Would you have survived 200 years ago?

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  • cosmiqrust
    cosmiqrust Posts: 214 Member
    i'd probably end up in one of those old school asylums before i could find out tbh.
  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    So I currently have no domestic skills to speak of. Though I'm not overly squeamish (my bf is a hunter) and I'm trying to learn some old school skills that I think are cool (knitting, I can already seew by hand not machine, baking from scratch, canning, etc.)

    However, I am a very outspoken woman. I could not play the part of meek housewife. I know this is partially upbringing and if I was born into a society that teaches different things than the equality I learned from my parents, I might have adjusted differently. But I'm too hot headed and irrational. Not to mention the total lack of faith thing, that would could against me in the past.

    So overall. No. I'd get myself beat by whatever husband I had been married off to, I think.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    As a woman, my life would mostly be about cooking, cleaning, sewing (and the like), maybe some farm work and raising the younguns. All of that I could do no problem. The only skill I'd need some help with is baking but I think I'd do fine with practice.

    Personality wise, I'd have a rough time of it as while I'm a traditionalist, I'm also fiercely independent and stubborn as an ox. But the right man would be able to put up with me and my ways. And I'm ok with acting a certain way to please certain people (say when the preacher or relatives came calling) in order to not cause any friction.
  • ForeverCharlie
    ForeverCharlie Posts: 183 Member
    I would thrive if I was transported 200 years back. Life would be so much better without all this technology.
  • YearsWorthOfFAT
    YearsWorthOfFAT Posts: 210
    No. I would probably be dead of disease or they would've made a slave out of me. Or i would've been simply shot of course.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    I would not have lived to be 10 without modern medicine. In fact, if I ever couldn't afford insulin, I would be dead within a few days... maybe a week if I'm lucky.
  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
    I'd perhaps, maybe, be dead from my ITP (if I got cut or something, anyway) but if not... I'm a quick learner and come from a rural community though I'm not a farmer myself. Poetry and the like was popular back then (still is) and as I'm currently doing a creative writing degree I might do well (provided I'm literate, which I would have to be rich to be 200 years ago)
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
    Ok so seeing as how 200 Years, aka 1814 isn't that far into our Modern Past I'd say yeah I'd be ok!

    Technology was up and coming, the "modern" era was right around the corner and we as a country were forming our ideals - meaning as a woman the idea I could be a Dr/Lawyer/Professor, etc. was coming to a head and I could be more than a housewife/teacher/store clerk/seamstress, etc.

    That being said, my skills would be transferable - like many I remember a time pre-cell phones, pre-internet, pre-technology OVERLOAD and can and do function fine without all the technological trappings we have today *I don't have a smart phone and I am perfectly OK with this* I can cook, I can clean, I can raise children, build things, assemble things and am highly adaptable.

    It's all a matter of how you view the opportunity - you can choose to curl up into a little ball and play the pity party game - OR you can choose to learn to adapt and survive!
  • osmium3
    osmium3 Posts: 33
    Pretty cool Q..

    I have mad skills for survival pre-electricity.

    I can hunt fairly well.
    I can catch fish in any number of aquatic climes.
    I have a full working knowledge of bushcrafting.
    I have farmed using the old methods.

    Like the UM person(dswolverine), I think that disease would be the biggest hazard. However, given my penchant to learn everything about everything, I would likely be more informed about the germ theory of disease than most, and avoid persons that may have had recent exposures to harmful pathogens.

    I do--and hence presumably would have--acted as though I had prescient knowledge of game theory. That, some altruistic behavior, and being ever vigilant to contemporary and emerging threats would give me a good start.

    I would like to believe that I possess a good balance of working technical knowledge attendant to the time period as well as enough insight to trade with others where my knowledge base would be found lacking.

    Of course there are always unknown factors that could easily end one's life. I think that I would have a pretty good shot at surviving past the average life expectancy of 200 years ago. Of course living to roughly age 35 does not seem such an achievement. I can state with authority that--other than early childhood vaccinations--I have not required any medical intervention of any sort to have arrived at my 52.7 years of age.

    On Edit: properly crediting the "UM" person by name.
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  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
    Yes.

    I know (pretty much) all the physics to be discovered for another 86 years and all the math to be developed for another 136. Soon as I get to London or Paris, I'm set for life.

    Inb4 I get killed in the Napoleonic wars, the Franco-Prussian war, one of the endless revolutions or just get mugged and killed.
  • swimmermama
    swimmermama Posts: 526 Member
    Maybe. I can cook and garden but I have no hunting skills. Gardening does not mean farming, which I know enough about to know it's HARD.

    I have a good immune system and I'm strong. That would help!

