The Poor Beggar's Feast

[@manicmechanic448]

Hi. You don't know me, and probably don't remember my dad, Tom. He got to meet you a few years ago. He portrayed the American long hunter. He passed away last week, and I just wanted to say thank you for meeting with him. He was really proud of that. So, thank you.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

I’m sorry for your loss.

[@manicmechanic448]

@@lilykatmoon4508 thank you

[@Farfromhere001]

sorry about your Dad, may he rest in peace

[@toddjackson3136]

I remember that video. I was impressed with the portrayal. I'm sorry for your loss.

[@teresahegerich8835]

I am so sorry for your loss.

[@peerpede-p.]

My grand-mamma was born in a "poorhouse" about 1890, got out, married to a fisherman, my grandfather, they had 7 offspring, one is my late father... I am 75 years old.

[@sevenproxies4255]

Always nice to see when seniors interact with modern technology both for their own entertainment and benefit, and to share their stories. My hat's off for you sir, or madame.

[@KairuHakubi]

I tell you what, as awful as poorhouses were, we're worse off without them.

[@augustsmith9553]

@@KairuHakubi yeah, I know. The stories are all negative and filled with abuse. But they had lives and community. Now the drug addicts roam the streets in gangs.

[@augustsmith9553]

God bless

[@asinatrafanatic2697]

Sir, I say this in the most respectable way possible: You are, indeed, living history.

[@bobbobbing4220]

"any kind of health issue can immediately push a family into poverty" are we still talking about the 18th century

[@SuperEggsNBacon]

LOL fr

[@SideComment24]

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

[@theravenousrabbit3671]

Yeah, because most people are poor today.

[@5dancingisraelis535]

Just dont pay medical bills. I have like $130K in medical debt and all they do is call me. Doesn't even show up when i finance a car. "Oh but what about if i wanna buy a house??" Anyone that can afford a mortgage these days can afford medical insurance.

[@sadclownsad9396]

yeah because if you dont have any money now you just get put on the streets

[@medicman65]

As one who works in a modern, inner-city, "poor-focused" hospital, I can verify that MUCH of what you describe still exists very strongly today. This video is a fascinating study.

[@Mr.Patrick_Hung]

Here in China we used to be the poorest country in the world. There was a lot of poverty a generation ago. Today however, there is less poverty than in many Western countries.

[@laciepyu255]

@@Mr.Patrick_Hung Mainly not absolute poverty, but relative poverty.

[@Mr.Patrick_Hung]

@@laciepyu255 We certainly had absolute poverty decades ago. However today, although salaries are lower than in the West, the cost of living is also low. Outside of the first tier cities, the basics are inexpensive. Rent, rice and cabbage are cheap. Frozen imported American pre-made meals are ridiculously expensive.

[@Odin31b]

Details, please!

[@stephenthomas1492]

Sadly they turn to crime as an occupation though. Pretty tough to blame them when cities refuse to convict or punish it.

[@bunnyslippers191]

One of my ancestors came over after the Battle of Culloden as an indentured servant, worked his indenture, then kept working for his former master for wages. He saved up enough to send back to Scotland for one of his relatives, he can over, moved in with the first guy, found work, and they both started saving to send back for two more relatives. Rinse and repeat until the entire extended family was in New England and they started spreading down to Kentucky, then Illinois, where my mother was born on the old family farm.

[@Magoover1]

Scots in my family followed that path NE, Illinois, Kentucky.

[@bunnyslippers191]

@@Magoover1 There were a number of Scots who started out in NE and followed that path to Illinois.

[@Gravuun]

My family was displaced by WW2 and both sides of my grandparents had to beg and forage in the wild the first few years of their lifes to survive. This kind of destitution is not as far removed from the West as it seems nowadays. We should commend all our ancestors for their incredible fortitude and strength to make it through the worst of times, be it 80 years back or 200 years back or 1000 years back

[@littlekong7685]

In rural communities in the 40's and 50's there were families working together to make thistle soup, or apple peel pies, or stealing blood and cow tails from the butchers for protein. Heck in the 70's there were still families that couldn't afford to put in plumbing while living in town. People wonder why seniors do things like save napkins and paper plates and accept food they don't need, it is because they grew up not knowing where food or clothing or materials might come from.

[@danhillman4523]

Agreed.

