52 Ancestors 2026 Week 42 - A Life Compared to Mine
Mary Jane French 1863-1929 At first glance, there seems little to compare. Mary Jane lived in a world without electricity, telephones, television, cars or computers. I was born in 1960 and have lived through a period of change that would have seemed unimaginable to her. Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realised that while our worlds were different, the things that mattered most were probably much the same. Mary Jane's life was centred on her family. As a wife and mother, her days would have been filled with household responsibilities that never seemed to end. An average day for Mary Jane probably began before anyone else was awake. There would have been fires to light or revive, breakfast to prepare and children to wash, dress and feed. The housework alone was relentless. Water often had to be fetched, clothes washed by hand, meals prepared from scratch and floors swept without the benefit of any modern appliances. A large wash could occupy an entire day. The budget was ...
