
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch was another good book to read with them.
The big difference between us is in the 18th century, children would just die of disease, while in modern times we vaccinate to provide the same resistance that they get by surviving an infection. Medical technology is the main area in which we really move beyond the 18th century. Everything else largely just serves to allow more work to be done with less labour, or for more humans to live in an urban area. The absence of this is overcome through learning - just like a colonist from England would also need to do.
People don't survive hard times because of toughness, people get tough because of surviving hard times.
Modern humans won't survive, because there's no internet and all the essential infrastructures.
Actually they don't get tough, in fact they have worse health and quality of life outcomes. Manual work takes it's toll on body even today people who do roofing or flooring are basically crippled by the time they are 50.
I'd say that it's not so much that people get tough. The people who aren't already tough AND lucky don't make it.
We wouldn't make it because our microbium is much different and we would die of diarrhea or consumption ( bad water)
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Since you mentioned the Lewis & Clark expedition: one of my favorite bits of biomedical history is that the Corps of Discovery were supplied with powerful laxatives called “Rush’s Thunder-clappers” after their creator, Dr. Benjamin Rush (considered the founder of American psychiatry and an ancestor of the doomed Titanic sub guy Stockton Rush). These were used to help treat constipation due to the explorers’ unbalanced meat-heavy diet, and they contained so much mercury that even 200 years later, archaeologists were able to trace their route using chemical analysis of where they stopped to poop.
I can cook from scratch with 18th century techniques thanks to Townsends. I spin, weave, knit all fibers. I grow flax for linen plus all that takes to process.
We had a derecho which took out everything 21st century. Had my Townsend lanterns and could cook over a fire. Big favor we had running water! But I do keep big bottles of water in storage. Skills! Skills. Having basic survival skills and skills to swap.
Hi fellow Iowan
Yeah, but knowing medicinal skills then wasnt like it is now. I wouldn’t go to a barber/do tor back then. I would find a green woman/herbalist. And Im one. I would grow my own.
Very cool! I'd love to learn an 18th century skill such as weaving, candle making, etc.
My 5th great grandfather was a 9 year old drummer boy during the revolution. He served with his 11 and 16 year old brothers in a unit separate from their father. They were Loyalists so by 1783 they were refugees in Quebec, Canada. When he was older he served in the War of 1812. He died at age 86 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada!
My grandfather was born in 1892. When he got married they had a wagon pulled by horses. He and my grandmother had a farm all through the depression and didn’t really know what depression meant. It is each generation’s job to make life a little better for the next. Look at how much has changed just since 1900
If anyone here has kids, a cartoon series called Liberty's Kids from 2002 actually follows the Revolution from the perspective of three kids. Joseph Plumb Martin is actually in it too!
Loved that show!!
watched that show in history class!
it was a crap show and the kids were the wrong color. the should have all been white.
I loved that show!!!!
Used to watch that show!
Very old guy here: Your passion and erudition comes across like the best and most inspiring teachers I remember from school 60+ years. Thank you for doing what you do. And . . .Oh god for a shot penicillin!
Townsends makes the best most inspiring content on UA-cam, I feel good after watching every time, Thank You.
My 5X great grandfather was George Graham 1756-1840 he was born in 1756 in New Jersey. At the age of 17 he went to fight in the Revolutionary war and In 1776 he was shot in the thigh during the battle of long island. Even after everything he went through he fought on with a limp and lived to be 84 years old. After the war he got married and moved to Southwestern Pennsylvania where his family still resides. Looking back on everything that could have gone wrong and didn't it really gives you perspective on how good you really have things today.
My great grandparents immigrated from Europe to the US in 1867. They voyaged on one of the “coffin ships,” a freighter that had a deck added below after its original cargo was unloaded. These ships were so named because of the numbers lost at sea.
Their party of ten included their aging parents, an uncle, and their children, including an infant. I’ve read that these temporary decks allowed six feet of headroom, just enough to stand. Families were allotted a 6-by-6 foot space on deck-people stacked like cordwood.
My imagination can’t do justice to those conditions. I am forever astonished that they all survived. Alas, twelve years later, my great grandfather was shot dead while plowing.
