Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Ancestors in the 1930's Great Depression

I actually know the information for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver for most of my families without even looking.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music, please!):

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?

2.  Share your information about your ancestors in the Great Depression in your own blog post, write a comment on this blog post, or put it in a Substack post, Facebook Note, or some other social media system.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

NOTE:  I could use ideas for different SNGF topics.  Please send me a message at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

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

My paternal grandfather, Bertram Lynn Sellers, was still married to his first wife at the beginning of the Great Depression.  They had two daughters.  In the 1930 census, the four family members were enumerated in four different locations.  My grandfather was living at home with his mother and two siblings in Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey; he was working at the large textile mill which provided most of the employment in that city.  The older daughter was in the Burlington County children's home.  The younger daughter was in Camden County, boarding with a well-off family who was otherwise not connected to my family.  And the girls' mother, Grandpa's first wife, was also living in Camden County, working as a live-in private servant to another unconnected family.

I interviewed Grandpa for a civics class while I was in high school.  We were studying the Great Depression, and we were told to interview a family member who had been alive at that time.  I can't find the interview notes (I don't know if I kept them!), but I remember him telling me that he did have financial problems, particularly that he mentioned trouble supporting his family.  I really hope I kept that interview, because it will be even more relevant to me now that I know more about the family.

Grandpa's mother, Laura May (Armstrong) Sellers Ireland, was living at her home in Mount Holly in 1930, as I wrote above.  She was married at the time to John Ireland, whom she married in 1929.  I don't know when he was no longer in the picture, but I was told she didn't keep him around long.  She kept the name Ireland, though, and was known in the family as Nanny Ireland.  In 1940 she was still living in the same home, but her address was not enumerated in the census.  She was able to keep her home throughout the Depression, even though she was not listed as having an occupation in 1930.

My paternal grandmother, Anna (Gauntt) Stradling, who was at least separated from her husband (if not divorced), was living in Mount Holly and was working at the same textile mill as my grandfather.  I have always guessed that's where they met/got together, which had to have been at least by about March 1935, because my father, Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr., was born in December 1935, but in an entirely different county in New Jersey (Bergen).  I have been told the family moved around quite a bit during the Depression as my grandfather found construction and civil engineering work in New Jersey and New York.  They were missed by the enumerators in 1940, but they apparently lived in three different locations that year, so they were probably either just ahead of or just behind the census takers.

Nana's parents, Thomas Kirkland and Jane (Dunstan) Gauntt, were living in Mount Holly in 1930 and 1940.  They owned their home, and both were retired.  They lived in a rural area, and I've never heard that they were affected much by the Depression.

My maternal grandmother, Lily Gordon, was living with her parents, Joe and Sarah Libby (Brainin) Gordon, and two older brothers in Baltimore, Maryland in 1930.  They moved there sometime after 1924, because they were enumerated in 1925 in the New York state census in Manhattan.  My grandmother told me they moved to Maryland because her father had some trouble finding good work in New York, but I don't know what year, so I don't know if it was related to the Depression.  By 1939 they were back in New York, but in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan.  From what I have learned my great-grandfather had continuous employment throughout the Depression working in the garment industry.  The 1940 census recorded Joe and Sarah as retired and as owning their residence.

Sarah's parents, Morris and Rose Dorothy (Jaffe) Brainin, were living in Manhattan as documented by the 1930 census.  Neither was working.  Morris died in February 1930 and Rose died in November 1934, so they did not make it through the Depression.

My maternal grandfather, Abraham Meckler, was enumerated with his parents, Morris and Minnie (Nowicki) Meckler, and four of his siblings in 1930 in Brooklyn, New York.  His father was working as a carpenter.  I have no stories that reported them as having financial problems during the Depression.  Minnie died in August 1936; Morris was still in the same house in Brooklyn in 1940.

