Man Born in 1853 Talks About Childhood in the 1860s- Enhanced Video & Audio [60 fps]
This is Elihu Thomson, engineer and inventor born on March 29, 1853. In this video, he talks about some childhood memories while living in Philadelphia in the 1860s. It was filmed on June 21, 1932. This video has been colorized, speed-adjusted and restored with audio enhancements for clarity.
Note: Thomson meant to say "75 years ago" rather than "65 years ago" in the beginning. His family shipped over to America in 1857.
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Elihu Thomson was born March 29, 1853, in Manchester, England. His father,
who worked as a mill mechanic, was thrown out of work in 1857 and decided to
emigrate to the United States. In 1858 the family settled in Philadelphia,
where Elihu grew up. His father's work as a mechanic stimulated Thomson's
interest in mechanical and chemical processes. From his early teens he read
widely, built models, and conducted simple chemical experiments. At
Philadelphia's Central High School Thomson was an outstanding student who
attracted the interest of his instructors. Upon graduating in 1870 he was
offered a teaching position at the school.
Between 1870 and 1880 Thomson taught high school in Philadelphia. At the same
time he and a fellow teacher named Edwin J. Houston experimented with
electricity and succeeded in building a practical electric arc lighting
system. In 1879 a group of New England businessmen took an interest in
the Thomson-Houston arc lighting system and offered to finance its fabrication.
In 1880 Thomson moved to New Britain, Connecticut, as the company's chief
engineer. By 1881 Thomson had designed the best arc lighting system in the
country, but sales were slow. In 1882 a group of Lynn, Massachusetts,
businessmen purchased the company and changed the name to the Thomson-Houston Electric Company.
For this video, I colorized it using AI optimization software, interpolated it to 60 frames/second, speed-adjusted it and refined it with De Blur, Sharpness and Stabilization. For the audio, I remastered it using noise gate, compression, loudness normalization, EQ and a Limiter.
This video is made for educational purposes for fair use under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.
Imagine sitting there, talking about your life, never knowing that in 90 years a bunch of people will be listening to you from a device you would never believe could ever be possible.
He may have imagined it but we'll never know
This guy probably would have believed it possible, but I get the point. It is cool.
Imagine writing a comment on a video that, in 90 years time, might be read on a device you would never believe could ever exist.
imagine the next 90 years...
or us commenting here... some old drive from youtube dumped somewhere.. and in 1000 or even 10.000 years some humans will find it and say ''they were impressed by this? gotta tell my twin from another dimension''
This is incredible that I can watch someone born almost 170 years ago speak about his life.
I agree, it blows my mind too. It’s a kind of time machine. A literal window into the past
What’s even more incredible, is that in 170 years in the future people will be able to watch videos on how humanity lost its way and ultimately fell into a steady decline
Oldest living turtle is around 190 years old.
@@wadevandort1598 and oldest shark 400 years
@@Makabert.Abylon we killed the oldest clam :(
I actually just Googled the guy. This isn't just any man. This man is Elihu Thompson. He was a famous inventor and industrialist. You could say this Englishman was one of the men who built American electricity.
@@NikkiNamikaze-Uchiha-Hatakeelaborate!
Well if he was sitting in a suit and being recorded then surely he must be a well known guy
@AmitKumar-nq7wk . True. These days, anyone can buy a good-looking suit and pretend to be rich. Lol
@@NikkiNamikaze American electricity as in the industry related to electricity in America. You didn't really think that person was implying that American electricity is somehow a unique kind of electricity only found in America?
@@javawithnate1369 something I've learnt working in a public-facing bureaucratic role is that way more people than one would think have quite poor reading comprehension.
In grade school in the mid-50's an extremely elderly man came to visit us: He had seen and shook the hand of Lincoln as a child in something like 1860-61. He shook our hands and told us "now you can tell your children you shook the hand of a man who shook Lincoln's hand. The man was going around meeting many children in schools and talking about history. I guess he was about 104-105, and was quite clear of mind and in decent health for his age.
Get 104 tattoed on hand and impress the girls haha
That is awesome!
You need to shake as many hands as possible. Spread the abe.
@@velocity9OOOYT Spread the covid
@@velocity9OOOYT ayooo
This guy witnessed the invention of telegraph, telephone, trains, steamboats, planes, tanks, automatic weapons, automobiles, radio, cinema and probably heard some news about a television device before dying. Amazing.
I mean he's in a video so yeah
@@MCdeltaT- The video wasnt originally in colour, it's been restored
All this pales next to the fact that he witnessed the invention of toilet paper. It was only patented in the USA in 1883, when he was 30 years old. The entire story he tells about shocking his father with a battery takes place in a world where toilet paper is not an item most people have even heard of.
Y el nacimiento de bokita papá
@@BlommaBaumbart A lot of places still don't use toilet paper, I've heard from people in country side of India they use one of the hands, not sure if it was left or right, to wipe their ass and then they clear it off in a bucket of water or something like that.
This man lived through the civil war, saw the first lightbulb, a telephone call, the radio and then silent and talking films, horses being replaced by cars. Everything we take for granted today. He saw them first. Amazing.
But not just him, most people living in first world countries did
I guess most of us witnessed the rise of the smartphone, the tablet, the electric car revolution taking place now... I have always imagined the lightbulb to be the most revolutionary invention, by the way. To get light by simply flipping a switch must have seemed crazy.
@@trismegistus2881 electricity was said to have drove women insane and children unbearable. Nothing would happen to men apparently. Nonetheless, a push of a button to light up a small corner of the room must have been shocking for some and excitement for others.
@@trismegistus2881 Yeh the smartphone, how did we get here, it had been 10 years at least...
Smartphones was invented by star-trek writers ... ^
I love how articulate he is, using advanced and exact vocabulary while speaking seemingly off the cuff. I would love if we could go back to that.
Most people in Britain can speak like this.
@@bbee674 errr, nope!
