It might just be me, but I get a little excited when I find relatives on the Census living in anything other than a house with just one family. (I’m especially intrigued with lodgers.)

A few months ago I found what appeared to be a brothel next door to some folks who share my last name on the 1870 Census.

Here on the 1930 Census, I found first cousin twice removed, Hardy Johnson living in a road construction camp on Highway 26 (now US Route 521*) in Indian Land township, Lancaster County, South Carolina, at the time of enumeration. There were 19 males in the camp with ages ranging from 14 to 38.

“Road construction camp” seems self-explanatory but I decided to look at the Instructions to Enumerators for the 1930 Census to see what it said about them.

I looked for an old map but was unable to find one. Here’s a modern map of the area.

Source:

• Year: 1930; Census Place: Indian Land, Lancaster, South Carolina; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0015; FHL microfilm: 2341938
• U. S. Department Of Commerce, Bureau Of The Census, Fifteenth Census, Instructions To Enumerators, https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/1930instructions.pdf