The 1930 Census

Eighty years ago, and for much of its history, the United States Census was not the self-reported mail-in form that it is today. In 1930, an enumerator would go door-to-door and make a personal accounting by hand of every resident in their assigned district. Here is the 1930 Census form of the section of Chattanooga that we are interested in, as preserved by the National Archives (click to enlarge).

This form was filled out by enumerator Leora Perry on 15 April 1930. In the first column, vertically, she has recorded the street she is visiting -- East Ninth Street. In the second column, the house numbers of East Ninth Street are recorded.

At 1025 East Ninth Street, lived the Raymo family -- Margaret A Raymo and her four children, Arthur J Raymo, Charlotte A Raymo, Chester T Raymo and Roger D Raymo. Margaret, as she was a widow, was listed as head of household in column 6.

Columns 7 and 8 record whether the residence was owned or rented, and what the home value or monthly rent was. The Raymo home was rented for $50 a month.

In 1930, the U.S. Government was interested in how widespread the radio had become in America. As indicated in column 9, the Raymos had a radio.

Column 10 asks if the residence is a farm. Not here in Chattanooga City!

Columns 11 through 15 contain a personal description of each individual, including gender, age and marital status -- very valuable to genealogists. In April of 1930, Margaret was 47 years old. Her children were aged 23, 22, 21 and 19 respectively.

Columns 16 and 17 record each individual's education. Arthur, Chester and Roger each had attended school in the past year. (All three were students at the University of Tennessee.) The whole family could read and write as indicated in column 17.

Where the individual was born is recorded in column 18, along with their parents in columns 19 and 20. As we know, they were all born in Michigan.

Columns 21 through 24 dealt with immigration and citizenship. The Raymos were all US citizens.

Columns 25 and 26 record the occupation and industry of each individual. In the Raymo home, the three boys were students and unemployed. The only one working was Charlotte, who was a library secretary -- a job she held for most of her life.

In addition to providing valuable genealogical data for each individual, the census forms are also useful for getting a sense of the area our ancestors lived in. By looking at the other individuals enumerated on the same street, you can see what kind of neighborhood they lived in. East Ninth Street looks like a typical middle-class street. The occupations of the Raymos neighbor include bus drivers, firemen, railroad workers, letter carriers and nurses. Most folks are native Tennesseans, but there is also a family of Russian Jews.

Also of interest is the household at the bottom of the page -- 1014 East Ninth Street, the home of bookkeeper Leonard Dietzen, his wife Mary and their seven (!) daughters. Their eldest daughter, 16 year old Margaret Dietzen, would five years later, become the wife of Chester T Raymo, and forty years later, my grandmother.

Mother and Daughter

Margaret (Merrow) Raymo and her daughter Charlotte A. Raymo

1930

Mourning

Margaret (Merrow) Raymo at the graveside of her husband of twenty years, Arthur E. Raymo. Arthur was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chattanooga.

Twenty Years of Marriage

Margaret (Merrow) Raymo and Arthur E. Raymo

1925

Mother and her Brood

Roger D. Raymo, Arthur J. Raymo, Margaret (Merrow) Raymo, Charlotte A. Raymo, Chester T. Raymo

Chattnooga, Summer 1924

By the river

Margaret (Merrow) Raymo and unknown woman

1924

The Family Car

Margaret and Arthur E. Raymo in their new car (which looks to me like a Hupmobile).

Chattanooga, 1924

Mom and Dad

Margaret (Merrow) Raymo and Arthur E. Raymo

Chattanooga, 1923

Sunday Best

My great grandmother Margaret A. Merrow

Chattanooga, 1920

Sisters and Brothers

Margaret and sister Josephine Merrow

Brothers Chester Raymo and Roger Raymo

Chattanooga, 1919

Memories of Mount Pleasant, Part One

In 1976, Charlotte A. Raymo wrote down some of her memories of growing up in rural Tennessee sixty years prior.

My family lived in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, a small mining town in middle Tennessee. I have vivid memories of these years. My mother made all my clothes and hers, and many things for my brothers (like pajamas, play clothes, “Buster Brown” suits, etc.) Whenever she made me a new dress, she would make one just like it for my largest doll. Mother was a good cook and we celebrated birthdays and holidays with special food and decorations—she made life exciting for her children.

Roger and Chester

Halloween

Gone South

In 1911, Arthur Elsworth Raymo and his family moved from Dearborn, Michigan to Mount Pleasant, a small mining town in central Tennessee. Arthur accepted a new position as the superintendent of the Rhum Phosphate Mining Company.

This c.1912 portrait shows Arthur and Margaret with their four young children; Arthur, Charlotte, Chester and Roger.

The Newlyweds

Margaret Merrow grew up in Detroit. Her father, Joseph D. Merrow, was a tug boat captain on the Great Lakes. He retired from that profession in 1894 and moved his family to Swift's Corner, north of Wayne. There, Joseph ran a general store and was a postmaster. It was there, presumably, that Margaret met Arthur.

Margaret A. Merrow married Arthur E. Raymo on 2 Aug 1905 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Wayne, Michigan.

For their honeymoon, they travelled to where else? Niagara Falls!

Margaret Angeline Merrow

My great grandmother Margaret Angeline Merrow was born in Detroit, Michigan on 11 October 1882. She was the eldest child of Joseph Daniel Merrow (1851-1922) and his wife Josephine Gertrude Greusel (1861-1938). She is photographed here in a c.1883 tintype.

She later married my great grandfather Arthur Elsworth Raymo. Margaret kept many scrapbooks and family albums throughout her life, a legacy which was continued by her only daughter Charlotte Raymo.