Looking for my Dad on the 1940 Census

Now that I found my mother in Gallatin, Clay County, Missouri on the 1940 Census....I decided to look for my father.  They were born the same year, so he would also be about 5-6 years old and living with his father, Leo Ervin Harms and his mother Fern and his brother Richard (Dick).  I know that Leo and Fern were married twice, divorced twice...but I don't know exactly when.  So it might be very interesting to see if they were living together at this time.

My father was Buddy Lee Harms and he was born on 27 Mar 1934 in Braymer, Caldwell County, Missouri.  I did a little research online about Braymer:

http://www.caldwellcountymissouri.com/history_braymer.htm

BRAYMER began it's existence in 1887 as a result of the construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad through southern Caldwell County. As America was growing with the railroads, Daniel Braymer and others realized what a great convenience it would be for the railroad to come through this area, giving a direct connection with the larger western cities and with the Hannibal, St. Joseph and Wabash Railroad at Chillicothe and Breckenridge, Missouri. Daniel Braymer had large holdings of land that were donated for the right-of-way for the railroads. He also worked very hard to get them here so the town was named after him.

The first passenger train went through Braymer on December 19, 1887, amid great rejoicing. It was an event of such significance that there was a typical "Braymer Crowd" present and there were speeches and the firing of anvils. The first railroad depot burned during a 4th of July celebration in the park we now know as Tait park. A replacement was built, but it also burned in 1934 in the middle of the great Depression. A third depot was constructed in 1935 and was later torn down in 1980 after the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt.



The business section of town ran east of Second and Main, but fire destroyed most of those wooden buildings and changed Main Street to run North & South. Braymer became known as the "Biggest Little Town in Missouri". Today, Braymer is still served by the Soo Railroad line, and they have worked to restore the roadbed to first class condition. Trains continue to pass through daily.

So....the replacement railroad depot burned down the year my father was born in Braymer.  I don't know what my grandfather, Leo (Buddy's dad) did for work in this town.  I'll have to try to find out!

I found a map of Braymer online:







The USGenWeb Archives Digital Map Library
Caldwell County and Town Maps 
Bullocks Geographical PLAT Maps of CALDWELL County Missouri 
as found in the Atlas of Caldwell County 1897 St. Joseph Missouri, press of Lon Hardman

To find my father on the 1940 Census I need to figure out where to search.  I went to Caldwell County, Missouri and found ED 13-3 - Davis Township, Braymer City and ED 13-4 - Davis Township outside Braymer City.  I'll start there.   Ok....they weren't in these two census schedules.  Now where do I look?

I was trying to figure out where to look next when I remembered that my dad had a brother two years younger than him...Richard Leo Harms (Uncle Dick to me).  So I went back to my ancestry.com account and looked up the birth year and place for dad's brother.  Uncle Dick was born in 1936, two years after my dad, in Fairport, DeKalb, MO.  So I went to the census schedules for DeKalb County and looked at every one of them....17 or 18 of them, I think.  Their family was not still living in Fairport or anywhere else in DeKalb County in 1940.

While I was doing this, I remembered that when I finally found my mom on the Clay County census, I just stopped right where I found her.  So, I went back to see if perhaps my dad's family had moved near my mom sooner than I thought.  They hadn't.  I didn't find them on that census either.

Now where to look?  Leo's dad, Henry August Harms, was still alive in 1940 according to the information that I have in ancestry.com.  According to the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses, he lived in Jefferson, Daviess County, Missouri.  Maybe he still lived there in 1940, and maybe Leo moved closer to his aging dad.  I think I'll look in Jefferson, Daviess County next!

I just found Leo's sister, Velma (Harms) McFee with her husband, Robert, and her oldest son, Wayne.  So I might be on the right track here!  I hope to find Leo's family and Henry August Harms nearby.

I just found Henry A. Harms and his wife Allie.  Yeah!!  They were living near Velma....their only daughter.  I'll give all the info from the census in just a minute.  First I want to see if I can find Leo and my dad.

Well...my dad's family wasn't in Jefferson, Daviess County, MO (ED 31-13).  But I found Leo's sister, Velma's family and Leo's dad, Henry and his wife Allie.  So I'm really, really glad I looked in that census!