My father has told lots of stories over the years about the depression.
Two that stick out right now:
My grandfather somehow was an insurance salesman during the depression, his job among other things was to collect the premiums from his customers(his neighbors). Many many times his customers did not have the money for the home insurance premiums , so instead of halting their insurance, he would find someway to conjure up the payments himself instead of doing that to his neighbors.
Apparently it was a regular thing for my grandfather to work all week and end up owing the company money. (note- I can see now where I acquired my business sense ).
The neighbors and customers would "trade' small plots of land for him to use until they could catch up on payments. My father and his two brothers, who were young boys, at the time had vegetable gardens that they tended all over town on their neighbors land that kept the family well fed---
Another story that sticks out is that 'drifters' looking for work were constantly coming to the back door asking for a meal, and according to Pop, my grandmother never turned any one of them away and always fed them.
To this day my father thinks that there was some sort of 'hobo mark' in the back alley indicating it was a good place to eat because there were so many that continually came to their door.
My father many times has told me that he never knew that they were poor at the time BUT to this day, even at 93, if there is any work at all to do--he does it right away, and if the fridge is looking sparse he fills it right up.
It only came out when my grandfather died and we got a chance to look at his papers how incredibly precarious the financial situation really was and how many times they came very very close to losing everything.
Somehow,thankfully, he and my grandmother pulled it off, AND still manage to raise a well adjusted happy family.
They were good folks, I dont, and nobody, even their sons , ever recall seeing them angry or mad
My dad told some stories from time to time. But the really ugly stuff he kept mum about. But living through the depression in Northern Minnesota musta been a tough row to hoe.
I remember him telling about going to the butcher shop and buying chicken cartilage for a few cents a pound to make soup with. And his mother opened a boarding house and housed and fed an ever-changing cast of lumberjacks, fishermen, and bootleggers for a few dollars a month.
My dad then joined the CCCs and pretty much supported his mother and sister (along with the income from the boarding house)with the money he made there. I guess the government just sent his check straight to his mother's house, and he never even got to see it. He was well fed in camp, though. And he always talked fondly of the time he spent in camp, so it must have been a pleasant-enough of an existence.
After the CCCs he got a job in Greenland (cooking again) and from there went straight into the Navy for WWII.
Oh, the hobos--they would come to Grandma's house, too. Their place was by a Shoshoni summer camp, and my grandmother would make sure the cow was milked before daylight or else someone would sneak over and milk her. Mom and her siblings played with the Shoshoni kids and their moms would give them dog jerky for a snack.
I can't imagine having that many children--that many pregnancies. 15. Grandma had 12, one died at age 2. She had her first at age 17 and her last at age 42. All born at home. My house seems crowded with three kids, but Grandma's home was no larger than my little house and held many more bodies.
Funny, both my mom's parents lived into their nineties, never had a surgery, very little medical/dental. Lived longer than most of their kids(three still alive), who had all the modern medicine. But both grew up on dairy farms and probably ate all home grown foods most of their lives. No plastic until they were up in years, and they were physically active.
Now that Mstar mentioned it, I recall my Aunt always keeping her refridgerator and pantry packed to the limits with food too. There was just her and my Uncle to feed (and my Uncle never ate anything) but by God, she wasn't going to run out!
I wish I had recorded some of their stories yeras ago, when they were all still alive. My cousins and I are planning a cousin reunion, hope to record some there.
Sheesh George, I am planning a monstr grocery list myself, since I will be out of work soon. I feel anxious if the cupboards aren't full of staples. Must have picked that up from Mom and Dad.
Both parents were products of it, and their parents actually endured the worst I believe.
My mother's father was a cabinet maker. He could not get work but an occasional book case from the super wealthy. That kept them in milk and bread. One day one of the built-in's he was putting in....the owner of the home came to him and told him that he had lost every penny of his bank account and that my grandfather should go home because he couldn't pay him.
My grandfather said if it was OK with the homeowner, he'd rather stay...at least he was busy, and nobody was being paid anything anyway. So the man said OK, and when my grandfather was finished the homeowner took him up to the attic and told him to pick out 2 or 3 pieces of cut glass as payment. That's how my family "inherited" some of the finest heavy lead crystal around. It was so heavy, in fact, that it was necessary to put a doily under it so the sharp edges didn't leave a mark on the table where it was put.
