Thanks for keeping us updated on where the 1940 Fed Census currently is. I found my New York guy living in So. CA in 1940, as I suspected, and that he was living in San Francisco as early as 1935...likely right after he was released from a NY City prison for larceny.

Unfortunately, it's beginning to appear that the 1940 Census Taker missed our entire Michigan city block. He covered the next block (my aunt, uncle & several cousins included) but I couldn't find our family or any of our immediate neighbors by earlier doing the street search or now by doing the name search. First chance to show up on a Fed Census, and this happens.

Bear in mind that for some years, the two sides of the same street are in different enumeration districts. My father's family is not on the 1940 Census, either. The odd-numbered houses on that street are in one enumeration disrict, and the even-numbered houses are in another. Problem is, however, that the enumerator who walked the ED with the even-numbered houses didn't go to that street at all. None of the even-numbered houses show up anywhere on the 1940 Census. Luckily for me, I know the names, birth dates, etc., of everyone living there at that time, but for someone who likes to have sources for everything, it's quite frustrating.

So, if you know the address, make sure that you are looking in the correct enumeration district. And don't rely on a name search because the indexers don't always get it right (even when it's so obvious that they're wrong), and the enumerators don't always write it down correctly, either. You'd be amazed at the misspellings I've seen.

Once you know the correct ED, pull up the pages for that ED and look at every line on every page. Once you've found the correct street, then look for the house number.

Thanks, but I looked for neighbors on both sides of the block, and nothing. I think this census guy was just incompetent. For instance he had a three year old girl I later went to grammar school with named Jean, as James, and her completed grade level was 6th grade! Pretty impressive for a three year old. And he had BOTH her mother & 6 year old sister, Patricia, identified as "wife" & her completed grade was Grade 7! It's not really that important, but it would have been fun to see the Old Neighborhood again.

Only two cities in my county seem to have been included in the census, no small towns. However, I did find my Great Uncle while browsing the township my house is in. He lived here in 1940 at age 42 and my uncle, who was his nephew, lived with him at age 18. They listed my grt.uncle as a "laborer", "apprentice carpenter" and my uncle as a "farmer". Wha?? a farmer? I think the census taker must have been confused. At 42, my Gr. Uncle should be (and was) a carpenter and my uncle should have been the apprentice carpenter (he was a carpenter all his adult life). At least I know this house, originally a one-room school, was owned and lived in by my gr.uncle in 1940 and was worth all of $500.

I didn't see any other townships that would have included other family members in the rural area but perhaps I should go back later and check again. Also, it was very difficult to print out a page. When I finally was able, the print was too small to read. Must be a trick to it. Overall, it was fun. Found other relatives in the bigger city nearby that had been in the census.