Project Roots: Terrell – 1930 U.S. Federal Census

1930 U.S. Federal Census – Georgia, Walton, Militia District 416, District 0006
Sheet No. 2B – Enumerated on 5 April 1930
Jersey and Loganville Road

Terrell – 1930 U.S. Federal Census

In 1930, my great-grandfather, Robert Lee Terrell, Sr. was a sharecropper living and working on a farm in Walton County, Georgia. His place of work and residence was on Jersey and Loganville Road.

I paid a visit to the Georgia USGenWeb Archives Project site and found a map of Walton County and its militia districts. The map is not as detailed as I would have liked, but based upon the information on the census record, my great-grandfather and his family were likely living somewhere along the blue line.

Information not included in the transcript:

• Robert Lee Terrell, Sr.’s age at first marriage was 29. His wife Sarah Terrell (Henyard), was 17. I am not sure if my great-grandfather’s age refers to his first wife, Mollie Vinson, or to my great-grandmother documented on the 1930 census.

For many years, the literacy of my grandfather, David Terrell, Sr. was a source of contention among my mother, aunts, and uncle. The majority of them believed that my grandfather could not read nor write. I never understood why not one of them even bothered to ask my grandfather if he was literate. Instead, they chose to debate. I remember, as a young child, defending my grandfather’s literacy. After all, I’d seen him reading with my own eyes, and heard him reading with my own ears! He wasn’t a fast reader, but he could definitely comprehend what he was reading. However, when I’d shared what I witnessed, I was simply blown off.

This census is proof that my grandfather knew how to read and write! I am vindicated.