Tracing Thayer
The following post was originally published on my other (currently offline) blog.
Thayer Benjamin Graham is my great-grandfather on my mom's side. With the help of old city directories for Saginaw, Flint, and Detroit, as well as the 1940 United States Census, I was able to follow Thayer's moves around Michigan from 1907 up until 1942. I was surprised at the number of times Thayer (and in later years, his wife and kids) moved house - I counted nineteen different addresses during that time span. That seems like it would have been quite chaotic - Thayer and his wife, my great-grandmother Viola, had eleven kids together over a span of about 20 years. I can't imagine pulling up stakes so many times with so many kids, year after year. It probably got easier as the oldest ones left home, but still, it seems like it would be pretty stressful.
Another fun discovery I made: in 1935, my great-grandparents on my dad's side and my great-grandparents on my mom's side were living just minutes apart from each other in Detroit. The city directory, the census, and Google Maps all helped me confirm this. It's fun to think that at some point in time they probably passed each other on the street.
Thayer also had a lot of different jobs in his life, according to what I found in the city directories (which helpfully list a person's occupation along with their address). He worked as a laborer, a driver, a watchman, and a fireman. In his last few years, he and the family lived outside of Saginaw on a farm located in Albee Township.
Thayer passed away in 1943, so I never got to meet him, but after all this research, I feel like I know him a little better.
Thayer Benjamin Graham is my great-grandfather on my mom's side. With the help of old city directories for Saginaw, Flint, and Detroit, as well as the 1940 United States Census, I was able to follow Thayer's moves around Michigan from 1907 up until 1942. I was surprised at the number of times Thayer (and in later years, his wife and kids) moved house - I counted nineteen different addresses during that time span. That seems like it would have been quite chaotic - Thayer and his wife, my great-grandmother Viola, had eleven kids together over a span of about 20 years. I can't imagine pulling up stakes so many times with so many kids, year after year. It probably got easier as the oldest ones left home, but still, it seems like it would be pretty stressful.
Another fun discovery I made: in 1935, my great-grandparents on my dad's side and my great-grandparents on my mom's side were living just minutes apart from each other in Detroit. The city directory, the census, and Google Maps all helped me confirm this. It's fun to think that at some point in time they probably passed each other on the street.
Thayer also had a lot of different jobs in his life, according to what I found in the city directories (which helpfully list a person's occupation along with their address). He worked as a laborer, a driver, a watchman, and a fireman. In his last few years, he and the family lived outside of Saginaw on a farm located in Albee Township.
Thayer passed away in 1943, so I never got to meet him, but after all this research, I feel like I know him a little better.
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