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The 1940 Census Record Is Out. Secrets Revealed After 72 Years. Genealogy.

Updated on May 11, 2017
Grandpa and Grandma
Grandpa and Grandma
Elizabeth Jefferson
Elizabeth Jefferson

What You Will Find.

Home owned or rented

If owned free or mortgaged

Family Number

Surname

Given Name

Relationship

Sex

Race

Age Estimated Birth Year

Single, Married or Widow

Citizenship

Education

Marital Status

Birthplace

Mother’s tongue

Father's Birthplace and Tongue

Mother’s Birthplace and Tongue

Able to Speak English

Occupation

1940 Out Soon

There will be secrets revealed in the 1940 census I'm sure, what will they be? Maybe Aunt Grace had married before and no one knew. Maybe there is an extra child in the family and no one ever knew about this child. I found my grandmother had a brother no one in the family knew about him and grandma never mentioned him. He died when he was fifteen a brother my grandmother never talked about. He was an extra uncle my mother couldn't even explain.

I do genealogy for my family and my husband’s family. I am so happy 1940 is out on April 1, 2012. It will take awhile for all the listing state by state. I should be able to look through the pages pretty fast.

A Few Facts

They open up every 72 years.

The first was after the Revolutionary War in 1790. At the time, the population was 3,929,326.

The last was in 2010 and the population at the time was 308,745,538.

The census is not perfect, but it is the best thing we have. It’s taken every 10 years in years ending in a zero. They use to do it by going door to door and still do much of it this way today. They ran into many problems. People hid not wanting anyone in their business. The taker didn't always know how to spell, so names listed on the list of families would be spelled wrong. The spelling of the name would change from census to the next. Maybe they stopped at a pub and were drunk. Who knows how there are so many mistakes. Many were threatened with guns to get off of the property. Many people didn't know when they were born so their ages changed over the years. You have to be a detective to do genealogy.

It's an interesting piece of paper. I have done lots of checking in the southern states because this is where my family is from. In the south, they list White, Black, and Mulatto. They never mention Indian. I have checked from the North, upper Michigan and Wisconsin they list Indians.

When my family from the south asks if there is any Indian in our family I can't tell them there is. I have not found Indian anywhere in the family. If someone has seen Indian listed in the southern states please let me know. My cousin's great-grandmother was my grandmother's sister. My cousin had her DNA done and there was no Indian. If she has no Indian from that side of the family I would think I would also have no Indian. The best place to find your Indian heritage is to check the Dawes Rolls or have DNA done. .

Example of the 1840
Example of the 1840

Names of Family Members not Listed Until 1850

They didn't start listing family members by name until 1850. Before this, they only listed the head of the household and how many were in the house and what age group they were in, boy or girl. 1850 also does not have as much information as following years.

The sad thing is 1890 is gone. The missing census would really help find some missing links. It burned in a fire in the National Archives in 1921.

You can get free records through the libraries.

Ways of Checking.

I was looking for my 3rd great-grandmother. Elizabeth Jefferson Jarboe. I was having trouble locating her. I had her in 1850 and Grandpa Jarred was still alive and her daughter Mary and Mary’s husband William were living with them. Their name was spelled Hooper in 1850. When looking for Jarred and Elizabeth, I couldn't find them in 1860. So I started looking for Mary. Mary was her baby and babies always live close to Mom and take care of them. This was how I found her. Mary's last name was Hooper but I knew the spelling could be off on the name. It was 1860 was spelled Harper. But living next door to Mary Harper in 1860 was Elizabeth Jarbo. Elizabeth's name had also been spelled wrong.

So is Mary a Hopper or a Harper?? The answer to this mystery is below.

There are always mysteries sometimes you have to look at them page by page and at each and every person where you think your family member might be.

You always have to check and see who the neighbors are and see if you can find more family members. People didn't live very far from each other. They were close and took care of family and of friends. Children were often named after family members or after friends. This is what makes it such a mystery when you might have dozens of Mary’s with the same last name. If you lose a family from one census to the next then try tracing their neighbors you might find them this way. They traveled together when they moved they all seem to move together. Sisters often married neighbors, brothers. My own great-grandmother married her sister-in-law's husband after my great-grandfather died, and her sister-in-law passed away.

They often had as many as three spouses, so many died from disease, Indians, accident, war, childbirth, and starvation.

I love a good mystery so checking is right up my alley. I’m so thrilled 1940 will be out. I have many members of my family to look up.

If you haven’t seen “Who Do You Think You Are” be sure to watch it. It’s very interesting show.

I know my hobby is boring to many people, but I’m hoping my kids and grandkids will someday appreciate it.