My father left school after a couple of months in 9th grade to go to work to support his mother.
Hubby's parents raised 4 boys during that time.His mother made all their clothes from scratch. She sometimes re-used fabric from one of her, or his (father's) garments.
Both my parents never threw out a single thing if there was any value in it. My mother removed all the buttons and zippers from the dresses I outgrew, and anything else outgrown or too worn to wear or give away. That was city life in the Great Depression.
My parents were born in 14 and 16. They both went through the depression as teens.
My mom never talked about the depression. She was born on a farm yet by the time she reached high school she was living in Abiline TX.
I do know that my dads parents lost their farm due to the depression. They ended up in San Antonio TX doing a laundry service out of their house.
The only funny story I heard was my paternal grandfather got mad at a neibour and he and my dad went down there at night and took his plow and got it up in a tree.
My parents didn't really talk much about the depression but they lived their life never throwing anything with any use left out. When they died and I cleaned the barn out and found more junk/trash than I could believe. It is amazing what you can sell at an estate sale.
My dad was born in 1915, so he was coming of age at the start of the Great Depression. His dad had been killed in 1921 from lead poisoning (he was shot - it wasn't a hunting accident - he was caught with another man's wife.) So my dad had already been working on a farm since he was 7 years old. He was a farm hand and was going to school. So, Monday - Friday he'd wake up, feed and milk the cow, feed chickens and whatever else. He lived in a section of the barn that we'd now call a breezeway - it connected to the house. On Fridays when he got paid, he'd take the money home to his mom. He went to school up to his 10th grade year (Sophomore) and then dropped out to work full time. He was the oldest of five, so he pretty much raised/supported his siblings.
His mom (my grandmother) was a baker - that woman could cook! Incidentally the hospital I work in now is the one where she cooked - and there's one staff member left who worked with her in the 1960's. Trippy, eh? But I digress...
The farm he was working on sold, I think, and in 1934 he was 19 years old, he took a ship to Bermuda to work in the kitchen of The Princess Hotel. He made a lot of the sauces, gravies - a saucier, I guess was the name his position. He was there until 1938, when he returned to New Hampshire. When I asked him what Bermuda was like he said he only could see it when the sun went down and by then he was too tired to appreciate it much. He says he worked a lot and doesn't recall having but a handful of days off. He saved up his money and came home to New Hampshire to buy a farm and get married... he'd proposed to a girl before he left and she'd laughed at him.. turned him down and told him to go grow up. She married him in 1939 and they had seven boys together - my brothers. My oldest brother turned 70 this week.
Some things I notice about that generation... they work hard and aren't as into retirement - my dad retired when he was 77 years old and died the next year. He knew how to fix and build things, too. Very self-sufficient. He'd worked as a chef, construction crew foreman, farm hand, brick layer, animal control officer, and was director of our town poor farm (it was called an infirmary) in the 1970's and '80. He always had ideas for businesses; always looking for a way to earn an extra buck or two (not that he did anything flashy with it...)
That generation doesn't waste anything either - whether it's food, aluminum foil, etc. - we call it recycling but they called it "making the most of things". But they didn't consider going for a drive as a waste of gas - did you ever notice that?
My dad could make the best meal out of salt pork, boiled potatoes, and white gravy. Sounds awful but that was one of my favorite meals as a kid - called it "Poor Man's Supper". I also ate a lot of liver and bacon, boiled potatoes, and farm grown veggies. In the late summer/early fall he'd can a ton of pickles, beans, tomatoes - you name it. He made all our jams, jellies and preserves. And did I mention that boiled potatoes came with almost every meal? The rule in the house was "if you put it on your plate, you'd better eat it!"
And I don't know if this was true about his generation or if it was just "him" but he was a radio person - he didn't care for TV at all. I remember it used to bug him when my mom would watch TV at night - she usually fell asleep with it on each night. I'm not a TV person either - I don't care for it. He was fascinated by computers, tho... I remember him talking with me about the Tandy CoCo (64K) had bought for me for Christmas in 1982 (maybe it was 83... anyhow...) he didn't always get technology but he tried - take that back... the Atari really bugged the snot outta him... hee hee.
Anyhow, that generation had a different mindset. They made the most of things and the social hight of the week was playing cards around the kitchen table and drinking coffee or sitting out under the trees with the neighbors (in the summer of course) and watching the cars drive by, shooting the breeze. Doesn't sounds bad, does it?
