"you cannot do what you cannot imagine"
A great way to jump
start entering another time is to visit one of the encampments which do first
person interpretation. Join the
population of Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts, where Goodwife Abigail is
sure that it is the rose infused oil and not the temple rubbing which eases her husband's head aching, and all are sure that God has blessed their enterprise
because their town has not been afflicted with any of the great illnesses
(cholera, diphtheria). Travel a different
direction and spend a day in Conner Prairie. When I visited there (over a decade ago) the entire town was on one script, years before the Civil War, and living life in middle Indiana. The buildings for the town were gathered from all over Indiana, set down just north of Indianapolis, and the year depicted was around 1857. You strolled the town, learning that you could barter a woven coverlet
(not sewn together) for siding for a house, or $4. cash. And where the general store, run by Mr. Terwilliger
(no joke), was stocking ready-made shirts, but he "can't really believe
that people will buy them because they certainly won't fit right."
Now the situations
above are across decades and centuries, but closer to my time the same appeared in my family and possibly (probably?) in yours. One grandmother lived in a mental world where she
believed she needed her father's permission to do the big; she wanted to be a
teacher, and her father wouldn't permit her to attend university. She stayed home and worked in the family
store till she married; her three
brothers went to university. The other grandmother and great aunt lived in a
family/world that believed in educating daughters, and they did go to college,
and taught high school, and did this in a town that was 60 miles away from
their hometown … [until marriage, because that was the world then.] Their father was an entrepreneur and
engineer, and also he had two daughters.
Yes, for successful
research, you do need to know county formation, and starting dates for various
documents, but I think it also matters how far one could travel in 4 hours,
what the family did for a fever, and what was used for light after sundown (and how much that light cost).
There is a most
interesting novel titled "Time and Again." The book postulates that there are thousands
of threads that connect you to your present time, everything from the fibers in
your clothing, to food ingredients & food preparation options, to how you
travel, and continues the supposition (necessary for the plot) that if you can
break those threads you can walk around the corner, and be in that other
time.
On a personal note, while I think that
1900 or 1720 would be lovely for a visit, but I will stay in 2018, despite the many current difficulties. I appreciate greatly that food is
available all year, my home is warm in winter, antibiotics are known, computers
aide my work, and occasionally I learn or vege with TV.
You?
Till next time
Liz
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
2018
begins with an "ABC-darium," a walk through the alphabet expanding
into short comments on matters genealogical. Published on Tuesday and
some Fridays, any letter may be visited more than once before moving
on.
©
2018, SE Ross