1900 Census project: A small note
There is somethings that have been bugging me. It is a common misperception, and I understand the logic of how one can think in those terms.One. Homeowner does not equal occupant. I don't have the figures in front of me but home ownership supposedly now is at a record high or something like that, so it would be logical to assume that most people were homeowners 100 years ago. Nope. Well at least not in my subject group. On the form I use tracking 1900 households, I'm circling 'R' for renter than I am 'O' for owner. So that's why the census is so important. The deeds and the ownership history won't tell me jack about who lived in it. I have a mild curiosity about TC or Shaw landlords, but not strong enough to do any heavy research on it right now.
Second is women working outside the home. Married or single, poor women worked. Old maid middle class daughters worked. There are tons of 'Laundressess' in the TC not all of them heads of households. I also noticed in houses that may have 2-3 adult (anyone over 16 yo) generations, even the middle class white daughters had clerk, sales, and dressmaker jobs. Only so many are needed to keep house, everyone else either went to school or worked.
posted by Mari @ 25.10.06
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