[@sebaschan-uwu]

But people today are worried about which gender they are gonna pretend to be

[@jimgrant4348]

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is a great example of how Great Britain dealt with the poor children. The children were often sold from the poor house into indentured servitude.

[@refrigeratormagnet1680]

Was it moral? Often i hear people decry that kind of thing as always being immoral and defending it as unquestionably evil. I always wonder how it is more moral to watch your children die than to give them a chance at life. Our memories are so short.

[@gardensofthegods]

My ancestor who came over to Philadelphia with William Penn came as an indentured servant but I had always imagined he had gotten himself into some kind of debt and I never could have thought that he , possibly as a child from poor parents could have been in this situation you're talking about ... I knew they were very cruel , even to children , my mother used to tell me this even though we love England and the English .

[@WILD__MANN]

Based

[@benn454]

@@refrigeratormagnet1680 The people looking down their noses from their high horses at people from the past are all coddled by modern society and have never experienced the kind of abject destitution and hardship that people back then were living in that drove them to such extremes.

[@oneangrymelon]

@@refrigeratormagnet1680 You have to think of it this way to answer your question: if the collective decision by the wealthy and powerful who run society is that some people will naturally end up in destitution- then is it moral to use your power to create only a single avenue to escape it? That avenue being one where children of poor families become the literal property of some of these wealthy people? Society does not "naturally" have people who can barely survive: the people at the top make conscious decisions about how to organize society that create this suffering. So yes, it is evil, because many policy decisions were made by the rulers, who are either the wealthy people, or those who are in the pockets of wealthy people.

[@jcortese3300]

My grandmother's mom died when she had two daughters, the day after giving birth to the third. Her widower immediately SOLD them to a local orphanage and GAVE the newborn to another family. My grandmother had a reputation for being a bit hard, but did she ever come by it. The orphanage sold the children's labor to local farms and abused the children when they weren't working. I can't even imagine what their childhood must have been like -- no kindness, no tenderness at all. They didn't reconnect with their lost sister until they were adults. My dad once overheard a conversation between his mom and aunt when they were both in their 70s saying things like, "Look at us -- so many times we thought we'd die young and no one would ever know or care, and here we are two old women with grandchildren ... "

[@DS-re4vs]

🥺

[@lilykatmoon4508]

Wow. You come from survivors!

[@FreedomJane-bx4um]

It's the same with orphans now. Wards of the State are placed in receiving homes and group homes where private investors make a profit off of them. Boys go to farms and job corps, and girls go to foster homes where they are overwhelmingly domestic servants and nannies.

[@Limbbiscuit]

Lmao 😂

[@ReflectedMiles]

@@FreedomJane-bx4um In what country? Social-Media World? The US has almost entirely gone to a government-funded foster care system instead. It gets, and deserves, plenty of criticism, but not for what you describe. The only orphanage left where I know people who grew up there is sponsored by a private trust and the kids I knew loved it compared to the troubled homes that they came from. They had healthy house-parents in multiple, large homes, went to the local public schools with homework help at home, had their own gardens, did raising and showing of their own sheep in 4H, hosted service projects for the community, and otherwise had as normal / healthy a kid's life as possible. There was no cost for most families (only if they were upper income and could contribute) and they refused government funding because of all the strings that came attached. They did fundraisers in the community once or twice a year to help make up what the trust couldn't fully fund. All that to say that there is some _excellent_ work done in this field, too.

[@MapleHillMunitions]

My fifth great grandfather was wounded in Monmouth, he came home to find one of his sons was bonded out, kidnapped his son back, and was charged with kidnapping. What a wild time.

[@gardensofthegods]

He was charged with kidnapping ... are you saying he then went to prison ? Was he never vindicated ... please tell us the rest of this .

[@MapleHillMunitions]

@@gardensofthegods Charges were dismissed but he had to pay 50 dollars and keep the peace for 12 months. But do you want to hear about the time he made counterfeit money? Stole a hog ? Or the valley forge experience? 😂

[@Gravuun]

What happened to them then? Did they escape? Edit: Sorry didnt see you answered that already. Good on him!

