This issue of Gardner's Beacon continues with the context of our previous issue with respect to a regular presentation of ongoing work as well as reviews of common interests. ...
See Vol. XII, No. 3 of Gardner's Beacon for links to Sources.
Remarks: Modified: 12/30/2022
12/30/2022 --
TL;DR -- Our technology focus will get regular attention. Today, we mention the role that a cuz had in the development of some of the logic that drives computing, especially that which models complex systems. His family has been mentioned in several posts. It was time to feature CSP, himself.
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This post is overdue and is motivated by current research related to the TGS, Inc. focus on technology is all of its aspects, particularly that which requires advanced computational support. We have had a few posts on the theme (results from search on 'technology' includes "How dumb is AI?"). As we have mentioned, our scope on this is a broad as is the Gairdner's handling of their medical research. The computer is more than merely ubiquitous, it's a phenomenal basis of sorts.
Too, we have featured a few individuals, so far. This year, we noted Emmy Noether for several reasons. We have looked at Jedediah Strong Smith and some military people, such as Gens. Worth, Greeley, and a lot more. We considered the lives of religious folks. This is a continuation of that thrust.
We mentioned Charles' father, earlier (see search results for "Charles Sanders Peirce", Benjamin is at the top). The early motivation was to focus on Thomas Gardner descendants, then we extended that to the collateral families. But, then, lots of in-law situations abound (that includes those events that lead to the "step" sibling). Then, we have friends of the family, such as Charles A. "Flagg" who worked with Dr. Frank on The Massachusetts Magazine.
The motivation? Poking around the bowels of mathematics and logic (and their children, ala computational modes) will be an imperative chore, forever. It's about time to recognize this. And, arguing 'black' box opacity? AIn't (our little icon for AI ain't) gonna happen that this is allowed. We can sit back and reverse engineer thinking and hypothesize. Eventually, we'll get close. It's guaranteed. Oh? You bet. This is where CSP comes in.
BTW, Wolfram's deal (his language and Mathematica and more) plus Lenat's several decades work (Cyc) are going to be on the plate as examples of how to do things. Anyway, Wolfram was, like everyone of late, reflecting on his long road. It was interesting that he used 'C' (the Bell Lab language) but worked sophisticated extensions (Lisp M-expressions). Part of Lenat's systems uses Lisp. There were good arguments for this approach. Wolfram was noting the logic modes that he supports (uses) and mentioned abduction. Well, CSP 'coined' that as he described sufficiently ways to work this (remember, he is from the late XIX century) so that Alfred North Whitehead was impressed, after the fact.
Strange names? We'll set up a site to handle these discussion. Here, we're noting that CSP does not have Thomas Gardner as an ancestor. There are links to WikiTree material, below. Too, TAG was one source. And, WT did additional research. We have not considered the specifics, yet, but will weigh in at some point. In the meantime, CSP is still cuz via other families.
Let's look at the guy through some bullets with comments.
There is technology related to genealogical studies (including those dealing with biological issues), but our focus on technology is across the board. Somewhat, we are pursuing a thrust dealing with truth engineering as being a necessity in the computer age. Nothing new here as the computer has been evolving for decades, now. It is more the case that how things unfold make the need obvious from certain viewpoints.
Looking at CSP's life show parallels with what we see now. In fact, one wit said that the 'whole family' was crazy (perhaps, jokingly); yet, dynamics related to knowledge and its use are not new to us. We just have the advantage (or misfortune) of being around when things got more gnarled than anyone thought could be.
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Note: There will be more information, in the technical forum, about Wolfram (Mathematica) and Lenat (Cyc). The parentheses provide a link to their work via Wikipedia.
With respect to CSP, he and his wife had no offspring. So, they are on our growing list of those forgotten ones that we will pay attention to, going forward.
Remarks: Modified: 12/29/2022
12/29/2022 -- Added in pointer to the bibliography on Wikipedia, started in 2006. Benjamin was at Harvard (Class of 1829) and is listed as one of the few mathematicians from the USA in the XVIII Century. A cuz at Clark University has created a chronology of mathematics which will be useful for a quick look at the generational aspects.
TL;DR -- ME has been in sight since the beginning. NH only has had passing reference as we studied Cape Ann in relation to 400 years. They have 2023 for their commemoration, as does Gloucester. We look at a few of the posts over the years that mentioned our scope. In our future research, we will balance the view across the local territory and further, in this context: the long reach of New England.
