I was an orphan from age 11, dad had a bad heart. But if you look at the conditions that existed up until say the 1950s work was mostly muscle powered, ie bein

I was an orphan from age 11, dad had a bad heart. But if you look at the conditions that existed up until say the 1950s work was mostly muscle powered, ie being able to lift 50-100 lbs all day was expected at work and there was much less office work to be had. That meant that men being bigger and stronger had a big edge so they worked and women took care of the house/children, this was also a full time job that just took less strength to do. Doing laundry, cooking and cleaning by hand is a lot of time. So since this guy now had to feed 2-7+ mouths on one check he was cut some slack. and up until very recently the atomic family was odd, why would you abandon all your relatives(ie the people who will help you) with out a very very good reason.