The "roaring twenties" brought about a time where the average working family
could afford luxuries unknown to them before. The economy was booming,
the job markets were high and paying well. The development of
the assembly line and mass production took over industries. The high
production rate made prices low, payment plans a popular choice,
and small stock investments appealing. With spending and production
so high, there was bound to be a big low. Prior to the crash, the
job market started to decline because of overproduction. Industries
kept overproducing until they were losing money, so they laid off workers,
who in turn couldn't make payments on their payment plans.
It's a common thought that the crash came out of nowhere, however, people
were blinded by their material possessions. They couldn't see what
was right in front of them. This was all a lead up to what is known
as The Great Depression.
Leslie A. Smarr’s family benefited from higher standards of living associated
with new technologies and electrical energy, some things that they were
able to enjoy were, an electrical refrigerator, electrical toaster, a washer
(but not a dryer), a coal tucker furnace which crushed coal on its own
and only had to be fed twice a day, and electrical lighting.
One of the families
favorites was a radio that they listened to daily and nightly. The family
was also able to by an automobile, a black 1934 Pontiac. Since the family
had access to a car they took vacations every summer to Miami Beach. Florida.
Their recreation and leisure times consisted of dancing and going to various
movies.
In 1929, at age fifty-one, Anton Hansen's whole life changed Within
a few months he lost his investments, his home, and his business.
He was a self employed insurance salesman living in Chicago. His
downfall hit after the crash because no one wanted to buy insurance, what
insurance could it bring them during a depression.
He had small investments in the stock market, because prior to the crash
his business was doing well. However, after the crash people were
losing their homes and possessions, the things they had insurance policies
on. Anton couldn't provide security for them, he had no way to do
it. Hence, his business went under.
Anton, who was married two times prior, had a new wife named Sarah.
When things got so bad she went to live with her sister, Clara, until Anton
got back on his feet. The children from Anton's first marriage were
split up among various family members on their mother's side to live.
In 1933, Anton still did not have a stable job, he was still trying to
sell insurance. To add to their worries, Sarah and Anton had a child
that same year, named Clara.
During the Depression, Ruth Lafeiber's father lost his job as a chair maker. The only way he could make money was to take a daily trip down to Findley Market in Cincinnati. It was there that he bought large amounts of produce to take back to town and sell for a marked up price. To help save money, all of Ruth's clothes were made by her mother.
On Mike Smith's mother's side, the lack of jobs forced his grandfather to move to Chicago for employment. That is where he met his wife, Louise. She was forced as a freshman at Northwestern University to dropout because of her family's declining economic status. Overall, his Great Aunt Ruth made the greatest sacrifice, she became a prostitute in New York City.
Kevin Morath's great-grandfather, who was at one point a wealthy cabinet maker, lost his whole life savings over night. All of his hard earned money was kept in the bank and all taken away right before his eyes. Not only was this devastating to the family, but on top of that his grandfather lost his house and was forced to move into a tiny house where nine people had to live off of one wage.
Jennifer Drewes great-great-grandfather, Frank E. Schuck, was a director at the Cedar Grove National Bank during the time when the depression was beginning to happen. Due to his job he was very involved in the banks and invested his money into them. When the banks went broke, Frank E. Schuck watched seven thousand dollars vanish right before his eyes.
When the depression hit the Billman and Riehle families, both pure farming families, Albertine Billman was only fifteen and Martin Riehle was twenty-two. Their lives intertwined each others during these times, leading to a later marriage. They both went to work for "the rich people" in Cincinnati. They both worked different jobs for different families. Martin did outside work and odd jobs that varied from day to day. Albertine worked inside the houses as a maid and a cook. Albertine started out at five dollars a week for long hours. She eventually worked her way up to thirteen dollars a week by changing jobs, for example head cook at a house down the street owned by a "Jew woman". Any money unused for their basic necessities was sent home for their families. Although Albertine was known to keep ten cents to go to the movies on her half a day off.
William and Francis Smith experienced some of the hardship that went along with the depression. William worked in a knitting mill until he married and had eight children. During the time of the depression he had to get more work to support his family so he picked up other jobs such as; farming, carpentry, butchering hogs, digging ditches, and anything else he could find.
Kelli Bedel's great-grandmother Alice Layton, took on a lot of responsibilities during the depression. Alice went to work to help support her family. This was a drastic step for women of this time it was almost unheard of for a mother to go to work. The women of her family farmed and even worked in factories to help supply a good income for the family.
Henry and Katherine Jergens farmed during the depression, and although they never had a lot, they never went without the necessities. They were self sufficient and were able to trade food items such as sugar and flour for other needed items. Food was given to the doctor for medical care. "Hand-me-downs" were used to make their clothes with. They basically made due with whatever they had.
Victor Nanni went to work when the depression hit so that he could support his family. He was working 12 hours a day 7 days a week, making only thirty five dollars a week. He remembers not eating healthy because they did not have the money to buy food. And the family was forced to come up with their own remedies since no doctor was available to them. Goose grease was rubbed on their chests to get rid of colds. They would chew on garlic balls to keep colds away, and many other home remedies.
Throughout the depression many psychological problems occurred. Men who had been laid off because of the depression did not feel as though they were worth much. They felt as though if they could not even support their family then they had failed. This was the case with Lester Layman, he began drinking very heavily which was common in men back then. But then when his daughter was twelve years old he could not face it anymore, he left had was never to be heard from again.
Many men abandoned their families, because they couldn’t handle not being able to support their families. Many older children left too. They didn’t want their family to have to worry about feeding them. And with the depression getting deeper, they couldn’t find work to even help support their families, so in an attempt to better the situation both groups had a high rate of walking away.
The countries suicide rate grew to numbers unseen in past years. Some people felt it was the only way out. Running away wasn’t helping anything. There was nothing to run to.
The government didn’t seem to be helping. Their own president, President Hoover said that no one was actually starving in the United States. How ironic. Parents would listen to their children cry because of starvation and malnutrition and somehow no one was going hungry.
Many families faired out well during the depression. They didn’t feel the weight of the crash upon them. Many of the families in this area, farming and small communities, supported themselves and each other. They didn’t lose much because they didn’t dwindle much in the stock market. Many now see their families as untouched by the depression.
Cleo William's family survived the depression fairly well. They lived off of their own stock of food provided by their farm. They would sometimes trade their pork for beef from neighboring farmers, and they had lots of chickens which they would use for their own consumption and the sale for money.
The stock market crash had no effect on James Proctor’s family whatsoever. His great-grandfather had his grandfather, great aunt, and great uncle well taken care of. They lived on land given to their father from his father and they worked for themselves. They did good for themselves.
Ultimately, the Great Depression had many downfalls, which taught many
Americans a great lesson about their economic spending. Some had the misfortune
of losing virtually everything, other just had to scrimp and work harder,
others had hopelessness and despair, some felt small drops of the depression
but were left untouched ,and some of the fortunate felt their wasn’t even
a depression going on. The variety of lifestyles during this period are
astonishing.