One Day

#SaturdayNightGenealogyFun

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I hope you do!) is to:

1)  Michael John Neill wrote “Pick a Day” on Thursday in his Genealogy Tip of the Day blog and I thought it would be a good SNGF topic.

2  Read Michael’s post, and then write your own post.  Tell us your day, and your person, and then answer the ten questions.

From Michael John Neill’s post –

The first step of this “project” is to pick a day and an ancestor.

• My grandparents: Leon and Winnie Crawford
• Dec. 7, 1941

Leon and Winnie Crawford and their two sons, Eugene and Leon were living at 512 Avenue G in Dodge City, Kansas. Also living in the household was Winnie’s 74 year old father, Hiram Currey.

Leon was employed by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad as a yard switchman. According to the 1940 census, Leon earned an annual income of $2717.

In December 1941, Leon would have been 47 and Winnie 36. Eugene would turn 14 on December 8, 1941. Their son, Leon would have been 2 years old.

Leon’s parents, Judson and Josie Crawford, were living down the block from them at 502 Avenue G. Judson and Josie also owned their own home. Judson also worked for the railroad. Other households on the block included Malisa Hanna, Marvin Hawins, Jay Bean, Jerome Card, and John Campbell. Like Leon, his father, Judson, and John Campbell both worked for the railroad. Jerome Card was a truck driver, Marvin Hawkins was a taxi driver and Jay Bean worked in a grocery store. Malisa Hanna’s daughter, Laura was employed in a WPA sewing room as a seamstress.

According to Google maps, the houses at 504 Avenue G and 510 Avenue G would have been just north of Military avenue on Avenue G. Avenue G is highlighted with green on the map below. The yellow highlighting on the right side of the street indicates where the Crawford homes were. Just to the south across the railroad tracks was the R. R. Round house (pink square with 5 in center). Thus, their homes would have been within walking distance of their work.

The family attended the First M. E. church located at first and Vine. This location is marked in orange on the above map.

Since December 7, 1941 was a Sunday, the family may have just finished their Sunday dinner when the radio began broadcasting news from Hawaii.

Unfortunately, the Dodge City newspapers have not been digitized yet. Thus, I’m not sure when the local newspaper covered the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Across the state, my mother’s family would have received a special edition of the Emporia Gazette covering the attack.