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We have had a 400th focus for a while as we watched other celebrations (Plymouth - 2020, Weymouth - 2022). Gloucester comes up in a few days. Our start was with a focus on Cape Ann and Essex County.
Then we extended our view to MA and New England. Incidentally, ME was involved due to its association with MA. After looking at the long reach of New England in the interior and the west of the U.S. and around the world, we now have a U.S. focus through the 400 years where we consider details through time of the other colonies (like New Spain) as well as the events related to populating the interior (Frontier century).
Recently, while looking at the Northwest (as seen in the time of the Revolution), we saw Rhode Island being represented out west, in the form of a Governor of the Territory of Michigan. Having looked at the family involved and tying things back to Massachusetts, we thought to fill in the gap by looking at a family that had long been in RI (see H.P. Lovecraft). We had mentioned that we needed to bring in the surrounding States, such as CT (a little later), NH (which we had already touched upon), ME (which we have covered many times) and VT (already noted in looking at western movement). We will get these posts better categorized and related as we work the 400s going forward. RI and CT do not come up on the 400th list yet, that we know of. We should have looked north, again.
Today, we saw (on FB) that the northern neighbor whom we associate with Rev. Bachiler is on the 2023 list. That was good to find out. We will spend more time researching the Rev. and his cohorts, but he was mentioned recently in this post (see Two Houses) which was motivated by research on New Hampshire families where it was noted the Gilman family was of interest with regard to the Revolution (both sides, plus the Society of Cincinnati). Nathaniel Ladd was one of the builders. We also had looked at the Dudley family who hung out there.
Rev. Hubbard, friend of the family, weighed in on the controversy of when did NH start. John B. Sanborn (several posts) was born in NH. Sam Webber, Head of Harvard, was born in Essex Co, MA, but his family moved up north. Lots of Ann's folks did the same.
Hence, in a few days, we'll have another commemoration to add to the list. As well, we need to find a time line for NH similar to the one for MA.
Remarks: Modified: 12/25/2022
12/25/2022 --
Remarks: Modified: 12/17/2022
12/16/2022 --
TL;DR -- WWII gave Oxford (and Cambridge) the opportunity to focus on the women students. We point to four who were known as the Wartime Quartet. The subject? Philosophy. The context? Say, FB to Meta? Is this something of value and what type? Or not? Our focus on technology puts this type of discussion squarely on our table that is 400 years in the making. But more, underlying issues of consciousness and reality are where the issues lie, for many. Not for all. How do we lift this bit (pun) of shambles into some mature, rational framework?
Mary Midgley -- quote: I do think that in normal times a lot of good female thinking is wasted because it simply doesn't get heard.
Philippa Foot -- granddaughter of U.S. President Grover Cleveland (needless to say, of New England heritage)
Iris Murdoch -- Irish philosopher and author who studied at both Oxford and Cambridge.
G.E.M. Anscombe -- In 2010, philosopher Roger Scruton wrote that Anscombe was "perhaps the last great philosopher writing in English".
This is more than an advanced post for next year's WHM. This quartet was brought up in a talk about whether we ought to follow Zuckerberg (FB, Meta) to his new environment. In that same discussion, Berkeley and Descartes were discussed. We didn't see Kant, except for some implicit reference. In any case, after reviewing material from the quartet, we are ready to bring them into the discussion as 20th century examples. Albeit Philippa is the only American, but these minds are of the culture that was the foundation of the colonies and the subsequent Nation; and so, this material needs more exposure.
Oh yes, all along, we have talked about the internet and the new information modes and how they will help us improve the historical look at about any situation over the past 400 years. This is another example of that endless bit of tasks which will be on the plate going forward.
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Note: Where I saw the Wartime Quartet referenced. Video lecture from UMass: Should We Plug In To The Metaverse?
Already, I like Mary due to her interchanges with Dawkins.
Remarks: Modified: 12/14/2022
12/14/2022 --
TL;DR -- Earlier we took a look at transcontinental travel in the early 19th century and its ardors. There was nothing easy about the ordeals, but people took up the gauntlet. Here we look at one site where travelers made their presence known and link to a map that has local details of interest.
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| Click for detailed map from KDOT |
Remarks: Modified: 12/12/2022
12/11/2022 --
TL;DR -- It has been twelve years since we began our effort. The 400th is now showing on the horizon. It's time to stop, reassess, and prepare for the future. Definitely, we can compare what we know and how versus the comparable periods in the past. At the same time, the 500th and its requirements can be considered. As, a 100-years focus for a project has come forth as necessary for us to do technology correctly. That is one focus that we adopted.