[@gardensofthegods]

@@MapleHillMunitions $50 back then was probably equal to thousands . Yeah I'd like to hear about the counterfeit money and I know there was a lot of it especially by the time of the Civil War later on . Yeah I really want to hear about it and then after that you can tell me about the stolen hog . And since I'm from suburban Philly and we used to go sledding at Valley Forge and I love history yes I'd love to hear about it .. yeah all of it and I'm the one who was the little girl that always wanted to hear one more story and I love stories . Sometimes when people tell me their stories if they're really good and they have a knack with words I encourage them to get it copyrighted and get it published

[@gardensofthegods]

Also I'm sure your ancestors and those who passed down the stories would be glad that you're keeping them alive . It always bothers me when some people have no interest in knowing anything about the people who came before them and they don't even ask their parents or relatives about any of those stories

[@dillonpoole382]

Your editor does a great job with the subtle paralaxing of the stills - it elevates the production quite a bit

[@seronymus]

Paralaxing? Isn't that like shifting backgrounds in 2d video games?

[@Vorpal_Wit]

@@seronymus In general the parallax-effect is when, in a side-tracking field of view, or even in a stationary view with moving elements, those elements farther away appear to move more slowly than foreground elements. This is because the field of view is conical, and so things farther away need longer to cross that field of view than do things in the foreground, even if the elements are moving at the same speed across the field of view. This phenomena is used by our brains as a distance cue, which is why in 2d side-scrolling games they scroll the background by more slowly than the foreground, to give an artificial sense of depth to the picture plane. In videography it makes for a more pleasant viewing experience because it lends faux- 3d effect to a 2 dimensional image, giving the viewer a greater sense of the volume of space and the relationships between the objects in it. I hope that helps.

[@ramencurry6672]

If he has hired help, that’s great

[@ImmortalLemon]

You guys as well as Tasting History with Max Miller have taught me more about history than school has taught me

[@rickv9180]

Same

[@terminallumbago6465]

What I love is that they teach the history of the everyday. It isn’t (always) high-ranking officials, major events, wars, etc. It’s teaching about how ordinary people got by day-to-day.

[@roguenerd23]

@@terminallumbago6465 It really is great that they do that. To be fair, most school history teachers would love to teach on this level. The problem is first, getting kids to sit still for the instruction, and second, that the social studies teacher is usually expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting of teaching the kids thinking skills that allow them to make sense of historical fact- to ask themselves useful questions, draw conclusions from primary sources, and have enough of the basic facts that they can put interesting new facts into context. It makes for a lot of "boring work" that isn't nearly as entertaining to work your way through as a kid than just being taught cool lectures on specific things you happen to be interested in.

[@terminallumbago6465]

@@roguenerd23 I think school in many ways is more about teaching kids HOW to learn and establishing soft skills rather than about any specific content.

[@elizabeththequeen943]

America was a nation of farmers well into the 19th century and there was always, always a need for farm labor. This type of labor was considered semi-skilled. From there, one could get a job in a small factory such as glass, brick and tile or pottery. It was the unskilled, very young, widowed or unwell people that ended up in the poor house and that is the reason why administrators didn't know what to do with them.

[@mickeymch876]

My grandmother used to make what we called 'dishwater soup'. Dishwater soup was a pot of water, one peeled potato, a peeled onion and one beet which was cooked on the coal stove. If I was lucky I got the potato.

[@ouberfox5898]

If i was lucky i got the potato... good greaf

[@Strat0Patrick]

Boiled beet root actually pretty tasty as well (here in Ukraine it is one of main ingridients for many dishes)

[@ravebiscuits8721]

Is this for real? It sounds a little far-fetched. I mean she could have just cut the vegetables, it would make a much better stew even aside from fixing the odd fairness issue. And what year was this? I mean even if it was the 50s and you're a 80 year old KZbin commenter you'd struggle to be so poor that you couldn't afford more than one potato.

[@mickeymch876]

@@ravebiscuits8721 It''s real. I think grandma thought the depression never ended. She also would hit the thrift stores and flea markets for bargains. Once for a gift she gave my father 2 left shoes. She said "you'll walk a little funny but they were only $0.50".

[@MikehMike01]

@@ravebiscuits8721 fairness = more food for the people who work to bring in income

[@kiltedsasquatch3693]

my mother grew up on a dairy farm during the depression. She always said they never had much money but always had plenty to eat.

[@mikehillas]

The meal actually looks delicious. I'm not poor, but it's better than what I usually eat for dinner. Time to get rid of the frozen burritos and to start cooking from scratch again!

