Wagon Insights

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 2 March 2016.

I’ve been reading through the diaries that were sent to me from Indiana and I’ve found a few surprises about life in the late 1800’s.  Here are 10 wagon facts I never thought about:

  • You had to wash your wagon
  • When you purchased a new wagon you traded in your old wagon, like we do today with our cars
  • Wagons broke down ALOT!  Poor road conditions, skittish horses and driver error contributed to the break downs.
  • You were responsible for the cost of damages caused by your runaway horse and wagon
  • There were ALOT of serious accidents around wagons – falling out of, getting run over by, getting injured by overhanging tree limbs, etc.
  • When your wagon needed repairs someone would come to you but it was much more expensive than if you somehow got the wagon to the wagon shop to be repaired.
  • Depending on the repair needed, it could take a few hours or several days to get the part
  • Wheels fell off wagons frequently
  • If you were going to take a train you hired a livery person to pick you up and take you home, unless you had relatives to help you out.
  • Family members borrowed each other’s wagons for various jobs that needed to be accomplished

Who knew?!

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