1940 census

Poipu04 · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:18 pm Post subject: 1940 census

Ok, I know Mike had luck. Who else? I finally got on at work (shhhhh!) and found my dad and grandparents and ggm and aunts and uncles and cousins. It was helpful that they all lived on the same street...not so helpful that dad initially gave me the wrong address for where he lived in 1940. LOL. How eye-opening though. My gf made in 1939 what I make in less than a week and he had a business so was doing the best out of the family. WOW. It really makes you appreciate things.

autumndivona · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I found my great-great grandpa, Bartolomeo Galfre, in Middleborough, Massachusetts - where he had lived for 40 years. Also found three of his children, including my Nana (great-grandmother). Not at all surprised, since I only chose that one town to research until indexes are made available.

In addition to them, I found 3 out of 4 of my grandparents (I know the 4th lived in a much smaller town in Massachusetts, and is probably lumped in with Plymouth), quite a few great-grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, and cousins. It was a very productive morning of research.

I chose only to look through the images for that one town - Middleborough - knowing precisely who I would find there. Smile

Hope everybody else is having good luck as well!

charliemis · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:22 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

ancestry.com has added most (if not all) of the states for the 1940 census....since there is no indexing it takes some time to find what is needed.

Poipu04 · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:48 am Post subject: Re: 1940 census

It is such a bear to trudge through. I couldn't find the right enumeration for my husband's family, but they were from a sparsely populated town so I thought I could browse. Well, I have already browsed about 60 pages of this "sparsely" populated town and so far, found nothing. Steve Morse's enumeration finder worked better with my family in the Bronx than with my husband's family. I could not enter house number and street name for my husband's family. Sigh.

choprjohn · Mem Joined: Nov 29, 2009 Posts: 70 Location: Florida

Your lucky everytime I search my family on Ancerstry.com the 1940 census doesnt even come up, just the one from 1930....Johnnie

Poipu04 · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I haven't been using ancestry. I have been using www.nara.gov It is quite a pain because it didn't work the first day (servers overwhelmed) and yesterday the pages loaded very slowly. However, it is free.

nuccia · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:35 am Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I had no luck with great grandpa John - I know he was living in Colorado in the same place he lived from the day he arrived - and died- but for some reason he's not there. After going page by page there is one John who *may* be him but if it is he lied through his teeth and that in itself is really odd. I did find the rest of his family and friends though.

On my dad's side I found a cousin still living in PA but his parents disappeared which again is annoying..lol

Oh and I have been using Family search whenever possible - so much easier..the just keep adding states and I have had no problems since day 1.

familysearch.org/pal:/...Fwaypoints

Going to take a break and help with the indexing. Going through all these pages is makingmy eyes wonky.. Smile

Poipu04 · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 12:59 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I found that even with the address, the search was cumbersome. My husband's mother lived in the current town we live in and we knew the exact location. However, since the town was rural then, the Steve Morse site doesn't have the streets or house numbers field to find the ED. So, I had to look at the maps, which weren't easy to read. I went through 3 EDs before I found his mother!

Cathy · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2681

I found my mom and her family easily (on her birthday!) but dad and his family is not in their enumeration district. The district is a mess! Half the people in that district belong to another district. I did find my great aunt who lived a block away. Anyone looking in Cicero, Illinois may have to wait until it is indexed!
As an indexer for Family Search, I can tell you they are rocking! I don't think we will have to wait long for the indexing of this census!

Eleven · Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:27 am Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I havent even searched yet. Family search emailed me to go back to arbitrate for them, but I have been busy the past two weeks, so havent gone there. Ancestry is incomplete, of course, but they want you to join and spend money to wait. I am waiting, without the spending..lol My parents were married by 1940, living in the same house in the bronx with my fathers parents. They shouldnt be so difficult to find. I am bookmarking all of the places you guys posted. Next week, I will look at those. Not today tho..since its Easter and I have to go see what the bunny bought for the grandkids..lol Happy Easter!!

Eleven · Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:56 am Post subject: Re: 1940 census

So, yesterday before I went out and again when I returned, I decided to try some of you links to see what I could get out of this unindexed census. Using the Morse site for EDs and bothe the family search and the other place, I managed to find my parents, my husbands grandmother and a few of his uncles. Of course, I knew where these people were, then. For those who I have no idea of where they lived at that time, I guess I have to wait.

I have to say tho, I was disappointed at the information. I think the prior censuses where much more informative. This one will probably be a bit more useful, once its indexed for those who dont know where their people were at that time..but for those of us who already knew..we arent learning much new info with this..I think.

I am going to try next, to find my husbands parents. I have an idea where they might have lived..but the street is blocks and blocks long..if they even lived there, at that time. I would also like to try for a few of my uncles...problem is..I have no idea where in the bronx these people lived at that time.

Poipu04 · Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:04 am Post subject: Re: 1940 census

Eleven, I thought it was interesting to find out how many hours a week they worked and how many weeks they worked and salary information since it was the Great Depression. My dad enjoyed reading the page with his block and remembering his old neighbors.

Eleven · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:08 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

Yes, I find all censuses interesting. I just didnt think this one was as informative as the others..no immigration info..no nat info, etc. Of course it was well passed the time of the mass immigration to this country. I tried doing a little arbitrating for family search. Geeze, it was like beginning over..it took me a few minutes to figure out where all of the tools were..lol

Eleven · Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:25 pm Post subject: Re: 1940 census

I am sitting here chuckling to myself, since it took me 5 days to realize this. Are you guys finding your 1940 censuses on the dot gov site? How are you saving them?

I found about 4-5 families early in the week. I had some time today, so decided to try to find my in laws. I knew the street..but, it is very long, so wasnt sure I would be able to do it. But, luck was with me and I found them. When I clicked to save it (right click, save image)..I realized it was saving in htm. Because it brought up the ones I already did (in my file), I then noticed the same file ending on those. Oh..I thought..let me click that little download gizmo up there. 5 times I tried this and nothing seemed to download..I just got this white screen. Oh well..I though..so..the site will have to open for me to view these things..whats the big deal. I can get them when ancestry has them. Only..when i clicked the ones in my files..all I got were those hieroglypic type thingies...nothing readable. I am glad I discovered this before I tried to show them to someone..lol

So..how are we to save these finds?

MikeSavoca91 · V.I.P. Joined: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 399

Eleven, you should be able to view the images on Ancestry for free right now. You would just need the ED like the other site, and you should be fine. I have saved off of both the .gov site as well as Ancestry. Give it a try!