But the changes came in waves, as they had been coming from the time of the revolution. First the interior was opened up to settlement (during the lives of John and Charity Kennedy) and roads and canals opened up the backcountry (the day and age of Samuel T and Lucretia Webster Smith Kennedy). Then the steamboat and the railroad brought cheaper transport. My great grandparents (Henrietta and Benjamin Harrison Lingenfelter) lived in the later part of the age when the railroad was opening up the West, and my grandparents (Hugh and Mary Thompson) in the age of electricity, telephones, and automobiles. My parents times (Jean and Ralph Andrews) were dominated by the movies, airplanes, buses, street cars, and radio, the electrification of rural areas, the triumph of indoor plumbing. My age (Allan and Steve Andrews) was the age of television, of nuclear power, of transistors and travel to the Moon. Each of these periods has seen radical changes, but the changes are building and multiply at an ever increasing rate of speed. The problem is that we have become too accustomed to this craziness. For five thousand years, prior to the industrial revolution, culture and society changed at a far slower rate.
But the changes came in waves, as they had been coming from the time of the revolution. First the interior was opened up to settlement (during the lives of John and Charity Kennedy) and roads and canals opened up the backcountry (the day and age of Samuel T and Lucretia Webster Smith Kennedy). Then the steamboat and the railroad brought cheaper transport. My great grandparents (Henrietta and Benjamin Harrison Lingenfelter) lived in the later part of the age when the railroad was opening up the West, and my grandparents (Hugh and Mary Thompson) in the age of electricity, telephones, and automobiles. My parents times (Jean and Ralph Andrews) were dominated by the movies, airplanes, buses, street cars, and radio, the electrification of rural areas, the triumph of indoor plumbing. My age (Allan and Steve Andrews) was the age of television, of nuclear power, of transistors and travel to the Moon. Each of these periods has seen radical changes, but the changes are building and multiply at an ever increasing rate of speed. The problem is that we have become too accustomed to this craziness. For five thousand years, prior to the industrial revolution, culture and society changed at a far slower rate.
geneological_ramblings_extended26.docx