1. The 1940 Census –
For Librarians
CHRISTINE SHARBROUGH, MSLIS ARCHIVAL STUDIES,
C E R T I F I E D G E N E A L O G I S T SM
REFERENCE & OUTREACH LIBRARIAN
DERRY PUBLIC LIBRARY
2. Agenda
Welcome
About Me/Housekeeping
Genealogists – What do they WANT???!!
Crash Course in Census Records/Ref Resources
Break
1940 Census
Faux data & forms, Webstuff
Indexing
Q&A
5. Genealogists – What do they WANT??!!
We want it ALL.
We want it for FREE.
We want it NOW.
Must be PERFECT
EASY
Endless amounts of time discussing my family with you.
Gripped with interest…
“Gimmee, take me, bring me, buy me galaxy.”
Our Ancestors, ourselves (1940/1930/1920)
Told to go to local public library for help
Newbies
Our job to educate/set expectations
6. Crash Course in Understanding the Census
Goals:
Understand importance to genealogists
Why census is a clue not a fact
Inherent problems
Reference resources
7. Purpose of the Federal Census
• Equal representation in government
• First bicameralist government – 17th Century
England
• Bicameral: Latin: bi=two; camera=chamber
• Two chambers of Parliament
• Two chambers of the legislature (Senate/House)
• Senate same regardless of size
• Count population for representation in the House
• Large states disproportionate representation
8. Problem #1
Locating people can be difficult
Boundary Changes:
State/Territory
County
Town
May be looking in the wrong place
Dollarhide, William and Thorndale, William, Map
Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-
1920, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing
Company, 2011. Reprint.
15. Problem #2
Boundary Changes (Problem #1)
Lack of printed forms until 1830 in most areas
Printed forms are illegible when filmed
Recommend using a printed form
Forms available for free
Ancestry.com
FamilyTreeMagazine.com
18. Problem #3
Boundary Changes (Problem #1)
Lack of printed forms until 1830 (Problem #2)
Handwriting is not 21st century
Because. it’s. NOT. 21st century.
23. Handwriting Resource & Tips
Kip Sperry’s Reading Early American
Handwriting, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical
Publishing Co. 2008
Look for legible names on the same sheet/same
enumerator
Look for neighbors in other censuses
Search for children/spouse
24. Recap
Boundary changes (1)
Lack of printed forms/illegible (2)
Handwriting is illegible/unusual (3)
Amazing that anyone is found…ever
26. Francis Marion Bobo 1852-1931
8/23/1860 Francis M, 8 y.o. (b.c. 1852)
7/14/1870 Francis M, 18 y.o. (b.c. 1852)
6/17/1880 M, 25 y.o. (b.c. 1855)
Matilda, 22 y.o., (b.c. 1858)
6/1/1900 Frank M, 48 y.o. (b.c. 1852)
Matilda, 43 y.o., (b.c. 1857)
6/1/1910 Frances M, 63 y.o. (b.c. 1847) Aged 15 years in 10.
Matilda, 53 y.o. (b.c. 1857)
1/22/1920 Francis Maron, 63 y.o. (b.c. 1857) No age change
Matilda, 53 y.o. (b.c. 1867) no age change
4/17/1930 Marion, 78 y.o., (b.c. 1852)
Tilda, 74 y.o., (b.c. 1856) Aged 21 years in 10
27. Problem #5
You don’t read the whole page
Miss family connections
Infant baptism – sponsors/godparents
Family
Married daughters
Never crop a census page!
28. Problem #6
Incomplete
Weird
Left off people who were there
Put in people who weren’t
Important to know what enumerators were told on
how to interpret information!
Google: “Measuring America”
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/ma.html
29. Examples
• Census law did not give a definition of “place of abode”
• Some persons reported in two places
• Some not at all
• Left to the judgement of the enumerator
• “Seafaring men are to be reported at their land homes, no
matter how long they may have been absent, if they are
supposed to be still alive.”
• “…sailors temporarily at a sailors’ boarding or lodging
house, if they acknowledge any other home within the
United States, are not to be included in the family of the
lodging or boarding house.”
30. More Oddities
• RE: # children born/living
• In 1900 & 1910: mothers asked # of children born
and # living
• Does NOT include stillborn children
• If you have gaps – check it out
• RE: Birthplaces
• Canada English vs Canada French
• Not language - DESCENT
31. Conclusion
Census research is rife with issues
There are reference resources that can help
Hard work
1940 will be worse (for awhile)
1930 – 2 years to index
1940 – 6-18 months
33. 1940 census patron prep work/info
List of relatives/ancestors
Pinpoint residences
Identify the Enumeration District in 1940
Only 1940census.archives.gov on April 2nd
NARA embargoed images for first release
Ancestry.com;
Archives.com, Censusrecords.com, FamilySearch.org
, MyHeritage.com companies:
(myheritage.com, worldvitalrecords.com and
familylink.com)
34. 1940 census – so what.
First time – almost everyone will have a family member
alive in 1940.
Find themselves in the census.
Track people moving due to Great Depression
Ethnic group migration
Occupational group migration
Historical context – where did they go?
Brickwall
What you know now – backwards
Where did they live in 1935??
Pseudo-interim census
35. 1940 Census issues
THERE. IS. NO. NAME. INDEX.
Won’t be one for 6-18 months.
Arranged by state, county, enumeration district
(ED).
Enumeration district number = county-city/rural
area (usually alphabetical)
Large cities filed at the end (not alphabetical)
Browse by ED to find anyone.
Translate ED 1930 to ED 1940
How??
36. What’s in your collection?
City directories
Vital records
Newspapers
Town/county histories
Compiled genealogies
Any information that links people to a place in time
(1940)
Diaries
Employment Records
Letters
School/Church Records
Scrapbooks
37. How does your library go?
Electronic resources?
Ancestry.com
No good for initial 1940 census images
Good for locating
1930 census locations (every name index)
City directories
World War II Draft Registrations
Occurred in first half of 1940, address is likely to be where family lived in 1940
HeritageQuest.com
No good for 1940 census images
1930 census locations (better index than Ancestry.com)
Historical books
Database computers with no internet (no good for census images)
Public internet access – good for SteveMorse.org
Public internet access – bad for FamilySearch Indexing
38. How??
Make a list of relatives
GCP
GEDCOM (like text file for GCP)
LegacyFamilyTree.com (free)
Report on who to look for
Form by hand
39. Enumeration District
What?
Amount of territory that an enumerator (census
taker) could cover in a “set period of time”
Rural – one month
Urban – two weeks
Two numbers: 31-1518
First part: county prefix (usually alphabetical)
Second part: district number
1930 and 1940 may NOT be the same for the same
location
40.
41. 8-9 is now 8-11
8-10 is split
into 8-12 and
8-13
44. Where did they live?
1930 Census location
Browse 1940 Census enumeration district (ED)
80-120 pages PER ED for almost ALL EDs
Boston had 771 in 1940 = 61,680 pages
Derry had 5 = 400 pages
There has to be a better way…
There is.
49. Indexing with FamilySearch.org
Must make an account with FamilySearch
LDS
Non-LDS
Must download the indexing program
Can start a group indexing project (Derry has one)
Very easy
Excellent user interface (UI)