Interesting. Imagine the 1500’s when mine came (to the kingdom of Nueva España and Nuevo México). There was even less
Wow. Truly an inspiring video. All the comments too, with details about the immigrant/colonist experiences from the British Isles. Immigration and survival in the past really was a different game. They crossed that sea.
I think many people today couldn't survive pre-1990s America, let alone colonial times.
Or just in the 1990s. Personally, I liked them.
I am old enough to remember the 1970's, an era of no cellphones and landline phones only, no internet, no personal computers, no GPS or directions online with road maps only, if you missed seeing a movie during it's original theatrical run you missed seeing it, and if you missed watching something on TV, you missed watching it!
@@rosskardon7195 I miss those missed things.
@@rosskardon7195 but we had..........8 tracks.
@@rosskardon7195 VHS and Betamax came out in the 70's old timer so not really no. Also all those movies came back out in the 80's so once again, no not really. You just had to wait a few years.
I could survive, but with the help from my husband. He has tactical survival skills. He had to live in the woods for months on his own without anything but his pack while on certain missions.
He helped me come up with the perfect camping gear.
If we went back to those times, could I bring my life straw and my compression bandadges?
I've been building a time machine in my garage. I'll let you know.
I just got back from 2025. Do not eat the roach burgers. The antenna get stuck in your teeth. Aggrivating.
Me Too ! but mine only goes forwards in time, not back.
Same!
Can I come?
I wanna go back to Taco Tuesday!
Thanks for sharing with us Jon. Enjoyed the looking back and reminiscing about reenacting the Rendezvous' and the fun and adventure they brought to us and knowing we could survive off the land . Stay safe , Fred.
Phenomenal video, thank you all who made this possible.
This might be the best channel on all of youtube. Wholesome, educational, interesting, inspiring... Thank you Jon!
Great video like always. As someone with medical problems who can't really take anything for pain (allergy to the most common) aside from Tylenol, it's difficult to be in varying levels of pain/nausea every day without pause. So I can understand having to endure a ton of discomfort and always looking for ways to get done what I need to get done. I always try to think about the things that I'm happy I don't have to deal with despite it all. Anyways, looking to the past helps to inspire because there is always a lot to learn and it's fun and cool to be able to implement things into your daily life (like, maybe you end up using an 18th century recipe as the base of a new dish you make at home, etc, etc). Thanks for all you do at Townsends!
I absolutely love your videos. Thank you so much for sharing what you’ve learned!
I think the biggest problem would be the learning curve to survive.
oh yeah
it's not like people get a lot of training at even dry runs at that these days, let alone the real thing
Kind of like what happened with some of the earliest European settlers, where a lack of knowledge could heavily contribute to mortality in a settlement.
Your question is one of the reasons why I started watching your channel a couple years ago.
I would die within a week (lol). I grew up on a farm, but the daily work and responsibilities of modern farming are nothing compared to that era.
yep, farming is hard work. farming with a horse or oxen even more so. people simply do not realize how well they have life today.
You would have a much smaller manageable farm than today
I always think about cutting hay with a scythe and stacking it in haystacks. And then having to winnow the grain. Watering stock… best I can think is they must have driven the animals down to the water. Hauling water for just one horse would be an incredible chore.
As a woman, I'd have to worry about working while pregnant and childbirth. Not only that my child might die but many women still die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
I was thinking the same thing. Each of my three children were transverse birth C section births. Would any of us have survived? Most likely not. Child birth, Childhood illnesses and injuries, the lack of antibiotics...it gets pretty bleak.
Complications are due to outside causes never but pregnancy. It’s impossible to have complications due to pregnancy. Your body is built for pregnancy.
@@sharpaycutie2 that is an ignorant statement. Please do some research before speaking on this topic. Nature isn't perfect. People and animals die from pregnancy and labor related complications.
The answer is no.
Nope it’s yes
If you already survived till 20, probably yes, you could live until a good old age of 40.@@higginswalsan
sure we would. as long as we don't mind being being bonded to someone and possibly mistreated.
Nah id win
Nah id win
The content and production value of this channel is simply wonderful. Every video makes me feel like I travel back in time.
