The 1940 census was released online yesterday and there was such a massive response to the release that the computer servers for the National Archives were jammed. The public’s interest was so high, in fact, the servers crashed.
Guess there are a lot of genealogy buffs out there.
Basically, the Archives folks called in the cyber cavalry overnight. They boosted server capacity by a great deal and today things were running much more smoothly.
Well…except for the Gary family.
Things are okay. I mean, we’re safe, healthy and happy. But, I could not find my father and his family in the census records. I quizzed him to make sure that what I thought I knew was true. My grandfather, R. E. Gary bought the family farm in the mid 1930s. My dad was born in the 1930s. The entire family should be in these census records.
There’s just one problem (no, not the servers…so there were two problems.). The way the data is organized online, you can’t search by name. You can only search by street (or Enumeration District). And when I went to look for my grandfather’s street, it wasn’t listed.
I went to look at the street next to my grandfather’s street. It wasn’t listed. Two streets over? It wasn’t there. I wonder if the census takers just skipped doing that part of the town, turned in their hours and went and had a beer instead!
I did win some small victories during my search. The major road (Watkins) that runs near the street that runs near my grandfather’s street WAS listed but the major highway (Highway 51) that intersects it ALSO is not listed. Hwy. 51 IS listed by it’s other name (Thomas Street) but the census data doesn’t show that the two streets intersect.
You see…there’s a problem.
I went to look for my mother’s folks and I couldn’t find them either. I was able to find their streets (where they might have lived then) but they didn’t turn up. It’s entirely possible they missed the census takers all together. It’s also possible they could have shown up in one of the supplemental sections. That’s kind of like the proverbial needle in a haystack, though.
It’ll be much easier, one day, when it is possible to search by name.
In the meantime, I searched through street after street, name after name. I saw familiar surnames like Watson and Weaver and White. There were also more unique ones like Leeper and Faison. I was thinking about them all. I wonder what their life was like in April 1940 when the census takers came down their streets.
They had all just emerged from a horrible economic disaster; they had no idea that within two years they would fully be at war.
I saw family after family with young men listed who would have been just the right age to fight in that war. I said a silent prayer – retroactively, I suppose – that they might have been spared.
These are the folks that Tom Brokaw calls ‘The Greatest Generation.’ It’s easy to see why when you think of how they brought this country through those two tremendous crises that could have broken our country.
I’m sure they didn’t see it that way. They were just regular folks doing their jobs. I noticed that one man listed his occupation as a punch press operator and another as a sheet metal foreman. Sounds like a slice of Americana to me rather than something extraordinary. And yet it was.
Later, I’ll be able to find ol’ Bob Gary and his family, I’m sure. I might even be able to find his street. I’m sure I’ll be able to find his wife and kids - including my dad. They were amazing, too, in their own way.
But for this evening, I had a cyber visit with the Williamsons, the Waggoners and the Waitzes. Just ordinary folks doing amazing things in extraordinary times.
JG
UPDATE - I FOUND my family. My dad’s family was right on the top of the page where I finally found them…it’s just that the street had a different name back then. Anyway, it was somewhat emotional when I found them. I also found my mom’s family, too. They weren’t living on the street she thought they might have been on in 1940. Anyway…I hit paydirt; I had success! I’m pleased that I found them (and I’m glad to have the print-outs for the family history files).
ADDITIONAL LINK - http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/1940-census-graphics-show-dramatic-change-education-economy-135944654.html
(Source: twincities.com)
Originally posted 4/3/2012
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