1900 Grinnell Male HOH Employment and Living Children Map
During today’s training, I used ArcGIS to map the employment of male heads of households (HOH) in Grinnell in 1900 and the number of living children in their households. Initially, I hypothesized that farmers might have more living children, based on the assumption that farming families historically had larger households to provide labor for farm work.
However, the analysis revealed that households with the most children were typically classified under “Other” for employment. This category likely represents a diverse range of occupations not captured by the more specific job categories. The main employment categories included:
- None
- Day Laborer
- Carpenter
- Painter
- Traveling Salesman
- Farmer
- Blacksmith
- Retired Farmer
- Merchant
- Teamster
Interestingly, farming households tended to have fewer children compared to households headed by men in other employment categories. This finding challenges my initial hypothesis and highlights the importance of analyzing data rather than relying solely on assumptions. Nevertheless, most households tended to have over 9 living children, which I would argue is enough to sustain a farm (perhaps)!
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