SNGF -- Your Ancestors in the 1930s Great Depression

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, is to:

1)  What did your ancestral families do during the Great Depression (1930-1940)? Did they keep their jobs and standard of living?  Did they suffer personally or economically?

Thanks to Marian B. Wood for this week's SNGF challenge topic.

Here's mine:
My mother was born in 1934 during the Great Depression. Her father, Tom Johnston, was living at home with his father in 1930. He was just 17 years old and worked as a ranch hand. The family lived in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas, so not sure how far out of town he would have worked.[1]

By the time he married Pansy Lancaster in 1933, he worked as a carpenter. In 1940, he had his own business doing woodworking. They lived in Stephenville, with her parents, Warren and Lela Lancaster, her brothers, Wayne and Rayburn D, and her aunt, Ida Hester. Pansy worked as a clerk in a dry goods store. She also did alterations for extra cash.[2]

Between their marriage in 1933 and 1940, he worked short-term jobs. A newspaper article in 1936 told of Pansy and her daughter visiting him in Waxahachie where he was employed.[3] Another time he worked in Fort Worth.[4] Likely these were short-time jobs.

In his draft registration in 1940, he stated he worked for himself doing wood work.[5] He had worked 54 hours the last week of March as the owner of his wood work shop.[6] A newspaper article announced his new buisnes doing millwork and furniture repair in Stephenville.[7]

They survived the Great Depression by living with other family, and doing whatever jobs they could find. My grandparents had skills that they used to earn money: Tom worked with wood, Pansy with fabric. Between the two and with the help of family, they made ends meet.

[1] 1930 U.S. census, Erath Co, Stephenville, ED 2, sheet 3b, p. 40b (stamped), dwell. 55, fam. 63, Thomas T Johnston.

[2] 1940 U.S. census, Erath Co, Stephenville, ED 72-7, sht 4a, household 75, Warren G. Lancaster.

[3] “Away Over Week-end,” Stephenville Empire-Tribune, 30 Oct 1936, p.1.

[4] Stephenville Empire-Tribune, 18 June 1937, p. 6.

[5] World War II Draft Registration Records, Selective Service Records, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri, Ser. No. 1738, order no. 1870, Tom Junior Johnston, Erath Co, Texas.

[6] 1940 U.S. census, Erath Co, Stephenville, ED 72-7, sht 4a, household 75, Warren G. Lancaster.

[7] "Announcement," 2 Feb 1940, p. 6, col. 7. It was a little ad.


Copyright © 2011-2026 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

Comments

Post a Comment

All comments on this blog will be previewed by the author to prevent spammers and unkind visitors to the site. The blog is open to other-than-just family members particularly those interested in family history and genealogy.

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Blogiversary & Happy 100th Blog Post!

Image
Today is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post I have written and the 6th anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I began the blog on January 15, 2011, through a blog writing class I took at California Genealogical Society, taught by Craig Siulinski. It was something I wanted to do but wasn’t really sure what I would focus on. I finally settled on writing about my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster’s family and this was my first post . In the beginning it was hard to get started. I learned from the Geneabloggers website, that there were blogging memes I could use and I have done that off and on, especially at the beginning. But I finally learned that what worked best was to write about my discoveries as I researched my grandmother’s family. So what have I written in six years? I discovered I have only written four posts specifically about my grandmother: “Mam-ma was a Tomboy” “Fearless Females – Day 12” “Mam-ma 1913-2013” “My Grandpar...
Read more

George Wilson Lancaster Goes After Government Land in Arizona Territory, Part II

Image
In the first installment , we learned that my 3x-great-grandfather, George W. Lancaster (1839-1919), received a land patent from the federal government for forty acres located in Maricopa County, Arizona Territory, on 15 July 1890. [1] He filed for the land on 8 June 1886, and made his final proof on 4 February 1887 before the clerk of the District Court in Phoenix. [2] He was to complete an affidavit describing the improvements made to the land and to bring two witnesses, who also gave affidavits. His witnesses were to be two of the following: George H. Trook, Isaac B. Hand, James P. Moffatt, and Legh R. Shaw. [3] George’s Testimony The affidavit is four pages long, and the questions were asked by J. E. Walker, clerk of the 2nd Judicial District of the U.S. District Court in Phoenix. George was first sworn in and gave testimony to numerous questions. [4] He stated his name was George W. Lancaster, that he was forty-seven years old, worked as a farmer, and was not employed by an...
Read more

52 Ancestors -- Week 9: Melissa Ann Welch Coor

Image
Amy Johnson Crow of  No Story Too Small  has created a new theme called  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks . I think it’s a great way to write about one person. This will help me see what I have and what I’m missing for additional research. Melissa Ann Welch was born 8 May 1840 in Crystal Springs, Copiah County, Mississippi. [1] Her parents were Dempsey Welch and Elizabeth Rebecca Young. She was enumerated with her parents in 1850 in Copiah Co, Mississippi. [2] She was 10 years old with three older brothers, Jenkins, Thomas, and Augustus and one younger sister, Martha. Dempsey was a planter from Georgia and had $2400 in property value. All of the children had attended school in the past year. Melissa Welch with family in Copiah Co, Mississippi, 1850 From this record it appeared that her father, Dempsey was well off. The 1852 tax list confirmed it, when it showed he had 37 slaves under the age of 60. [3] This was way more than the other men listed on the same page. On 3...
Read more