@@bbee674 as an Englishman, I would have to disagree. Language has been diluted even here. Gone are the days where we spoke the Queen's English, foreign countries show Downton Abbey and period dramas, and they think we still act and talk in that way. I wish we did to an extent, but sadly no.
@@boltonpete6093 I guess it depends on who you mix with. I am British and all my friends and associates speak eloquently, including those with regional accents.
@@bbee674 I say, what a delightful, specifically English class flex.
My great grandma went through a lot. She was the 2nd youngest of SIXTEEN. Her oldest brother was born in 1899 and she was born in 1920. Her little sister (child #16) drowned in a lake near their house when she was 4. My great grandma watched her drown because she didn't know how to swim and they were miles away from home. It's crazy to think how these days kids wouldn't even be out unsupervised at that age. And even if they were, they would have the ability to call someone instantly. The world has changed so rapidly. My great grandma died in 2017 of old age. Full head of hair and a sense of humor. She was ready to die many years before she did. She would always talk about how she was done here. All her friends and siblings were dead. She outlived one of her own kids. And she got to see her oldest great grandchildren graduate high school. She was ready. RIP Grammy, you had a wild life, and crazy stories. I know she took the best ones with her to the grave lol.
" these days kids wouldn't even be out unsupervised at that age" sadly it definitely happens all the time. In these modern times with cell phones and child monitors etc it still happens. Some of these things happen due to delinquent parents other times it just happens so fast there's no time to save the child. Sad but true. Kids are so FAST .. my daughter disappeared in the blink of an eye and was around the corner on her tricycle before I knew it. Scared the heck out of me! I had stepped inside the house to get her baby brother and came back out and POOF she was gone. She always was an adventurer... always had to watch her so darn close! She's still stubborn and independent but she's strong and healthy with 3 kids of her own. Anyway, things happen as there are no guarantees in life for sure.
What a dreadful pain to watch your own child drowning before your eyes n nothing you can do about it… I can’t imagine 😔😔
@@divine2310 they said she watched her sister drown not her daughter
It's hard to die nowadays for sure. We even live longer
Jeez that's depressing. More to life then your children and what not. You have a life ti learn to love your self in world. The pain is art and does not exist after death
This man was much more than an ordinary engineer and inventor. He co-founded General Electric with Thomas Edison and has quite a lot written about him on the Internet.
After he stole the information from Africans or should I say INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
@@nadams497 HaHa! That’s funny - you should be on The View…
@@nadams497 lol i hope your joking... That is the biggest joke i've ever heard in my life lmfao. 3rd world countries have thier technology stolen lmfao. yet they still are 3rd world countries
@@nadams497 Those people were underdeveloped at the time, significantly moreso than they are today. A colonized African working on a plantation would not have had the chance to come up with electrical inventions for him to copy. This is not to say they are inferior for it, but the social conditions of their time didn't allow for them to be copied off of.
Amazing
It's amazing how much of a difference it makes having this old black and white footage colourised. It just makes it that much more real, and gives a feeling that this wasn't so long ago.
Agreed. In fact the video quality is so good that it doesn't seem pre-1950s black and white. Because we're conditioned to only seeing black and white video from this era, not full color.
Yes, the aesthetics is quite contrasting. I take one bet he didn't see as many fat people wobbling down the High St either back then.
@@Mumbo_Jumbo_Kiwi.1 I find it hard to believe there WERE any streets back then. (not paved ones anyway)
To be honest it just looks like someone has drawn over it with a crayon to me.
@@hobomike6935 Streets, and paved ones (though of course not with the asphalt we're accustomed to today) have existed since antiquity. It kind of surprises me you find it hard to believe there were paved streets less than 200 years ago.
People still don’t appreciate the historical importance of this man sharing his childhood! This is a true treasure !
The way he speaks… is so different. So noble 👏🏻
So British
@Adam-uz9sc Not British at all. That's a normal American accent from that era.
@@LAkadian he obviously a descend of the British which explains his accent
@LAkadian true to an extent: early recordings of Americans speaking DO sound British to modern ears. But also, he was born in England, to English parents , and would probably have heard mostly their accent till he went to senior school at 13.
I noticed that too. American and Canadians speaking alot like this back then
I'm 48. My first job, as a teen and right out of high school, was as an activity aid and nurse assistant in a nursing home. This was in the early/mid 1990s (1991-1995). We had some very old patients, a few over a hundred years old. It amazes me to recall stories that these people told of their childhood in the 1890s or early 1900s. One elderly lady, I remember her name to this day (Lucille), recalled her mother dying when she was six in 1894, and two of her siblings succumbing soon after, all due to influenza. Although she was so young when the events occurred, it stayed in her memory as fresh as if it had happened yesterday, her grief still palpable 98 years later. She was born in 1888, and was 104 when telling me these stories about how fast she had to grow up at the point of her mother's death. At age six, she was required to help out with her younger surviving siblings and do the majority of cooking. At six! Her whole life was equally sad and fascinating. She lost her husband in WWI and a son in WWII. I was only around 18 or 19 years old, but I was enthralled with hearing her story, and the life stories of so many of these nursing home residents (the ones like her, without dementia, who, although very old, had razor sharp memories and could recall things I only read about in books). I still remember all of their names. All of them. It set me on a course in life to pursue an academic career in history, eventually earning a master's degree and becoming a historian. It all started with the stories told by very old residents in a nursing home. To this day it astounds me that, as a woman born in the 1970s, I have spoken to and touched the hands of a few people born in the 1880s, and they have forever touched my heart.
Brilliant story and mind-blowing what she had to endure - thank you. Love how these events influenced and inspired your life choices. If only those nursing home residents could know what a positive impact they have had.
Have you written any books or stories? Popular, not academic, I mean.
Beautiful story ♥️
I dont often read long comments on youtube but yours was so lovely and really interesting! If you have more stories I'd love to read them as I'm sure many others would to
@@marmeemarch7080 Thank you for your kind comment! I have not. I have only done academic work, thus far. I have had ideas run through my mind, but never put pen to paper. I have also thought of starting a KZhead channel devoted to history, perhaps an "ask a historian" type channel, or ramblings about different topics in history, which would include stories that my nursing home patients, all now long dead, have told me (but I would only say first names to protect any living family) and other experiences I have had from working in a museum setting and handling artifacts from people living in the past, including four of my direct ancestors that fought in the American War for Independence. It all plays in my mind but I am unsure of what route I'd like to take. All I do know is that, as a historian, I am passionate about not letting history die. I am committed to preserving the legacy of those that have lived before us and, whether good, bad, tragic, or criminal stories, letting the accounts of history teach us in this day and age to grow from the trials, tribulations, mistakes, and successes of those that came before us, and to humanize history by telling real-life stories that people can relate to or connect with, instead of just facts and dates.
We’re hearing directly from one of the people responsible for the lighting and electrical systems that completely changed the world. Incredible.
The puzzle of ancient man. Read it
We can only wonder how long it would have been until another discovered the ability to control an electric charge. I expect there were a few working in it so he was just getting there faster.
And somewhat thanks to some spare time he had.
Nikola Tesla had them all beat. Thomas Edison just stole everything from others.
Umm. Not everything is as it’s narrated. History is a set of lies agreed upon.
I wish we had footage like this for all of history. Being able to step into another time at a click of a button would be amazing.
This sort of content is so interesting. Other comments noting how incredible it is to see someone in the flesh speak of times we think are so long ago. But I really like how well he remembered a book he had read as a child 60 years before. The power of books and of ideas.
That is incredible, I can watch a murder mystery on television, if I see it again years later sometimes I cant remember who did it till I get close to the end, LOL.
I love how he isn’t interrupted the whole time. Interviews these days are something else
Back in the days when respect wasnt only a word.
Pros and cons. Interviews can be flowed so they aren’t as inefficient with your time to get points across. What are the bullet points of why you are spending/time and money to do this conversation etc. This was likely more of a life perspective and sometimes they can be value in following along as a mind wanders in what you learn. However overall I prefer more modern. In all the things we have in life next to health is time.
@@lijohnyoutube101I understand your point and you can summarise points and speeds up the process Another perspective for you You summarising the points and ushering the conversation into a direction... maybe you are really moving the conversation into what you want to hear (subconsciously) and if you didn't prompt someone they may not have said that. Maybe if you let someone just speak, they may get the true feelings across An example of this type of interview technique is Lex Fridman... he let's the interviewee speak and jumps in with questions based on what was said
@@ahadmohammed784 agreed but TRUE conversational journalism is mostly dead. Even look at the mainstay that was late night TV for decades it was popular but it morphed more and more over time to a PR platform. Time is money in what they were there advertising…
Urinalists have a predetermined message they want to promote and the interviewed are guided to do this. It is called propaganda now… often on behalf of lawyers, politicians and activist groups they support.
This is so cool! He is the founder of one of the companies that merged to become General Electric, and he held over 700 patents. It just goes to show that fostering your child's creativity and knowledge is so important!
Would be funny if you found out he was a horrible bigot
It says 1 reaction but no reaction
And if they don’t foster your creativity, electrocute them!
@@_Observer_961 now it says 3 reaction but only 1 reaction
@@dylanb405 strange
So revealing to see this! His humility and industriousness and the joy of learning and creating, and the simple joys of life are so evident in this man! He reminds me an elderly man I knew who was maybe a bit younger than him ... that same sense of appreciation for life, and the sense of wonder ...
People were more productive before video games and the tv came out
Amazing, the really cool thing is the basis of the knowledge that he cultivated throughout his life was found when he was forced NOT to go to school.
I cannot get enough of these glimpses into the past. What a treasure.
You can FEEL a bit of what it was like to live in that time. Amazing
Seriously its so crazy and awesome. To go back and see what life was like to be born almost 200 years ago.. its so mind bending to think about how fast time moves
I'm from RI as well.
💯 agree, & this was during the Civil War.
Imagine 1000 years from now people will be able to look 1000 years back in the past.. If only we had that same privilege to look back 1000 years ago now, what a world it would've been like to see.. A much different world than we imagine it to be for sure..
My great grandma turns 108 in August. She is still completely there mentally. You can have a complete conversation with her. Her hearing and vision is pretty bad obviously, but the stories she has told to me and my siblings over the years is crazy. She witnessed it all. The depression. World wars. Dust bowl. The list goes on. Sometimes I think to myself and I’m like wow, she was around 25 in 1940. She has seen it all and probably the best period of time we have had on earth
Wow! Bless her.
Hope you are recording and filming her and her stories
Birthday wishes to her 🙏🏽
Thats amazing, I hope she will have many more years to live! If I would be in your position, I would definately make an interview with her and record it.
And you haz no video's uploaded of it??
I love my elders. So much wisdom, kindness and pure love.
What a pearl I've found. Thank you for this channel
I talked extensively to a man born in 1886. He told me stories of the past that somehow seemed magical. He died when I was 12yrs old in 1971. He was my grandpa. I visited him almost everyday.
Even my memories from 2000's seem magical. There's Something about the past...
❤️
And then you woke up from your dream
You was broke with no air conditioning you smucks the past phsss
My grandfather was born in 1896. I always found his stories fascinating. I was 20 and in college 1500 miles away when he died. I had gotten to visit the year before.
this man literally taught himself electrical science and how to generate power at 11 and 12, how amazing
Exactly what I got out of this video as well. His 12 year old version would probably know more about electricity than many adults nowadays. 😆
Now they're playing minecraft : /
most kids in the 1800s were not teaching themselves these things, there is not rlly a difference
@@Botoburst tbh there’s nothing wrong w a lil minecraft, at least that somewhat gets your creative brain going. anything in pursuit of creation and art is good for a young mind
And in the 1800's no less.
It's fascinating how they used to talk. It sounds very collected and somehow structured.
Amazing , I could listen for hours ❤
It's fascinating that though I was a child in the 1950s, I could never have seen this clip until the 2020s! I am now 60 years further into the future and able to learn more about the past than I could when I was 10!
Breathtaking statement! 👍😃
K boomer
@@wiijiifit3286 Grow up
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ Pls stfu
@@wiijiifit3286 theres a time and place to troll man cmon have some respect.
Imagine how cool it would be if the camera was invented 1000 years ago. Hearing actual vikings speak about their actual viking life.
@@Alan2004 things get deciphered and translated now. Get out from the bottom of that rock you’ve been under.
Hypothetical arguments are hilarious 😂
The camera crew would have to have the biggest balls of all but yes it would be fucking sweeeeet!
@@Alan2004 I know, even though I am Scandinavian I would probably understand less than 0,5% of their language
@@Alan2004 I would kind of
What an amazing guy. I’m so glad he had the chance to teach his dad not to look down on his work. Such amazing times and so Much change and development.
My, what an incredible treasure this interview is!
Could this fascinating man ever know he'd be watched on peoples phones almost 100 years later? Technology can really be amazing. It was so cool to listen to a time of learning from books and life 😁
Imagine how someone in the distant future might be viewing the ancient archives when they stumble across your comment.
I know, how cool is this... Wonderful
That's an amazing thought.
The modern smartphones capabilities would be an impossible device to someone even in the 1970s let alone someone of this era.
History and technology just keeps moving along. I’m only 60 and I remember daily life before cell phones, cable television, VCRs, dvds, personal computers, video games, video surveillance, or ATMs, and some of those things are already obsolete. It won’t be long until there’s no more shopping malls, cash money, or personal privacy.
When you see recordings like this it makes you realise we are only on this earth a very short time and 100 or 200 years are but a blink of an eye. My dad was 4 years old,( now 93 years and still going!) when this was recorded and he remembers folk who were around in the 1860's and 70's when growing up. Blows my mind!
My grandfather, born in 1888, as a boy, could have heard an old timer talk about his dad doing service in Napoleons army in Russia. They hardly had steam machine factories running then, no steam ships, trains made their first run when Napoleon cam to power. It was all horse and oxen doing the traction. Planes, another 100 years, gramps could've seen the first flights - while receiving the first phone calls. He was over 60 when TV arrived, 70 when his son bought his first car, and could have watched color TV in his latest years, while his son flew to London with his grandson. More things changed in his lifetime than from the arrival of agriculture to his birth.
My great grandmother was born in 1869. She lived in prussia, the german empire, the weimarer republic, the third Reich and in west germany. She never left her village.
@@reuireuiop0 damn how old r u
Now, schools limit the quickness of innovation. We could all be living on the moon or mars flying space ships.
Your dad was born in 1928 and you claim people from 1860s or you meant born in 1860s even then they would have been in their mid 60s. zYour dad should have been in atleast in his mid teens to remember well the events by which time they are into 80s
Thank you for this. It was enjoyable to watch. Felt like I was in a time capsule.
I have a Bicolano friend who is in his 70s. His dad was born in the 1800s as he had him when he was about 70. His dad died when he was 16, so he was able to hear many direct stories about what it was like to grow up in the 1800s
I find it fascinating that no matter how old a video or image is, there is something familiar and similar. I feel like if we saw ancient civilizations on film, as distant as the people were, they would still be wholly relatable and familiar. We are all only human and the progression of time might change our thoughts, but we are still one tribe and one family.
I agree but they'd have to come from the same civilization. A man like this from 200 years ago is closer than a Chinese man living today for example
@Jordan Banks I prefer technology and I don’t think it’s made our lives painful, it’s made it significantly easier. I can’t wait until artificial intelligence is developed more in the future. That’s when technology will really accelerate in development.
@Jordan Banks okay doomfist
Such an amazing comment. Thanks
@@user-ki7hi3wq9t all AI will do is put everyone except the programmers making the AI and the roboticists and engineers building the machines out of a job and then most likely everyone else who isnt obscenely rich will starve because the rich will own all the robots and wont need your labor anymore. sincerely, an AI programmer.
The sound of children playing in the background really brings this one to life. Feels like you could walk out into your own backyard and see the interview occurring as we speak.
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes when I hear children playing at a distance I think that if I was alive a thousand years earlier it's a sound that would be just the same.
the good ole days when people talked to each other and kids went outside
assuming that they might possibly be alive, those kids would be in their 90s or 100s now
What are they doing in my backyard? 😠
Used to be that way where I lived just 20 years ago. Unfortunately, our government decided 'you know what this place needs? mass immigration from shithole countries with backwards values.' Now it's not safe to play outside, especially if you are a girl.
thank you very much.
Thanks of all those who made efforts to record video, preserving it and uploading it here🎉❤
I had the privilege of knowing a lady who died at age 104 in 1967. She travelled by stage coach across the USA as a child and died just before man walked on the moon. Such an interesting life she led.
You've experienced nearly 200 years of history so far. What interesting life have you led, I wonder?
@@ariadarabi who has lived 200 years? Im only 74.
@@ariadarabi Why?
Until 2018, my friends in New York City lived downstairs from a woman who had lived in her apartment since 1952. She had a number tattooed on her arm, so clearly she knew something about the dark side of humanity most of us will never have to confront.
People never were on the moon
"I've got to have my books." What a wonderful statement. A chapter of our vanishing past.
We still have books. Actually a lot more than in any period in history
@@baroquesham there were few means other than books to learn or pass the time. No tv , no radio, no cars, no electricity. Books were much appreciated then.
I know its crazy how people read books back in the day. That statement just blew my mind.(never heard of books before he said that)
@@JBS2018 Do they? What are you doing right now?
@@JBS2018 Maggie Haberman, you would love it.
...for making "this three-legged stool"... is the part you marked as (indiscernible). Thanks for the recording!
This is truly going back in time, listening to someone who lived in a time that we daydream about. His life is being heard by people in a modern time that he couldn’t have imagined.
Interesting how humor doesn't change very much over time. It'd be considered "dry" by today's standards but I was smiling at his last anecdote just like the interviewer
Oh but it does! We aren't allowed to laugh at any thing now. The PC police will get you if you do...
@@msdemeanour sounds like you’re the one whining online about it…
I thought the same thing
@@msdemeanour please give example
I always think the difference is in how culture tries to sell humor through the ages.
I find it absolutely incredible that at 11-12 years of age after reading a book about magic tricks and electricity, from that moment on this man knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. And to think at the time electricity and working with electronics wasn't an overly common trade. So he went out of his way, dedication and all and pioneered electronics to establish the ground work of so much that we take for granted today. What a legend!
@@mikesmith6838 It's incredible how you can shoehorn these topics into every conversation. It's quite sad.
@@ElectricalSwift What's sad is how the education system has become an indoctrination system that doesn't even teach facts anymore and leaves people completely unprepared to do any job properly even after more years of experiencing it than ever before.
Children should have more time to pursue things that interest them. They all have a passion to learn.
Not sure if he worked with electronics.. so much as electrical. ElecTRONics refers to electrically based devices that use some form of digital communication.. a computer, DVD player, cell phone... Given that that wasn't possible without logic gates (using vaccuum tubes in the 1930s, eventually transistors in the 1970s), it's more likely he worked with AC current in a traditional manner focused on delivery... inverters, transformers, generators, etc. Not to be a jerk. Just an FYI. Electrical and Electronic are not the same.
You’d build what you could out of a book as well if you were alive in the 1800s and everything was super boring and there was no good content
90 years ago is only twice my lifetime... the world has changed so dramatically during the last 100 years, way more than at any other period in history, where things were stable and changed little for decades on end.
How fascinating to see and hear someone talking who was born 150 years ago.
General Electric was partially born from a kid’s book of magic tricks. Very cool. I suspect the light bulb seemed like a magic trick to those who first saw one.
It kind of was!💡
When Michael Faraday,the British scientist made one of those lightning globes being one of the first to work on electricity it was like a party trick,but he knew it was more than that,all fashionable society came to see it and ooh and aah,and paid too so it was profitable. When the Prime Minister of the day came to see it he was very dismissive and scornful as he didn't want to seem impressed by silly party tricks that made the young ladies scream and giggle. He asked Mr Faraday,"but what use is it?". To which the scientist replied,"one day sir,you will be able to tax it". I don't know if that story is true or apocryphal,maybe I'll Google,see if I can find out.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magick until you understand the technology or at least how to use it.
This whole place lit up on free energy 200 years ago, haven't you ever seen the fire places with no chimneys and only an electrode?
@@lobuxracer I was going to say, the vast majority of modern technology is magic to most of the people who use it.
The high school he referred to in Philadelphia, Central High School, is still active and one of the best public schools in the US today.
philadelphia and “one of the best” dont usually mix, source: live in philly
@@revenant6371 also live in Philly. CHS is definitely one of the better inner city public schools
275 !!
Black people won't let that happen
Oldest institutions normally become the best eventually. Harvard is the oldest university in the united states and had the most time to improve. Since his high school is older than 95% of other ones in the states, it has to be better, regardless of where it is.
I’m so glad I just found this channel 😊❤
“The electrical chapter was what struck me at once” 💀
Crazy to think that that man knew people who was alive in the 1700s.
He probably met the offspring of guys who fought in the revolution.
Its pretty crazy that we know people who were alive in the 1900s
@@kraglord1997 Its pretty crazy that we know people who were alive in the 2000s Not yet...? Gates, Schwab, Soros: hold my bear
@@kraglord1997 not really. Some of my great grandparents were from the 1800s and that's not really that cool or fascinating to me
@@rolandas77 gates schwaub and soros are all scumbags
My grandmother was 2 years old when the Titanic sank. It's kind of amazing to think she saw both World Wars, cars replace horses, and then the Internet. Even the cadence of his speaking is different than how people talk now.
I enjoy the speaking styles of people from the last century - much more intelligence and clearly understood
I love hearing old Australian cadence, as an Aussie, and its amazing to see how far the accent has come even from the 70s and 80s. I know that isn't long, but Australia isn't very old in the grand scheme of things!
@@kahalak8171 That Mid-Atlantic accent and command of English you pretty much can't find anywhere anymore. And I think we're all the worse off for it.
Big deal
@@briane173 he sounds distinctly British to me, very much like my own grandfather and his generation.
crazy how now a days we treasure things like our phone or video games of which we can’t live without. for them back in the day it was books. there’s something i love so much about that, because books for sure can only bring you positive things in life i feel, because you’re always learning.
Does anybody notice the difference in how the two men are sitting? Really shows how much more disciplined people were back then, people didn't age as good on the outside, but better than us on the inside
Well said.
The restoration and colorisation is extraordinarily good, and in this case makes the content more accessible.
I would have never noticed that rickety old jalopy rolling by in the background at 2:38 , had the footage not been restored.
This guy also lynched someone
it should have been in black and white
My dad born in 1958 has a memory of a great aunt of his when he was about 4 or 5 years old. His greats aunts dad fought in the civil war. So here’s my dad today in 2022 and he interacted with someone who’s father was fighting in the 1860’s. If that doesn’t boggle the mind I don’t know what would. Love these history videos. Just subbed
It definitely is mind-boggling. My great-great-grandmother was born in April 1860, before Lincoln was even elected. She died in 1959. There is a photo of her sitting in a chair holding me as a baby. Her life physically touched my life. And I have 30 plus years more to live, if I live as long as she did.
@@j7286 wow im just now 26 yrs old...
My grandfather was born in the 1890’s, I have just turned 40, I carry his father’s watch with me, when I stop and wind it I never consider how alien that time jump could be to some people.
Even today right now in the 21 century a man right now has grandfather from the 1700s. President John Tyler. His grandfather was alive when George Washington was on earth.
@@djthachamp I am 15...
something neat about sharing that joke of him giving his dad a shock. We haven't changed much at all.