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In Massachusetts, Gloucester is starting their 400th in a mere 22 days. Can you believe it? Here is a link to the stories that they have been collecting at their site (www.gloucesterma400.org).
When we started this work a decade ago, we had a lot to learn which entailed reading, on-line, in libraries, general books and articles, plus visiting places to get acquainted. Along the line, we have posted here plus put out the Gardner's Beacon and The Gardner Annals. And, we have corresponded with lots of people. We have two websites and several blogs. We wrote on existing topics (Charles Olson, Worcester born and of Gloucester by choice) and ventured into other areas, such as technology.
We have more tools now, such as WikiTree's support for genealogy. But, we saw lots of other work and must gather these to create a view of the knowns as of this time, the 400th. We can remind ourselves that the 200th was coincident with the start of the new country, U.S. In that regard, we have been setting up means to know how New England's influence has evolved over the whole period since the colony started and from the beginning of the country that we know. That involves knowing more about the interior and its history.
But, as we came through the years, things stood out so as to allow us to categorize. We will get into that further. But, let's mention some that will have continuing attention with a little commentary.
Remarks: Modified: 12/20/2022
12/20/2022 -- Gloucester is preparing for the kickoff of 2023.
1) deals with the Michigan Territory (again, the prior post) that we just offhandedly dismissed as practice for the carving. Our only excuse was that we were dealing with the broad expanses beyond the Mississippi River, but that was not correctly assumed. We have to step back given that the focus of DAR/SAR is the upcoming 250th of the U.S. Besides, we have to give generations credit. This deals with the fifth and the sixth where the latter is the first of those that were heavily in the lost side of things.After all, people moved and did so quickly, once the way was set. Say, thanks to the likes of Daniel Boone and Jedediah Strong Smith. The former was doing his exploration prior to the Revolution. The latter was directly connected with St. Louis and its influence. We will go into that deeply.A point to make is this: that trek from Ipswich was difficult. Hence, there were real reasons why it took months. In fact, it was practice for the challenges of going even further which was all the way across the continent. On the right is a modern image with routes and times. Even today, travel is difficult. Try driving diagonally across West Virginia. It's fun; but, don't expect to make record time (except, perhaps, max time which is open). Those mountains run further north. By the time that they would use the Ohio, they had already trekked some distance.We will take the time to go into this further, since it does set the stage for later developments out west.2) This view trails the other by only a couple of decades. Missouri, the starting point, was a State in 1821. By then, most of the issues related to the green area had been resolved. But, it was 1804 when Lewis & Clark did their venture from D.C. through St. Louis to the west coast. At that time, mountain men (trappers, explorers) and American Indians were mostly in the area. Except, that had been activity from the west coast in (New Spain), some of which got away from the coast. Too, the northern explorers had been more adventurous than those of New England. Boone in the south went further west than did those up north. Lots to discuss.
Taking the same approach, notice that we are now in the middle of the country covering only a fraction of the area. Here, the issue is that folks would have followed a similar path down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and then St. Louis and finally the Missouri River west. But, that was on to a starting point. There were several trails. This example uses that which went to Santa Fe in New Spain. One thing to note is that Santa Fe was the terminus of another trail that came up from the south. Too, there were trails out of the east through Texas to consider.
But, taking that one small portion which involved about four hours of driving now, it took three weeks for a wagon train to cover that area with a daily grind of a few miles. Notice, too, that we are talking the plains portion which is supposedly flat. It isn't. You can still hurt yourself by falling off of a cliff at various places.
In all of this travelling, rivers were both a barrier and a boon. In these graphics, they are not shown with any clarity, but, even recently, we have seen examples of traffic snarl ups due to bridge damage. One time, we were across the river from where we wanted to go. Okay. There was no ferry. This is a form of technology to note. So, the solution, since we didn't have a helicopter that would pick up the car and deliver us to our destination, was to backtrack to where we could follow a road that went over the river and then get back to where we needed to go which was a stone's throw (well now, as it was broad).
During the times before bridge technology really advanced, one waited out water. Incidentally, here in the west, there are uncountable number of places where high water will stop traffic. And, in many others, the water comes up to the edge of the road. One hopes that the road engineers did a good job with the base. And, that's not mentioning storms such as we will be seeing with winter setting in. It does not even have to be like the recent dump on Buffalo, NY. A few inches can be catastrophic.
