So far most of the 1910 census for Truxton has been done (this is part of an ongoing project to track demographic changes from 1880-1930). I’m going to tackle 1900 soon. Once that is done then I’ll do 1920 & 1930.
The view I have of the area so far is a working class neighborhood with a bunch of tradesmen, a few businessmen and even fewer professionals. My own house, as far as the census data is concerned, has been housing for working class Afro-Americans for the past 100 years or so. My house has housed a cop, a bricklayer and a bunch of laborers. Laborer seems to be a very popular job around these here parts. Laborer could mean anything, but I have a feeling that it mainly meant working poor. The crowded conditions of 1880 lead me to think that my street wasn’t middle class at all.
Now going on that bit of logic, it would be pointless to redecorate the interior of the house to look like some bit of victoriana that more than likely never was in this house. I look at the cataloges and see very detailed brass hardware that may have been in a government clerk’s home but possibly not an unemployed laborer’s house. I’m not saying this of all houses, just the really small ones, with no closet space, skinny hallways, and 7 people sharing the 2 bedrooms.
Also 19th century impoverished worker chic just isn’t my thing.