Abraham and Lily were married in October 1939 in The Bronx for some reason, but they were living in Brooklyn according to the 1940 census.  Their occupation was retail candy store, and I even have a photo of them in the candy store they owned.  (My mother was born in November 1940, so she isn't quite enumerated in the census.)

My great-great-grandparents Gershon and Dora (Yelsky) Novitsky, Minnie Meckler's parents and Abraham Meckler's grandparents, were enumerated in the 1930 census living with one of their sons in Brooklyn.  Gershon was working as a Hebrew teacher.  Dora died in February 1936.  I know Gershon was alive in 1940, because he didn't die until 1948, but I have still not found him in the census.  I'm pretty sure he was in Brooklyn, but I don't know if he was working.  His son owned the building where he was living in 1930 and did well through the Depression, but Gershon was not living with him in 1940.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Was a "Turning Point" in Your Parents' Life?

I'm still trying to catch up from missing last week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, but I'm happy to participate in this week's challenge from Randy Seaver!

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible music, please!):

1.  Family stories are often about "turning points" and "major decisions."

2.  This week, please describe a "turning point" in the life of one of your parents (or for both of them, or for grandparents).  Describe the decision and discuss the outcome of it.

3.  Share the turning point with all of us by writing your own blog post, writing a comment on this blog post, or putting it in a Substack post, Facebook Note, or some other social media system.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

From my perspective, probably the most important turning points in my parents' life was when my mother decided to go to a party with her best friend.  They were living in Miami at the time.  Their car broke down on the way to the party, and my mother was fretting about what they could do.  Her friend said, "Don't worry, my uncle is a mechanic.  I'll call him and he'll come fix it."  And that uncle became my father, because my mother's best friend was my first cousin.

I don't know when exactly this happened or the specifics of how things developed from there, but I do know that my parents were married October 21, 1961 and shortly thereafter left Florida and drove across the country to Los Angeles.  I'm pretty sure the first place they went was my godmother-to-be's home in Whittier.  Ruthie was my maternal grandmother's best friend.  My mother told Ruthie that she was pregnant (with me!) before she told my grandmother.

So if my mother hadn't decided to go to that party, I might not be here.  I guess my brother and sister wouldn't be either.  And maybe my father would have become a famous musician!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Did Your Grandparents Know Their Grandparents?

In some ways, I love it when Randy Seaver's theme for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is something for which I already know the answers.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Did your grandparents know their grandparents personally?

2.  Check your family tree and share your grandparents' names and birth and death years and places, and their grandparents' names and birth and death years and places, and indicate if they knew their grandparents.

3.  Share  in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

As another poster on Randy's site commented, we did this exact same topic in February.  I took her cue and did this with my parents instead of my grandparents.  I realized after I wrote everything down that it would be difficult to look up the years I couldn't remember, because the computer on which I have been running my family tree crashed three days ago.  I shipped the computer out yesterday and won't know the status of the hard drive until at least Tuesday.  I searched for when I've posted about these ancestors, though, and retrieved the few years of which I was unsure that way.

• Father:  Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr. (1935 New Jersey–2019 Florida).  His grandparents were:
    • Cornelius Elmer Sellers (1874 Pennsylvania–1918 New Jersey; adoptive) — no
    • Laura May Armstrong (1882 New Jersey–1970 Florida) — yes
    • Thomas Kirkland Gauntt (1870 New Jersey–1951 New Jersey) — yes
    • Jane Dunstan (1871 Lancashire–1955 New Jersey) — yes

• Mother:  Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940 New York–1995 Florida).  Her grandparents were:
    • Morris Mackler (about 1882 Russian Empire–1953 New York) — yes
    • Minnie Zelda Nowicki (about 1880 Russian Empire–1936 New York) — no
    • Joe Gordon (about 1892 Russian Empire–1955 New York) — yes
    • Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1890 Russian Empire–1963 Florida) — yes

Totals:
Yes:  6
No:  2

Smoking versus Not Smoking

Image by Alexas_Fotos

Today, November 16, is the 2023 observation of the Great American Smokeout, observed on the third Thursday of November, one week before Thanksgiving.  The day is meant to get tobacco smokers to quit smoking, either by quitting that day, not smoking for just that day (as a first step), or making plans to quit.  (And when will we start trying to get pot smokers to stop that smoking????)

