Dad’s 100th Part 3: The 1930s

1930 U.S. Census Federal for Josef Szczudlo, Necedah Township, Juneau Co., WI

1930 U. S. Census Federal for Josef Szczudlo shows that the family own the farm they live on and Josef is working on his own account (for himself). Were they still living on the original 118 acres in Section 27? By this time Frances and Bernice both no longer live at home. Bernice was married to Louis Havlovic, Jr. on February 8, 1930. 

Name	Age on Apr 8	Attending School	Can Read/Write	Citizenship
Josef	48	No	Yes	Papers Filed
Carolina	38	No	Yes	Papers Filed
Leo	16	No	Yes
Joseph	15	Yes	Yes
Sophia	13	Yes	Yes
Theodore	12	Yes	Yes
Mary	10	Yes	yes

The economic boom-times of the 1920s came to a screeching halt with the stock market crash of 1929, that began what we now call the Great Depression.  At it’s peak in 1933,  almost half of the banks in the U. S. had failed and  it left nearly 15 million Americans without jobs.  It was not until 1939 that the U.S. economy regained it’s momentum, however the stock marked did not reach pre-crash levels until the early 1950s. Add to that the effects of a prolonged drought in the 1930s that devastated the Nation’s Great Plains. However, in 1934, severe drought conditions plagued 80% of the nation.  (Wessels Living History Farm, York, Nebraska, has a very interesting article and interactive map depicting the effects Drought in the 1930s.)*

Difficult times may have driven the children to relocated to Chicago, where prospects for employment were more promising.  Even Theodore (see page 35)  who was the only child to remain at home, sought work in the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC] which began in 1932. 

“Young men flocked to enroll. Many politicians believed that the CCC was largely responsible for a 55 percent reduction in crimes committed by the young men of that day. Men were paid $30 a month, with mandatory $25 allotment checks sent to families of the men, which made life a little easier for people at home.“ Pasted from <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html>

Leo did not join the CCC as he had already left home for Chicago. When asked by son, James Studlo, about how old he was and what he did when he came to Chicago, Leo’s response was--He left home as soon as he turned 18.  His first job was as a lookout for bootleggers.  He was paid $5 and a bottle of booze a week to sit in a “tree house” in a wooded area, and lookout for anyone suspicious. The tree house was rigged with a doorbell setup that he was to ring if anyone suspicious showed up.  Apparently that job ended after 6-months, when a suspicious car did show up, and after ringing the doorbell, Leo wisely took off.

We loose track of Leo for about five years.  However, on November 16, 1936, he began his nearly 39 years of employment at Western Electric’s Hawthorn Works in Cicero, Illinois.

*I know I am over simplifying the causes and events leading to the Great Depression.  My intent is to show how the economic climate in the U. S. may have affected the Szczudlo Family.

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