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Post by Black Hand on Dec 27, 2023 8:25:30 GMT -7
What led you to pick your particular persona and/or era?
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on Dec 27, 2023 8:41:42 GMT -7
My interest is still evolving… but geography plays a huge part in all of my interests, 18th century or otherwise. I’m blessed to live in a part of Pennsylvania with deep and interesting history spanning 200+ years. We’re literally surrounded by sites from before the French and Indian War through the early 20th century. The LeRoy farm that was one of the first attacked during the Penns Creek Massacre is just over the ridge from my home. The valley is crossed by old narrow gauge logging railroads. The area near our cabin was devastated by Loyalist, Native and Crown incursions during the Revolutionary War. Anthracite and bituminous mining was major industry in the region. So being rooted in the Susquehanna watershed, I travel and walk the history daily. The way I’m wired, I need to know more.
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Post by brokennock on Dec 27, 2023 18:22:10 GMT -7
Great question.... I'll have to think about it to try to come up with a short answer.
Almost easier to figure out why my historical interests taper off (as far as American history is concerned) by the end of the American Revolution,,, but not much easier.
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Post by lenapej on Dec 29, 2023 20:39:59 GMT -7
The short answer for me is I began to research the Delaware Indians due to an oral tradition in my family about one being in our family tree, which led me to reading journals such as Christian F. Post, Christopher Gist, James Kenny, and John Heckewelder. Those guys were rather intriguing to me.
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Post by bushfire on Dec 30, 2023 15:58:34 GMT -7
I'm late to the party here, currently on holidays/taking a break from work and trying to just enjoy the time off with minimal computer usage.
I don't do a personal, if I lived in the states with like minded folks perhaps I would but as I hunt and do most of my outdoor stuff alone it feels unnecessary to me. I still debate back and forward whether I can justify spending the money on period correct clothing. I really want it but the full kit isn't much less than a ticket to the states!
My two great interests converged to bring me where I am. We grew up quite poor and game made up a large part of our meat so hunting, guns and adventure have always been big in my life. Jeremiah Johnson was my favourite film alongside The Man From Snowy River, I always loved to pretend I was him and when I was old enough dad used to let me take the dog and either a knife or gun and head off to the bush. It was about 3 miles from home so I'd walk down there and hunt or trap (fox and rabbit skins were still worth money).
I've also always been a voracious reader of history from about the age of 10. Mostly starting out with Australian exploration and also a lot of big game hunting out of Africa and New Zealand. From there Jim Corbett, who remains my favourite author and historical idols to this day. Corbett grew up in India during the latter half of the 19th century during the British Raj his stories of culture really fascinated me. From there I explored more into Britain and its empire. I've also always had a fascination with warfare and all these interests began merging at this point. I read a lot on antiquity into the Roman era and then the more modern era.
When I made it to America I was intrigued by the civil war and read a lot on that. Looking for the cause it lead me back to the AWI which lead me to the F&I war. The combination of my love of hunting, exploration, freedom, guns/flintlocks, warfare, culture and my french heritage really came together in this period and as much as I continue to read about different things (recently the Zulu Wars) I really feel like I've found my niche in the F&I war period.
In Australia books on American history that have to be shipped over are expensive and I get stuck on where to look for more historical writings so I have got to a bit of a standstill but I see the F&I war as being with my for life now.
It's another reason I really want to visit your part of the world, it holds so much wonder to me.
Anoway, sorry for the waffling but that's an incoherent explanation of why I'm here.
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Keith
City-dweller
Bushfire close but safe now. Getting some good rain.
Posts: 990
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Post by Keith on Dec 30, 2023 17:33:52 GMT -7
Somehow I was just born into it. I was born in the countryside in West Sussex England. Our house was large & built in 1740ad. I used to read a lot, & one of my favourite magazines was The American Rifleman. As a youngster & used to hunt with a bow & practice setting rabbit snares. My parents bought me a rubber tomahawk & knife when I was too young for the real thing. We had (& I still have) the Davy Crockett song on a record, & I watched the Davy Crockett series on TV. All my free time when not at school or doing chores was spent in the fields & woods. All I ever wanted to be was a woodsman. At age 20 I applied to emigrate to America, but was told that I needed a science degree to enter. I then applied to emigrate to Australia, & was successful. Years of travelling around & labouring & other various occupations & I finally was able to purchase a forest in New England, which is where I now live. Been here for about 40 years, built our first cottage in this forest. Lived an 18th century lifestyle with my wife for about 20 years, & raised three fine sons in that time. Grew our own food & hunted for meat with my flintlock fusil, as well as running a trapline. We are still in the same forest, still living off grid & off all services in a larger house. One of my sons is now living in the cottage, my youngest son has a house in the woods not far away, also living off grid. I don't need to hunt for meat anymore, though I may live long enough for those times to return. I have a forge & I have always made the majority of items we need myself from wood & or metal. Keith.
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Post by Leifer on Jan 8, 2024 13:45:37 GMT -7
For me it was a combination of the history teachers I had and the historic sites in my area. I've got Fort Union Trading Post NHS basically in my backyard which ran from 1828-1867, with other trading posts that existed in the area since at least 1822. So that was an easy choice for me when I first started. I've portrayed trappers, post employees, traders, and voyageurs on a regular basis.
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