The 1940 Census is a BIG DEAL!

 
If you are a genealogist exploring your American ancestors, you know that census records are your bread-and-butter.  The U.S. census, taken every ten years since 1790, anchors each family in a particular place and time, providing insight into who and what our ancestors were.  Census questions about a person's parents provide clues to the identities of more ancestors, and questions about employment and military service tell us how our ancestors lived their everyday lives.  Using census material as the skeleton, a skilled genealogist can employ cultural and social history to fill in the flesh, creating a real connection between the twentieth-first century genealogist and the times and people of the past.

Aggregate census data is usually released by the Census Bureau not long after the completion of each census.  To see individuals, however, genealogists must wait until 72 years after the census was taken to view the population schedules.  In 2002, I was just a beginner, and I was thrilled when the 1930 census records became available.  Quickly exhausting those records, it has been a long wait for the 1940 census to come along.  Happily, the big day arrived on April 2, 2012.  The National Archives released digital copies of the population schedules, and eager genealogists began pouring over them.  Unfortunately, there are no online indexes as yet, so you need an actual 1940 address and a lot of patience to find your family members.  I used address information from City Directories (the precursor of telephone books) and all of my patience (that being a very limited commodity) to find a few of my family. 

Bart and Lorraine

The 1940 census was the first to show me my paternal grandparents living together with my two-year-old father. 



Rickey E. Dias



The record tells me that Bart V. Dias, his wife, Lorraine M., and their son, Rickey E., were all living at 223 T Street in Sacramento.  They rented their home for the astonishing sum of $25 a month.  Bart is 30 years old, Lorraine only 22, and Rickey is probably a pretty rambunctious 2-year-old.  All three are noted as being born in California.  The record indicates that they were all living in the same house in 1935, but that is something I would question, as Bart and Lorraine were not married in 1935 and, of course, Rickey wasn't born until 1937. 

New to this particular year's census is a question regarding education.  Bart notes that he has finished two years of high school, with Lorraine finishing only one.  Bart is employed as a janitor at a rooming house, while Lorraine tends to the home.  In 1939, Bart's total income was $720, averaging out to $60 per month.  After rent, this would leave Bart and Lorraine with $35 a month to spend on food, clothes, entertainment, etc.  As gasoline was $0.18 per gallon, and a loaf of bread cost $0.11, I imagine Bart and Lorraine could get by but they were definitely not living in luxury.