[@shiNIN42]

That was my thought, most people don't eat this good! :D (I am very sure poor people didn't often eat this good either. Of course, it depends who where when...) I can't afford beef myself (sometimes I buy the cheapest cut but not every month) but a nice pork stew is nothing to scoff at either! Everyone can cook in my family and it is normal for us. Preferable for multiple reasons. I can't even imagine life without home cooking, I always had it. It doesn't need to be difficult at all.

[@almirria6753]

I have someone on my Mom's side of our family, came to the US from Ireland as an indentured servant

[@gardensofthegods]

Yes same here my mother's ancestor who came over with William Penn was an indentured servant .

[@virginia5]

My mother’s grandmother was an indentured servant. Her husband paid off her debt, married her. She was German.

[@temptemp4174]

Sad that people look upon new migrants with as much hatred as they did all the way back then. I hope I never become one of those ivory tower twats, we were all once migrants in search of a betted life, it wasn't easy to get to where we are, the amount of racism the Irish experienced was insane

[@yulfine1688]

i'd imagine many of us do, I have quite the english/welsh and irish background but my mothers side is all over europe and what little I do know of my fathers side is also european and mexican.

[@kevinball892]

I love your strong emphasis thought out your videos on understanding our ancestors. It’s so so important to not be so quick to pass judgement through a modern lens.

[@LoveShaysloco]

What I find funny back then in the time frame John does brown bread brown sugar/molasses was cheaper since less work was put into which is why white bread and white sugar was more expensive. Now a days it's the opposite white bread and white sugar is less expensive. Using now a days they make it strait to white sugar and add the molasses back in to make the grade of brown sugar they want. Back then the more the refined to white sugar then more you paid

[@ranman5501]

Brings to mind Laura Ingalls Wilder. Maple sugar was used for everyday use. White sugar was saved for company.

[@Goblin_deez.]

‘Life was hard, people died young and were treated horribly, they lived a life of hard work, disease, crime and filth. Anyways here’s a great recipe for beef stew!’ I jest but it is eye opening to consider that these were living people and I’m trying to understand it through modern eyes I’m glad to know that although poverty is still real, there is now a better degree of support and luxury that would make our predecessors smile.

[@Wolffur]

Every century, we improve ourselves, and the lives of others, just a little bit more. 🙂

[@ruariniall7463]

The Surgeon General of the United States is always an Admiral because he was originally the supervising Surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service, established in 1798. This was a manditory, single payer heathcare-insurance plan for those engaged in the maritime trades, the largest domestic industry of the time. This replaced a similar institution established by Queen Elizaberh I. It collected a small fee from those covered. From it sprang all other healthcare plans, including the VA, so that by 1904, it became the National Public Health Service while retaining it's distinct program. The MHS, one of the most successfull government programs ever enacted, was active until 1982, when Ronald Reagan abolished it as "socialism" for the benefit of the commercial insurance industry.

[@macsarcule]

Thank you Townsends team, a very important part of our history and our present.

[@HakimE-ku3yl]

its awesome how this channel attracts all ages, i love reading the comments from older folk about their grand parents and the stories they have. please write these stories down don't let them be lost.

[@Wolffur]

It seems to have become a kind of wholesome multi-generational meetup in the comments section.

[@MjukCheese]

i really love this channels feeling, it has a very homely warm style its nice to just have it on in the background but i of course love watching the videos 😃

[@davestelling]

I find some much needed comfort here at Townsend's...

[@elainebradley8213]

My grandfather was a Bernardo child and was sent from England to Canada as an indentured farm hand. In the orphanage in England he was well looked after and well educated but the family in Canada was not good to him and he ran away.

[@erikdalna211]

Same thing happened to my great uncle. He hit the farmer on the back of the head with a shovel then rode the rails. He didn’t get back to Britain until the War when he was in uniform.

[@alexmcgregor2854]

These videos are food for the soul… 😊

[@robertpearson8798]

My Wife’s grandfather escaped from a workhouse in northern England and stowed away on a ship to Canada with a friend. He’d just turned fourteen and we found out that that was the age at which schooling stopped and physical labour began.

