My experience, as well. No electricity until 1946, after the war. No indoor plumbing. Carried water from the springhouse 50 yards from the house for cooking and washing. Light was from kerosene lamps. Beautiful Aladdin and Ray-O-Lite lamps. And Dietz barn lanterns. Butchered a hog and a beef on Thanksgiving and 3 more hogs in mid-January. Attended a one-room school; all 8 grades in 1 room.
Yes it was a different world. We moved to Panama City when I was 4. That was 1951. There was no electricity in rural Walton, County until the 1950s.
Interestingly, PC had synchronized red lights way back then. If you hit one green they would all be green all the way down Harrison Ave.
Now my Greatgrandpa had hot and cold running water. A very bright lighting system which ran off of some gas. I think the same thing which miners lamps used. He also had a telephone system which ran to most of his relatives houses but no where else. It was the old kind you had to crank and it had a battery. All this without electricity.
He also owned his own locomotive and tracks.