Appreciate Our Ancestors’ Early Historical Events



So you were not paying attention during high school American history class and now you are not sure of the events during the American Revolutionary War or the Pilgrims of the New England colonies. Yet, these are the great and more important elements that directed affected not only America as a young nation, but most assuredly our ancestors.

For anyone who has located ancestors living in America prior to 1910 learning more about the historical events that made up their lives and their grandchildren’s lives helps the researcher better understand how that ancestor made their accomplishments or mistakes along the way.  Most people will learn more about the American Civil War to see how their ancestor was involved or the thousands of settlers who moved to the western frontiers during the 19th century, yet many other events tend to be overlooked.

Using the web site Chronicles of America will assist the researcher with some major American historical time periods that are overlooked. The site is divided into sections. First is the New World which covers about the great migration of people from Europe, Asia and African continents to the Western Hemisphere.  The land, vegetation and climate are covered so the reader understands the physical region. The Native Indians are discussed since they played a major role for those moving to North America.

Then the Spanish Conqueror section provides information on the tremulous influence the Spanish had on new settlements from North America to the southern tip of South America. Along with the Spanish would be the French Exploration and their contributions to developing large portions of the future United States and Canada. Each division relates the information in a clear and one-page summary.

With the English Exploration category the early English explorers are covered.  The next step would be the development of agricultural Southern Colonies in America. An explanation of Jamestown, the Catholic settlers of Maryland, the English farmers in the Carolina colonies and the establishment in Georgia of a place to keep English prisoners offers new insight to that colony’s development.

Moving to the northern American region would have the Plymouth and New England Colonies with their struggles against the Native Indians, their religious beliefs, the strong sense of self-governing and the development of trade and business.

The early Quaker communities established in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had enormous influence on agriculture and traditional customs for decades.  With many of our ancestors from those regions, it is important to have a historical background of the area.

Colonial Folkways reviews all the colonial locations.  It looks at the people, their occupations, forms of transportation, the educational needs, the cultural habits and differences and their homes in colonial America.  This section alone is great to read to learn how our relatives lived during the 18th century.

A fascinating section is about the Age of Inventions. Nothing better helps place our ancestors during a certain era and the development of new instruments to make their lives better then explaining inventions.  Just some of the areas covered include the development of steam, the spindle and loom, electricity, use of rubber, the industrial revolution and machines and the telegraph.

To take the historical events into the early 20th century would be the influence that President Theodore Roosevelt had on the country. Long before he was president, he was working for preservation of American lands in the form of National Parks, for social reforms in industry and an improvement in the welfare for the common citizen. This section covers not only Roosevelt’s influence, but the changing attitudes of all Americans.

So make the effort to learn more about other historical aspects of America and the Western Hemisphere.  Those events shaped our ancestors and future generations.

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