[@Nalimias]

As the situation in the world gets worse and worse and my situation with it, your channel becomes more and more valuable to me EVERY DAY. I use so much of your recipes for the poor to survive. (central Europe btw)

[@MynewTennesseeHome]

My Grandmother was born in 1902 in IN. Not sure what was in place for the poor then but my Great-grandfather ran off and my Great grandmother had to farm out my Grandmother to help the family survive.

[@Mike-METALS]

Hello 👋 I'm a new subscriber from ontario canada and it was the same here but in history we learn about the American revolution here to and most of canada 🇨🇦 was still wild and we are taught alot about the voyagers fur traders/ explorer's thank you for everything 😀 😊

[@fiery_transition]

When the beggars feast looks better than what I eat normally.... Beef?!?! that stuff has become so expensive :(

[@Nan-1017]

Beef, imho, is so good for you. It is a great healer. Try ground beef, it less expensive 😊

[@toddmeier9743]

I hear you there! Today, I can eat relatively cheaply if I stay away from expensive beef, salmon etc.

[@TaylorCarr-e7b]

You need to eat cheaper cuts

[@Konarcoffee]

@@Nan-1017 I've seen this before, let me head off the next very stupid suggestion. Cook the beef before you eat it

[@LordKhuzdul]

​@@TaylorCarr-e7b IIRC that is one of the problems nowadays - cheap cuts often do not make it to the consumers. They are set aside for industrial processing, such as mechanical separation (to make sausages) for example.

[@MC-810]

Yes! My favorite Sunday morning activity at 0900 Eastern. A cup of coffee and Townsends latest drop. Edit: and when I hear the words Beggars & Feast together, I cannot help but think of Les Mis..the Thenardiers… (live not the movie!)

[@seronymus]

And Orthodox Palm Sunday 🌴☦️

[@martykitson3442]

the poor you have with you always

[@Pieces_Of_Eight]

Thank you for shining your scholarly light on the often over-looked corners of human lives in history-for giving those who often had little voice the chance to tell some of their story. It is wonderful and truly appreciated!

[@jamesgross4833]

Kids at school should listen to your videos. Food is something everyone can understand, and it helps connect the mind to realities of the time. Never got that out of a text book.

[@themightylog2169]

Always love your work, keep it up please.. these subjects are difficult for people to swallow but as someone that's spent a quarter of his life homeless in the modern age, it's easy to see how detached humanity has become from reality itself. These subjects remind me that not everyone lacks awareness and that these problems are far easier to surmount in the modern age compared to the 18th century.

[@debbralehrman5957]

Thanks Jon and Crew 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🌹

[@jones4452]

Great message at the end. Fantastic video

[@rivus3358]

I really appreciate the cooking in these videos, but also the history lesson, which helps reminds me to be grateful for what I have today, which is quite helpful when I'm feeling down.

[@RichardBlazek-q8r]

Being poor is subjective. I was raised with next to nothing. However everyone around us lived the same. Looking back we were poor but never poor of spirit.

[@jiminplsletmehit7620]

Obviously the topic is monetary destitution

[@jd9119]

If you've had a roof over your head, clothes on your back and you never went hungry, then you never were actually that poor. Most of us, even if we consider ourselves to be poor, cannot even fathom what it's like to actually be poor. In fact our bums eat better out of garbage cans than most people prior to these modern times did and they were working their butts off.

[@QuasarSniffer]

I just really appreciate the focus you've been putting on lives of the poor in colonial America and the early United States. It's something that is rarely focused on, especially in historical reenactment. It's like our view of that time period is as long as you're not a slave, or have graduated from indentured servitude, you've accessed the middle class. That was not the case, so I very much appreciate this series of videos elucidating that topic.

[@taitano12]

Oh dear Lord, that brotn for breakfast thing takes me back. There were a couple of times my Grandpa Larson bought two thermoses to his compass adjusting Job. One had the coffee, the other had a nice hearty broth. He used to call it the Beggar's Breakfast. Now I know why. He was a Professor of Naval History in Bellingham Washington. I got my passion for history partly from him. Thanks for the memory. 😊

[@DeeDee-pw9pm]

When you said "dirty jobs", i imagined Mike Rowe doing an 18th century 'Dirty Jobs' tv show.

[@diamanteduul8084]

Goes to show how revolutionary that show was if its the definition of that phrase in our minds 😂

[@nahte123]

That exists! Check out Worst Jobs in History with Tony Robinson.

