Mar 31st, 2009 by sharbrough
Adding 1930 Census records to the SSDI and military records give researchers a great opportunity to find three records about a veteran’s life. Granted, many WWII vets passed away before 1965, when the Social Security Death Index reaches significant volume, but it’s worth a look.
What’s in 1930?
I looked for a list of columns on the 1930 census, and found one at the Minnesota Population Center. I include it here, with commentary.
| Place of Abode: |
| 1. |
Street, avenue, road, etc. |
| 2. |
House number (in cities or towns). Using street and house number gives an exact address, in cities and towns. |
| 3. |
Number of dwelling house in order of visitation. |
| 4. |
Number of family in order of visitation. |
| 5. |
Name of each person whose place of abode on April 1, 1930, was in this family. Enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 1, 1930. Omit children born since April 1, 1930. |
| 6. |
Relationship of this person to the head of the family. |
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| Home Data: |
| 7. |
Home owned or rented. |
| 8. |
Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented. These are some mind-expanding numbers. |
| 9. |
Radio set. On the page showing my grandfather, only one household (not ours) has a radio. |
| 10. |
Does this family live on a farm? None of the people on this page did, but if your guys did, there’s more. |
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| Personal description: |
| 11. |
Sex. |
| 12. |
Color or race. Good lord! There are only W’s on our page. |
| 13. |
Age at last birthday. |
| 14. |
Marital condition. |
| 15. |
Age at first marriage. I could have wished for the number of years married, or age when married to this partner, but it would seem that the Feds wanted to know how young (or old) people had first married. There are three 16’s and a 15 on our page. |
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| Education: |
| 16. |
Attended school or college any time since September 1, 1929. |
| 17. |
Whether able to read and write. These two questions give a good view of education and literacy. Almost everyone on our page between 6 and 15 went to school, and most of them could read and write. No person older than 9 on our page did not read and write. And these folks was poor. |
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| Place of Birth: |
| Place of birth of each person enumerated and of his or her parents. If born in the United States, give the State or Territory. If of foreign birth, give country in which birthplace is now situated. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English, and Irish Free State from Northern Ireland. |
| 18. |
Person. |
| 19. |
Father. |
| 20. |
Mother. These questions show that our guys were all from Texas, except a handful from Missouri, Louisiana, and Georgia. Everyone was from the US. There were people whose parents were born in Germany and Spain. It’s not much diversity when there isn’t anyone of a different race, or from a different place. We had to make do with people whose parents were from New York. |
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| Mother Tongue (or native language) of Foreign Born: |
| 21. |
Language spoken at home before coming to the United States. |
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| Citizenship, etc.: |
| 22. |
Year of immigration to the United States. For our rednecks, this was wasted space. |
| 23. |
Naturalization. |
| 24. |
Whether able to speak English. |
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| Occupation and Industry: |
| 25. |
Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as spinner, salesman, riveter, teacher, etc.. |
| 26. |
Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, dry goods store, shipyard, public school, etc.. |
| 27. |
Class of worker. Granddad was a Lineman for the telegraph company, a wage or salary worker. |
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Employment:
Whether actually at work yesterday (or the last regular working day): |
| 28. |
Yes or No. Babe Ruth’s mother-in-law said he was, and sure enough, the Tigers were in Yankee Stadium the day before. The played in the House that Ruth Built. The mother-in-law lived in the House that Ruth rented. |
| 29. |
If not, line number of Unemployment Schedule. |
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Veterans:
Whether a veteran of U.S. military or naval forces: |
| 30. |
Yes or No. This was only for males 31 and older. None on our page. It’s common to see “WW” as if WWII wasn’t an option yet. |
| 31. |
What war or expedition. |
| 32. |
If your guys were on a farm, this number identifies the farm schedule for them. |
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