Finding Family in the 1940 Census

It is only 37 days until the release of the images from the 1940 Census. This census will mark the second appearance of my parents in census records. Both were under five years of age in the 1930 census, so by 1940 they were in their early teen years, just starting high school.

Patricia Landon Kelly
circa 1940

Clara Laymon Pecht, Shirley Jean Petersen
Kenneth Leroy Petersen
circa 1940

While I can't tie down these images specifically to 1940, they are certainly within about a year of when the census was taken.

I will be looking for my Mom in the census for Greenwood, Cass county, Nebraska and Dad will be in Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska.

Since the 1940 census images will not be indexed on the day they are released to the public, the first step in planning to find images is to determine the potential enumeration districts where your family members lived.

The search for this information begins at The National Archives. On the search page, I typed in "1940 census greenwood nebraska" (without quotes). The results gave me the following information:

NE ED 13-23: SALT CREEK ELECTION PRECINCT, GREENWOOD VILLAGE.

NE ED 13-24: SALT CREEK ELECTION PRECINCT OUTSIDE GREENWOOD VILLAGE.

I've now narrowed down the images where I need to look for Mom's family in the 1940 census. As I learn more about the process and locating my kin, I'll share it here on LongLostRelatives.net. I've also started "Spring Training" for indexing census records by indexing several batches of World War II draft registration documents. I'll write more about that in another blog post.

Thanks to Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog - I followed his instructions for locating this information.

Become a 1940 Census Ambassador - or Indexing Volunteer!

The countdown to the release of the 1940 census has begun! On April 2, 2012, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will provide public access to the images of the 1940 United States Federal Census. This is the first time that the images of the 1940 census will be made available as free digital images.

Upon its release, the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project, a joint initiative between Archives.com, FamilySearch, findmypast.com and other leading genealogy organizations, will coordinate efforts to provide quick access to these digital images and immediately start indexing these records to make them searchable online with free and open access.

You can help make history! You can sign up to be an indexing volunteer and designate the volunteer group you wish to be affiliated with - if you have one. The next step is to download the indexing software. And get started making the index available free and to the public!

Genealogy bloggers can also play a role by becoming a 1940 Blog Ambassador! You can sign up, as I have, and you can get badges for your site or blog. There is exclusive content, blog post and contest ideas, blogger events, project updates and more. I can't think of a better way to spread the word and be a part of this community to help make the index of these images available to the public as quickly as possible.

Genealogists are a generous and giving group of people. Show your support by becoming an indexing volunteer and/or Ambassador today!

Let us know your intent to participate. Please leave a comment below if you will be joining the 1940 Census community!

content adapted from the1940census.com

The 2010 Census

Did you get your census form in the mail today? Wow - they weren't kidding. 10 questions 10 minutes. I don't think it even took me that long to fill out!

As I look back at the information gathered in the census in earlier times, it's a shame that the only information gathered this time around is the name, date of birth and race/ethnicity of the household members. I pity the genealogists 100 years from now who are not able to find out our occupations and all of the other gems that appear in earlier censuses.

I guess the government wasn't really interested in preserving family history when they came up with the questions this time around!

Fill out your census form and mail it in! It's your duty!