Great job editing & coloring this video! Remarkable!🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 Thanks for the info on this man who was about 79 here talking about his childhood only missing a beat on the date of 75 years ago, instead of “65 years ago.” What a MOST REMARKABLE MIND! 😊👍🏼. You have a great channel? Do you have anyone mentioning Nikola Tesla?? Thanks so much! 🙏🏼
Wow! This was just fantastic to watch, thank you!
Right, especially it comes to show that it can be a true Time Machine by watching an old interview on video.
I bet you didn't even watch the whole thing
Yeah really wAS. Its fascinating to get a sense of what these people lives were like. Its always rewarding for some reason.
I’m currently on a train going to work and yet I can hear a man’s voice from 150 years ago we have come a long way
And a digital currency with a dog's face on the coin is my retirement . just wild
I love it! It is always amazing to me to hear and see the past. I often try to picture the moment and time. The body is gone but the memory is etched and recorded. So amazing.
In a technical sense, yes we have come a long way. In other fields we didnt develop at all. (ethics, finance, intelligence, etc)
@@StofStuiverwell I would say we have improved in all those ways, just a select few bring us down.
@@PatPlaysPlaystation Which often are the ones in charge.
This is incredible, especially living in an old Hotel from the origins of my Old Railroad Town that is now apartments. Man, the stories these walls could tell. Vicariously I listen, she still has a lot of original ornate woodwork and origina wallpaper from 1895, in some spots. 😊
Wow. What an amazing story. It was great 👍 being able to learn about this man's accomplishments. Imagine being able to explain all that you went through by the time you turn 90 +.
This dude never saw electricity before he straight up made it on his own
I’m sure he’d seen a thunderstorm.
Static electricity
One of my grandfathers, relation through adoption; was a well-known sprinkler maker in our area. Of course, back in the '20s and 30's, my area was mostly agrarian, so if you made something for the farmers that made life easier - then your life too became easier. Thing is, grandfather Makortoff was considered a Russian peasant. I don't believe he ever learned to read English, as he mostly spoke and wrote Russian. The thing is, did he get an education for his metal fabrication skills? Not at all. Great grandfather was rumored to be a blacksmith so I believe certain skills were handed down. But the interesting part about MY grandfather was - if he needed something, he made it. He needed a forge.... so he built one out of bricks (for a fire box); the bellows might have come from an organ. When he needed a lathe, he cobbled one together using a washing machine motor and some engine connecting rods. All his devices for making sprinkler heads were home made; yet he made some of the finest steel and brass sprinkler heads you've EVER seen. One local farm that is now 3rd or 4th generation is STILL using grandfather Makortoff's sprinkler heads - many of which are nearing 100 years old! But they refuse to wear out and continue to function correctly. Grandfather even used to wind his own springs out of stainless steel wire! In his autumn years when a bunch of us kids were helping on the farm, grandfathers tractor refused to run. Since I'm mechanical, one of my cousins and I figured the problem came down to a bad coil. Keep in mind, this is a 1939 Ford 6N tractor. Though we did find a new coil, and got the tractor running.... grandfather was a little sore at us that we BOUGHT a new coil. At 94 years young, he took the old coil out to his shop, disassembled it and over the next few days - to our shock and amazement - managed to remove the old windings and HAND RE-WIND this ignition coil. Grandfather was out to prove a point. Probably the worst thing you could do is tell grandfather he couldn't do something. Well, a few days later, we swapped on grandfathers ignition coil and the tractor started right up. Years later, after grandfather passed away and his possessions liquidated, I surreptitiously swapped the store-bought coil back onto the tractor before it was sold and kept grandfathers hand-wound coil.... just as a reminder of what can be done despite silly labels we attach to ourselves today.
That's awesome! I really loved hearing that an I really needed to hear that! Thank you!
What silly labels?
@@wheedler phd ceo etc.
That was a fascinating recollection. Thank you for sharing!
In those days, people could still make and repair their machines. My stepbro taught his sons to maintain his old early 60s Peugeot car. Try doing that with any post 2000s electrically & software controlled machine, it will not do. You'll need the exact such-and-so year model electric sets, and the correct series software, otherwise, no dice. If we'd get in a situation were components cannot be delivered, war, major crisis, half our machinery will stop working, in particular, if they need a working Internet connection. Imagine the effect of a internet breakdown on just the banking system, water or electric networks. We're about as resilient as a snail on a hot metal plate.
Gosh what a cool video! Thank you for sharing!
I like the vibes from video, from those times. And classic music too.
I always find it surprising to think how few generations separate us from events that sound so long ago in history books. I know they say you are supposed to know every person on this planet through 7 links. But if you think of the past, think of the oldest relative of yours that you got to meet and talk with. And then think of the oldest relative that they ever got to talk with and so on, with just a very small number of „links“ you will find yourself centuries in the past. It is of course humankind‘s secret to success, our ability to communicate and to pass along information. But still, I was born in the 90s, my own grandma, who has told me many stories of her childhood, was born in the 30s. It‘s crazy to think that her own grandma, who played a huge part in der life, was born in the 1870s or 80s and that really there is just this one person, my own grandma, separating me from knowing her directly. That when my grandma says „now my grandmother always used to say“ she might be passing on some wisdom straight from the 1800s, maybe something she again learnt from HER grandmother, who would have been born in the 1820s or 30s and only separated from me by 2 people. And so on it goes.
They say it takes a village to raise a child - that's an example of the value of intergenerational wisdom. And of shared knowledge and shared responsibility in general. Which is why it is so disheartening to see people forced to resettle hundreds of miles away from family and other support networks. Whether due to rents and house prices, or environmental collapse (like the dust bowl, or like whatever the 21st century brings), or the way that jobs currently get centralised in a few places while others are deprived. It's the worst kind of anarchy and the destruction it causes is not accounted for.
I've thought of that too, Alex. I was born in the 60's, my father 1918, my grandparents 1890's. I wish I would have taken more time to talk with my grandparents.
