Friends and Cuzins,
Received this from another list.
I would guess this was more common in the metropolitan areas? Any comments?
Geri Burnett Bell
This is a request for information from people out there who are a little
smarter than I am on genealogy issues.
It seems to me that I recall that during the 1890s into the late 1920s,
among
city dwellers, there was a propensity to move frequently. (Note family
addresses that changed frequently during this period.) My recollection is
that this was once described as a wide spread practice -- moving households
to new addresses -- a prestige thing. And that if your house that you were
renting to others wasn't rented by some holiday -- (Thanksgiving???), the
likely hood of renting it later was pretty slim.
And that to counter such turnover in renters, landlords began using 13 month
leases in an attempt to slow things down. Then, when the depression hit,
the
practice stopped altogether..
So, my questions to readers are the following.
1. Anyone out there note a high frequency of address changes for city
families during the period mentioned?
2. Anyone out there ever hear of the theory that I just described?
If so, I'd appreciate your thoughts and comments.