During those times, gas was really cheap. My dad would often get $2.00 worth and it would last pretty nearly the week. Of course with rationing for rubber etc....we didn't go far....but Grandma's house was an easy journey.
My brother and I rode in the rumble seat. [Google it- you'll be in for a delightful time]. In winter we were bundled in snow suits, over wrapped with blankets....and then the 2 of us were wrapped together with a couple of other blankets and I don't remember ever being cold. I actually loved the rumble seat most of the time!
Now - rationing during the war was another matter, and usually not pleasant at all......except for a chocolate red-devil's cake made with mayonnaise instead of Crisco or any other source of fat.
My father was born in 1922, and my mother in 1929, so they were both pretty young during the Depression. Both were from reasonably well-to-do families, so they didn't suffer much hardship, but they were both quite frugal. Dad was quite fond of, shall we say, less-elegant meals, like pigs' knuckles and greens. He would also fix as much as he could. What little I know about car repair, I learned from him. Of course, that was back when you could look under the hood of a car and actually FIND things, and you didn't have to replace the whole rear of your car when a tail light burned out! :)
My Grandfather (Dad's dad) really hated Roosevelt, mostly due to his (Roosevelt's) idiotic fiscal policies. He would always refer to him as "Franklin DELL' ANO Roosevelt." ("From the anus," for you non-Italians!) :lol:
My father grew up in Cohoes NY with his parents, a brother and sister. His father was a carpenter and spoke little English. He always said he was proud that their family managed first to not loose their home and secondly that they always had shoes. He went to a CCC camp when he was I think 15 years old. When I was a kid he took us cross country and we went to Washington State to the trails in the National Park where he was sent to work. I think it was quite a trip back for him.
My mother also learned to HATE OATMEAL. She always said it was served every morning without fail. Of course, conserving sugar and butter, so had to eat it plain. Also, she wouldn't eat yogurt either. Back then they didn't call it the fancy name of yogurt, but exactly what it was, i.e. clabbered milk.
My mother grew up in a frugal lifestyle and she transmitted those values to me. I still can my own food and dry others.
One story that was always told was that of course being the great depression, traveling salesmen would come around a lot. One time my grandfather (BeeKeeper) who only had broken English told the young man that if he could stand to have a bee put on his tongue for one minute, my grandfather would buy something from him. He told him too that he would also put one on his tongue too to show the young man that it could be done. Well of course, my grandfather put a drone (non-stinging) on his own tongue and put a worker bee on the salesman's tongue...well...you know what happened...and my grandfather didn't have to buy anything because he won the bet.
Another one we heard growing up was that my grandmother used to put a penny in the electric meter and almost got caught one day when the electric company was coming to read the meter.
But I'm thankful that I have learned to "waste not, want not!"
During these tough times, it's been paying off even if its not at the level of the great depression.
My mother also learned to HATE OATMEAL. She always said it was served every morning without fail. Of course, conserving sugar and butter, so had to eat it plain. Also, she wouldn't eat yogurt either. Back then they didn't call it the fancy name of yogurt, but exactly what it was, i.e. clabbered milk.
My mother grew up in a frugal lifestyle and she transmitted those values to me. I still can my own food and dry others.
One story that was always told was that of course being the great depression, traveling salesmen would come around a lot. One time my grandfather (BeeKeeper) who only had broken English told the young man that if he could stand to have a bee put on his tongue for one minute, my grandfather would buy something from him. He told him too that he would also put one on his tongue too to show the young man that it could be done. Well of course, my grandfather put a drone (non-stinging) on his own tongue and put a worker bee on the salesman's tongue...well...you know what happened...and my grandfather didn't have to buy anything because he won the bet.
Another one we heard growing up was that my grandmother used to put a penny in the electric meter and almost got caught one day when the electric company was coming to read the meter.
But I'm thankful that I have learned to "waste not, want not!"
During these tough times, it's been paying off even if its not at the level of the great depression.
My parents were frugal and we've been trying to live that way, also. To reduce the grocery bill I've been making dinners that I remember from childhood. More eggs, less beef, homemade soup. Now that I will be home more I am thinking about baking more bread, since good wholegrain bread is $4 a loaf!
Another one we heard growing up was that my grandmother used to put a penny in the electric meter and almost got caught one day when the electric company was coming to read the meter.
