Although the Civil War destroyed many lives, the spread of communication helped women gain a foothold in their freedom. In 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women's Suffrage Association to obtain votes for women. That same year, Wyoming passed the first women's suffrage law.

The turn of the century saw child labor laws enacted. Many ancestors sent children to school instead of out to labor farms or work quarries. By the mid 1910s, the quarries in Maryland and Pennsylvania were slowly dying from imports of less expensive slate. A cigar factory and a telephone exchange provided work for many Welsh in this area. The farmers in Virginia slowly migrated to larger towns, escaping crop value losses.

Carnegie, Mellon, and Rockefeller were among the elite few who gathered their wealth during this time. However, the workingman didn't have much respect for some royalty. Carnegie, in his later years, proposed libraries and museums for his worker's smaller towns. They refused him. The memories of the abuses he heaped on his employees were sooner forgotten.

Immigration continued, but tension was in the air. By 1914, we were embroiled in WWI. The late 1910s were scary years. An influenza epidemic killed up to 40 million people worldwide, and at least 15,000 soldiers lost their lives in 1918 alone. Prohibition was voted in, and President Wilson suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. Some of our relatives contracted tuberculosis, and they didn't recover, either.

During this time, speculators fed on people's desires to leave poverty and ill health behind. Banks sprouted everywhere, and stocks were to be had with down payments. The market wasn't regulated, and many folks invested all they had in false speculations.

So much happened so quickly in the 1920s, it's impossible to mention everything here. The newspapers and new radio stations spread information rapidly. Relations with Europe and the Far East were strained, and immigration was limited for the first time after a war.

On "Black Thursday," October 24, 1929, 13 million shares were sold on the NYSE, despite efforts to curb price drops by J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. Prices fell again on "Black Tuesday," October 29. By November 13, $30 billion was lost in devalued stocks.

Fortunately, none of Cora's ancestors really felt the depression. None of them had enough money to invest, and most of them worked in industries that survived the downfall of Wall St. The average U.S. salary in 1930 was $1,368. Census takers asked people if they owned radios and homes. Many of Cora's ancestors responded to the affirmative to the last two questions.

By this time, the Bessemer Process was modified to include a hearth method of making steel. The factories churned out more and better alloys for skyscrapers, railroads, and future war machinery. The workingman in railroad and steel manufacturing towns made out fairly well. During this time, most of Cora's grandparents were born - mostly at home - and they all grew up with a fair amount of freedom. One family even owned a Model T - and later - the first television in town.

The sons of this generation suited up for WWII. Their families huddled at home, enduring mandatory blackouts, food stamps, and shortages of silk stockings. We were fortunate during this war. Most of the men returned home to take advantage of G.I. Bills, furthering their education. They began their own families, and their children - my generation - grew up amid a plethora of plastic and the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Our parents wondered why we were so rebellious.

The 1950s was a heady decade, though. Americans felt somewhat safe, especially from polio. Money seemed powerful and plenty. But, many of the children of the 1930s remembered the dearth of goods, and they kept family monies "safe" in banks offering guarantees for deposits. The average American salary was $2,992, and loaf of white bread with lots of additives was $.14. Do any of you remember dyed bread? Little pink and blue squares sporting something like Spam in the middle?

The steel industry began its slow demise in the 1980s with inexpensive imports. Steel towns, like Johnstown, Pennsylvania where I spent my childhood, began to feel the pinch. Today, that once-thriving minitropolis survives on a wisp and a prayer. Once-promised pensions and other retirement plans were - and are still - constantly threatened with bankruptcies from former monster industries. The stock market thrived, and computers enabled the financial industry to expand rapidly in the 1990s.

The Virginia home owned for a full century by the lineage resulting from that north-south merger was sold a little over a decade ago with the passing of the last matriarch. The children of the 1950s went on to make their own families with newfound wealth in emerging industries. A few relations dropped out to save wilderness, rather than conquer it. In 1995, 36.4 million Americans lived below poverty level, with $15,569 as the poverty threshold for a family of four.

The quarries in Maryland and Pennsylvania are covered with grass and weeds, but the Welsh Rehoboth Chapel still teaches their language. Welsh is the oldest surviving tongue in the entire western world. Little towns filled with houses needing paint and new roofs surround farms in central Virginia. Interstates were built, bypassing many railroad hubs. Cora's ethnically diverse family is scattered throughout the U.S., and many of us maintain contact by e-mail rather than use the government's postal service.

At this point, Cora realizes history is living. It's alive in herself and in her mother, who often bores her to tears with her past. She observed that most of us came and still come to this country for two reasons: freedom and money. Americans agree to struggle in exchange for both opportunities. In this country's short history, we find that most of us aren't rich or royal, but we have a heritage that proves our adroit ability for survival.

Anniddig heb drig, heb dras. If I can't pass on land, I can at least pass on a lineage and a small portfolio. And, I can pass the knowledge to my daughter that she - as an average American - has the means to safely invest unlike any other time in this nation's history.

Hopefully, this and more might be worth the price of admission. Only our children and their children will be able to tell.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin