1930 Census - O'Haras at 505 6th St.

This census record is a 2-for-1 deal. It was the first O'Hara census record I ever found, and despite the interminable number of John and Mary O'Haras who were running around Brooklyn at the time, I thought it was safe to assume that these were our John and our Mary, since, after all, their children were Uncle Jack and Uncle Ted. Grandpa JJ is 34 and Grandma Molly 35, and Uncle Jack is 6, while Uncle Ted is 4. Molly and JJ say that they first married at 28 and 27, respectively, meaning their wedding should have been around 1923. They rent their home for $60. Uncle Ted can't read. (He presumably later gained that skill.) All were born in New York. Grandpa JJ is a clerk at a brokerage firm. At some point, I know he worked at 120 Broadway, the building where my dad would later spend most of his career, at a brokerage firm. Perhaps this was when he worked there? He's listed as a veteran of World War I. (I believe he was in the Navy.)

Where does the 2-for-1 deal come in? Glance upward several lines to find John and Mary O'Hara Sr., JJ's parents. They live in the same building, but they own their home - presumably they owned the entire building and that $60 in rent that the younger O'Haras were paying was being paid to them. Their youngest son Joseph is still living at home. John is 60, Mary 55, and Joseph 15. They say they were first married when John was 28 and Mary 23. Joseph is still in school. On this census, they give their immigration dates as 1890 and 1889, which matches what they said in 1900, but not what they said in any of the censuses in between. None of them are working. (Though I'd argue that "landlord" is an occupation, wouldn't you?)

When I first sent Uncle Ted this record, he told me he and Jack had grown up with Roy Larossa who lived in the building, as well as with the son of the Gibbens family:

"There was listed a Larossa and Wife and son Roy who lived in the same apartment house we lived in. Jack and I grew up with Roy. Also listed was a Gibbens who we also knew from the old neighborhood."