[@mabamabam]

@@nahte123 Interesting. Because Mike Rowe is a theater kid trying to act like a tough guy laborer, whereas Tony Robinson is a theatre kid doing fun historical stuff. Worst jobs in history is great

[@MarkCratusMatzko]

I've never been this early for a Townsends video. Truly a morning blessing. God bless, Jon.

[@dhevinfernando1431]

I could keep watching these kinds of videos forever ngl

[@janedagger]

Beaurifully done essay, sir. Again I'm so pleased with your behind the scenes work and your matter of fact and very humanitarian presentation... a stand out against so much that is out there. Kudoes, and thank you so much.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

The origin of hospitals and healthcare sounds like a great basis for future videos!

[@bryanfox2735]

Y’all do a GREAT service making sure we never forget where we came from!!! Cheers brother!!!!💪🦅🇺🇸💯

[@SaotomeLuna]

It is depressing how little has changed about how we treat the poor. At least we don't make them wear badges anymore...?

[@cmbaz1140]

well...

[@reverendparis7747]

Insanely well said at the end. Amazing insight. Thanks for the video!

[@corporalvideo26]

I always identify with the poor people you talk about. I'm not wealthy and live on my social security. I am so grateful that I am living now as opposed to the 18th century.

[@Stover1928]

Glaring correlations to current modern event's. We as humans across the glob still struggle with what to do with the poor. Powerful video thank you.

[@yong9613]

And here comes the category The deserving poor Vs vagabonds

[@yulfine1688]

There's not rally an answer either is the problem no matter what you do or what systems are in place and at some point that system will collapse because of the cost, you start lowering wages, increasing work hours, lowering the quality overall and so on in an attempt to correct it and often it makes things worse so it just collapses in on itself. Countries forgo certain things these days which allow them to provide better social systems, but when they have to start relying on covering those same things they cut severely the end up having to cut back elsewhere. Currently america outside of military leads and provides the greatest support in research and development in basically all fields, between private and government funding there is around 3 trillion$ in yearly spending, that's the size of or greater than some countries entire GDP or value of all their companies etc. As such many sort of rely on the cross support and its all part of the global trade, but in reality someone is still at the end losing and in this case it seems to be america.

[@Mr_Toodles]

Whats crazy to me is that all these dishes from old times that were considered "Poor people food" are nowadays, some of the best food that exists. You literally just made a crockpot roast with veggies. That is some of the best and most wholesome eating you can get these days.

[@justinhair6635]

Quite possibly my favorite channel on youtube.

[@77loneranger]

This is another excellent program, Jon.

[@Firmus777]

History of the work houses makes Foucault's connection of hospitals and prisons make more sense.

[@majidskinnerkhan6960]

There's still poor people in England, times are hard, poverty is in a different form now.

[@gardensofthegods]

Yes just like here in America and it's terrible what has happened in this country with so many people

[@jd9119]

Whether it's England, America or Europe, there has never been more opportunities for somebody to earn a decent living. This is the best that it's ever been and likely the best it ever will be (as poverty is creeping back). We all should be making the best with what we have now, while we still have it.

[@Eltener123]

I really love this series, it'd be awesome if in future vids we get to see more of the regional variations in what would make up such a feast even among equivalent class backgrounds

[@corrinofnohr9927]

Babe wake up, new Townsends just dropped

[@buckgulick3968]

Indeed! Between Townsends and Tasting History our weekly need for good culinary info is sated!

[@lxlMrSatan]

Babe go to sleep, another unoriginal comment was made for hundred thousand time

[@GaryLiseo]

I love how you not only explain the foods people ate at different times and in different areas/roles of society, but also teach the history that goes along with it.

[@haleighl2807]

The world today is built on the bones of those who suffered. I have what I have for them. So many who died, destitute in squalor, surrounded by other humans but no help in sight. They must have seen their reality, no one cares for them and no one will miss them. I may not know your name, but I do care. I thank my ancestors for every day I see.

[@reddithistoryarchive8563]

The world is built on busting loads

[@gfkusaka]

I love your channel ! . . . . It helps to keep me humble and appreciate what I have and admire our ancestors for what they endured. . . In today's world, it is so easy to become complacent. But your channel brings me back. Thank you.

[@jfieqj]

This channel is a treasure. You do an amazing job connecting the viewer to an era that otherwise seems incredibly distant and intangible.