I've heard of people using a penny in place of a fuse, but this sounds different. Was your grandmother using the penny to wedge the meter so it wouldn't run?
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mstar1
My father has told lots of stories over the years about the depression.
Two that stick out right now:
My grandfather somehow was an insurance salesman during the depression, his job among other things was to collect the premiums from his customers(his neighbors). Many many times his customers did not have the money for the home insurance premiums , so instead of halting their insurance, he would find someway to conjure up the payments himself instead of doing that to his neighbors.
Apparently it was a regular thing for my grandfather to work all week and end up owing the company money. (note- I can see now where I acquired my business sense
).
The neighbors and customers would "trade' small plots of land for him to use until they could catch up on payments. My father and his two brothers, who were young boys, at the time had vegetable gardens that they tended all over town on their neighbors land that kept the family well fed---
Another story that sticks out is that 'drifters' looking for work were constantly coming to the back door asking for a meal, and according to Pop, my grandmother never turned any one of them away and always fed them.
To this day my father thinks that there was some sort of 'hobo mark' in the back alley indicating it was a good place to eat because there were so many that continually came to their door.
My father many times has told me that he never knew that they were poor at the time BUT to this day, even at 93, if there is any work at all to do--he does it right away, and if the fridge is looking sparse he fills it right up.
It only came out when my grandfather died and we got a chance to look at his papers how incredibly precarious the financial situation really was and how many times they came very very close to losing everything.
Somehow,thankfully, he and my grandmother pulled it off, AND still manage to raise a well adjusted happy family.
They were good folks, I dont, and nobody, even their sons , ever recall seeing them angry or mad
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waysider
Can you imagine what it must have been like raising 15 kids during The Great Depression?
That's what my maternal grandparents did.
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George Aar
My dad told some stories from time to time. But the really ugly stuff he kept mum about. But living through the depression in Northern Minnesota musta been a tough row to hoe.
I remember him telling about going to the butcher shop and buying chicken cartilage for a few cents a pound to make soup with. And his mother opened a boarding house and housed and fed an ever-changing cast of lumberjacks, fishermen, and bootleggers for a few dollars a month.
My dad then joined the CCCs and pretty much supported his mother and sister (along with the income from the boarding house)with the money he made there. I guess the government just sent his check straight to his mother's house, and he never even got to see it. He was well fed in camp, though. And he always talked fondly of the time he spent in camp, so it must have been a pleasant-enough of an existence.
After the CCCs he got a job in Greenland (cooking again) and from there went straight into the Navy for WWII.
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Bramble
Oh, the hobos--they would come to Grandma's house, too. Their place was by a Shoshoni summer camp, and my grandmother would make sure the cow was milked before daylight or else someone would sneak over and milk her. Mom and her siblings played with the Shoshoni kids and their moms would give them dog jerky for a snack.
I can't imagine having that many children--that many pregnancies. 15. Grandma had 12, one died at age 2. She had her first at age 17 and her last at age 42. All born at home. My house seems crowded with three kids, but Grandma's home was no larger than my little house and held many more bodies.
Funny, both my mom's parents lived into their nineties, never had a surgery, very little medical/dental. Lived longer than most of their kids(three still alive), who had all the modern medicine. But both grew up on dairy farms and probably ate all home grown foods most of their lives. No plastic until they were up in years, and they were physically active.
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George Aar
Now that Mstar mentioned it, I recall my Aunt always keeping her refridgerator and pantry packed to the limits with food too. There was just her and my Uncle to feed (and my Uncle never ate anything) but by God, she wasn't going to run out!
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Bramble
I wish I had recorded some of their stories yeras ago, when they were all still alive. My cousins and I are planning a cousin reunion, hope to record some there.
Sheesh George, I am planning a monstr grocery list myself, since I will be out of work soon. I feel anxious if the cupboards aren't full of staples. Must have picked that up from Mom and Dad.
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waysider
Actually, there were 17. One died at one year old and one was still-born.
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Broken Arrow
I can't imagine raising 15 kids in any era, much less the Great Depression. Where did they live? Tell me it wasn't the "Dust Bowl" area.
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waysider
Liverpool Township---- Medina County, Ohio (The Frog Jump Capital of Ohio)
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krys
Both parents were products of it, and their parents actually endured the worst I believe.