    One problem would be eating during the lean months. I can't go more than a few hours without eating and during the winter and/or bad harvests, I would be the first to die of starvation, especially if I had kids. I know I'd feed them before feeding myself.
  • tallon5
    tallon5 Posts: 9 Member
    being a white male gives me a great advantage. id start making one scientific discover after another.

    Right, because any peasant who says "id" can make one scientific discovery after another. That's not how it works.
  • Tornadoes_R_Fun
    Tornadoes_R_Fun Posts: 41
    being a white male gives me a great advantage. id start making one scientific discover after another.

    Right, because any peasant who says "id" can make one scientific discovery after another. That's not how it works.


    some of us studied/paid attention in chemistry, biology, physics etc... sorry if those topics werent for you. :)
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    Being an outdoor person all my life, I'd say yes. And I could definitely stick to a paleo diet then.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    heck no. and i don't think i could survive in a future zombie apocalypse either.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I think my very high pain tolerance would come in extremely useful.
    I think my squeamishness about eating meat on the bone or "game" meats would be a big problem.
    I would hope to have some basic tools and supplies like a saw, hammer, bucket, rope, needle & thread, etc. Oh and clean water wouldn't hurt!!
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
    No donuts = No survival
  • 20Grit
    20Grit Posts: 752 Member
    do I get to keep my socks? :bigsmile:
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
    I would love it. if it werent for the social aspect i would be living off the land right now in northern ontario, but i dont want to leave family and friends behind
  • AuddAlise
    AuddAlise Posts: 723 Member
    I would have died when I contracted meningitis at age 15 months. IF by some miracle I survived then I would have died of mastoiditis one of the two times I've had it. IF by divine grace I survived all that I would have died giving birth to my son (I had a stroke).

    Long story short.....no I wouldn't have survived.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    Yes, but the prospect of possibly getting pregnant every time I have sex would ruin it for me.
  • OKfarmgal
    OKfarmgal Posts: 160 Member
    Definitely would have survived!! I was a farm kid and my dad's side of the family was Amish. Electricity and cars are a nice convenience, but I could easily give it up. I'm grateful to my ancestors for their life lessons.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    I ask this question all the time, only about surviving 100,000 years ago.

    skills: Flint knapping, how to make stone-tipped spears, how to track and hunt animals, how to trap and kill animals with a close range thrusting spear, how to identify edible plants/fungi/insects locally, how to smoke out a bee hive, how to light a fire.....


    for 200 years ago, I'd be skilled in a particular craft that's in demand, and also skilled in trading. I'd sell whatever my craft is to everyone to be able to buy all the other stuff I need.

    ETA: I don't possess most of those skills, I'm saying what skills I'd want

    I can do flint knapping (just about) and light fires and know a little about edible wild foods, but not enough to survive long term
  • Aero1dynamic
    Aero1dynamic Posts: 702 Member
    hAD650C23


    I'll stay right where I am, thanks!

    (In answer, no. I woulda been screwed)
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  • gettinthere
    gettinthere Posts: 529 Member
    sure I would...running a brothel somewhere wouldn't be that hard right?!? :laugh:
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    If you were to suddenly find yourself transported back in time approximately 200 years what skill (that you currently possess) would be most useful? What skill are you lacking that could potentially cause your demise? What one item do you hope you have with you?
    I have modern medical knowledge that could be helpful, and would be a way to support myself.

    Depending on where I landed, I might need wilderness survival skills, which I have a little of, but maybe not enough.

    And I'd be afraid to not have antibiotics, and my asthma meds.
    I had a severe lung infection a couple years ago, to the point where I couldn't say a whole sentence or walk more than a few steps w/o stopping to breathe. One of my nursing instructors said that before antibiotics, that would have killed me.
    (Yet the ER just gave me a breathing treatment, which I had done at home, and sent me off with a prescription for an antibiotic. How about actually giving me the medicine & at least admitting me overnight, or for a couple days? Maybe I wasn't blue enough.)

    ETA: and if I knew this was going to happen, I'd want several months to get all the vaccinations I could, including re-upping my smallpox. I'm old enough to have had it once, have the scar, but it's been so long that I'm sure it wouldn't protect me.
  • FabulousFantasticFifty
    FabulousFantasticFifty Posts: 195,832 Member
    Yes, I Totally would! I'm not into tech stuff, I've lived without water, heat and electricity through several home renovations and I am a pretty resilient and tough Woman! happy
  • HollyMGT
    HollyMGT Posts: 111 Member
    There are some things that I just could NOT live without...heat/AC, washing machine, tampons, showers, etc. I suppose I could survive but I'd be miserable and make everyone around me miserable!

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