The Family Home

The family has been the core unit of our economy forever. Families are responsible for taking care of their own. This has been done for centuries by establishing the family home. All members living in the family home are required to behave and serve as positive contributors. For many of us, our childhood memories were acquired there and we are grateful.

My grandparents’ home was the “Family Home” for my aunts and uncles until they married and moved into their own homes. Of my 3 aunts, one remained single and ended up running the “Family Home”. Of my 8 uncles, 2 died in World War II, 3 married and moved out and 3 were ill and remained single, living in the “Family Home”. In the 1950s I was one of the grandkids and spent a lot of time there. We had roast beef dinner around noon every Sunday. After dinner adults played bridge and a few of my uncles and I played monopoly. We watched The Ed Sullivan Show and The Leberace Show.

In even earlier generations families typically lived as a unit until marriage. In the 1800s in the US, young men would “seek their fortunes”. Many leveraged their farming backgrounds to become merchants of agricultural goods. They built their own “Family Homes”, got married and had families. Port cities like Charleston SC and Savannah GA have preserved these mansions and their histories.

The generation that grew up in the 1920s and 1930s was my parents’ generation.  They grew up in the Great Depression. They knew about the Industrial Revolution and World War I.  They experienced World War II. By the 1940s, they were moving into adulthood. They passed on what they knew to us. There was no shame in adult children living at the “Family Home”. It was natural and practical.

I was born in 1943 and was closer to the “Baby Boomers”, born from 1945 to 1964.  My kids were born between 1965 and 1973 and were dubbed the “Gen Xers”. They grew up in a good economy and did well.  If divorce hit this group, many would move back to the “Family Home”. This was just a practical choice as it had been in earlier generations.

I established a “Family Home” in 1983 with a 4000 square foot, 6 bedroom home. We had 6 kids and this gave them some room.  After they got married and moved out, I kept the family home as a sanctuary for them if they needed it. Most didn’t but a few did move back home as needed. We now have one granddaughter and 2 great grandkids living with us. We also have room for our out-of-town relatives to visit. This “Family Home” has continued to be the “party house” for our kids and the 13 grandkids.

The original “Family Home” In St. Louis my grandpa bought in 1907 remains in the family. One of my cousins bought it and lives there.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader