Some cats now have floppy ears -- I first saw that in the late 90s. Floppy ears is a sign of domestication in dogs and foxes.
I’m only a little behind you. I noted that my dad (b. mid 1930s) would pick up and cuddle our cats but was pretty unconcerned about dropping the cat when done (cat would always twist and land on its feet). Also kitty litter was only developed in the early 60s so ppl chucked the cats out at night.
I’ve always been careful to rotate the cat and place it somewhere on its feet. I think the cultures simply used to be casually rougher and it made the cats wary. My cats will lie on their backs in my arms and fall asleep. With my dad they were happy for a cuddle and would purr but their eyes were always open as they were alert to an unexpected change in orientation and support.
Because I now had food out for my cat I ended up with a lot of street cats come visit (i.e. steal food). My house was pretty open (tropical climate) so bit difficult to prevent, and I didn't really mind so it was all good. Can use a lot of adjectives for these cats, but "friendly" and "open to human interaction" are not among them.
At some point I left the bedroom door open and a kitten wandered in. My bedroom was closed off and I wanted to get him out as I wanted to close the door to leave for the evening. Had to get him from behind the wardrobe.
I had been feeding him for a few months already so I figured that should be fine. It wasn't. I found out that the answer to "how much pain can a small cute kitten inflict" is "surprisingly a lot". Then there were the two siblings that would miaow at me to get food, but then hiss at me for getting too close to the food bowl where they were waiting. Herp derp.
Cats that didn't grow up with humans are completely different animals then cats that grew up with humans. This is probably fairly close to your barn cats from 200 years ago.