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Your Guide to the
1940 uS CenSuS
How to Find Your Family in Free Census Records Online
1Make a list of relatives you want to look for.Who do you know was alive on or before April 1, 1940? (People born later in the year weren’t supposed to be counted.) Write
down their full names and any other key details you know about them: when they were born, where they would have been living dur-ing the census year, any other people who would have been in their households.
Record this information on the 1940 Census Checklist included in this packet—it will serve as a to-do list as you work through the rest of the steps.
2 Pinpoint residences. You won’t be able to search the 1940 records by name right away: efforts to index the names and other data in the census
can’t begin until the records become public, and the work will take months to complete.
In the meantime, you can look up your relatives if you know what “enu-meration district” (eD) they lived in. to figure out the right eD, you’ll need to know your relative’s street address or neighborhood. Several places to look for a place of residence:
• city directories• 1930 census (especially if you think the family stayed put)• newspapers
Record the residence information you find on your 1940 Census Checklist.
3ID the ED.Using Steve Morse’s 1940 Census eD finder <stevemorse.org/census/unified.html>, plug the address in to find out what
enumeration district that location was in.
You also can consult eD maps from the National Archives, following the instructions on its website <www.archives.gov/research/cen-sus/1940/start-research.html> (see the third step).
Write the enumeration district on your 1940 Census Checklist. of course, you might not have been able to pinpoint the eD for every relative you want to look for in the census. on your checklist, highlight the names of the relatives for whom you do know the eD. You’ll focus on looking for these people’s records first.
4Visit <1940census.archives.gov>.the digitized 1940 census records will be live on this website as of April 2. In the past, record releases of this magnitude have
overwhelmed web servers, so don’t be alarmed if the expected heavy traffic causes slow load times or temporary site outages—keep trying.
When you get to this site, you’ll be able to pick out an enumeration district to view its records. Browse through the records to find your relative. Look for street addresses in the left side of the census record.
Many people have the same name, so check that the ages and details about other household members match what you know about your family—that way, you’ll be sure you’ve found the right person.
Soon after the records are released on <1940census.archives.gov>, you’ll be able to browse them on several other genealogy websites, too:
• Ancestry.com• Archives.com• CensusRecords.com• FamilySearch.org
Note that all these sites will offer access to the 1940 census for free—you don’t need to pay to view them even on a subscription website.
5Make sense of the census records. Use the included 1940 Census Form to help understand the column headers on the records as you view them. When you
find your relative, copy the information from his household onto the form for future reference.
on your 1940 Census Checklist, note the page number where you found your family so you can easily look it up again later.
Your Guide to the 1940 US Census
Census Search ChecklistGetting organized will make it easier to identify your ancestors in 1940 census records. Fill in this chart (feel free to make photocopies) with the names of the folks you’re looking for and their basic information in 1940.
name Age in 1940
Marital Status (single,
div., wid.)
Likely Household Members (names and ages in 1940)
Place of residence (ideally, a street
address)
ed Search result
1. Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
2. Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
3. Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
4. Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
5. Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
©2012 FAMILY tRee MAGAzINe
194
0 C
Ensu
s
Loca
l Com
mun
ityC
ount
ySt
ate
War
dSu
perv
isor
Dis
tric
t #
enum
erat
orD
ate
Cen
sus
take
nen
umer
atio
n D
istr
ict #
Page number
Street, Avenue, road, etc.
home number
No. of household in order of visit
home owned (o) or renteded (R)
Indi
cate
whe
ther
en-
gage
d in
hom
e ho
use-
wor
k (h
), in
scho
ol (S
),
unab
le to
wor
k (U
), o
r
othe
r (o
t).
Num
ber o
f
hour
s w
orke
d
durin
g w
eek
of M
arch
24-
30, 1
940.
Farm? (Yes or No)
Relationship to head of household
Sex
Color or Race
Age at Last Birthday
Marital Status
Attended school since March 1, 1940
highest grade of school completed
Citizenship of the foreign born
County
State (territory or country)
on a Farm? (Y or N)
If not seeking, did he hAVe A JoB
Was this person SeeKING WoRK
Duration of unemployment
occupation
Industry
Class of Worker
No. of weeks worked in 1939
Amount of Money, wages or salary
At WoRK for pay or profit in private
work week of March 24-30? (Y or N)
12
34
67
89
1011
1213
1415
1916
1724
1820
2321
2522
2728
2930
3132
Pers
onal
Des
crip
tion
hou
seho
ld D
ata
Loca
tion
In w
hat p
lace
did
this
per
son
live
on A
pril
1, 19
35?
Value of home or Monthly rental 5
Nam
e of
eac
h
pers
on w
hose
usua
l pla
ce o
f
resi
denc
e on
Apr
il 1,
1940
,
was
in th
is
hous
hold
.
If bo
rn in
U.S
. gi
ve s
tate
, te
rrito
ry o
r po
sses
sion
.
If fo
reig
n bo
rn, g
ive
coun
try
in
whi
ch b
irth-
plac
e w
as s
it-ua
ted
on Ja
n.
1, 19
37.
City
, tow
n or
vi
llage
hav
-in
g 2,
600
or
mor
e in
hab-
itant
s If
less
, en
ter “
R.”
If not was he at work on public eMeRGeNCY
WoRK week of March 24-30?
housework, School, Unable to Work
No. hours worked March 24-30
2633
Receive $50 from other source?
Pers
ons
14 Y
ears
old
and
ove
r — e
mpl
oym
ent S
tatu
s
©20
12 F
AM
ILY
tR
ee M
AG
Az
INe
Find these and more genealogy how-to books, CDs, classes and article downloads at ShopFamilyTree.com <shopfamilytree.com>.
The GenealoGisT’s Census PoCkeT RefeRenCeby the editors of Family Tree Magazine#W8870
This handy collection puts census-related resources, tips, lists and need-to-know facts right at your fingertips.
Census seCrets CDby the editors of Family Tree Magazine#Z9348
Packed with easy-to-understand how-tos, tools, quick-reference guides and checklists, this CD will be your census research companion.
Online Census seCrets On-DemanD webinarPresented by Allison Dolan #Z7022
Learn the best strategies for finding your ancestors in online US census records.
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