My ancestors came from modern Zacatecas, Mexico in 1598 and founded Santa Fé which is still in existence, so yes! We could survive. 🇪🇸🇲🇽
I truly appreciate your message of positivity. Thank you.
You're giving us the content I remember on PBS decades ago. My kids and I love watching your content.
Back when PBS was educational. I rarely watch it now.
Your videos are the best! My family and I love watching them together. Thank you!
One of the things we often don't think about these days is the mortality rate from disease in children under the age of 5. In my area, if you go through the various cemeteries, you'll find any number of small gravestones of someone's child who died back in the early 1900's.
Looking back through my genealogy shows that most generations past my grandparents' one lost children to disease. When I caught rheumatic fever as a child, my grandpa and grandma drove 300 miles to see us because they just knew that I was going to die. Fortunately for me, penicillin was available in the early 1960s. Polio is nearly unheard of today but even in my parents' time most people knew someone who had been crippled because of it.
@@Snargfargle One of the sad stories from my family history is a small headstone in the local cemetery, a girl who died in 1903 at the age of 3. She was my grandfather's cousin. Back in the late 70's, another of his cousins was visiting my aunt, and went to pay his respects at the cemetery. When he saw the headstone he stopped, and said "Oh. You know, I always thought that I'd had a sister, but was sure my memory was right. My parents never talked about her." One of my sister's friends father had survived polio as a youth, but needed crutches to walk.
Not just diseases, disabilities. They're extremely common among people today, because modern medicine has created ways to treat or help people cope with them. Those same disabilities in those days would have killed a lot of people at a young age, or caused them to meet their doom.
The closest I've come was back in 1997- at the Eastern Primitive Event.My wife and I spent two weeks there, in our camp (circa1750s). Our only use of modern tech during that time was a single plastic cooler for some fresh foods and using porta johns.This was during October in rural North Central Pa.Water was in a wooden keg, cooking was on a fire and brazier, fires started with flint/steel, i shaved with a straight razor, heated wash water on the fire, lit the camp with candle lanterns and candles. Much of our gear was from Townsends, Panther Primitives and Smoke and Fire.
The living history, reenacting community may be best suited for a permanent transition back in time.
Having spent 25 years living, learning, teaching in the 18th century and early 19th and having the tools and skills I can say I can instantly live in the 18th century.
For how long, who knows.
I work as an interpreter and foodways demonstrator at a living history museum and am surrounded by amazing people with skills that were mostly forgotten generations ago. Much of what I cook on the open hearth is grown, raised, or processed right there in the village and I often joke to guests that if there was ever an apocalypse, the “villagers” would probably survive! (Well, unless there were zombies involved!)😁
@KateEileen That's awesome! We are prepared and enjoy what we do.
My answer is yes. First off and least important, I can and do shoot flint lock firearms, also I am a gunsmith who builds muzzle loading rifle. I also do blacksmithing. Its very much related to gunsmithing. I also learned how to do carpenter work without using power tools. My Father was an old time carpenter who used these tools and taught his sons to use them(old time german wood workers). And I grew up in the time when people had gardens, and preserved what they grew. I can hunt game, but would have no need to. Chickens, pigs geese, and other animals are easly cared for and lastly , my Grandfather was a bee keeper and I learned that from him. Im 74 and have been doing these things since chilhood so Im set. A little gardening advice. If you want your vegetable to thrive, plant flowers a around your garden. Bees will pollinate all your plants ..
My great grandfather from Indiana died young of TB leaving my great
grandmother a young widow with two small children. Back then they still believed that the night air caused many diseases which was why many used bed curtains.
He spent many months away from home working on a farm with migrant workers no doubt he caught it while bunking together with his fellow workers.
It’s actually not good to step out when the dew is falling.
@@lovelily8310I do believe that there is some truth in that as even a cold seems to get worse at night but that belief was blamed for way to much back then .
Thank you for your input 😊
@@b.savage8953 Dew point - 100% relative humidity. Breathing in humid air can make the process more labored, and the water vapor also traps plenty of particles like allergens, mold spores, bacteria... that gets breathed in and collected in the lungs, making one more susceptible to infection. Being cold is also not very helpful to our immunity.
