1940 ...
So many of us longed for the 1940 census to be released, and by now many of us have outlived the effort to get the entire census online in various databases including the one from NARA, the one from Ancestry, and the one from FAMILYSEARCH. Just as when the ELLIS ISLAND site came up years ago, there was a huge impact on these sites as so very many people went to them at all hours to get in - temporary but frustrating crashes - missing pages - missing towns - and most of it has been resolved and is now as good as it's going to get.
I myself am back to reading neighborhoods page by page as information I seek is NOT coming up via text searches for surnames. I would be happier rolling microfilm as I think my forefinger is going to need a joint replacement for all the stress of clicking.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment is when you find your family and SUSPECT or KNOW the information on it is in error, especially because the census taker took that information given BY A NEIGHBOR OR LANDLORD. (There is usually a notation on the side of the form stating this.) But if the information was not given by the head of the household or a family member, I would not take it for granted to be correct, even if that person was well intentioned.
I can tell you right now that contemporary neighbors and landlords have said things so incorrect about me that some of it is misunderstanding and some of it is slander. (And I've noticed that when I put it into writing that I know about it and that it is wrong information and that I don't appreciate it, when some people then see me, they blush, get big eyed with shock of seeing me, and even run out of the room. Oh the things people can or will say when they think you'll never know.)
So, taking that experience in real life, and that anger, back to 1940, I have to wonder. If someone's landlord didn't like them, if the family wasn't home much or hadn't paid their rent on time, or whatever, WHY WOULD A POTENTIAL GOSSIP BE CONSIDERED AN AUTHORITY ON THE FAMILY? What it means when you see that the information did not come from a family member is YOU CANNOT COUNT ON IT.
It means that you have to find other collaborating evidence.
You have to check CITY DIRECTORIES, your CHURCH records, your Social Security Applications, and so on, to verify it. Do find out whatever you can on an employer if listed, just in case the employee information is now part of some collection somewhere and to understand if they were small or large businesses. This may be especially interesting if they lived in a company town.
Some of the information on the 1940 census given by neighbors that I've found to be incorrect:
The spelling of the family surname. (It is incorrect in handwriting, and so transcribed in text the same.)
The age of some or all of the family members. (Thus one woman who had five children out of the home and who was in her 50's was listed as 40, based on the younger children at home.)
The language they spoke. (I noticed "German" listed for people who spoke German as one of their languages, but whose native language was Slovak or Hungarian. The census taker had a German surname. My guess is that she spoke German and so did the information giver.)
People who were working, perhaps part time or in their own small business due to the economy, listed as not working at all. In some cases this was the parent, so children's income was assumed to be supporting the family. While in Hard Times, and in days before SSI or SSDI, some old before their time husbands were too old or ill to work and the children did support the parents or contribute income to the family, I'd research around it. WHY? Because misinformation means a false family story. (You want to understand that family in their place in time and history, as well as their ethnic, religious, and FAMILY CULTURE. You want to ask, "Did this family value education?" "Was this family sexist? Did the males or the females or both quit school to support the family? And so on.)
In reading this or any other census, record the DATE the census taker wrote the information. Missing family members can be on no census at all because they MOVED in the weeks between one census taker visit and the next census taker visit in another part of the town or country.
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