My mother's father was a cabinet maker. He could not get work but an occasional book case from the super wealthy. That kept them in milk and bread. One day one of the built-in's he was putting in....the owner of the home came to him and told him that he had lost every penny of his bank account and that my grandfather should go home because he couldn't pay him.
My grandfather said if it was OK with the homeowner, he'd rather stay...at least he was busy, and nobody was being paid anything anyway. So the man said OK, and when my grandfather was finished the homeowner took him up to the attic and told him to pick out 2 or 3 pieces of cut glass as payment. That's how my family "inherited" some of the finest heavy lead crystal around. It was so heavy, in fact, that it was necessary to put a doily under it so the sharp edges didn't leave a mark on the table where it was put.
My father left school after a couple of months in 9th grade to go to work to support his mother.
Hubby's parents raised 4 boys during that time.His mother made all their clothes from scratch. She sometimes re-used fabric from one of her, or his (father's) garments.
Both my parents never threw out a single thing if there was any value in it. My mother removed all the buttons and zippers from the dresses I outgrew, and anything else outgrown or too worn to wear or give away. That was city life in the Great Depression.
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ex70sHouston
My parents were born in 14 and 16. They both went through the depression as teens.
My mom never talked about the depression. She was born on a farm yet by the time she reached high school she was living in Abiline TX.
I do know that my dads parents lost their farm due to the depression. They ended up in San Antonio TX doing a laundry service out of their house.
The only funny story I heard was my paternal grandfather got mad at a neibour and he and my dad went down there at night and took his plow and got it up in a tree.
My parents didn't really talk much about the depression but they lived their life never throwing anything with any use left out. When they died and I cleaned the barn out and found more junk/trash than I could believe. It is amazing what you can sell at an estate sale.
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mstar1
Thats true too-my father never ever ever throws anything away--and during every meal every single last crumb is always eaten off his plate
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ChasUFarley
My dad was born in 1915, so he was coming of age at the start of the Great Depression. His dad had been killed in 1921 from lead poisoning (he was shot - it wasn't a hunting accident - he was caught with another man's wife.) So my dad had already been working on a farm since he was 7 years old. He was a farm hand and was going to school. So, Monday - Friday he'd wake up, feed and milk the cow, feed chickens and whatever else. He lived in a section of the barn that we'd now call a breezeway - it connected to the house. On Fridays when he got paid, he'd take the money home to his mom. He went to school up to his 10th grade year (Sophomore) and then dropped out to work full time. He was the oldest of five, so he pretty much raised/supported his siblings.
His mom (my grandmother) was a baker - that woman could cook! Incidentally the hospital I work in now is the one where she cooked - and there's one staff member left who worked with her in the 1960's. Trippy, eh? But I digress...
The farm he was working on sold, I think, and in 1934 he was 19 years old, he took a ship to Bermuda to work in the kitchen of The Princess Hotel. He made a lot of the sauces, gravies - a saucier, I guess was the name his position. He was there until 1938, when he returned to New Hampshire. When I asked him what Bermuda was like he said he only could see it when the sun went down and by then he was too tired to appreciate it much. He says he worked a lot and doesn't recall having but a handful of days off. He saved up his money and came home to New Hampshire to buy a farm and get married... he'd proposed to a girl before he left and she'd laughed at him.. turned him down and told him to go grow up. She married him in 1939 and they had seven boys together - my brothers. My oldest brother turned 70 this week.
Some things I notice about that generation... they work hard and aren't as into retirement - my dad retired when he was 77 years old and died the next year. He knew how to fix and build things, too. Very self-sufficient. He'd worked as a chef, construction crew foreman, farm hand, brick layer, animal control officer, and was director of our town poor farm (it was called an infirmary) in the 1970's and '80. He always had ideas for businesses; always looking for a way to earn an extra buck or two (not that he did anything flashy with it...)
That generation doesn't waste anything either - whether it's food, aluminum foil, etc. - we call it recycling but they called it "making the most of things". But they didn't consider going for a drive as a waste of gas - did you ever notice that?
My dad could make the best meal out of salt pork, boiled potatoes, and white gravy. Sounds awful but that was one of my favorite meals as a kid - called it "Poor Man's Supper". I also ate a lot of liver and bacon, boiled potatoes, and farm grown veggies. In the late summer/early fall he'd can a ton of pickles, beans, tomatoes - you name it. He made all our jams, jellies and preserves. And did I mention that boiled potatoes came with almost every meal? The rule in the house was "if you put it on your plate, you'd better eat it!"