I grew up with smokers.  Both of my parents smoked, and my mother's best friend, Aunt Sam, also smoked.  I remember at least one or two years that my mother asked my brother, my sister, and me what we wanted for Christmas, and we responded, "We want you and Daddy to quit smoking!"  To which my mother replied, "Yeah, what do you really want?"  So even when we were very young, well under 10 years old, we knew smoking wasn't good for people.

Yet sometimes you get what you wish for.

Shortly after my family moved to Australia in 1971, my mother and father made a bet with each other about who could quit smoking longer.  I have absolutely no memory of what prompted their bet.  Maybe cigarettes cost significantly more in Australia and they wanted to save money?  Whatever the reason, they made the bet.

My father gave up after three days.

My mother, even though she had already won the bet, continued not to smoke.

And became more and more irritable and unpleasant to be around.

To the point that we children actually begged her to start smoking again.

Which she finally did.  And became our regular mother again.

And there was great rejoicing.

Don't get me wrong.  I know smoking is bad for people.  It's better for your health to stop, sooner rather than later.

But sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Do You Take after from Your Parents and Grandparents?

Get ready to dissect yourself for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

(1) What do you "take after" or "favor" from your parents and/or grandparents?  It could be looks, traits, mannerisms, speech, etc.

(2) Put it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link in a comment to this post.

My thanks to reader Liz Tapley for suggesting this topic.

Physical Traits and Size

• My brown hair and eyes are from my father.  When I was young he taught me that brown eyes meant I was "full of it up to there."

• My very, very fair skin that can turn red in just five minutes out in the sun is definitely from my mother.  She told me once that she had gotten skin cancer when she was young, so I've always been a little paranoid about that.

• My "robust" chest certainly didn't come from my mother (who used to call herself the president of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee).  I can probably credit either of my grandmothers for that.

• My height also didn't come from my mother, who was barely 5'2" ("eyes of blue, oh, what those five foot could do").  My father was 6'1" in his prime, so at 5'8" I guess I'm right in the middle.  I'm giving the credit to my father, especially since I would have been taller without the scoliosis and curvature.

• I have my father to thank for my big feet, also.  Not many people my height wear size 12 women's/10 men's shoes, another indication I really should been have taller.  My hands are really big for my height, too.

• My voice is all my mother's.  I sound a lot like her, so much so that when she passed away my stepfather had trouble listening to me talk on the phone for quite some time.

• I used to have a very large mole on my back, which my mother told me was the "Brainin family mole."  According to her, each Brainin family member and descendant had a mole right around the same place on the back.  Mine supposedly was the largest.  Was, because when it began to cause me pain, I saw a dermatologist who excised it and did a biopsy on it to make sure everything was okay.  It was okay, but now I have a scar instead of the mole.

• When I was younger, my mother told me at one point that her father had had flat feet and that's why he was unable to serve in the Army during World War II.  So I guess I have him to thank for my flat feet.

• I'm a lifelong klutz, which my mother said also came from her.

• Who do I look like?  Definitely my sister and half-sister (who also has brown hair, thanks to our mutual father but probably also to her mother).  (I also used to resemble my stepsister, which was kind of weird.)  When I was only with my mother, though, people knew immediately that we were related, so I must resemble her to some degree.  And when our whole family (father, mother, me, brother, sister) was together, everyone knew we were related, so that's another indication of resemblance.  When I met my half-first cousin once removed (the son of my father's niece through his half-sister; my family is really complicated), he immediately thought I looked like my paternal grandmother (his great-grandmother).  His mother thought he focused on that because he had been raised by my grandmother (which is a long story).  But I was told that when I was a baby, others also saw a strong resemblance to my grandmother

Mannerisms and Other Traits

• Along with sounding like my mother, I also talk a lot like her.  I used to pick up her New York City/Boston accent, and I use a lot of her phrases.  At times when I say something I can hear her voice in my head.

