How Eight Children Ended Up Living Alone in 1930

When we looked at Jennie Elizabeth Payne in the 1930 census, we were left with the question, why was Jennie, 22, was living on a farm in Crowder Mountain, North Carolina with 4 brothers and 3 sisters?  The oldest brother, Floyd, owned the farm which appeared to be family run. 1  The story we find is a sad one.

Let’s step back to the year 1920. Jennie is 12, and living with her parents, James, 37, and Georgie, 36, Payne. James owned his farm with a mortgage on Kings Mountain Road in Crowder Mountain, North Carolina. He lived there with his wife, 3 daughters, Lela, Jennie and Daisy and 4 sons, Boyce, Floyd, Thomas and Robert. His sons and oldest daughter worked the farm.2 Later that year, James and Georgie added another daughter to the family. In 1922, their fifth son Otto is born.3

But December 27, 1922 found James Payne suffering from influenza and pneumonia and on January 5, 1923 he died leaving his wife and 9 children.4 Five years later, tragedy strikes the family again. In November 1927 Georgie was suffering from pneumonia and on February 3, 1928 she also died.5

And in 1930, the 8 of the brothers and sisters are living together on the family farm without their parents.

The story is not the records, the story comes from the records.

Footnotes
1. 1930 U.S. census, Gaston County, North Carolina, population schedule, Crowder Mountain Township, p. 133 (stamped), enumeration district(ED) 9, sheet 18A, dwelling 280, family 314, Jennie E Payne; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 May 2012); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1691.
2. 1920 U.S. census, Gaston County, North Carolina, population schedule, Crowder Mountain Township, pp. 65-66 (stamped), enumeration district(ED) 75, sheet 6B-7A, dwelling 97, family 106, Jennie E Payne; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jun 2012); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 1299.
3. 1930 U.S. census, Gaston Co., North Carolina, pop. sch., p. 133 (stamped), dwelling 280, family 314, Jennie E Payne.
4. North Carolina, State Board of Health, death certificate #421 (stamped) (1923), James R Payne, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Raleigh; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jun 2012); citing Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297.
5. North Carolina, State Board of Health, death certificate #397 (stamped) (1928), Georgie E Payne, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Raleigh; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jun 2012); citing Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297.

16 thoughts on “How Eight Children Ended Up Living Alone in 1930”

  1. Jana Last

    Welcome to GeneaBloggers! I actually have your Ask Ancestry Anne blog link on the front page of my blog. So, nice to meet you.

    Your story about the Payne family is so tragic and sad. I wonder if they had any family around, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc., to help them out at all.

  2. Anne Gillespie Mitchell Post author

    Jana, nice to meet you. It is a sad story, isn’t it? And I never knew it when my grandmother was alive, she never talked about it. They did have family around and I have a lot more to this story to publish over time. And thanks for following “Ask Ancestry Anne” — I have so much fun writing that blog as well.

  3. Jacqi

    Anne, I just found your blog via GeneaBloggers. I love your intro there! Pursuing the story behind the ancestors is my passion, too! I want to see who these people were, what happened to them–and, if at all possible, what was important to them–and then bring that story to life again so others can see, too.

    Looking forward to reading more of your work.

  6. Jill Morelli

    Welcome to the blogging community for genealogists! I see that you attended the BU course. I am seriously considering taking it starting in January. If you have any comments about the course, I would appreciate it. Generally, folks at the NGS Conference were complimentary. I blog about the process of becoming a certified genealogist. You might want to check my blog out.

  7. drbillshares

    Welcome to the GeneaBloggers family. Hope you find the association fruitful; I sure do. I have found it most stimulating, especially some of the Daily Themes.

    May you keep sharing your ancestor stories!

    Dr. Bill 😉
    http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
    Author of “13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories” and family saga novels:
    “Back to the Homeplace” and “The Homeplace Revisited”
    http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/
    http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
    http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner
    http://www.examiner.com/heritage-tourism-in-springfield-mo/dr-bill-william-l-smith
    http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/drbilltellsexcitingstories
    The Heritage Tourist at In-Depth Genealogist: http://www.indepthgenealogist.com/

  8. Pingback: Top Ten Articles Shared in 2012 from Finding Forgotten Stories | finding forgotten stories

  9. M. S.

    I have Lexington High School yearbook pics of your dad, are you interested? Perhaps you still have his yearbooks before he moved to NC. Amazing how much the pic of Uncle Paul resembles Gilly( nickname in high school) when he attended L.H.S.
    M.S.

  10. Pingback: A Conflicting Evidence Case In Parts: Death Records | finding forgotten stories

  12. Joann Payne

    Hi. I just started researching my husband’s family tree. His grandfather was Jennie’s brother, James Boyce Payne.

  13. Pingback: Better Than Christmas: Pictures of Ancestors – cluster genealogy

Comments are closed.