Thank God for our clean tapwater, indoor bathrooms and daily showers, for tampons,  for washing machines and tumble dryers. People's lives were so difficult back then.

I try not to take for granted how good we have it now.  When we lose our power or don't have air conditioning, people lose their minds.  But I try to remember, these things used to never exist.

Midwives were cleaner than doctors, the midwives understood the doctors refused to see.

I'm 74. My great grandparents crossed the prairie from Penn. to Ohio, to Texas in a Conestoga wagon. It is a blessing I actually got to know my great grandmother when I was 4 or 5 before she died at 98 yrs. old. She was clear minded until the end of her life. Blind in her late years, she read her Bible in braille. They made that treck in the 1870s. I was born in 1951 and lived on a cattle ranch owned by her son, my grandfather.

Dont let the bed bugs bite.

Fascinating. We take so much for granted.

I thank God for being given life in this day and age!  I can’t imagine the daily struggles!

More than anything, I marvel at their beautiful handwriting.  So elegant, in sad contrast to the reality of their lives.

All the heartache and hardship and to experience this, what the pioneers went through, we’ll never truly comprehend.

We are so blessed to live in this age.  They went through hell.

I am beyond grateful to live in these modern times taking my daily shower, washing machine, dryer, electricity, toilets, etc. Thank God.

Today, in many less developed cultures, it is still taboo to bathe for weeks after childbirth due to the possibility of infection from contaminated water.

And people today take it for granted what we have.

God bless all of those strong women.

I did see a Western movie once where a woman was found dead in her wagon by a passing rider  with a newborn still alive,She was simply left behind by the  wagon train. The rider buried the woman ,and fed the baby cactus milk squeezed through the finger of a glove until he could get to help.This was one of the few films which portrayed the trail is being something other than full of kind,brave people-though obviously the rider was.

I've ALWAYS been SO thankful that I was born in the 1950's having all the comforts that my ancestors and  humanity never had, that we do now and sometimes take for granted. Running water, A/C, Heat, electricity, bathrooms, hot showers, washers & dryers, etc...I would've died in my first winter had I been born in the 19th century or even the early 20th. Pioneers were tough people. Only the strongest survived. My ancestors were some of the first to come to this new land called America, on the Mayflower. This video didn't even touch on all the children in the family dying of the flu or pneumonia or entire families except maybe one being massacred by the Native Americans, or taken hostage, as they ventured west on the trails. . My parents were kids during the Depression but my grandparents and great grandparents were adults during those times and it was TOUGH!  My 2x great grandfather died of the Spanish flu in 1918. That was a worldwide pandemic that  killed more soldiers and people than WWI. My mom said when vaccines and antibiotics like penicillin came out, her grandfather (who lived to be 100) my great aunts &uncles and other relatives couldn't get them fast enough. They saw their family members die of diseases, like cholera, scarlett fever, sepsis, flu and pnuemonia. My grandmother died from hemmoraging sp? right after childbirth and she was in a hospital in 1938. My uncle died 7 months later in my
g-grandmother's arms. He died of the flu & pneumonia. My grandpa was trying riding his horse to get the Dr. They  were too late. That was during the Depression, not even 100 yrs ago. Most of the diseases that people use to die from, measles, chickpox, polio, cholera, etc.., have now been eradicated by medicine and science. I'm very thankful for vaccines, antibiotics, etc, the things we sometimes take for granted now.
My answers regarding the questions the commentator was asking of what killed these people, was #1 cholera & dysentery, accidents with wagons and the big animals, and then sepsis from childbirth and wounds. These people didn't know about germs, bacteria, or to boil water to get clean it. Just the thought of drinking that water, ugghhh. I'm sure glad we have known for yrs about hygeine, washing our hands, and equally as thankful for our medical science, Dr's, and science in general..

My ancestors came from Ireland /Germany in the early 1700's as indentured servants to Virginia. After 7 years they were to receive a plot of land but their sponsor, Lord Fairfax refused.  They appealed to the King of England and eventually were granted the land but it was a tough life with lots of struggle.  Many young ones died due to illness or accidents according to genealogy.

We are erasing more history in the United States now. It's so sad.

We take so much for granted these days. It’s miraculous that anyone survived.

What an amazing history lesson !! Those were some tough women.