• I can credit both of my parents for my intelligence and curiosity.  They were both intelligent and encouraged me (particularly my mother) to think about and explore things.  I think my mother later came to regret that.

• My love for sports also comes from both my parents, who watched all sorts of sports on TV all the time.  My favorite is still football.  Now, my mother would watch golf and boxing, but I have my limits.

• Daddy gave me my love of cars and motorcycles, and transportation in general.  I used to hang over the engine compartment with him while he was working on a car.  I knew the engine parts and all the tools, and would run to get tools when he needed them.

• My ability in music comes from my father.  He was very talented, played piano and guitar, and competed on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour with a swing band when he was about 17 (with his group losing to a young Gladys Knight, in her first televised appearance).  Who knows, if he hadn't been lazy, he might have made a career out of music, and I wouldn't be here.

• My mother gave me a deep love of language.  She liked to play word games, such as creating "Spoonerisms" such as "chu blip stamps" (Blue Chip stamps) and "chotato pips" (potato chips) and talking about the "oneth of the month" (first day of the month).  She got me hooked on crossword puzzles, which I still enjoy.  And she sparked my interest in foreign languages.

• Even now, my handwriting strongly resembles my mother's, which resembled her mother's.  So there we have a three-generational thing going.

Wedding Wednesday

Lynn and Myra

Fifty-four years ago today, my parents were married in Miami, Florida.  The timing was rather interesting:  It was a mere five days after my father's divorce from his first wife, the mother of my half-sister.

This past Saturday I wrote about the little I know of how my parents met.  Although I don't know exactly when my mother and cousin were going to that party, I know it had to have been by late June or early July of 1961 at the latest, because I came bouncing along the next year on April 9, and I was actually overdue by a week (yes, I was supposed to have been born on April Fool's Day).

Something else I learned after my mother had passed away is that my mother's father never knew my father had been married previously.  When my grandmother told me that, I stared at her in disbelief.  There's no question when you look at us that my half-sister, my sister, and I are closely related.  We very strongly resemble each other.  But the story my grandfather was told was that my half-sister was a cousin.  I thought, How could he not have known?  Then I realized the story must have been true, because if he had known, everyone would have heard him comment on it.  That little secret apparently was kept until the day he died, 28 years later.

I am very fortunate in that I have several photographs from the wedding.  It's a shame most of them are so dark, because you can barely see some of the people.  I recognize many of the faces in the photos but not everyone.  Attending on my mother's side were her parents and brothers, her father's brother (and wife Irene?), and her mother's brother and sister-in-law.  So far I don't know the name of the maid of honor.  On my father's side, his mother and maybe her sister were there.  And that's everyone I know!  There's a young girl at the table, and I have no idea who she is.  I'm definitely going to be sharing this post with several family members, asking them to help me ID the other people.  I suspect most of them are relatives, but who knows?  And maybe my father can tell me whose apartment and what restaurant they're in . . . .

Myra

Marty and maid of honor

Myra and Lynn

Myra, Lynn, Anna

Left:  maid of honor, Marty, Myra, Lynn, Anna, ?
Right:  Harry, Irene?, Gary, Lily, Abe, Al, Rose

Myra, Lynn, Anna, Anna's sister?, ?, ?

Al, Abe, Lily

Left:  ?, Rose, Al, Abe, Lily, Gary, Irene?, Harry
Right:  ?

Left:  Rose, Lily, a waiter
Right:  Myra's little headpiece is visible in the back

?, Al, ? (but definitely the focus of the photo)

Wordless Wednesday