Your family's progress up or down the social ladder.

[Barreldriver]

I thought it would be interesting to share some tales about our family's progress up and/or down the social ladder as to lend to context pertaining to the circumstances which may have influenced our perceptions of social stratification.

The general climb and descent went as such in my case (below will be a spoiler with more specifics):

Greive/Bailiff - Yeoman farmer and churchwarden - Yeoman farmer and clerk - Thief and cross Atlantic migrant - Respectable upper yeoman farmers - Respectable lower yeoman farmers - Petty land holders but with decent earnings - Tenants with prospects of rising back up the ladder once college education is completed.

The roller coaster ride up and down the social ladder has given me an appreciation for societal perceptions from the eyes of the economically sound as well as the economically destitute. I strongly support the ideals of reimbursement for honest labor but I also strongly disagree with how labor unions are manipulated to support the lazy (examples being state departments of transportation where there will be multiple workers on a job with only one or two working while the others stand around doing nothing, all getting the same job securities).

Spoiler!

My own family started off in England as greives in what is now South Yorkshire, after leaving Hatfield we settled in Whitgift and did well as small farmers and clerks. After a family dispute over religion and inheritance my branch of the family left for Virginia (the way paid by dishonorable means, my patriarch stole what was supposed to be his inheritance from his father to pay way to Virginia for himself, wife and first born child).

Once in Virginia we purchased land from Sir Peyton Skipwith at a total cost of 40 pounds. The brother in law of my patriarch, also of Yorkshire, had been an indentured servant of Sir Peyton Skipwith who had violated the terms of his indenture by leaving early. Because of the knit nature of our culture we took him in resulting in a dispute.

After the death of our patriarch the family migrated to Rutherford County, North Carolina for a brief period afore coming to settle in the Mountain District of Middle Tennessee. Once in Tennessee the family came to own $300 worth of land bought at 12.5 cents per acre (on average) by 1850 (exact acreage is not known as the documents were destroyed in a fire, the estimate given the math is around 2,400 acres), the new patriarch served as elected Constable for Overton County, Tennessee. By 1860 the land holdings were valued at $1,000 with other personal property valued at $400, the patriarch was also father to two Confederate soldiers. In 1870 his land holdings were valued at $800 with other personal property owned being valued at $500.

During the Reconstruction the land was split between male descendants (one of whom was my great great great grandfather).

My great great grandfather's share of the land (again split between the sons of his father mentioned briefly above) was taken from him during the New Deal initiatives and is now part of Standing Stone State Park, my great grandfather as a result had to fend for himself and wound up purchasing 100 acres of land in Allons, Overton County, Tennessee. During the Great Depression he had to migrate to Ohio with his wife to temporarily raise his children while he worked in the rubber factories. After enough money was saved he was able to construct a proper home on the farm in Tennessee where he kept 40 head of angus cattle. After a fire in the 1970's the land was sold off, the family since split, some owning land in Tennessee still others owning land in Ohio.

My grandfather had abandoned the prospect of owning land in Tennessee after a while and resolved to build a home in Ohio on 4 acres of land, he wound up becoming superintendent for a large construction company and as such was able to afford to send his children to private school and also was able to afford to make regular trips back to Tennessee, time permitting.

Because my father did not pursue a collegiate education in changing times he wound up becoming a long haul truck driver while in Tennessee. The money was not great but he had prospects of purchasing land in Overton County, Tennessee as to settle down but a divorce got in the way. During the divorce my mother went through a period of insanity and we were evicted from our rental in Tennessee, she intentionally hid me from my father contrary to the law and we had to panhandle in Cookeville, Tennessee until I was ditched at a nanny's residence (my father eventually found where I was and reclaimed custody), I do not say this to slander my mother as she is now a charitable and upstanding citizen just to acknowledge a very real history. I was taken to Ohio at the age of 11 as my father could no longer work as a long haul trucker in Tennessee while having full custody, mind we made regular trips back to Tennessee as to not lose touch and I still hold a savings account back in my hometown.

While in Ohio I lived on my grandfather's property and had a decent life from then, I've worked and hope to work again in the near future as a day laborer for my uncle's construction crew, and am now pursuing a collegiate education in philosophy and potentially law (my paternal grandmother's cousin, from a West Virginian family, was a lawyer and former Ohio State Senator, through my mother I am also a descendant of the same family who founded Red Rose Tea Co. and the same Cleveland lineage as that of former US President Grover Cleveland).

I now live as a tenant in an apartment, temporarily I may add.

[Methmatician]

My family began as villagers who then left Bosnia to start our lives in Australia where we live like kings (compared to my relatives in Ex-Yu) and as normal people (compared to other Australians).

[Barreldriver]

My family began as villagers who then left Bosnia to start our lives in Australia where we live like kings (compared to my relatives in Ex-Yu) and as normal people (compared to other Australians).

