That sounds like the old family house back in Pennsylvania. It was built in the early 1800s. The frame is of red oak, lath and plaster with cut nails. Even hanging a picture was a bear, and forget about hanging shelves.
It makes repairs and remodelling "interesting," to say the least.
The lumber sizes actually were planed to "standard sizes" for their day, it's just that they were all bigger sizes-- the joists under the porch are 8" deep and 5" thick, and the walls are framed with what was called 5/4's... rough-cut to 5" x 4" and then planed down smooth.
The wood is stuff you can't even buy anymore because it's not grown for lumber-- oak, and long-leaf yellow pine, which is nearly as strong and hard as oak.
The last time I replaced some siding, I literally had to chin myself at the end of the crowbar to extract those 16-penny iron nails.
Got a longer wrecking bar after that episode.