**1910: Our Nation**

americandigest. ^ | November 11th of 1910 | gerardvanderleun

[driftless2]

That life expectancy rate has always been misunderstood. Yes, the average was 47 because of the tremendously high infant and child mortality rate. But if you made it to the age of 20, you had a pretty good chance of reaching your 60s and 70s. There were also quite a few 80+ years people of both sexes in those days. I remember getting into an argument one time with two co-workers who firmly believed no one ever reached the age of 50 in those days. They quoted the life expentancy rate of 47, and I couldn’t disabuse them of their belief.

[driftless2]

"talk to men"

I remember talking to a guy in 1972 who was born around 1890. He couldn't understand all the discontent and complaining by some of the younger people of that time. He said life now was a heck of a lot easier than it was in the early 1900s when he came of age.

[martin_fierro]

I'm a rank amateur genealogy buff and what I see from the times around 1910 was that a lot of children never made it to adulthood.

Great-great grandfather (1850-1926) writing to great-grandfather (1880-1964):

	March 11th  Well Jimy my son (illegible) a few lines to (illegible) of family I often think of my children how good some of them (illegible) mother & I while some don't do as I have done to them Just got a letter from Lem he is well we are all well thank the good Lord for His kindness to us We trust you all are enjoying the same blessing I am wishing for spring to come so I can go down to see you all for I want to see (3.5 y.o. grandson) Unch & have a chat with him
	Unch I want a pack to put in berries so we can buy lots of candy & cakes we will have a good time Unch won't we dad John is poorly the doctor said he was liable to go any time I think he had a little stroke his lungs is bad he has the pneumonia poor fellow he has worked hard in his time it was a big snow up here it was 12 inches deep it rained last nite took part of it away Well (daughter-in-law) Maim last Sunday was my birthday that makes me 66 years old how good the good Lord has been to me that I am permitted to write to you this morning & talk about my children that I love will close with love to all good bye WY
	Corinthians 15 ch 44 verse (illegible) 33 chap read the whole chapter Genesis 30 chapter 30 verse Genesis 9 ch 6 verse Servant kings 19 ch 16 verse Psalms 95 ch (illegible) verse Enoch walked with God how could Enoch walk with God if God had no body Deuteronomy 3 ch 10 verse Matthew 10 ch 20 verse Psalms 139 5 & 10 verse Psalms 9 ch the work of the kings Now Jimy go look it up & see whethere God is all spirit or whether he has a spiritual body these are only a few proofs The Bible is full of proof that we
	will have a body like His to praise Him praise his holy name for a a home with Him when this life is ended We are created in His likeness and image of God

 

I never knew either of these men. Great-grandfather died when I was 4. Now through technology undreamed-of in his time and 86 years after his passing great-great grandfather speaks to us all.

[PubliusMM]

Charlie Chips! Thanks for popping that memory back in my aging brain. Excellent. Still likely the best chips I’ve ever eaten. Only thing that comes close to the flavor, today, is Conn’s, and they still don’t have the ‘feel’ of Charlie Chips.

[ansel12]

The thing is, that Bob Hope lived 100 years.

[Alas Babylon!]

In early 1914, my grandfather, a Scotsman from Edinburgh, sent his wife and baby son to America to live with her brother who had emigrated a few years before. My grandmother was Jewish, from Russia, and her family had emigrated to the UK around 1900 to escape the many pogroms against Jews there.

She got a job as a singer in British Vaudeville, a kind of sordid career in those days. Her family basically disowned her, except for her brother who went on to New York. My Scots Grandpa was somewhat of a cad and showman himself and met, fell in love and married her against the wishes of the family.

My Grandpa, now disowned by his family for marrying a Jew, had to stay behind and work in a bakery to get enough money to come over. But in August of 1914, just as he got enough, the Archduke Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo and WWI begin. He had actually bought his ticket when his regiment was called up. Instead of reporting to duty, he made the trip to New York.

Because of the massive attack of German submarines, his ship sailed to Buenos Aries rather than New York. Somewhere in the South Atlantic, his ship was boarded by the British Navy and he was arrested. The Navy turned him over to a British merchantman bound for New York and then Portsmouth, UK.

As a showman, he told jokes and put on various performances for the crew. They really liked him. He told them his story and why he fled. Everyone felt he got a raw deal. When they got to New York he told he would like nothing better than to at least have a drink with them in America before going back and facing a firing squad. They agreed, and took him to some dive in Brooklyn. While they were all drinking, he snuck out the bathroom window and walked to the Bowery where my grandma was living. He never went back to Scotland. My Dad was born to them years later; the baby of the family.

[mikrofon]

That is so great to have actual documentation from that era about your relatives!

All of my grandparents were born within a few years of 1890 in different areas of Poland (part of Russia at the time) and immigrated to the States during the 19-teens, eventually settling in Western N.Y. My paternal grandmother was the last to survive, passing away in 1979.

My oldest sister caught the genealogy bug a few years ago before taking a trip to central Europe through her choral group, where they were able to visit parts of Poland as well as Germany (the B-in-L’s ancestral home). One problem she noted in going through the various records was that Immigration and census staff tended to butcher Slavic names quite a bit making the research challenging. She did determine though that our maternal grandfather grew up in the Wadowice region, which also was once home to Pope John Paul Ii. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to locate any of our distant relatives while in that particular area, but were successful in meeting some 2nd-cousins of the Hubby in southern Germany.

[CodeToad]

“Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write and only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school. “

Today, more than two cannot read or write even though 100% of all children have access to schools. Conversely, although only 6% graduated high school, more could read and write then than now.