The overwhelming 1950 Census

 

I could only find my mom and her mother - I was unable to find any other family members in the 1950's census. 

Mom was 15 years old. That's about all I got from it - She and her Mom were on 2 different pages. Grandma wasn't working - Also on my grandmothers census it did list her with a D for divorced. That is the first time I have seen any reference to a divorce. Now to try and find divorce records - even though I have looked before and found nothing. 

So if she was divorced, then she must have been legally married. Then again, she might have just lied - I mean they don't check. So basically I am back to square one. 

I don't know why I even bother. These walls are so annoying and defeating. I have been searching since 2007 - I am now 68 years old. I thought for sure, I'd have more answers. Well at least I did find my mom's bio father. I guess you always want more when it comes to Genealogy. 

It was said the 1950's census would be more user friendly and I haven't found that to be the case. 

Maybe it's just me. 

Using the Census Records in your Family search

The United States population census records contain a wealth of information about people. They are useful in learning about one’s family and local social and economic conditions at various times in history. There was a population census taken in 1790 and every tenth year after that. Individual records from the federal population censuses are confidential for 72 years, by law (Title 44, U.S. Code). 1940 came out in April 2012. We'll have to wait till April 2022 for 1950. April 2033 for 1960. I hope I am still around, to actually see mine. I was born in 1954.

The first time I actually saw my grandparents in a census was thrilling and I was hooked. Both my parents were born in 1932 and 1934, so I had to wait till 2012, to see their names on the 1940 census - and there they were, listed along with their ages and family members. Wow.

What can the Census tell me? Population Census Items 1790–1940 list what each census recorded. Example:

1790- Name of family head; free white males of 16 years and up; free white males under 16; free white females; slaves; other free persons.

Each census gets a bit more involved with the 1940 census listing:

1940 - Address; home owned or rented; the value or monthly rental; whether on a farm; name; relationship to household head; sex; race; age; marital status; school attendance; educational attainment; birthplace; citizenship of foreign-born; location of residence 5 years ago and whether on a farm; employment status; if at work, whether in private or non-emergency government work, or in public emergency work (WPA, CCC, NYA, etc.); if in private work, hours worked in a week; if seeking work or on public emergency work, duration of unemployment; occupation, industry, and a class of worker; weeks worked last year, income last year.

NOTE: 1890 Census was destroyed in a fire in 1921- fragments of the US census population schedule exist only for the states of Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas.

The United States census of 1890 showed a total of 248,253 Native Americans living in America, down from 400,764 Native Americans identified in the census of 1850.

The 1890 census announced that the frontier region of the United States no longer existed and that the Census Bureau would no longer track the westward migration of the U.S. population. Up to and including the 1880 census, the country had a frontier of settlement. By 1890, isolated bodies of settlement had broken into the unsettled area to the extent that there was hardly a frontier line.


















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