Stock Markets Exposed - Did relatives pass down stories about the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression?

Did relatives pass down stories about the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression?

Grandmother lived in Pittsburgh on a farm surrounded by a lot of "well to do" people, as she would say. She told us stories of people jumping, and doing themselves in-as soon as they found about about the stock market crash because that is where everything they owned was tied up, and they had no idea of what to do in a positive manner. She knew many who died this way and that is why she had a financially stable life. She would not invest in any of the markets though. She said, "Land is always there, no one can take that away from you."

Public Comments

Yeah my father told me of watching his parents sitting at the kitchen table literally counting out the last pennies they had to buy food.
I don't remember hearing stories from my relatives, ....[other than rationing]...as they survived the depression fairly well....but I did study the subject in school and read of suicides...though in reality there were few who actually did that by jumping out of office windows. There WAS however a huge statistical increase in suicides and murders; and children being forced to work in factories, etc in order to help the families survive. Can't remember the numbers but an unbelievable number of banks went out of business[with depositors losing their savings] as well as businesses. This was also a period when racism thrived in the South.
Yes, they did, my parents told us many stories oh how they survived it.
You Grandmother said the same thing my Grandparents said re:land.
Many of the stories I was told by older relatives revolved around banks calling in mortgages; my aunts and great aunts spoke of extended family members and friends losing their homes and farms during the Depression....and their anger was still very clear to my young ears as I heard those stories.
I asked mom about living during the depression. She said that it didn't really affect them. Her dad owned a hardward store in Lake Arrowhead. They owned a cabin in the mountains. Mom and her two brothers played at the lake and had lots of fun doing things the kids now days wouldn't think of doing.
No - my parents and grandparents were living in Europe and UK at the time of the great depression - so I do not have any stories to share with you on this sad subject! CJ
Well, my stories aren't exactly passed down.....my mom is still alive. She doesn't talk about it much unless I really push her. I wanted her to write a story about her parents for a Heritage book they were making for the county they lived in. It took me 3 months to get one from her! they lived in a small town. The bank closed and all the businesses went under. they didn't own stock, so the initial crash didn't affect them as much as the fallout from the crash. No one had money to spend. Everyone had gardens in their back yard and that is how they got their food. Her dad couldn't get a job because no one had any money to hire anyone. Food was limited to what you could grow or trade someone for. For her the Depression was truly depressing, she chooses to not remember the fear for daily survival everyone went through..just too much sadness. She was older, so I guess she could really see and understand what everyone was going through.....not through a child's eyes. To this day she wants to owe no one for anything. Frugal is putting her position mildly!
Yes. Both of my parents lived through the depression. My Dad still has "points" that were used during the war when things were rationed. He likes to take them out and show them to the grandchildren on occasion. Growing up in that era, my folks found it difficult to throw anything away. I sometimes wonder if that stomach virus we had as kids, was really food poisoning, caused by food gone bad. Like I said it was hard for them to throw anything away. Especially food.
Yes, but nothing that isn't already known. Just the scarcity of "nylons", something about rubber that was a problem, the soup kitchens, the mass of those unemployed, the bread lines, tha gasoline rationing, the Corps put to work building infrastructure, the women into factories, how crucial recycling was, and your own gardens. My mother put lace on the bottoms of sheets to get that many more years of wear from them. Remember there was washing of aluminum foil to reuse. Only later did I learn of the suicides, and details from such brave writers as Steinbeck.
My father could get only part-time work in split shifts (2 hours on, 4 hour not paid, 2 more hours on), and he felt lucky to get it.
Not in my family. My father, being a merchant seaman, was employed throughout that period of time. My mother had been widowed from her first marriage in the mid-1920s but worked as a domestic servant in NYC until her marriage to my father in the late 1930s. Having spoken to shipmates of my age while in the Navy it appeared those most affected were from farming communities or towns that were single factory towns. The stories of people leaping to their death from the skyscrapers in the NYC financial district is one of the long-lasting urban myths of our nation. There wasn't a single suicide recorded from that means of killing oneself. At least not in lower or central Manhattan.
oh yes, my family did share their stories! HARD hard workin' women and men, they were. The tales I loved even more were from my Paternal Grandmother- she told me all about her life as a Polish Peasant living in an "Izba" type house, and her experiences there during WW1.
Yes, we heard them talk about it all the time and I guess that's why my mom is a pack rat now. She wishes for nothing but won't through anything away because, "might need it"!! I'm reading a book named, "The Worst Hard Time", by Egan! It's about the depression in Oklahoma!!
Well, Grampy had a farm in the San Joaquin Valley then. So the "DEPRESSION" stories were about things like home made kraut and things like that.Being farmers, they were pretty much in a depression to begin with, they just didn't have Democrats to splain that to them.....
Yes. I remember the depression. I was Born in 1924, so i had a first hand look at it. Some DID jump out of the windows. At least that was what was said at the time. As for food, we lived in the country and grew a lot of stuff in the gardens. We also harvested a lot of natural foods, like dandelion greens, Mushrooms. Puffballs. Yes, puffballs. Sometimes we would get together with the neighbors, and pool our food and eat together. I have eaten fried dough, woodchuck,squirrel, rabbits, Whatever was edible. We did not starve, but food was scarce. Welfare then was called RELIEF. They gave you a slip to take to the grocer and get food. Not much, but it helped. I remember working for 10 cents an hour. 15 cants an hour on a threshing machine . No fun. In the winter, my dad would pole horse manure all around the house to help keep the cold out. Also in the winter, we would let the fire out at Nita to save fuel. We had piles of blankets on the bed and sometimes we would wake up in the morning with snow on the bed. Times were hard, but we had fun too. There is a lot more, but this is enough.