Elizabeth Jarbo
Elizabeth Jarbo
1860
1860
1860
1860
Mary Harper
Mary Harper
Malinda
Malinda

April 13, 2012 Up Date on Mary Harper

This morning I was looking through census and birth records and was trying to find the Harper family not really knowing if their name was Harper or Hopper. I decided to check by using one of the children's first names. I choose Malinda because Melinda is a little different, popular back then but still unusual.

What did I come across? It was her birth record. Her father was William Harper and her mother was Mary Jarboe. So now the mystery of Elizabeth is solved, Mary Harper is her daughter and it is Elizabeth living next door to them in 1860. I need to now find Elizabeth's death record.

I thought this also solved the name Hopper or Harper and I now knew it was Harper, but I learned today the name was Hopper. I connected with a family member who knew for sure the name was Hopper. This is the reason you have to be sure to check different spellings. When you see it the same in two places usually will help you know the right spelling, but in this case, it didn't help.The older years will usually be the ones with the wrong spelling.

I have lost Mary and William Hopper and can't find them in 1870. I will keep looking.

Baby Book Family Tree
Baby Book Family Tree

“Hint” If you buying a baby book for someone buy one with a family tree.

Harold and Mary Ann
Harold and Mary Ann

Keep Up The Baby Book or Bible

My mother-in-law had nine kids, but she kept up all their baby books. She filled out a family tree in the books. You don’t know how much this family tree helped me in searching for my husband’s family. I made a copy of the family tree and have it hanging in my office.

Make a tree for a child before it's born and put in at least four generations. If you can talk to family now get the information from them. If your baby book doesn't have a tree in it there are many places you can download a tree. Here's a place you can get templates of family trees.

I know it's not the same nowadays you can always put all your genealogy on the computer. It's just the feel of the Bible or baby book having the information.

I'm also always surprised with some of the old names. Names I thought were modern names turned out to be very old names like.

Levi

Tabatha

Joyce

Melinda

Logan

Dawson

Cassandra

Lucinda

Amanda

Louisa

Source

Looking for a Mystery.

If you're looking for a mystery genealogy is the thing to do. Ancestry or FamilySearch is a good place to go. Find a grave is also a good place for locating where a family member is buried.

My grandfather told me the story of his baby girl and his baby granddaughter and how they both got sick at once. This day the little girls were in bed together and both very sick. He was sitting in the living room when a bird flew in the house. He got the bird out and the little girls both died right about the same time. I found the death record and they did die on the same day. They were Mary Ann and Joyce Lynn.

My families on both sides have always believed a bird in the house means death. An old superstition of death.

I also found I have a name in our family “Joyce” which goes all the way back to 1796 and my sister's name is Joyce. This name has been carried down through the years. I talked with other family members I never knew until I started doing genealogy. They also have Joyce in their part of the family.

Surprises I have found while doing genealogy;

I found my great-great-grandfather was one of the men involved in the Free State of Winston in Alabama.

I also found in a round-about-way I am related to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's relationship to me; nephew of wife of uncle of husband of my 3rd great grandmother. Really not too far off! Ha Ha. What it amounts to is my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Peggy Basham married Henry Crume. Mary Lincoln was the aunt to Abraham Lincoln and Mary married a Crume. This is so far off but interesting when doing research.

Thomas Lincoln 1778

Father of Abraham

Capt. Abraham Lincoln

Father of Thomas

Mary Lincoln

Daughter of Capt. Abraham

Ralph Crume Jr.

Husband of Mary Lincoln

Ralph Crume Sr.

Father of Ralph Jr.

Charles Crume

Son of Ralph Sr.

Henry Crume

Son of Charles

Margaret "Peggy" Basham My Great-Great-Great Grandmother.

Wife of Henry

Cassandra E " Cassie" Cox My Great-Great-Grandmother.

Daughter of Margaret "Peggy"

1850

1850
1850

Finding Family

Have you been happy with what you have found in your genealogy search?

See results

Who Do You Think You Are

Like I said before "Who Do You Think You Are," is a very interesting show to watch. Watching other people find their roots. How I would like to have the money to go as far as they do on this show. This video is about Tim McGraw finding his roots.

Who Do You Think You Are will now be showing on TLC. Kelly Clarkson takes a look at her family history, on the first show on July 24, 2013, 9:00 pm Eastern.

A good place to start your search is on Ancestry.

Missouri list death certificates and lots of information are found on those.

Illinois list civil war soldiers and marriage records and much more, all free. Each state has it's own information, some states not so great with information.

I enjoy looking through Find A Grave and have found many lost family members there.

Do Not Copy
Do Not Copy | Source

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