I start this blog saying "has-been", because at my current age (45), I would have already given birth to seven or eight children, losing one or two to disease or accident (the infant mortality rate in 1850 was 22%). I probably wouldn't even be around, as the average age for a woman in 1850 was 39.5 years of age. So...if I'm still around, I'm living in a state in its infancy (Texas became a state in 1845), and I'm probably teaching my grandchildren how to sew and preserve food. I will never have the experience of using a sewing machine, riding a bicycle, or learning the conveniences of plastic, as these were all invented after 1850. My skirts will continue to widen at the bottom with with invention of the crinoline (just look at prom pics from the 1980s and you'll know what I'm talking about), and I'll fret over my grandchildren migrating to the big cities to work in the new industries being developed thanks to the combustible engine.
I will have never worked outside the home, nor would I have wanted to. My children and grandchildren will possess this desire thanks to women role models like Florence Nightengale.
This is an interesting outlook. The roles of men and women were so different during this time. There are so many things that would be different for us as women, working and education. Would we even know how to read? Yikes, this would have saved me hours [Lemmon's Class].
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