2022 – 52 Ancestors Challenge – Week 06 – Map

I generated this map on ArcGIS. It is an OpenStreetMap (OSM) collaboration project of volunteers and is available to ArcGIS users and developers. The datapoints A-F are the locations in Cleveland, Ohio, where my Paternal Grandmother and her siblings were living during the 1930’s – (A) Daisy[1], (B) Mattie[2] (5804), and Valure, Anna, John[3] (5811), (C) Lillie[4], (D) Mary Jane[5], (E) Frank[6], and (F) Iola[7]. The map does not include Uncle George because he resided in Pennsylvania. When possible, I used the 1930 Federal Census to source their location.

They resided in the Cleveland neighborhood called Central, defined as  North of Euclid Avenue, South by Woodland Avenue, East by East 71th Street, and West by East 22th Street. It was named Central because Central Avenue ran through the center.[8] I did not realize that my family lived in Cleveland’s Central Area until I generated this map described in the book “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein. According to the text, in the ’30s, this neighborhood was racially mixed with African Americans, Italians, and Eastern European immigrants. However, the white families began to leave the area during the preceding years. The region was previously well mixed, but the Public Works Administration constructed two segregated projects in the area. By the 1970s, other Cleveland sections opened for African Americans.[9] Most of my family now reside in other parts of the country, from Hawaii to Washington State, Massachusetts, and Florida.


[1] 1920 U.S. Census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, Cleveland, ward 12, civil district 244 , sheet 6 B, dwelling 33, family 2, household 4809 [Holyoke], Daisy in Alto Blackman household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm T625, roll 1365.

[2] 1930 U.S. Census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, Cleveland City, ward 17, civil district 327, enumeration district 18-327, sheet 16 A, page 114 [stamped], dwelling 4, family 98, household 5804 [Scovill], Mattie in Tom Robinson household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm T626, roll 1773.

[3] 1930 U.S. Census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, Cleveland City, ward 17, civil district 327, enumeration district 18-327, sheet 5 B, page 103 [stamped], dwelling 23, family 44, household 5811 [Scovill], Valure, John R, Anna in Lily Miller household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm T626, roll 1773.

[4] 1930 U.S. Census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, Cleveland City, ward 17, civil district 328, enumeration district 18-328, sheet 2 A, page 120 [, dwelling 13, family 22, household 2436 [East 61st Street],  Lily Smart in Edward Smart household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm T626, roll 1773.

[5] 1940 U.S. Census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, Cleveland City, ward 18, enumeration district 92-462, sheet 6 A, line 9, family 97, house 8513 [Quincy Av],  Mary Jane Miller; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm T627, roll 3221.

[6] “Ohio. U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993,” database, Ancestry.com(http://ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022) entry for Frank Miller – Ethel Goodson Cranberry, 9 January 1939; citing Cuyahoga County, Marriage Records 1938-1939, vol 186; License no. 57655, County Courthouse, Cleveland.

[7]  “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 February 2022) entry Miller, Iola, 1921, p. 1963, [2657 E 63d Street], Cleveland, Ohio; citing “The Cleveland Directory Company (Cleveland, Ohio: the Cleveland Directory Co., 1921).

[8] “Central Neighborhood: Encyclopedia of Cleveland History,” article, Case Western Reserve University’s Department of History, (http://case.edu/: accessed 9 Feb 2022) .

[9] Richard Rotstein, The Color of Law (New York : Liveright Publishing, 2017), pp. 112-113.

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