How has that influenced your perceptions of social stratification, if at all?

[Contra Mundum]

Before, and even after the Civil War, my paternal ancestors were wealthy land owners. The Great Depression was a struggle though. They still had their land, but not much money during that time.

The land was divided up and none of them farm anymore, not on a full time basis. Today, most are middle and upper middle class.

My mother's family were also land owners, but not as much land as on my father's side. My mothers side did thrive during the depression though. My maternal grandparents had a thriving farm and restaurant business during the Great Depression, despite them giving away a lot of food and money to the poor.

This was all in southern Alabama.

[Vixen]

My maternal grandparents were poor immigrants from Portugal who came to Brazil in the 1940´s. They were born in a small village near Braga, both from humble families. They had to marry in secret because their families didn´t get along and forbade them from seeing each other. When My grandmother´s parents found out she was pregnant, they kicked her out and she had to go live with her aunt and uncle. My grandfather decided to move to Brazil so they could have a better life, but he didn´t have enough money to support a family so he had to go by himself. He opened a small grocery store in Rio and a few years later he sent for my grandmother and my uncle, who was already a toddler when he met his father for the first time. As the years passed, my grandfather´s business grew, he opened more stores and eventually he became owner of one of the biggest and most successful supermarket chains in Brazil. By the time my mother was a teenager they were already very wealthy. The stores have all been sold and now my family owns several trade/business centers.

[Barreldriver]

Before, and even after the Civil War, my paternal ancestors were wealthy land owners. The Great Depression was a struggle though. They still had their land, but not much money during that time.

The land was divided up and none of them farm anymore, not on a full time bases. Today, most are middle and upper middle class.

My mother's family were also land owners, but not as much land as on my father's side. My mothers side did thrive during the depression though. My maternal grandparents had a thriving farm and restaurant business during the Great Depression, despite them giving away a lot of food and money to the poor.

This was all in southern Alabama.

Interesting to see the perspective of a lowland family, seems y'all had similar circumstance to uplanders.

I am curious about one thing, ye also mention as I did the division of property amongst multiple heirs.

Within my kingroup we see things agnatically when it comes to culture/ethnicity, sons inheriting their ethnicity from their father, but when it comes to property we deviate from the agnatic norm by engaging in a system similar to gavelkind where the property is divided amongst any eligible males of the kingroup regardless of chronological position (to be clarified, the male doesn't have to be the eldest son, but any or all of the male siblings and sometimes male cousins with a dower or other minor allotment for the females).

Such a development is a bit puzzling to myself from a mechanical p.o.v.

[Contra Mundum]

Interesting to hear the perspective of a lowland family, seems y'all had similar circumstance to uplanders.

I am curious about one thing, ye also mention as I did the division of property amongst multiple heirs.

Within my kingroup we see things agnatically when it comes to culture/ethnicity, sons inheriting their ethnicity from their father, but when it comes to property we deviate from the agnatic norm by engaging in a system similar to gavelkind where the property is divided amongst any eligible males of the kingroup regardless of chronological position (to be clarified, the male doesn't have to be the eldest son, but any or all of the male siblings and sometimes male cousins with a dower or other minor allotment for the females).

Such a development is a bit puzzling to myself from a mechanical p.o.v.

My maternal grandparents divided their land up equally among their 4 children(3 sons, 1 daughter). On the paternal side, it wasn't so equal. 2 sons got all the land, the rest received a small amount of money. The two sons had large families of their own and split the land equally. I don't think anyone owns more than 200 acres today, and most own less than 20, some own no land other than the lot their home sits on. People down there don't seem to care about land anymore. Few of them farm, or even hunt and fish.

[Methmatician]

How has that influenced your perceptions of social stratification, if at all?

I guess I've learnt that different countries have different class/social structures.

[Barreldriver]

My maternal grandparents divided their land up equally among their 4 children(3 sons, 1 daughter). On the paternal side, it wasn't so equal. 2 sons got all the land, the rest received a small amount of money. The two sons had large families of their own and split the land equally. I don't think anyone owns more than 200 acres today, and most own less than 20, some own no land other than the lot their home sits on. People down there don't seem to care about land anymore. Few of them farm, or even hunt and fish.

What do you think lead to this method of passing on inheritance?

I cannot seem to explain it on my own behalf, the practice doesn't seem to fit with the agnatic aspects of my own kingroup's culture yet we still engage in it.

[Barreldriver]

I guess I've learnt that different countries have different class/social structures.

Has your family's history played a role in how you perceive laborer vs. management conflicts? Do you have a loyalty to one plight or the other or some other stance?

I can only presume within the context of my own situation, but I tend to think that those who have come from families that have been on both sides of the social ladder are more suited to consider these issues with a more eclectic perspective.