You had the chance to have met people who remembered the Civil War, Reconstruction, were former slaves, remembered the Wild West, Little Big Horn, Spanish American War, etc.
As a kid, I did not know to ask things. We just went fishing.
Most others were so dirt poor when young, best not to recall things.
Just as my grand mother on my Mom's side did not have quilts...sign of being poor and best forgotten.
"Somebody told us Wall Street fell, we were poor, we couldn't tell"