@@teeteetuu94 convince me that night air causes TB . Thank you
@@teeteetuu94 Those factors can increase the probability of contracting TB but I've yet to see any proof that those conditions can cause TB .
Thank you for your input .
It's a pity isn't it? Nick Cresswell was like *the* original swashbuckling rogue adventurer. He survived more horror and extreme danger than many people do in their entire lives, yet even in his journal, on what he thought was his deathbed, he didn't lose heart. I would very much like to see a miniseries about him. In the same vein as the BBC/HBO John Adams series.
I think the first question really is how well do you know yourself. Trying to live with out everything we take for granted would definately show the difference between what a person thinks they can do and what they actually will do.
I think the most sensable approach would be to pick a challange, say see what can be foraged for food in the local area and try just living on that for a few weeks. There would be so much to learn.
I love these episodes especially. We can learn a lot from Mr. Townsend. I'd love to see a series of episodes going into the past and applying those lessons to today.
Thanks for the great history lesson and the perspective.
Love the way that you bring this home to our lives today. That's really the greatest value in studying history and the gift of public history like you do--how we apply lessons of the past to today.
My great-great-uncle went to the US from Sweden. He died of dysentery during his first year.
My grandfather came over from Scotland. He died of tuburculosis when my dad was very young.
👍 Good description of conditions in colonial times. However, I was most impressed with your final thoughts of encouragement to overcome our fears and adversities today - excellent message.
As is the case so often, your videos give us an opportunity to learn from the past to help us prepare for the future......
May we have eyes to see and ears to hear......
Thank You Jon! In those times people were dependent on each other for all their needs. Unlike today when we find everything under one roof made by huge industries and computers from all over the world. I believe there was a closer relationship with others to survive. Today people have grown apart in many cases. People were tougher then and far more able to have the skills to survive, being taught to do so because they had to. Today few people have the skills to provide the basics. The skills have become money. My GGGGrandparents came here from Ireland in 1815 into Philadelphia. He was born in 1772 and died in 1860. So he was in his 40s when arriving, which was pretty amazing in those days. Of course in 1815 the frontier was further west and Pennsylvania quite established. But to take that journey that late in life in those times was quite courageous. Thanks Again and Many Blessings! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania
I worked ouside and did not have AC last summer in TN. Rain made me happy because it was a reprieve.
Didn't get AC until I was 20 or so, not in the CA desert, NJ swamp or MD. Yes, rain is a God send.
@@rtyria why so long, if I may ask?
@@nicholasgarcia399 I grew up in the Navy. We moved hundreds of miles every 2.5 years. The Navy only covered so much in moving expenses (by weight). AC's are heavy.
Amazing how long humans survived without it. Almost like we don't actually need it to survive...
John & the Townsends crew really give us a window to the past. My earliest ancestors in the US were indentured servants sent to the South and they somehow survived. Maybe I would have a shot too.
I have over 28 years experience in emergency medical care and clinical medical care. I have a solid understanding of human anatomy. I have a firm understanding of germ theory. I understand haw to sterilise instruments. I would become a doctor in town. Even without modern antibiotics, I could do some good in that role.
How well do you know herbs? Because that would be what you had to work with.❤️🤗🐝
I say Yes - many of us would. Because we did. We're here because yes we did. When I was close to death with pneumonia on home care and I watched so many Townsends videos. Not only for the music and how easy it is to listen to Mr. Townsends, but also because it's inspiring to realize we can overcome hardship. I've heard other surgeons and doctors comment during livestreams that these videos are on in recovery rooms and help their patients.
My direct ancestor came off the boat in 1687, in new England, two weeks after his 21st birthday.
He went straight west and didn't stop until he ended up in French territory.
He got a native American wife and fell in with a group of French fur traders.
The rest as you say is history.
We look at there lives and say that's amazing, but I'm sure if they could see us they would be more amazed.
I love listening to these stories, you have such a passion for history. Keep doing what you're doing brother. You're a natural at it 🤗
"Pox Americana," by Elizabeth Fenn sheds light on the smallpox epidemic of 1774-8. In the process she uncovered native trade routes in the west that hadn't really been identified. Absolutly riveting read.