Oh yes, real examples. There is a method to that madness. AI and other computer has gone off the rail since a proper basis was lost. Yes indeed. We have seen so many examples of modeling gone wild (like the kids at spring break) due to a lack of grounding which comes about for several reasons. One of these is a lack of respect for the need. Some of that might be generational; a lot of it has to due with the computer being too new for us to really have a grasp of how truth engineering is necessary. Too, what John von Neumann wrought will bitt us until we learn several lessons that have been pending for a long time.
You know, we are looking at the U.S. and its growth. But, at the same time, the world of thought was changing. There and here. Say, for the latter, Charles Sanders Peirce. But, parallel to the U.S. and its experiences, the world was changing, too. There is not end to that type of analysis.
12/16/2022 -- Rutland VT is hosting the Smithsonian's roving display: The Smithsonian comes to Rutland. They are reading and discussing McCoullough's book The Pioneers as Rutland is on the pathway west.
06/08/2023 -- Updated the URL for the Historic Ipswich post. It was originally dated in 2019. The 2022 update removed the older post. One of the technical concerns is that source linked by an URL can disappear or have some other issue, like the information changing drastically. Or, as we might wish not happen, contain undesirable information. In this case, an easy fix.
TL;DR -- Looking at the Northwest Territory, which is far east of the Northwest Territories of Canada, we saw questions arise that we can pursue further. For instance, tracing a family some of whose members went west we got back to Connecticut and then Philadelphia. Some of the tracking issues involve changes in governmental overview over the 150 years to the Revolution and the 250 years after. Technology has offered the means to tie information together, across time and space, in interesting ways. An example is Family Search which we have used from the beginning.
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We have used Family Search from the beginning our endeavors, which led to the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc., such that it's now our first line of research after WikiTree. Of late, we have been researching families that moved inward starting with the creation of the new nation. But, to get the proper perspective, we found that we need to step back a decade or two which would include New Spain and New France. But, too, we need New Netherlands and New Sweden. More on that later in the post.
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| U.S. and its interior |
So, we got this feed which showed two guys talking about a video which had been run on a computer. The video showed a ship going from the Dutch country in Europe that ended up at Long Island. Then, there was mention of house built in an area or on a road with the name of Greenwich. Turns out that the builder of the house was the eighth-great of one of the men, an actor. The other? Not associated with ancestry[.]com or NEHGS, such as we saw with WDYTYA or Finding your roots or several others.
No, this scene had been sponsored by Family Search and published on Youtube (it was CEO Steve Rockwood). Here is the video: Matthew Modine Discovers His New York Roots. It is a short bit. We didn't look further but recognized an interesting fact. The actor lives in Greenwich village That's several generations later. Too, that we have associations with people over the water cannot be forgotten.
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Now, New York. Just the other day, we were looking at the area of the Dutch settlement. One reason was looking at some activity in the Northwest Territory in the very early 1800s and noticing New England names. You see, both in the 1600s and in the 1700s, New England (north - Plymouth Colony and Cape Ann) expanded several times. Two of interest are when New York came under the Province of New England. Later, the nebulous notion of who owned what settled and we got areas with names and took up the duties of management. We will be looking at all of this more closely.
Here is a related map.
11/29/2022 --
TL;DR -- Hist of Mass always comes across with good information. Today, the FB feed pushed a 2017 blog post our way to which we paid attention. Nice timeline. With a map, of the area. One could probably think of the feed's logic (algorithmic rumblings) should one choose. Not. A theme can be mentioned, though, farming.
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Or the timeline, thereof. We have several timelines, such as the one related to the 400th commemorations that started this year with Weymouth and next year with Gloucester.
This post has a Thanksgiving theme (who was first? ;>), as it involves foods and feasts. We will be looking at farming in the northern colonies as one focus on technology. Subsistence farming was the norm until the early 1800s. But, that means more than a family providing for itself. We had local (even regional) markets for farm goods early on. Too, the Cape Ann crew's intent to come over was mainly to farm and ship produce back. So, we cannot leave that theme. Besides, going forward into the grand future, people will be eating.
In 2017, History of Massachusetts blog created a timeline for the Plymouth Colony. The feed at FB showed it to us today (don't we love being driven by algorithms?). It has a real good graphic which will become the norm with the internet maturing (finally). As one looks around at papers and discussions, one sees systems thinking coming forth as opposed to that make-havoc-break-china mode of the past two decades.