[@RolloTonéBrownTown]

It's actually kinda wholesome they thought they could fix these problems. Such innocence

[@Sniperboy5551]

As a history and culinary nerd, I love this channel. Finding someone who has such a niche interest is rare, this is the only guy who can do it! Ever since I visited Sturbridge Village on a school field trip, I’ve been enamored with the way our ancestors used to live. It was a simpler time.

[@ThomasMaldonadoJr]

This was beyond reflective. Stay gold.

[@_faultee_]

Dont forget its way hotter here than it is on the UK and West Europe/Central. NJ/NY Gets so humid and hot, aint called meadowlands for no reason its all swamp.

[@Blrtech77]

Thanks for the great video. Jon Be Safe and Keep Up the Amazing Work!

[@louel9272]

Taken from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (set in the 12th century): "Why," quoth the Beggar, peeping into the mouths of his bags, "I find here a goodly piece of pigeon pie, wrapped in a cabbage leaf to hold the gravy. Here I behold a dainty streaked piece of brawn, and here a fair lump of white bread. Here I find four oaten cakes and a cold knuckle of ham. Ha! In sooth, 'tis strange; but here I behold six eggs that must have come by accident from some poultry yard hereabouts. They are raw, but roasted upon the coals and spread with a piece of butter that I see-"

[@Alacritous]

That's fiction. And the beggar was a bandit. Most of that, if not all, would have been stolen.

[@chrisdonovan8795]

@@Alacritous I'm currently listening to it on Audible. You are correct. Robin was looking to trade clothes with a beggar and he found a very successful bandit instead.

[@gamingpro2216]

I love the artwork that gets put into these videos. I know thats gotta be a lot of work to find

[@johnnypgood100]

Henry Knox's mother had 10 sons, only 4 of whom lived. Her husband deserted her when Henry was 9. The 2 older boys had already left to become sailors, so she took Henry, a promising student, out of school and apprenticed him to a bookseller. Henry taught himself many things by reading, and eventually opened his own bookstore in Boston. For him, it worked out, since he eventually became General of the artillery in the revolutionary war. But he also worked very hard his entire life.

[@mandabean.2405]

It's so sad that this is what we went from to current day America... Our own poor citizens are being neglected.

[@homesteadcritters]

I always enjoy your videos. Keep up the great work!

[@rashkavar]

Regarding the point about hospitals being poorhouses originally - it's worth noting that medicine didn't have a lot of the big equipment that needs a centralized care facility in those days. No heart rate monitors, oxygen tanks, let alone all the fancy diagnostic equipment. So a doctor coming out to your house could give you the best care they could possibly offer. If you were at that financial tier, you could hire someone to do the kind of monitoring that patients in hospital get today (again, minus the whole technology aspect). So if you were bedridden at home, you'd have doctors doing their best work, hired help dedicated to *your* care rather than caring for all the patients in your ward like at a hospital, and the same kind of food you'd eat normally (hospitals are *starting* to get past the terrible food thing, but that was a major problem with hospital stays for a long time, well after they started resembling more a modern medical facility than a 19th century house for the poor and sick.) All in all, you'd get better care at home than at hospital.

[@joshmapes4311]

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for making this video.

[@giraffesinc.2193]

Bless you, Sir. Such a hard topic, and you covered it beautifully.

[@yourbestpallshawn4139]

You need more of these type of videos

[@Kalie_Miller]

The fact they made you wear a badge if you happend to be one so misfortuned feels so surreal and is incredibly saddening, shaming those that already have nothing and then taking their dignity as well... I think it is really important that history like that is shared and not forgotten so that hopefully something like that will never happen again, though i still see it now even in a comfy first world country there are still many much less fortuned then others despite all the technological marvels we invented over the years, despite all the progress me made, it is sad and i wish it was different.

[@Gonzokeywest45]

Unfortunately it is happening, again. Tennessee first state to make camping or sleeping outdoors a FELONY

[@mallock8529]

It was probably done to prevent people from abusing the system/using the help if you didn't need it. That was also kinda the point of keeping the conditions of the poor house intolerable, to keep out people who just don't wanna work rather than can't work

[@ponytoast1231]

Surprised about the institutions since currently a lot of beggars tend to have mental problems that make it hard for them to just organize their life and keep a job, pay bills, etc. without getting a job being a real issue. Having institutions sound like social services that help such people keep their shit together and is pretty forward thinking.

