1940 Photos of a First House

With the 1940 U.S. census now only 13 days away, I'm thinking more about that time. It was an important year in my family as the first time my parents owned their own home. I believe these pictures of my parents and sister were most likely just before the census was taken on April 1st. I know when I see them in that census I can envision them as they were here. This is where we lived when I was born some years later and until I was three. Be sure to click on the image to see it larger.

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Designer Credits:
52 Inspirations {2012} by Sue Cummings Week 3
plus dotted paper and butterfly from Week 1
fonts: Blue Highway D Type, Minya Nouvelle

1940 Census: Just Two Weeks

Family photo showing 1940s styles

In just two weeks the 1940 U.S. census will be released on Monday, April 2, 2012. It seems the excitement is building and the general news media are starting to take note of the big event.

Celebration! The library (Research Center) at WRHS (Western Reserve Historical Society) will be open for the launch of the 1940 U.S. census on Monday, April 2. We'll celebrate and start our research together that day. If you're in the Cleveland area, please come on in.

Societies and groups are gearing up to get volunteers to sign up for indexing under their sponsorship. In Ohio's Cuyahoga County the sponsoring group is NEOCAG which stands for the Northeast Ohio Computer-Aided Genealogy Society. My husband will be indexing the census with them. I've registered under APG, the Association of Professional Genealogists. We've tried out the simulated 1940 census indexing test run. It looks pretty easy. You only need to work on one page of the census at a time. The more of us indexing the faster we'll have a fully searchable 1940 census.

Learn more about indexing at the Getting Started page of the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project. The indexing project is sponsored by Archives.com (who will host the digital images for NARA), FamilySearch.org and Findmypast.com. Society sponsors are NGS, FGS and APG.

Finding 1940 Census Locations

We started recording 1940 U.S. census enumeration districts (EDs) for our closest relatives using Stephen P. Morse's very helpful website. Dick's parents and paternal grandmother lived in Cleveland, a city for which the EDs have been indexed. To find their ED we used Obtaining EDs for the 1940 Census in One Step (Large Cities) and with their cross streets quickly got the number. My great aunt in Lakewood, a nearby suburb, was equally easy. My parents lived in North Olmsted, a small town/suburb, that only had two EDs. The written descriptions show the town was divided by the main east-west road so all I needed to know was whether they were north or south of it.

We couldn't find his maternal grandmother as easily. She was widowed in January of 1939. We knew that she moved, but not when or where, or if more than once. Luckily the Cuyahoga County deeds are all available online. A search for her name in the appropriate time frame turned up a deed from November 1939. At that time she bought the house where Dick remembers her living. It is highly likely that she moved in before April 1st of 1940. We had to add several street names, looking at a map, before we could narrow down her ED, but we think we are ready for all our closest relatives in this area.

Now, it is just a little over 32 days!

1940 U.S. Census - Just Over a Month

1940 advertisement illustration

The 1940 U.S. Census will open to the public on Monday, April 2nd. For the first time it will be provided digitally online at the beginning. My husband and I won't be there, but our families will. Finding them will require a little work because there is no index...yet. I've given a talk to the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group - Cleveland Area (CAGG-CA) on the census and current finding aids. Wally Huskonen has been giving talks and on Saturday, March 3, 2012, he is presenting a workshop for the Genealogical Institute at the Western Reserve Historical Society. Reservations and a fee are required. Please check the website and registration form. I've also signed up with this blog as a 1940 census blog ambassador. I'll be posting more in the days before the 1940 census comes online.