Sunday, April 15, 2012

1940 Census

I had just returned from a two-week vacation to Hawaii on April 1.  I was so jet-lagged that I completely forgot about the 1940 census release until I went to work on April 2.  This was probably for the best.

I first looked for my relatives that had lived, and still lived in the same place in Mount Olive, Wayne County, North Carolina.  It was just a matter of looking through a few images (OK, about 40) to find my grandparents, and their daughter, my mother.  The rest of the family was nearby.

Then, I looked for my other grandparents in Fayetteville, NC.  I even had their address.  But their part of the street was not in the enumeration district (ED) that was indicated through Stephen Morse's website.  Not his fault.  I looked at the map of enumeration districts - the area where my grandparents address would be was annexed into the city in about 1947, but was still in the county in 1940. This was at a time when Fort Bragg was increasing in size considerably.  After looking through parts of two enumeration districts, I found the correct address on the first page of ED 26-39B of Cumberland County, as if there was some confusion about what district this street belonged in.  My great-grandparents were living next door.  No street name or number was recorded.