1940 Census and City Directories

 

The 1940 US Census has been online for two weeks now. 

 For many genealogy enthusiasts this is a really exciting time.

http://youtu.be/j5l_xxZbGSw

Fun link about the 1940 census experience of one young lady.  (Short)

 For those who have done genealogical research on microfilm this is a time to rejoice in the digitization and indexing of the previous census records.  I had almost forgotten what it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  For those who have never done genealogical research without computers, indexing and clear images to peruse, you may have a new found respect for those who came before you and found anything.  It is a startling contrast to actually see the difference and makes me so grateful for the technology we now have available.  What an exciting time to do our family history!

What is the difference between Digitization and Indexed Census Records?  In a nutshell it is this:
Digitized Records have been extracted from their original source and the image or text has been captured for use on the computer.  These records can be organized in large groups such as localities but still need to be searched page by page for what you are looking for specifically, just like a microfilm or fiche.

Non-Indexed Records cannot be looked up by typing who you are looking for in a search box.  They are listed by locality, not a person's name.  So if your ancestor lived in a large city...can you envision looking through one page of enumerated streets at a time to find your family member in San Francisco or Chicago or New York??   This is how we now find the 1940 census.  It is online but in its rough form.  An Indexed Record can be found in seconds by entering the name in a search box saving you all kinds of time, energy and hassles in most cases hassles. 

So it has been the required 72 years since the 1940 Census was taken, now there is a gigantic push to have volunteers index the information by name and other facts for much easier access through the search engines.  This process of making these 146, 000, 000 households of Americans easy to find is going to take time.  The projected time is 6 months to a year before it is finished with thousands of volunteers. But, you can access information you would like to have now, you just have to know the process. 

What you need now to use the census as a digitized, but not indexed collection of records is the state,  city, county and a street address of your ancestor or family member.  Once you have that street address you can go the site:

 http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

There you will put in the state, county, and then the street address to calculate the enumeration district (ED) number.  When you then access the 1940 census there will be a place to enter the ED# and the census will literally take you to the neighborhoods of that district to begin your search.

However, once you are in the neighborhood, you must then search through probably forty pages of households to find your ancestor's household. One thing that helps is the enumerator has usually written the street name vertically in the left hand margin  so you can just check your particular street.  Be cautioned that they did not just go in a linear path until they finished a neighborhood.  They often circled blocks doing just one side of a street at a time in little chunks.  They were most creative in some cases.

If you have a desire after this exercise to kiss all previously indexed census records when you can go right to your family...feel free.  You may also be inclined to want to volunteer your services to help get this 1940 census done sooner.  Go to  http://familysearch.org  to sign up and learn how to do it.

So how can you get the address of your relatives back in the 1940's.  For one thing you can check with your living relatives that may know or have old address books, etc. You can check a phone book if you can find an old one.  One of the best sources are City Directories.

City Directories have been around since the 1700s.  They are often overlooked as a great source of genealogical information.   They are similar to a phone book but have been produced for commercial purposes for centuries.  They will normally list a person's name and sometimes their spouse, their address, their occupation and other adults living in the same house.  They are most often found in genealogy libraries and city and county libraries.  There is a major microfilm collection housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.  They are not lent out and there are often people that will search them for you on site for a fee.  If you are fortunate enough to live in the area you are searching you can often find them yourself.  You can find articles on the familysearch.org Wiki under the learn tab on the home page, and search Google for other sources.  Here are 2 sites that I thought were pretty good on giving you a great overview.

 http://www.uscitydirectories.com

http://www.barbsnow.net/City%20Directories.html#availability