Of course, now that the 1940 census has been released, I have spent as much time as possible playing with it (that and city directories). I am impressed at how much has been done to make it possible to find people, considering it is not yet indexed by name. I was actually shocked that Ancestry.com already had Nevada and Delaware indexed before the first week was out. Most impressive!
Right now, you have to pull up the census by Enumeration Districts, “ED’s.” An ED is simply a section of town that was assigned to the “enumerator” – the census worker — who covered it. Because of the way an area is canvassed, a particular street can be on several different pages and even in different ED’s, so if you do not find your ancestor on the first page with their street, keep looking through that ED, and if you still haven’t found it, check other ED’s with that street listed.
Many ED’s have the street’s listed, but if not, check the Steve Morse website (http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html), which allows you to put in a street address to find the exact ED in large cities. If you can find the ED for the 1930 census, the same website will show you what it is in 1940. I keep Steve’s website pinned to my browser toolbar so I can easily open it in a new window.
If you are looking at the censuses on Ancestry.com (which I recommend) then you can rotate the image so it is easier to read the street names and get through browsing faster.
If you don’t know your ancestor’s address, of course it is more of a challenge. If the ancestors lived in a city, you may be able to find them in a city directory close to the census year so you know which street to search, failing that, look for them at previous addresses or even something more current.
Depending on their ages, you may find them living with another relative whose address you do know. For example, my elderly great uncle Charles was living with his daughter and son-in-law. Even if they are not living with a relative, they may be nearby.
In Maine, probate and registered land records are increasingly online, so you may be able to get closer to an address that way. Look at old vital records you already have or other documents; many times, when you found the document you were not looking for an address, so it is easy to forget how many records have addresses. (This is when you may be grateful that grandma saved every Christmas card she ever received.) Old bills, tax records … think about all the places that you have had to write your address.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in looking for “official” records, we forget just how large a footprint we leave behind in casual daily interactions. Maybe your uncle’s junior high report card will help, because most people lived within walking distance of the schools they attended. Or their church or grocery store … It’s actually kind of fun to puzzle-out how many different ways you might get close to an address for an ancestor.
Editor’s note: Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft, who has been doing genealogy for over 30 years, is a freelance genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. The Aroostook County Genealogical Society meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at the Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center, 163 Van Buren Road, Caribou, at 6:30 p.m. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
