72

For me it was my Mother.

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[-] MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

me

i have been homeless before for months

[-] naticus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Sorry to hear that, how're you doing now?

[-] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

To bw honest, no clue, both my parents didn't have dirt floors and they were born in '43 and '48. Maybe my grandparents, but I can't check anymore, as all family members at my mother's side are dead, as well as the oldest ones at my father's side. (Including both my parents)

I guess dirt floors were for the very poor pre WW2 in the Netherlands.

[-] NuPNuA@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

This has to be a Yank centric question. Very few places in Europe in the last 120 years would have had dirt floors unless they were very poor and rural.

[-] Fondots@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

We're going back to at least my great grandparents, if not further, it's very likely we'd be looking at some long-forgotten relative in "the old country"

My dad once worked in a steel mill, on his first day on the job they gave him a broom and told him to sweep the floors. After a sweeping for a while while with no obvious progress being made he eventually realized it was a dirt floor.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 11 points 1 year ago

It's my kids. We bought a 1880 cottage and it still has a dirt floor cellar.

[-] Coldgoron@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Interesting technicality, didn't see that coming.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

I only count it because it was partially converted to a basement in 1926-9 and we do laundry down there as well as keep all the catboxes there. So my kids go down there for chores all the time. I have to keep reminding them to either put on shoes or go barefoot, though; they've ruined a lot of socks.

[-] Null@pawb.social 9 points 1 year ago

My mother did. She also had a dirt floor one room elementary school. Grew up in the US south.

[-] PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My family disappeared into white trash before we know that answer.

Meanwhile, my wife can trace her family back to an early 19th century vice president and actual slave owners.

Edit: to be fair, I did my genetic analysis and do now know of distant relatives (whom I will probably never contact). I don't think that counts though.

[-] ParadiseFound@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago

I have to say I have no idea. What an interesting question!

I live in Finland, and the winters can be pretty rough. There is also a long tradition of building from wood. It would be impractical to build a house, usually with several fireplaces, only for the heat to escape through the ground.

Dirt floors are only used in structures where people don't spend the night, for example sheds. Also, there is an old church from the 15th century with the original dirt floor because of its historical significance.

[-] CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

My maternal grandparents in New Britain, CT.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Does it count if I looked at a couple houses with dirt floors while trying to buy? Prices are pretty high here and we have a lot of older houses. However I decided it must have concrete basement floors and no fieldstone walls, which eventually landed me in a “modern” 1946 house

[-] Coldgoron@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Im talking about a scenario where the person has to walk on dirt floors to get around their home.

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

My wife's parents had dirt floors before they moved to America.

[-] kingludd@lemmy.basedcount.com 4 points 1 year ago

Me. There are some benefits, and you can sweep it clean. Still dirtier than wood though.

[-] SkaraBrae@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

My mother currently has dirt floors.

[-] 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 1 year ago

Just asked my dad, an uncle in my grandfather's generation. Right outside of the Omaha, Nebraska area.

[-] nieceandtows@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Technically me, but I have no recollection. My mom used to say that my grandpa coated the floor with something after I was born because it was too rough for me to crawl.

[-] AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

My grandparents on both sides

[-] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

My parents I guess, their toilet it outside.

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Does a basement floor count?

[-] Coldgoron@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I was thinking more like literal dirt floors

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

That's what I mean. I mean as opposed to the ground floor being a dirt floor.

[-] MandelbuttMutt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I don’t know about dirt floors, but my mom grew up with an outhouse.

[-] GreasyTengu@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Grew up in a house that had a half dirt basement. House was built on a hillside where the topsoil is pretty thin and excavating out bedrock would have been pretty expensive. I suppose im using 'dirt' pretty loosely, most of the actual dirt was scoured away before the foundations were poured, so it was really just bare rock.

[-] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Not sure. Both sides of my family have been fairly well off for centuries as far as we can gather. In the old country my paternal last name alludes to the area of the country we came from which would have been farmland. Don’t have any ancestry info from that period though.

[-] be_gt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I think that would be my great grandmother

[-] Worx@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 year ago
[-] NuPNuA@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

What century is this post from? Even my great great grandparents would have had floors in Victorian London. My dad had an outside toilet growing up, but the floor of it was concrete.

[-] redballooon@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

I suppose in developing countries you can find fairly recent examples.

Dirt floors in more rural and remote parts of America were not uncommon through the early part of the 20th century.

this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
72 points (97.4% liked)

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