Edwin “Ed” Gerald Grant Sr. (111)

Born: 9/14/1910 English, Crawford County, Indiana

Died: 7/22/1999 Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois

Parents: William Curtis Grant and Cora Merle Nee. Hanselman

Spouse: Marjorie Elizabeth Jenkins (1/8/1936 - Livingston County, Illinois)

Children:

Bio:

Ed’s Birth Certificate

Edwin Gerald Grant, Legitimate, Delivered by Dr. Guido B. Hammond on Sept. 14th, 1910 at 10:50 pm

Map of Ancona, IL

1927

Ed was born the son of a farmer in Southern Indiana. By 1920, 9-year-old Ed has moved with his parents and young brother to Long Point. His father farms grain, like most others on the census. Both parents can read and write while Ed attends school. Every head of household is a farmer and there are many first-generation workers from Germany and a few from England and Ireland in the census. Everyone can read and write.

By 1930, Ed’s parents have moved them to Reading, but not much on the census has changed. It is likely that life around Ed was starting to change though, with the influential Illinois Central Railroad was near, and the crash of 1929 was starting to impact the farms. Farm foreclosures were rising and optimism was fading. Roosevelt would not be elected until 1932. In 1936, he marries Marjorie Elizabeth Jenkins, an Illinois woman with relatively noble family history.

By 1940, Ed and Marjorie have started their own family and have moved to a rented house in Ancona. He works as a farm laborer, likely in grain and livestock, while Marjorie cares for their three young children. The highest grade that Ed has completed is the 8th grade. A number of their neighbors work in road construction. Ed works 52 weeks a year at 72 hours per week.

Ed has switched careers by 1950, working as a “maintainer” at the brick yard. Ed and his family live near to farmers, sanders, truckers, and garage workers. Marjorie keeps house while all four kids attend school. Roughly 15 miles from Pontiac, the county seat, the family would have been near to town. Route 66 brought people from all over the country to the county, while school sports events were growing in size and car dealerships were becoming normal.

There is little census-based data for Ed and Marjorie from the 1960s to the time of their passings. Ed would have had long days at the brickyard with repetitive lifting and dusty air. Marjorie kept house until the kids all started their own families, primarily in the 1960s. They would have lived through global events but their daily lives in Livingston County were likely little impacted. Black and white TV became color TV and phones became cellular, but little changed in the county. Ed passed away in May of 1999 while Marjorie passed in March of 2015.

Ed’s Draft Card

Self employed and age 30. The R.F.D. in place of address stands for “Rural Free Delivery”, indicating that they did not have a house number or live on a named street.