First or 2nd generation Homesteader?

[steve-in-kville]

Title says it all. Hope to be an interesting poll.

(edited to add... the poll function doean't seem to be working...)

[babysteps]

first

[EasyDay]

"Or more" here.

Not really homesteaders in the modern sense of the word, but my family has been farming in this country since 1669.

[Meg Z]

Multiple generation of farming, but my parents homesteaded in the same sense we do...trying to raise as much of our food as possible, so we know we have good, clean food on the table. So I consider us second generation. I grew up hand milking our two cows, gathering eggs and helping butcher chickens, as well as planting, harvesting and preserving garden stuff...lots of garden stuff!

Good food!

Meg

[farmergirl]

First!

[Woodpecker]

well whenever i get there ill be first

[whinnyninny]

I would say first, but I come from a long line of farmers, and my dad raised livestock when I was young (up until I was about 6 or 7). Then we moved to town and became city slickers... until I met my best friend at the age of 13, and fell in with their homesteading ways.

[Windy in Kansas]

Tough question to answer as it depends upon the answer to what is a homesteader? I have one ancestor that came to America and began farming around 1633.

Under the purer definition of homesteading my grandfather homesteaded under the Homestead Act and received the quarter section of Kansas land that I still own. His grandfather before him got Ohio land from the government in 1834.

Whether you call them homesteaders or farmers I am at minimum at least the six generation of those earning their livelihood or at least a part of it from the land, dating back to about 1800.

[DaleK]

10th generation farming in North America, before that they were farming in Yorkshire, so probably all the way back.

[Wisconsin Ann]

My maternal Grandparents did the real homestead thing. unclaimed land. build it up. live off the land. get old fast. live forever. generally...happy healthy Godfearing folk.

My mother ran away from it as fast as she could. city girl at heart, but always needed a garden to be happy.

and now...there's me. land, building it up, slowly putting up buildings, trying to do as much as we can from the land.

so that makes me a what? 2a? um...1.5?

(the paternal side of the family were Circus people from WAY back, so while they knew how to live off the land, it wasn't as homesteaders! All Gran had to do was walk into a room and the African violets died )

[Pigeon Lady]

My parents ( in England) didn't homestead but their parents did, and their parents ... back into the stone age I would imagine!

Wisconsin Ann, you cracked me up with : "get old fast, live forever".

Pauline

[smwon]

I'd be a second generation homesteader... my mother was and I am doing the same.

[Spinner]

Every generation have been homesteaders as far back as we can trace the family. A few g-g-uncles owned saloons and boarding houses, but they also had farms.

[pickapeppa]

Our generation is the most urbanized from early beginnings here. One relative several generations back settled the town where I grew up. The whole family is there, and have farmed for years. Grandparents farmed during the depression as teenagers. It's tradition. We don't have livestock, but do garden and preserve. The last of my immediate family's land is leased out to neighbors who have grown into big time farmers over generations. Their kids (my age) are now farming the land. The parents are retired. My cousin is the only one left who raises a few dairy and beef for family and friends only. He still works their fields. I think they have about 500 acres still.

So in answer to that question, I'd have to say at least 10th generation.

It's kind of sad how so much knowledge has slipped away through the generations. But I guess that's what they call progress.

[FarmboyBill]

at least in the US

[Ravenlost]

Since the beginning of time. How many generations back would that be?

[whiterock]

I am sixth generation here in Tx, the first not to make my living farming, but I have two degrees in agriculture.
Ed

[Macybaby]

On my dad's side - as far back as someone as they've been in North America. Don't know what the family did in France before they moved to Canada in the 1600's.

They were always farmers of some sort.

My mother's parents had a huge garden, and put up tons of produce each year, and I'm pretty sure her grandparents did the same. Earlier generations were in France and Poland, don't know what they did.

Even when I lived in Suburbia, I had a big garden. Actually had more time to put food up before I had 40 acres and livestock to deal with!

Cathy

[tyusclan]

I would be in the "or more" category.

I come from a long line of farmers. My grandpa on my dad's side was still making lye soap and washing his clothes in a washpot well into his 70's. He always had at least a small garden and did just about everything with hand tools.

My mom's parents were farmers as well, and I remember helping in their gardens and churning butter for them.

My dad farmed for a while, but even after he left farming for a public job we always raised most of our meat and had a huge garden.

My wife's family usually had a small garden, but never raised any of their meat. They put a little stuff in the freezer, but that was about it. After we got married we just kept living like I'd always lived, and she fell right into it. Learned to can, dehydrate, grind wheat and bake bread, slaughter chickens, etc.

I lived this way a long time before I knew there was a word for it. To me it was just "life".

[cchapman84]

I'll be third or fourth at least if I ever get some land! My father's family was so poor when he was growing up that they always had gardens and his father (and he and his brothers once they were old enough) hunted and fished for meat. My dad has always had gardens, and my parents had cows, chickens, a goat and I think pigs when I was really little (they sold them all when I was about 3).

My mom's family was always very frugal (my mom never had any beef but cube steak until she was basically an adult) but I don't think they ever really had a garden. My grandmother grew up on a farm though (she used to chase off some less-than-upstanding neighbors with a shotgun when she was 12 or 13).

I know that my ancestors in Scotland on my father's mother's side were farmers and before that they were herbalists. But I think after they emigrated to Nova Scotia they mostly worked in the mines for a couple generations. Not sure how much homesteading/gardening/animal raising they did in addition.