I think of these things so often. You worded it quite well, thank you.
Hey Alex, your comment really got me thinking of the things my grandparents used to do and say. You are totally right!
@@LS-jh7lb yes everybody who reads this, please get stories from your parents and grandparents‘ as children and then write them down and record them or video them. I did a few with my grandmother stories and she was born in 1905 however I should’ve written down more. And asked her more I procrastinated and wish I hadn’t.
Please, don’t ever stop making content like this, it’s genuinely some of the most interesting stuff I’ve ever seen. I love history, and all of your videos are great!
here here!
Ah yes, he makes this content by time traveling to the past.
@@cheddarsunchipsyes8144 lmao
@Sean's Fractured Jaw the interview with your mom 👩 ♥️
I am a history buff too
Imagine how cool is that he's someone's grandpa
Man I could listen to him all day, I bet he had so many stories
It’s fantastic that these kinds of historic videos exist and that we can enjoy them in 2022. Good job
FILM...not video
@@justayoutuber1906 Seeing as how this has been colorized, I believe calling it a video would be correct. The actual film would look nothing like this.
never mention the current year in your comments, as at some point every reply will just be people saying the latest current year
@@MentalParadox however, by stating the current year, he also implied when he saw the video, did he not?
Fast forward 100 years to me, being born in 1953. In 2032 I shall wait for the new KZhead channel Life in the 1900s to come and interview me about my life in the 1960s. Boy, have I got a story or two for them.
i would like to hear your stories!
From the 30's and onwards things are just too well documented and filmed lol. Personal anecdotes might be interesting here and there but it just isn't the same.
I am so glad someone thought to interview this guy
This was delightful in many ways.
1:35 His story is much like my own. At a very young age, even precosiously young, I found out you could make a battery out of a wine bottle. Like him at that moment I dedicated my life to science by emptying wine bottles one at a time so other young scientists would have the necessary materials.
Haha very good..🤣🤗💜
Good stuff man.
Dad is this you?
@@iSinkic It could be, text me.
Well played, sir. It took me many years before I learnt the importance of this.
Given that they aren't holding any mics, and I'm assuming tiny body mics weren't around, the audio of this is really impressive. To be outside in the wind and everything, talking into a mic that's not even in the frame, and we can still hear and understand him, that's crazy
Power of technology these days to audio engineer and make it crisp.
Or perhaps there are mics behind them, or someone has a large mic above them.
The movies from that time period don't have any mics visible, they must have used the same technology.
Thanks for this video
I love all the emphasis he uses when he talks.
so beautifully well-spoken. i could listen to him tell stories for days!
Kinda sad how there is not much video of him speaking. At least we get to listen to his story thanks to the internet.
British people be like
as he said, was quite well educated for his times and cant separate from his books, then he become an important engineer and co founder of General Electric.
He can tell you stories about the time he owned slaves. Fascinating!
At 2:09, in the part marked as indiscernible he says "... and the board for making the insulated stool in order to insulate the person..."
You should be a transcriber
@@alanterry8679 You're very kind. Thanks! 🙂
Thanks for adding that. It went too fast for me to catch.
He had two years of freely self-directed learning 🥰 it was meant to be
This is truly time traveling ❤
This is one of the best thing I've watched in a long, long time. What an interesting and accomplished man. All boys want to prove themselves to their fathers, and boy did he. Thank you very much for posting this clip.
@@groeleorgThat’s what you get for doubting your kid.
It's sobering to realize that I was born 100 years after this man in 1953. So much has changed in the world since then.
You will be born in 2053? Who am I speaking to?
@@a-dutch-z7351 That man was born in 1853 ...
you are old
@@1marcelfilms Yup!
Someone should do a video like this of you then and show it to people 100 years later
Amazing!!!!! Fascinating. THANK YOU!!!
Thanks, awesome video
Wow, this is extraordinary to watch. Elihu Thomas was an incredible intellect. His company, Thomas-Houston Company, held 700+ patents and it would merge with Thomas Edison's Edison Company (now known as General Electric).
And yet no one interviewed Tesla on film, or audio? I smell a conspiracy theory 🤷♂️
@@theStacyJames Tesla has become very overrated by his fanboys.
@@anthonyj.s.7266 obviously you don't know much about him
Thomson
@@theStacyJames Oh I love Tesla! omg an interview of him would be...Wow!
This is one of the best quality historical autobiographical videos I have seen! It really brings this man and his story to life. I wonder if the team behind this production understood at the time how powerful this would be. We are now watching it nearly 100 years AFTER it was filmed! Incredible!
It's best quality because they had the same or better tech at that time and it was only to be revealed during the next Great Reset. Scripts and stories that make no sense.
Indeed they did understand. In fact, history records the cameraman as having stated: "One day, and make no mistake, this moving picture, along with its audio component, will be put onto something called a 'web-site', in order that millions may watch, simultaneously, from all parts of the world."
@@sir_john_hammond They've made a mockery of us, they had tech better than this in 1700, 200 years of destruction and re writing of history, we are seeing high quality photos every day from earlier and earlier time periods, epochs of man that were manufactured by an insidious cabal that resides in every city state province and town
@Sir John Hammond Funny. But joking aside, they made the effort because they did believe it was worth archiving.
@@unfurling3129 archiving in the 'great reset' archives because they knew people would start questioning 'history' (paid actors, rehearsed, scripted while the cities were destroyed)
Love this channel truly fascinating. Did you edit out any uhs or uhms? If not, it’s amazing how clear people spoke back then
thx for this video , it was interesting
I wish we still had people like this man here. He was born in (and lived in) a time where people were so well-spoken, well-mannered, and well-dressed. This world has become such an negative place without people like this.
There are still plenty of well mannered and well dressed people in the world. Not many on social media though 🤷♀️. They're too smart for that.
1863 was the year of the emancipation proclamation. I wouldn't put rose colored glasses on that time period. We shouldn't romanticize a time when people were enslaved.