BTW, with respect to our themes, 'feed' was only mentioned once. That had to do with an early shortage which caused rations to be to be more strictly rationed. Cape Ann had a similar problem after more people came with Endicott and without proper thought for supplying themselves. Before then, the colonists were making it though the capitalist's expectations may not have been met.
Also, earlier, Virginia had a real hard time trying to get started. Oh yes, it as the Berkeley Hundred that thought to celebrate after twelve long years.
The details are great, in the map. It took a moment to get the drift as Essex wasn't there. Well, it's clipped and under the "Massachusetts Bay (1630)" label.
11/24/2022 --
TL;DR -- Over the 400 years of our interest, we will be looking at people and events, here, there and everywhere. That goes with the long reach of New England. This post looks at someone from the seventh generation who was involved with several matters of long-standing concern. L. M. Child is of long New England pedigree as is her husband.
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Book reviews can be a great resource. We don't always pay attention, as life is full of multiple areas of concern that need attention. But, the WSJ (weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal) has been a constant supplier of reviews of good books, that is, ones pertinent to our interests. For this post, we can point to three of these. One is that the childless can become lost as who pays attention down the pike? Lydia and her husband had no offspring. We have mentioned this interest several times, say with respect to Joseph and Ann - see Aunts, Uncles, Cousins which is from 2012 and needs some updating. Note, though, others have been added, such as Charles Alcott Flagg, friend of Dr. Frank and contributor to The Massachusetts Magazine.
There are a couple more interests of many which we will itemize and discuss next year being motivated by the next 100 after the 400th commemorations cease, down the pike. The other two interests deal with identifying Essex County (Cape Ann) influences over the U.S. and the world, even today. So, that entails recognizing names of New England families in various contexts and looking for the specifics. The other is to find family associations within the large collection related to Thomas and Margaret (Fryer) Gardner. In this case, we have already found some but will keep those particularities out of focus for later.
WBUR (news station, Boston) provides the following quote.
BTW, we are finding that becoming stale is the norm for the web links and their offspring. This usually is only an inconvenience until one considers that what gets into place after the target of the scale link disappears. That can be problematic and will be covered under the topic of technology going forward.
Here's the quote:
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| The Frugal Housewife by Lydia M Child |
Remarks: Modified: 12/29/2022
12/29/2022 -- Ipswich, MA led the way in settling Ohio post the Revolution.
TL;DR -- In the territory of the U.S., whether the colonial times or after, people have trekked along trails leaving tracks. Technology brought us several ways to make tracks more permanent, namely the railroad and the road are examples. The rails? In the1880s (later part), there was rail from coast to coast (let's say, one thread of such though there was already a network of such) that supported passable traffic, to a degree. Mountains and rivers continued to be an inhibitor of traffic. Accomplishments related to these facilities took lots of blood, sweat and tears. And, remembrance of that is important; first, though, we need acknowledgement of the deeds. That suggests knowing details beyond mere generalization.
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We just had a post (Trails and tracks) on the trail of notoriety that crossed the middle U.S. and ended up at a terminus of another trail that came out of Mexico (New Spain) and was much longer. The New Spain route was part of the Camino Real system. We will look further at that topic.
With respect to other types of tracks, the railroad (see Recap, again) comes to mind as it spread over the landscape. We have a graphic which show the growth by marking the post offices as they moved with the rails. See Pace of change. These two, the railroad and the post office, are types of technology that were (are and will be) of importance.
Of course the Pass was infamous earlier in the century. However, it still is fierce in the winter and creates havoc for traffic of all sorts. An interstate through that area experiences frequent closings. By April, snow banks are piled high on the side of the road.
We might take a relook at the industry since John is from a railroad family. There are plenty of other jobs related to this accomplishment which is usually associated with names like Stanford in the West and Cornelius Vanderbilt in the East, of the U.S.
We might use the Katy Railroad as an example as it has already come up in reference to the long reach of New England. Too, population centers shifted as the railroad made decisions about routes. Today, one finds long paths in many places where rails were lifted so that walkers and bikers can traverse the resulting trail. U.S. and railroads go way back.
Earlier, we had a post about the Woodbury Historical Tours as we ran into their posts while browsing different subject. That was a nice thing to find. On the other hand, Woodbury was a Cape Ann family. We have not explored that aspect as of yet. See Tours, of the real. One motivation for that post was something they wrote mentioning the Bents who we looked at earlier. And, their approach appealed for several reasons. A main one? In this day and age, we need to 'ground' lots of information and rhetoric by specific effort due to the influence that technology can have on our grasp of what is.
