1940 Census....It's Finally Here!

After 72 years, the 1940 Census has finally been released!  I've been having fun looking through the images...but I also realized how much harder it is to search a census when it hasn't been indexed.  I can't just type a name into a search box and have the name come up to the right census page.  I need to know where to look and do it the older fashioned way....one page at a time.  That is kind of fun.  Almost like a quest!  But it also takes a lot of time.  I decided to help with the indexing, so I signed up as an indexer with Family Search and I just completed my first batch from the Illinois 1940 Census.  It feels good to give back a little bit!

Finding Elisha

The first family I tried to find on the 1940 Census was Elisha Milford Robertson and his wife Zona.  Find A Grave had Elisha's burial in East Slope Memorial Gardens in Riverside, MO and his death date as 1946 in North Kansas City, Clay, MO.  He died 6 years after the 1940 Census, so this is the last Census he will be on.  I decided to start looking for him in North Kansas City, Clay, MO...hoping he still lived where he later died.  There were only 2 choices for that area to search, and I found him pretty easily!  He and Zona were in ED (Enumeration District) 24-14 on sheet 12A.  It was just the two of them living together.  It looks like they were renting a home and the amount of rent stated was '8'.  Does that mean $8.00 a month?  It looks like they were living on East 16th or 18th Avenue in Gallatin Township, North Kansas City, Clay County, Missouri.  Elisha's name was listed as E.M. Robertson and his wife...Zona.  They got the Robertson spelling right this time!  Elisha's age was given as 60 and Zona's age was given as 45.  This Census gives us the highest grade they completed in school! Elisha completed 8th grade and Zona completed 7th grade.  They were both born in Missouri.  The 1940 Census asks them to name the place they lived on April 1, 1935...5 years before the census (and right during the Great Depression).  Elisha stated they lived in a Rural area of Clay County, Missouri - - but it was not a farm.  I say Elisha said that, because on this census - as opposed to other census' - the enumerator marked an x with a circle around it by the name of the person who gave the information.  That person was Elisha.  They asked if the person worked the last week of March 1940, and Elisha said Yes...he worked 10 hours that week.  Zona didn't work outside the home.  It states the she did Home Housework (H).  Elisha gives his occupation as 'Pick up jobs' for the 'Public'.  He worked 35 weeks in 1939 and made $175 for the whole year.  That doesn't seem like a lot of money even for then.

1940 Federal Census - Missouri

This Census did something unusual.  Supplementary questions were asked of every 14th and 29th person on the sheet....only those two names.  I was excited to see that Zona was on line 14!  So I went to the bottom of the sheet where they recorded the supplementary questions and answers....and there she was!  Her name was listed by the number 14...but there was no name listed by number 29, although there was a woman listed on line 29 above.  Maybe she wasn't at home at the time.

Here is the supplementary information for Zona:

Name: Zona Robertson.  

Place of Birth of Father and Mother:  father - North Carolina    mother - Missouri

Mother Tongue spoken in the home: English

They asked if she was a US military Veteran or the wife, widow or child of a Veteran:  NO

Did she have a Social Security Number:  No

Were deductions for Social Security taken out of her wage in 1939?   NO

Usual Occupation:  None

Has this woman been married more than once?   NO  (No previous marriages, then)

Number of children ever born:  2 (do not include stillbirths)  So Zona only had the two children.

That's all the supplementary questions they asked.  I did find out that Zona had only been married to Elisha and she had only given birth to the two children, Homer and Faye.  

I'm glad I found my first 1940 Census family so easily!  Now I need to find Homer Robertson, my grandfather, and Eleanor, his wife and MY MOM!  This is the first census that will have my mother, Kay Elizabeth Robertson, on it!