Pioneers during the 1920s/1930s and earlier

by A question 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  A question

  -What exactly was their standard of living? Could they afford some nice things sometimes?

  -How much did they socialize with other Witnesses, either those serving in other areas or those in their assignment, outside of meetings and service? How often?

  -Did they enjoy recreation/entertainment (i.e. playing sports, going to movies, and so forth)?

  Please, only comments from those who know directly about how such things were back then, perhaps from knowing or talking to someone who served in that capacity. I am not really interested in speculation such as 'it must have been such and such because...'

  Thanks for any info you have!
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  jwfacts

  Blondie will probably be able to find some good examples from yearbooks.

  Remember it was the depression around that time, so people in general had very low standards of living, and pioneers even more so. In Tasmania (Australia) the roads were still mostly unsealed. Some of the old timers that I knew from that era had nothing but the clothes on their backs and would bicycle aroung Tasmania preaching. They would trade magazines for basic food, such as eggs and bread, and a place to stay the night.

  There was an old couple in Parramatta (New South Wales) congregation, Bill Moore and his wife, that never had children. They were very poor, and had many stories about how they used to have an old car and did long pioneering trips. He would say how hard it was on them, but looked back fondly on it. I'm not sure at what age he settled down, but he did end up owning an old house and car by the time he retired.
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  Gypsy Sam

  I was on Cedars blog today and ended up reading the latest WT study article 11/15 about doing what we're told when it doesnt make sense.

  It had an article on the last two pages with an experience from 1929. I don't know how to get links added here, but jw.org, publications, 11/15 issue, last two pages. It was interesting. I almost felt sympathetic to the early days of delusional excitement JW's got caught up in.
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  JakeM2012

  I had great grand parents that traveled full time for five years from 1920-1925 in Texas placing the book "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". This book taught as undeniable truth that the end would come in 1925. They had two children "on the road" as they served as "Pioneers".

  They had a flatbed truck as their service vehicle with all their belongings. The truck had a chicken cage under one side of the truck's flatbed for live chickens that laid eggs for them. They lived on the side of the road as they traveled, and they mentioned to later relatives, of regularly sleeping on rocks outside without the cover of tents. When they returned to xxxxxx they had nothing and had to get the help from their parents and other family. Interestingly, when they showed up in xxxxxx, they were so poor looking with worn tattered cloths and shoes that they were ignored by most in the congregation. (Again, family history).

  I sure wish I could time travel and stop the JW cancer at an earlier time.
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  A question

  Just to clarify, I am aware of what the publications say about that time, and how it involved traveling around and trading literature for supplies. So I do have knowledge of that. Thanks for the replies so far, they are interesting. Keep em coming. :)
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I knew a couple who had 'pioneered' in the 30's. I'm not sure when the term pioneer came in, as they were called colporters at one time. These two traveled thru Kentucky mostly. They were allowed to keep some of the money from the literature sale, so in some sense they were book salesmen besides preaching. They eventually had a son and settled down, but when I knew them in the 70's and 80's they always spoke fondly of that time in their lives. One of them was anointed and the other was not, which always struck me as awkward.
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  Phizzy

  I knew a couple of actual real sisters, who, as young girls in their late teens, bicycled hundreds of miles form their home to their appointed "territory", whilst there they were not allowed by the WT to seek any paid work, they had to live on the profit, a few pence, made on the literature sales.

  They survived in desperate poverty for a number of years until both found husbands.

  The WT was making a lot more than them out of every sale, but I guess Rutherford thought, "Keep 'em hungry, and they'll sell more".