[Madame Dufarge]

My family was always vague on the subject of the exact origins, which leads me to believe that “warrants for arrest” were lurking in the background.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The family was late getting over here, dirt poor and uneducated. They worked as share croppers/hired farmhands, then moved to mid-Illinois where they mined coal and were able to put a little money aside. This allowed the acquisition of a small farm and some livestock in Iowa. I guess they would qualify as ‘shanty’...