Russ
One of the main points I have derived over many years from reading about our forebears is that THEY were a very resilient people, much tougher than we are today; they had to be to have accomplished what they did! As late as the mid 1860s during the conflict betwixt the states men marched 30-50 miles in a day, half of them BAREFOOTED leaving blood in their tracks for lack of boots/shoes! Without any doubts these folks were cut from the same cloth that the pioneers and Mountain Men were cut from! In a decade or two along the way from their passing we lost the steel and backbone that THEY were blessed with!!