I had honestly forgotten how excellent your videos were. This is such a great channel.
We could, although the diseases would probably kill us. Smallpox hasnt been a standard vaccination for at least 45 years
You underestimate natural immunity
@@DyslexicMitochondria
_You_ *overestimate* it by gargantuan amounts, because you live in a lucky modern age where thanks to vaccines, antibiotics etc. you don't need to live and die by your "natural immunity."
Ffs still back in early 1900s around 30%-50% of children died before age 5 due to diseases alone.
Going back to colonial era it'd be much worse.
@@DyslexicMitochondria
More like you're overestimating it. By a lot.
How lucky for me I got it
@@haroldchase4120 No vaccination lasts forever. The one we got in the 1960s is long past its' useful timeframe.
Excellent video and content, as always.
It's amazing anyone survived all the hardships.
Food for thought is your forté. I love listing to your commentary on common things and am prompted to be thoughtful about the subject. Thanks for your enthusiastic observations
I would accept the challenge! But I would need a time traveler clause that I would allow me to return to my timeline when I absolutely needed to (think Naked & Afraid)
Would you still be willing to take on the challenge if you had to deal with those same situations and hardships in our present day,(with no time machine to take you out of it)?
Loved the shots used in this one.
We take a lot for granted these days. Even in the 1800s, and early 1900s, in North America, the main focus of people was survival. They didn't have the modern amenities that we have in this day and age. Cheers!
Great video. Perspective is everything.
As I am now, no way. Diabetic, have worn glasses since I was seven, some serious allergies. I almost died giving birth to my youngest child, even with modern medicine and technology. Though I love studying history, I'd never be able to survive there.
if you'd been born back then, you probably wouldn't have to worry about the diabetes or allergies.
just a myriad of other issues.
@@BlackMasterRoshiDepends on the type of diabetes. If they are type one, then they'd straight up die in childhood. It was only until the 20th century that type one diabetes was a manageable condition instead of a fatal one......
Because she would have died as an infant or young child early on. She would never stand a chance
@@BlackMasterRoshi Mmhmm those things are largely due to what we consume these days, which is nothing like what it was back then...plus other stuff I won't mention because most people don't like to hear so-called cOnSpiRaCy tHeOriEs (aka truth bombs)
@@worldwanderer91Neither would you.
Sure we could! Survival is down to the individual, knowing to wash our hands regularly, knowing to clean injuries with brandy or whiskey, knowing not to smoke or chew tobacco, knowing about what foods provide necessary vitamins; that kind of knowledge gives us a big percentage boost! Not a guarantee, but a boost.
I was raised in a small rural area of Oklahoma in the 70's I'm 59 now and
could survive back then I really don't
think I could unless I lived in the city
Thank You for another great video.
🇺🇲🤠👋🇺🇲
@@ProfessorGothic No? We don't live back then.
I am a retired , outdoor survival instructor for the DoD. I've spent 6 months at a time without human contact in the woods, with minimal equipment, TWICE in my life. I never became too uncomfortable, and did not go hungry. I maintained my weight. Even in the winter time, so...... Yes. I could, and would survive.
I love this channel.
Great video to help us put our lives in perspective. We are living at the best time in history, so far.
> No one is concerned about airplane accidents.
Boeing
Definitely figured into my family's upcoming Hawaii trip! I'd rather swim than fly Southwest, United was a huge NO, finally settled on Hawaiian Air
Fantastic video and subject, makes one think. Thank you 🍻
Most of the subscribers to this channel should be just fine because we are educated in everything from making an apple pie in a dutch oven to start our own blacksmith business and everything in between.
Are you trained to deal with diseases and infection?
Your end message was good. Don't be afraid to seek the frontier. Whatever that may be.
yes, exactly what I want to watch. How a modern human would survive 300 years ago. This is the only youtube I wanna watch.
There is a British show called 24 Hours in the Past, which has actors try to live in the Victorian era (I know, not the same, but it's still interesting) as the working poor. It's available for free on UA-cam, and there's lots of other shows like it starring Ruth Goodman that are definitely worth the watch.