[@chrisdonovan8795]

If you're alone, making minimum wage in America, you're just a step or two above an indentured servant.

[@jimmysp4des229]

The only difference between now and then is climate control, clean running water, modern medicine, electricity on demand, the phone you use to make that comment that connects you to unlimited free information and entertainment. Just small stuff like that.

[@SelwynCoy]

@@jimmysp4des229 Access to all of that goes out the window if your rent gets jacked up and you get thrown out on the street. Or if you can't afford your internet bill, phone bill, or astronomical medical bills on top of the basic cost of food and shelter. The modern advancements are here, but just like in the 18th century not everybody gets to use them.

[@PySnek]

since when does the US have clean running water? I thought that's more like an EU thing?

[@No-yn7ry]

@@PySnekit’s clean just the taste depends on state

[@roguenerd23]

​@@jimmysp4des229 The thing is, there are a bunch of countries where being poor isn't quite as much of a painful grind as it is in the US. And they all have air conditioners, running water, electricity, and smartphones, too. They even have modern medicine for the single minimum-wage worker, which said worker probably can't afford in the US. Our modern infrastructure isn't actually directly powered by suffering. The people who cause the poor to suffer don't get to pretend that it doesn't matter how the poor are doing, just because somebody invented smartphones and that automatically means everything is okay.

[@SanityDrop]

'Any kind of health issue immedietly push a family into a family' So they never changed, huh

[@sheilam4964]

Thx for doing this, filming it and sharing it with us.

[@markeustace199]

He's right about how many workhouses became hospitals, in my county we have a 200 year old workhouse building which became the main county hospital...I suspect that they did that without updating the cooking oh and it had an ominous field out back where they buried people in the 19th century during the Irish Famine and the various cholera outbreaks

[@cearachonaill8149]

Well done once again, Mr. Townsend.

[@gtbkts]

Thanks for the awesome content and great video!!

[@JF098]

I love this series so much, I instantly lit up when I saw it pop up. What a way to start my Monday!

[@MintFrye]

I love how you presented this video and how you made me relate with poverty in the 1800s even though I don't have dirt floors and walls covered in newspaper and shivering at night in the winter and sweating today in the summer I realize that a lot of the foods fairly poor people made are foods that were created from poverty

[@chelsuh614]

I think this is one of your best videos, or at the very least one of my favorites 🙇‍♀️

[@dwaynewladyka577]

It's like other times in history, such as in the Great Depression, in North America, in the 1930s. People who went through tough times, had to be very resourceful to survive. Cheers!

[@danusdragonfly6640]

There have been more tough times than good times. Even in the best of times there were plenty of people going through tough times. Same as today.

[@sststr]

There's a channel on London History by J. Draper, she covers the entirety of London's history from its founding to present day, but she has a video dedicated to the life of servants in the Victorian era. Very insightful for those who want more on that very specific topic.

[@JerryB507]

One of the best Ye Olde English channels.

[@PaineStakingTruth]

Thank you so much for the history and suggestion to learn from it to apply today!

[@takitakiboom]

The more things change the more they stay the same. Excellent food for thought as always.

[@madeleine2631]

"night-soil" is going straight into my regular vocabulary

[@krisb8781]

Townsends never disappoint. Always top notch content.

[@rg_888]

Mr. Townsends, I look at you as the modern-day Bob Ross. This is a happy place.

[@max782_]

This type of video is my absolute favourite, thank you so much for uploading, love ur stuff :3

[@kenc9236]

"Please sir more soup."

[@angelor9211]

I remember visiting a workhouse type exhibit in California as a child, replicating colonial America around the Independence, and seeing it was without a doubt amazing The area was huge in itself, it worked like a farm but it had the appearance of a Mansion back then, inside there was a kitchen, many beds and an office where the owners would manage the house

[@Robertssurvivalsystems]

Another wonderful and well made video. I really enjoy your content and thank you for all the hard work you and your crew put into makeing them.

[@goshnodo]

Nothing like going to watch a show about beggars and poverty BUT FIRST ARBYS BRISKET MANWICH commercial!

[@forteandblues]

I love learning how the poor ate, not only does it help my cooking/bank account. It’s also quite fascinating.