<![CDATA[#OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago.]]> 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. Walter McFarlane, age 46, was recorded as a cemetery watchman. The family story says that he was a night watchman at historic Rosehill Cemetery. That job is unimaginable. About five years earlier he had suffered a traumatic brain injury on the job. He had been a motorman on the streetcars, which did not have a good safety record. A newspaper article in 1904 reported that 143 electric streetcar accidents had occurred in Chicago across 27 days in June, with 10 deaths and 166 injured. These accidents were so common that his never was reported in the newspaper, or I have not found it. Finding the timeframe took some digging several years ago, so I share this unusual blog post with you.

https://scrappinmyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-binary-search.html

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/a14c6026-3fe9-4342-a8ce-e5b6bee4e606/otd-15-april-1910-a-census-taker-visited-the-home-of-my-great-grandparents-in-chicago.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 05:40:35 GMTThu, 16 Apr 2026 03:19:24 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:29:33 GMT]]>@bethroots

My daughter did some research on that side of the family years ago. She was never able to find corroboration of the story.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414386893372311https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414386893372311Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:29:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:08:02 GMT]]>@bethroots
Astonishing stuff, very significant observations. Keep at it, valuable work, Beth. 👏😎

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/gazeshift/statuses/116414302258670581https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/gazeshift/statuses/116414302258670581Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:08:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:59:29 GMT]]>@jhaworth That's chilling! How awful to fall at just the wrong time. It would be interesting to see if there was anything in the newspaper. I'd be happy to look for it if you want. You could DM me details.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414268667079847https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414268667079847Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:59:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:53:48 GMT]]>@bethroots

It's been decades since I heard the story, but I think there was a streetcar passing by as my great uncle ran from the house. He fell (or possibly tripped) in front of it. My grandfather claimed the streetcar itself was damaged by impact, so I often wondered if there were other injuries...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414246297724562https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414246297724562Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:53:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:49:36 GMT]]>@gazeshift But you know that the ancestors who had unusual lives are far more interesting than those with ordinary lives. One of my very recent subjects had an ordinary life. I had not looked into that generation at all because I didn't see anything worth researching. Yawn! Then I saw a multi-generational pattern. What I like about OTD is that I look at the database for events on a day and decide who to write about. Mostly I am repeating and editing tidbits from the past cycle, but not always.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414229831854997https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414229831854997Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:49:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:39:11 GMT]]>@jhaworth Wow! That was a very sad ending for your great uncle. I just wonder what made the streetcars so dangerous. Did the family story say if he was trying to cross in front or to jump on while it was moving? My great-grandfather had a different sort of accident than passengers would have had.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414188869377411https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/bethroots/statuses/116414188869377411Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:39:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:17:39 GMT]]>@bethroots Family lore says one of my great uncles was killed by a Chicago streetcar while running from an angry husband around this time period. I remember as a child wondering why the man was so angry... 😁

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414104140469831https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mindly.social/users/jhaworth/statuses/116414104140469831Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:17:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to #OTD 15 April 1910, A census taker visited the home of my great-grandparents in Chicago. on Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:07:13 GMT]]>@bethroots
Brilliant work, devastating finds. 👍

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/gazeshift/statuses/116414063117255028https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/gazeshift/statuses/116414063117255028Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:07:13 GMT