My mother said people in the past including her relatives had an understanding of plant medicine that saved them when they were sick, so if you survived infancy, you could survive.
Some could but they'd have to defend themselves from almost everyone else , seeing a lot of that now as poverty breeds crime .
Poverty doesn’t breed crime, read a book.
@@dzikijohnny it sure does read a news paper or Robin Hood 😂
@@dzikijohnnywhy is crime rate directly related to poverty rate?
@@dzikijohnny there is evidence to suggest that areas with higher poverty rates tend to experience higher crime rates, the relationship is not strictly deterministic. Other factors such as social inequality, access to education, employment opportunities, and community support systems also play significant roles in shaping crime rates. So, while poverty can contribute to crime, it's not the sole determining factor.
Absolutely. And better yet, I can teach others. Study hearth cooking, soap making, basket making, gardening, sewing, preserving, candle making, fence making, fireplace dimensions, primitive building, hunting, dressing out kill, tanning hides, herbal medicine, etc...
Ironically, the commercial I skipped prior to the video was from Lululemon and featured a group of people that couldn't survive 1987 let alone 1787.
Thank you, that's the funniest thing I've heard all week!
I would guess metropolitan hipsters, it's one of reasons I got premium
@@ProfessorGothic Its funny because its true. That extra cortisol from worrying all the time isnt going to help you live any longer either.
@@RichardPhillips1066 Are you people seriously not using adblock in 2024? Its free and literally available on the chrome store lol.
😂😂😂
I love the food videos, homestead videos, Ryan doing recipes, and this right here etc. I love watching how Townsends have gotten more expansive! Btw! I hope you will do another Morel Mushroom video as it is getting to that time of year I think! :)
I was born with a constellation of health problems and it's unlikely I would have survived childhood in colonial American. On the off chance that I did, I still would have gone blind from then-untreatable cataracts in late middle age.
It's sobering to think about, but advances in medicine in my lifetime are such that if I had been born just one generation earlier I'd have had less than even odds of making it to adulthood.
the romans had tools and processes for cataracts. how well it worked i dont know, but they did know a lot about them, and developed a process.
@@orbitalair2103 When I had my own initial surgeries, out of morbid curiosity I looked into the history of treatments (I used to be a historian before switching careers) that had been used by a couple of early civilizations. The likelihood of success was depressingly low and the risk of a fatal post-operative infection depressingly high. I suspect the reason why people even still attempted it at times was because blindness in the ancient world was, in ordinary circumstances, nearly enough a death sentence on its own.
Reading about this made me really appreciate my surgeon's skills and the modern microsurgical techniques and tools she had at her disposal!
@@orbitalair2103 Around the time of my own surgeries, and out of morbid curiosity, I looked up what's known about the procedures attempted in some early civilizations (I was a historian before switching to a new career path). They had a hellishly low likelihood of success and a strong risk of fatal infection. I suspect the reason people still attempted it was because going blind was itself in ordinary circumstances seen as tantamount to a death sentence.
Great video! Well said....I believe we have many metaphorical rivers to cross....keep up the great work!
A great video. I am a Boer. I find it so fascinating how tough our forefathers lifestyles were. From arriving in the Cape, to the Great Trek and the Boer wars. So many parallels with the pioneers of northern America. I see the hardened faces in pictures of the men during the Boer wars and always wander the same question, could we do what our forefathers did. I think not.
There is a book called the Boer war in colour by Tinus Le Roux. So many pictures, each one explaining the different mens lives their names etc. Alot of effort went into it. If you're a history fiend. Highly recommend it. Awesome video again.
Another of Jon's many video masterpieces.
The toileting situation alone would aggravate me.
I really enjoy your outlook. I dont think they thought their times were difficult. These things, im sure, were "just part of life." I like to watch your videos and take lessons to improve my life. I especially like the food preservation videos. My goal is to survive with less so I can live prosperously in my personal endeavors.
Hey from Australia
Watching this with a cold that would probably kill most back in the day, as survivalist as I'd like to think myself im pretty grateful to live in an era that has clean running water and modern medicine
Yes 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅
Edit" *because we watched Townsends.
This was a truly excellent video. Thanks for sharing all of this---metaphorically and realistically