I’m having some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (#SNGF), with help from Randy Seaver and his prompts! Feel free to join in.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: May 2, 2026

Prompt: “What did your ancestral families do during the Great Depression (1930-1940)? Did they keep their jobs and standard of living?  Did they suffer personally or economically?”

Introduction

My grandmother told me that her father, Henry Makey, had gotten a pay cut during the Depression and they moved to a cheaper apartment. What can I learn around that?

Discussion

In the 1930 census [Ancestry link], as the Great Depression was just getting going (the stock market had crashed on October 28, 1929), Henry Makey (or someone) informed the census taker that they were paying $73 rent for their family of five. He worked as a steamroller engineer on NYC asphalt (Grandma said he paved the streets). The family owned a radio.

Two of the children moved out in the 1930s. From the way Grandma talked, it sounds like she married out (1935) after they moved to the smaller place, but I would love to go to a library for city or telephone directories to verify.

In the 1940 census [Ancestry link], Henry Makey rented at a different place in Queens, for $48 rent, for his family of three. He was still in the same occupation and had earned $3,120 for 52 weeks of work in 1939. That works out to about $60 a week. They reported that he was in the “same place” in 1935.

Grandma’s memory holds up well. The records do not directly show Henry’s pay cut, but they do show the Makey family moving from a $73 apartment in 1930 to a $48 apartment by 1940, while Henry continued in the same line of work and worked a full 52 weeks in 1939. That suggests the Depression did not push him out of work, but it may still have changed what the family could comfortably afford. Moving to a cheaper apartment was exactly the kind of practical adjustment a family might make when income became uncertain or reduced.

ChatGPT, 03May2026

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.