Census Sunday: Violetta Davis Ryan

OK, so I’m already behind, but I just thought of this idea today inspired by Jessica Green over at Random Mews.  My goal is to find a family member in the 1940 census and discuss my findings.  Except for this first one, the series will appear on Sunday because I can’t resist the alliteration. 

Until an index for the 1940 census is published, you have to know a family’s enumeration district in order to find them more easily.  That works if a person didn’t move between 1930 and 1940.  My great-aunt Violetta Davis Ryan is my first challenge because she was not married in 1930 and was living with her parents in Shenandoah, Virginia.  Fortunately, I know what her address was in 1940 because it was the apartment building she built and lived in most of her adult life.  I rarely get lucky when it comes to genealogy research, but this time I did.

Violetta and Virgil "Dick" Ryan

Violetta and her husband Virgil “Dick” Ryan were among the first Harrisonburg, Virginia residents to be enumerated.  They are family #11 on page 1A of E.D. 109-2, enumerated by Ruth Harnsberger on April 2.

Click to enlarge

Dick (who used his legal name Virgil for the census) was 41 years old, a native of Virginia and had completed four years of high school.  As a merchant at a newsstand, he worked 60 hours during the last week of March 1940 and earned $1000 in wages in 1939 working all 52 weeks.

Did Violetta earn $1800?  Or only $180?  It appears that the
enumerator started to write something but quit.

Violetta was 35 years old, a native of Virginia who completed four years of college.  She was a public school teacher who earned either $1800 or $180 (confusing mark) in 1939 working 35 weeks. 

She worked 40 hours during the last week of March 1940.  She and Dick owned their home, which was an apartment building worth $40,000.

 

473 S. Mason St, Harrisonburg, Virginia
4 apartments in the main house
2 apartments in the basement

Mary Frances Jollett Davis
on the front steps of Violetta's house

Violetta and Dick are listed as living in the Same Place in 1935, which means they lived in Harrisonburg but not at 473 South Mason St.  I wonder where they lived previously.  Living with them was Violetta’s mother, my great-grandmother Mary Frances Jollett Davis, who was the informant for the household.  In 1935, she was still living in Shenandoah after being widowed in 1934.  Mary Frances, age 70, had completed one year of high school.  She earned no income in 1939. 

In the 1940 census, whoever landed on line #14 and #29 was given supplemental questions to answer.

Because Mary Frances was #29, she provided the following information: 
1. both of her parents were born in Virginia
2. English was the language spoken in her childhood home
3. she was neither a veteran nor widow of a veteran
4. she did not have a Social Security number and naturally as a result had no deductions taken
5. her usual occupation was housewife
6. she was first married at age 19 and had been married only once. 

She evidently misunderstood the last question which was the number of children ever born not including stillbirths to which she replied “1.”  There were actually 6 children, 2 of whom died very young.  Now I wonder if she actually had 1 stillbirth.

While it is interesting to learn these odd bits of facts about my family, I’m more excited to learn who else lived in the apartment building.  The most prominent renters were Clyde Shorts and his wife Viola. Mr. Shorts was a professor of education at Madison College (now James Madison University).  His contributions to academia were honored by naming the first men's dorm for him.  Shorts Hall was constructed in 1968.  Back in the 70s, we always used to laugh at the irony of that name.

Shorts Hall
from Google Images

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