NHS 1965 News

Every ten years our beloved federal government does an inventory, so to speak, of US residents that we call the census. We all know that. What some may not know is that each census is made up of a set of questions designed just for that particular survey. In 1930 (the most recent census available for the public to see), one of the new questions was whether or not the household had a radio set? The answer to the question provided a peek into that home’s prosperity and interest in this exciting new communication technology. (About 40% of the US households had a radio in 1930.)

This is a bit of an introduction to an offer I’ll make to NHS’s class of 1965. I have online access to the 1930 US census (and all the previous ones, too) and will be willing to do look-ups for classmates. Just let me know the names and where these folks lived and we’ll go from there.

As a way of starting the ball rolling and to show us all a bit of Rice County history, I started looking up all the surnames of our classmates. My source for the names is the alphabetic index titled “Senior Activities” in the 1965 Norhian.

Here’s what I found for the letters A and B. What I’ll list here is the last name, the number of people with that name living in Rice County in 1930 and the first names of the adults. If a last name isn’t listed it means I found nothing for that name in Rice County. Be warned that spelling of names was no were as precise back then as it is now. Names were often spelled as they sounded to the census taker. (Other information included in the census for that year is: whether the home was owned or rented, the value of the home, the age at first marriage, whether the person is able to read and/or write, the person’s birthplace, the birthplaces of the person’s mother and father, the mother tongue if person was foreign born, the year of immigration, occupation and whether a veteran.)

Ackerman – 2; M. Etta, Alberta

Ahlstrom – 1; Peter

Albers – 16; Alfred, Amelia, Louise, Clarence, Ellen, Hubert, Teresa, Henry, Louise, Lorrine

Aldrich – 17; George, Pearl, Murvil, Gilma, Ida, Clarence, Roy, Edith, Ira, Clara

Anderson – I didn’t attempt this name since there were bound to be many. Sorry. Give me a first name and I’ll be happy to check.

Babcock – 13; Vernet, Adah, Charles, Electa, Lora, Ida, George, Ada, Helen, Fager, Lana

Baker – 29; Earl, Goldie, Frank, Ella, Levander, Mattie, Joyce, Betrice, Anna, Charley, Mary, Hebert, Clayton, Rozella, William, Blanche, Edwin

Barron – 1; Rose

Behrens – 1; Luverne

Bennett – 5; Carl, Lydia, Nellie

Bickel – 19; Henry, Rachel, Minnie, John, George, Edith, Catherine, Ferderan, William, Rith

Bradford – 7; Alfred, Perle

Bruss – 3; Verna, Luella, Emily

Burmeister – 9; Joseph, Agnes, John, Nettie

The rest of the C through Z to follow as time permits.

Posted by Rynda Neff Carlis