@@hufflebun we should romanticize everything good in that period. One bad thing doesn't make everything bad in that period
That era was the spike of humanity and from then it went downhill. But I guess most ppl like it this way better. They don't need to improve they just act like animals
@@trawlins396 where I live that doesn't exists
Notice how hosts or interviewers of yesteryear just sat and listened to what their guests had to say without any interruptions or smart alec comments? Such a breath of fresh air isn’t it? I thoroughly enjoyed this clip cos you could just focus on what this guy had to say and absorb it all in one go without any interrupts.
Nowadays would be like, "yeah... Uha... Right... Yeah but what did it make you feel like?"
You are basing your view of all 1930s interviews of this one interview... and I don't even know what interview you'd be referring to I don't see many interviews of 90+ year old, where interruption is the main aim.
@@Alex-cw3rz kindly go back to school thank you
@@mindstory9494 so bascially you have no argument and know your comment is nonsencial
@@Alex-cw3rz yousde assumptions without fact checking first to rebuff the initial claim
My ancestors went through similar migrations, and it is so cool to hear his voice, accent and intonation.
I am glad so many commenting here are starting to understand, 100, 150 years is not really that long ago. I am 61 yoa. and my dad was 8 years old when Wyatt Earp died. My grandpa was born before the gunfight at the OK corral. At one time, my great, great grandma was the oldest living woman in Texas and one of the oldest in the world. She was born in 1860 and died in 1974. She would tell me stories about when she was a young girl. In the grand scheme of things, this was just like yesterday. I would like to add one more thing. My parents were part of the "Greatest Generation". This generation is nearly gone now and if you have a relative or know someone in this generation, please talk with them, get to know them and learn from them. They have a wealth of knowledge that must not be lost. They know what you need to know. Don't wait until it's too late.
That’s amazing! But a little sad for me at the same time. If I were able to talk to my relatives from that era, I would only hear tales of slavery and/or segregation. I promise this is not a jab towards you or anyone else. I just envy being able to have those nostalgic conversations and being able to trace back where my elders were from. Much love to you and I still love these old videos. It’s interesting seeing how people thought/lived back in those days. Very fascinating.
@@TEJASBOY713 But the good thing would be, you would be getting the true story from someone who actually lived it. Not some revisionist history we are told today to fit a politically motivated narrative. It could give you a totally different perspective from someone who was actually there.
@@PAUL-pz3rz that is true. But for instance, in my parents generation (not as far back as the late 1800s) they were in school during desegregation. My mom growing up in Kentucky had to go to her old black teachers to get help with school work because her new teachers wouldn’t even call on her (out of spite) when she raised her hand and wouldn’t help her with her school work when she was having trouble. She never let that experience paint a whole race in a bad light and never instilled any hatred/prejudice in me but that was her experience at the time. We both know it wasn’t rainbows and sunshine on this side in those times but I don’t hold you or anyone else today to blame for things in the past, I wasn’t raised like that. But I don’t think it’s a political thing to say black folks had it rough back then especially in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Basic human rights that we take for granted today was a dream for them back then. Not to mention what I pointed out in my previous comment about the loss of our culture and being able to know our ancestry. That’s no one’s fault today but it’s just kind of sad we can’t really trace our relatives back to our countries of origin because records weren’t kept when Africans were brought over here for slavery. Languages and culture were lost. I just kind of envied my Hispanic friends and the close knit community they have together and knowing where they’re from. And my white friends whose grandparents were straight from Ireland or Italy or wherever and could teach them about their culture. We don’t really have that. Again no hate, just showing the perspective from another side of the fence. Still love the old vids. Super fascinating to watch and imagine what life was like back then but I would rather be here now as a black man than back then
@@PAUL-pz3rz damn just realized how much I just wrote. Sorry for the wall of text
@@TEJASBOY713 The history of African Americans is a rough topic, something not many (white) people (such as myself) are willing to indulge in with a black member of our society. I believe some of it stems from direct ignorance. Not ignorance in a, you're a bad person kind of way, rather they have the means to gain the knowledge of the struggles of our black brethren but do not make the effort. I grew up in a very racially diverse area, and attended a school that reflected that. I saw it first hand, how black people (and other minorities) were treated differently than me by our faculty even in the 90s to early 00s. People also need to realize that the police were originally trained as night watch/slave patrols, and then implemented into our government and literally appointed a constable to "control" the native american population. Our criminal justice system was built upon these metrics, and largely, it hasn't changed much, except now the slaves and native american control applies to all criminals (which their focus is overwhelmingly black), and they work to protect businesses and their properties, not the people (that part really never changed). The cards have forever been stacked against black americans and other minorities, and any hope of tracing family trees for black americans died when they were put into slavery. That being said, there are more black americans (being documented) making incredible strides for the human race, and some day in the future people will trace their tree back to you, your father and your grandfather. Mexicans, African Americans, Italians, Indians, Native Americans, everyone is finally starting to slowly get their fair due. Though, it will take even more time to truly bring those among our poorest and underprivileged to a livable and greatly needed comfortable means of existence. I hope maybe you can find some silver sliver of light in the thought that your future generations will be able to look back and have pride and understanding of where they came from. Much love.
I liked his little smile as he talked.
amazing footage!
we need more interviews like this even nowadays, there are still some people who remember the 1930s let's record their memories yall!
Well most people close to 90 would have some pretty clear memories of the 30’s. People that age aren’t extraordinarily rare, though they will be in 10 years. The real rarities now would be those who can remember the 1920’s and in extremely rare cases those who can remember the 1910’s.
@@TheMahonj mi abuela nació en 1917. Nos contó como era México
We had film in the 1930's....life in the 1930's was recorded...in the 1930's
@allisonharranmua * oh hun..film is older than the 1930s by quite a chunk of years...
@Keizer Hedorah that was my point... I said we had film in the 1930's not that it was invented in the 1930's... we don't need to interview people to know what life was like back then because we have ample footage.
I like seeing them laugh. Humor is one of the most relatable human expressions that binds our humanity across centuries.