That's another discussion best left for another day.
Remarks: Modified: 11/16/2022
11/16/2022 --
TL;DR -- Trekking on the Santa Fe Trail started in 1821 at St. Louis MO. The traffic grew during the years up to the Civil War. Post the conflict, the railroad made its incursion which ended the majority of the traffic. Some still had this as their only recourse. However, the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail was on another trail that had been in operation since 1598 and was in New Spain that will be a continuing topic in our look at the long reach of New England. Too, going forward lots of effort by conservation groups has saved artifacts from the earlier periods. This focus will continue to be necessary.
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For awhile, we have been looking at the many commemorations that are in progress or will happen. The Cape Ann crew's arrival will be next up for the 400th. But, we have the 250th to consider, and even more, such as the 200th which is a few generations post the Revolution (250th).
Last year was the 200th of the first trek by the eastern culture from St. Louis MO to Santa Fe NM along what became the popular trail. The trail went from the U.S., which had grown post Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory, to New Spain.
To quote the Santa Fe Trail Association: "In 1821, the Santa Fe Trail became America's first great international commercial highway, and for nearly sixty years thereafter was one of the nation's great routes of adventure and western expansion." This association formed a few decades ago and has collected an astounding mixture of technology with which to tell the story of the times and the people who were involved.
In terms of the later, they have been nominations for a Hall of Fame. On our review of the list, today, we saw many familiar names, some of whom are well-known characters of the American West, such as Kit Carson, Zebulon Pike, and more. The Bent family and others have been mentioned in this blog in the context of the long reach of New England.
Also, the Association publishes a newsletter which is available online: Wagon Tracks (online list of issues). They have published since 1986. The latest issue (Wagon Tracks, Aug 2022) included an article on measuring distance traveled which looked at one invented by Ben Franklin. This article is an example of a technology focus which we will keep to the fore. In this case, miles were the enemy more so than others that are known, such as weather. We have looked at rivers and other waters as a means for travel as well as being a barrier.
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| May 2021 issue of Wagon Tracks |
Another source for information is the Kansas Historical Society whose state is crossed diagonally by the trial. We have referenced this source before; an example was our earlier look at Col. Thomas W. Higginson who was from New England and was out in Kansas supporting abolitionism and John Brown.
There are many persons to look at. Right now, let's consider Isaac Bowen and his wife Katie. He was in the military and brought his wife with him as he did his duties in several locations. She kept a diary and wrote to her mother on a regular basis. This is the KSH Overview of Santa Fe Trail Diaries - Katie Bowen. In 1996, the KHS published the diaries which is available for public reading: A Faithful Account of Everything.
Their first visit out west was pre-Civil War and about the time of Col. Higginson. Post the conflict, there was another dynamic related to technology, the railroad. The National Park Service provides a timeline from 1866-1873 which is interactive and provide information by time and place with respect to the trail. As the railroad came in, people road the train to the endpoint of its rails and then continued in the mode of laborious travel.
Unto this point, we have looked at New England and flow from east to west toward the southwest. We will be looking further at the northern route, too, as we take a deeper look at Oregon. Even up there, we will be considering New Spain as the extent of the U.S. was not the west coast until later.
The Santa Fe Trail ended at a terminus of Camino Real in New Mexico whose existence needs more attention since it gets us more aware of European activity in Texas and points west. The trail used by Butterfield and others ran along those southern routes that were pioneered by New Spain and before them, the American Indians. The Camino Real is traversed today in a north-south direction from El Paso TX to Albuquerque NM.
Just like we can see wagon wheel ruts today along the route of the Santa Fe Trail in areas where development has not blotted out the past, the same is true for those earlier travelers along the Spanish trails. An example can be see at Fort Selden with tracks along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro still visible.
Our interest is primarily New England but with scope large enough to cover the prior periods thoroughly. Our southern border, from TX to CA, has a lot of history still to be told, where generalization does not trump truth.
The southern trail ran from 1820s to the 1880s. Putting this into the context of generations, that was post Jefferson's purchase and during the start of the push to the west where we had a century of frontier experiences in many places with results such as lost generations.
11/12/2022 -- We need to add New France into the triad in order to know how the U .S. is a phenomenal experiment in the experience of being, inner and outer. In other words, our focus will be on the long reach of New England but with a context filled in as only the internet will allow.