And I don't know if this was true about his generation or if it was just "him" but he was a radio person - he didn't care for TV at all. I remember it used to bug him when my mom would watch TV at night - she usually fell asleep with it on each night. I'm not a TV person either - I don't care for it. He was fascinated by computers, tho... I remember him talking with me about the Tandy CoCo (64K) had bought for me for Christmas in 1982 (maybe it was 83... anyhow...) he didn't always get technology but he tried - take that back... the Atari really bugged the snot outta him... hee hee.
Anyhow, that generation had a different mindset. They made the most of things and the social hight of the week was playing cards around the kitchen table and drinking coffee or sitting out under the trees with the neighbors (in the summer of course) and watching the cars drive by, shooting the breeze. Doesn't sounds bad, does it?
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krys
During those times, gas was really cheap. My dad would often get $2.00 worth and it would last pretty nearly the week. Of course with rationing for rubber etc....we didn't go far....but Grandma's house was an easy journey.
My brother and I rode in the rumble seat. [Google it- you'll be in for a delightful time]. In winter we were bundled in snow suits, over wrapped with blankets....and then the 2 of us were wrapped together with a couple of other blankets and I don't remember ever being cold. I actually loved the rumble seat most of the time!
Now - rationing during the war was another matter, and usually not pleasant at all......except for a chocolate red-devil's cake made with mayonnaise instead of Crisco or any other source of fat.
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waysider
If I ever get my hands on a dollar again, I'm gonna hold on to it 'til them eagles grin.
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GeorgeStGeorge
My father was born in 1922, and my mother in 1929, so they were both pretty young during the Depression. Both were from reasonably well-to-do families, so they didn't suffer much hardship, but they were both quite frugal. Dad was quite fond of, shall we say, less-elegant meals, like pigs' knuckles and greens. He would also fix as much as he could. What little I know about car repair, I learned from him. Of course, that was back when you could look under the hood of a car and actually FIND things, and you didn't have to replace the whole rear of your car when a tail light burned out! :)
My Grandfather (Dad's dad) really hated Roosevelt, mostly due to his (Roosevelt's) idiotic fiscal policies. He would always refer to him as "Franklin DELL' ANO Roosevelt." ("From the anus," for you non-Italians!) :lol:
George
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coupcake
My father grew up in Cohoes NY with his parents, a brother and sister. His father was a carpenter and spoke little English. He always said he was proud that their family managed first to not loose their home and secondly that they always had shoes. He went to a CCC camp when he was I think 15 years old. When I was a kid he took us cross country and we went to Washington State to the trails in the National Park where he was sent to work. I think it was quite a trip back for him.
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brideofjc
My mother also learned to HATE OATMEAL. She always said it was served every morning without fail. Of course, conserving sugar and butter, so had to eat it plain. Also, she wouldn't eat yogurt either. Back then they didn't call it the fancy name of yogurt, but exactly what it was, i.e. clabbered milk.
My mother grew up in a frugal lifestyle and she transmitted those values to me. I still can my own food and dry others.
One story that was always told was that of course being the great depression, traveling salesmen would come around a lot. One time my grandfather (BeeKeeper) who only had broken English told the young man that if he could stand to have a bee put on his tongue for one minute, my grandfather would buy something from him. He told him too that he would also put one on his tongue too to show the young man that it could be done. Well of course, my grandfather put a drone (non-stinging) on his own tongue and put a worker bee on the salesman's tongue...well...you know what happened...and my grandfather didn't have to buy anything because he won the bet.
Another one we heard growing up was that my grandmother used to put a penny in the electric meter and almost got caught one day when the electric company was coming to read the meter.
But I'm thankful that I have learned to "waste not, want not!"
During these tough times, it's been paying off even if its not at the level of the great depression.
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Bramble
My parents were frugal and we've been trying to live that way, also. To reduce the grocery bill I've been making dinners that I remember from childhood. More eggs, less beef, homemade soup. Now that I will be home more I am thinking about baking more bread, since good wholegrain bread is $4 a loaf!
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GeorgeStGeorge
I've heard of people using a penny in place of a fuse, but this sounds different. Was your grandmother using the penny to wedge the meter so it wouldn't run?
George
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