A 20th Century Thinker

By Robert Gray Ogden

Have you ever wondered how our lives got to be so good during the 20th Century? I have and then I start thinking about all the inventions that were created primarily by Americans and the U.S. had made it easy for patents to be granted and from that kind of encouragement from our government many people invested their time and money into making work saving appliances, automobiles, telephones, airplanes, automatic assembly lines and much more. It was a century whose atmosphere made many people comfortable in investing their own time to make life better for us all. There is lot to say about the 20th Century. This book describes how that creative environment helped drive this thinker to reach for the stars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9780359090280

Book preview

A 20th Century Thinker

A  20th  Century Thinker 

Series One of the Writings of 

Samuel                      Darwin                        Ogden

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the prior written permission of the author's co-editors, except brief quotations used in connection with previews, reviews written specifically for inclusions in a magazine, newspaper or other media.

Copyright @ 2018 by Robert Gray Ogden

Published by Robert Gray Ogden

ISBN-978-0-359=09028-0

Introduction

My twin brother, William, and I were the only children of Samuel Darwin Ogden and Claudia Merlin Quarles Ogden. Our father was born in 1911 and our mother was born in 1915. Dad was born in Raleigh County West Virginia and Mom was born in Castle Craig, Virginia, just north of Altavista.

Dad's father William Wilford Ogden and his mother Bertie Mae Edmunds Ogden were born and raised in Raleigh County West Virginia. Mom's father Edward Baines Quarles and her mother Odell Trent Quarles were born very close to Altavista, Virginia. Edward Lane had just started the new cedar chest company called The Lane Company.

Two railroad companies had recently build lines that came through this area. Plus the Stanton River flows near downtown. So there was great interest in people moving here back in the 1910's. Dad's parents moved them to Altavista in 1913 after buying farm land nearby. William began farming the land. Along with Dad the other children who moved with them were twins Dallas and Doval who were born in 1909. In 1916 Bertie gave birth to a second set of twins, William and Frances.

For more on their lives I refer you to other books. My brother William Ray Ogden authored a biography of Dad and Mom in 2015. It was entitled A Life of Love and Determination. I authored my autobiography Life Before and After 1974 and Life Before and After Christ in 2018. An autobiography of our paternal grandfather's father, George Washington Ogden, was published in 2018. It was edited by Dr. Christopher B. Ogden and myself as G.W. Ogden's writing had become of public domain.

Dad was a successful ballplayer, mine electrician, power company engineer, wholesale and retail salesman of electric radiant home heaters, appliances, furniture, wiring, plumbing and heating supplies. He owned Ogden Electric Company and was President of Standard Electric Supply Company Inc.

Mom handled the accounting for both businesses. Dad's great desire before and after retirement was to be published as a poet and a writer. He sent his material to publisher after publisher with little success. He took many classes on writing poetry and stories. His mind was very sharp and he came up with ideas for several inventions.

He would make drawings of his ideas and would build some of the ones which were small enough that he could gather the materials and build them himself. My brother and I get our designing attributes from him and Mom. Mom was second in her High School class and took many business management courses over her many year in the business. She was the oldest child in her family. She had a younger sister Iris and three younger brothers, E.B. Jr., Roy, and Carlton.

Acknowledgements

I give Jesus Christ the