Comments on: Lessons Learned–1940 Census–‘in a rush’

By: Russ Worthington

Russ Worthington — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:37:38 +0000

honoredgenerations,

Enjoy the Hunt !!!!

It’s been 2 busy, fun weeks, so far.

Good luck with your search.

Russ

By: honoredgenerations

honoredgenerations — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:24:29 +0000

I unfortunately had to wait until the evening to get started on my search and after many frustrating starts & stops with all the activity making things very slow….I was very excited to see all the pages available.

I too found new family members, and some I had thought moved out of the area, I found some I wondered what happened to them as no records had been found after the 1930 census. I have not found what I was highly anticipating, my mother or father, but I sure did have a great time looking at the first 66 pages I did that night and the several dozens since.

Unfortunately for me, my mother has passed on and everyone else that would know where she was living when she was 4, not with her parents that much I know. I also cannot find my father as the address we thought he was at, on his fathers WWII draft card for 1940, was occupied by another family. A card I found in a box of letters from my grandmother and great grandmother shows a postmark in June from Spartanburg, SC, not Durham NC. Dad remembers that yeah, he was told he lived there for a short time. That city is one mighty large file. Guess I will be looking for awhile for him.

I am not waiting for the index, this is much to much fun. The hunt is on!

By: Russ Worthington

Russ Worthington — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:54:05 +0000

Jennifer,

Thank you and I agree with you about the fun.

I have my list of those who aren’t where I thought they would be, but what I have done, is to go back through my notes for that person, to see if I am looking in the right place. In a couple of cases, I had information for a different location a little later in their timeline, so I scanned there and found them.

In another case, I had very little information on this family, knew where they were born, but died and were buried somewhere else. Didn’t know why until I found them in the 1940 Census, not looking for anyone specifically, but through an Enumeration District, and there was the answer. The Wife was born in California, which is where the Husband was buried.

Its been a fun journey.

Sounds like you have had the same type of experience.

Good luck,

Russ

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 05:34:01 +0000

Russ, I agree. I did not begin doing any research in census records until about 8 years ago, when everything was already indexed at Ancestry.com. Therefore, I’ve never searched the microfilm and just searched page by page. Now I realize exactly what I have been missing. Searching page by page helps you to see the larger community where your ancestors lived and makes you slow down a bit, as you say. I was looking for my great-great-grandparents in one township in Michigan but found their son instead. I would never have looked for him there because he lived in a city about 20 miles away in 1939, according to the city directory. I found my great-great-grandparents one township over. They were living with a daughter that I expected to find in a different town. The index would have helped me find all these people much quicker, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun.

By: Russ Worthington

Russ Worthington — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:03:19 +0000

Barb,

Do you know where some of your folk were, in 1930?

There are a number of folk that I have found, that I hadn’t looked for in the 1930 Census. So, by scrolling through this town, I actually am getting 3 census records. I now have street addresses, that I am going to take with me the next time I visit that town, to take pictures of their houses.

Good luck,

Russ

By: Barb

Barb — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:59:12 +0000

Nice report Russ. I’m anxious too to get going, but so far have only done two. My total is 566 people (but total families is far less), so I’m waiting until all the indexing is done. Thanks for this.