Saturday, February 21, 2026

52 Ancestors - Clues in the Census

 52 Ancestors in 52 days prompt last week was Clues in the Census. 

I have been researching Joseph Wise Easterday and what intrigued me about him that his occupation in the census was "gardener " specifically in the 1900 Census. 




This piqued my interest. The majority of my family tree has tons of farmers.  I started thinking gilded age gardens etc. (The Blue Garden) This ultimately lead me down some gilded garden rabbit holes. However, when I looked at the 1910 census it says house farm and Joseph Easterday as a gardener. 


This led me to some more research into Gardens in Indianapolis. This led me to discover that Marion County had a large number of greenhouses that grew tomatoes and bib lettuce.  I think most likely Joseph had one of these truck farms. His farm had a green house so he was a gardener not a farmer.

Even his obituary has him employed as a gardener.




German Greenhouses and Truck Farms in Indianapolis

Indianapolis Greenhouse History

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