Columbia House Deep Dive Part 1

In the first part of this two part series, we're going down the rabbit hole of what MY past resident's lives were like. To recieve these blog posts as newsletters once a month - subscribe here.

In the 1900 Federal Census, Exra Tucker was 14. He lived with his family in Kentucky. He had two brothers. His dad was a farmer and he had finished at least 9 years of school. By 1910, Ezra had married Maude and they were living in Shelbyville, IL with two daughters, Helen (2) and Jessie (1/2). As the Census shows, both parents could read and write and they were renting their house.

One of the things that is important to note about the 1910 Census was that they were not only tracking how many of the population could read or write, but how many mothers had given birth and how many chilren had survived. The mother just below Maude had birthed 8 children and ony 5 were currently living. Just a few family's down, the mother had born 7 and only 4 had made it. Without vaccines, centralized heating, and farm accident's common, all of your children surviving to adulthood was rare.

According to Ancestry.com, Out of every 1,000 births in 1900, 165 infants died within the first year, compared to about 7 infant deaths per 1,000 births by the end of the twentieth century.

1920 gets a lot more interesting for the Tuckers! They're living in Tower Hill, but now Ezra is making a business as a carpenter and they have four children! And things are about to get a lot more interesting!

The Tucker family is now residing in my house! It’s currently owned by the Tuckers and listed at $3000.

(With adjustment for today's inflation, that's roughly $48,000, less than half what I paid for my house one hundred years later.)

Ezra is working as a house carpenter and we suspect he built our house. Maude is no longer working, but their daughter Helen, who is now 22, works as a bookkeeper. Their two nephews and a roomer are living with them as well. We don’t know for sure, but think that this house was originally built without a bathroom inside. Even still, it’s difficult to imagine 4 adults and 3 boys living in our 4 bedroom house. Between 1928-1934, Maude Tucker is in the newspapers quite a bit for hosting parties for part of various groups. Helen is also quite sociable, as part of the bowling league, singing, and putting on plays. Both the women are in quite a few social outings and seem to be living their best flapper lives!

But where are the Tuckers in 1940? Not at my old house. Turns out the depression hit them hard and the Raper's are living in what will become my home. The Rapers is an entirely different story for another time, but lets try and find the Tuckers?

The 1935 City Directory has Maude and Helen living a few blocks down. Where is Ezra? He picked up and moved when they lost the house in 1935 and by 1939 was remarried with a new family!

Although the Tuckers, the original family who built my old home, didn't have a happily ever after, Maude and her children went on to live successful lives. Maude died in 1942 in her new family home with her daughter Jessie. Helen died at the age of 73 in Champaign, a prolific secretary and bookkeeper. Paul moved to Carbondale and was the owner of a Liquor Store. Ezra died and was buried new his hometown in Kentucky with his second family!

Click the link below to see what a full package deep dive into your old house could look like!

Click Me!