The 1940 Census

Tuesday morning, April 16, 1940, Blanche Mitchell knocked on my parent's door. Blanche was the Census Taker for Enumeration District 186-1A, Pecos County, Fort Stockton, Texas. It was mid-morning, Blanche's 4th stop of the day. She had already talked to the neighbors, the Bobos, the Connalys, and the Reimunds. My father was at work, my brother and sister were in school and my mother came to the door and subsequently answered Blanche's questions.

The questions were, for the most part, pretty straight-forward: my parents rented the little house they were in (which had no street number), paying $23 a month rent. My father and mother were 32 years of age; my sister was 10 and my brother 8. My father had completed 4 years of high school, my mother 1. My sister had completed the 5th grade and my brother the 1st. All of them were born in Texas, all of them were white, and all of them had been living there in Fort Stockton, in town (as opposed to a farm) on that same date in 1935.

My father was a "Combination Man" for Southwestern Bell Telephone - classified as a "Public Worker" - earning $1,950 the previous year and received no income other than wages or salary. My mother was a housewife, and my siblings were, of course, students.

My mother was not one of the 5% chosen for the supplemental questions. Two individuals per form page were chosen for those questions; one selected earlier was little Tommy Bobo, only 3 years old. Most of his answers were "No" or blank. Later, Irma Hallford, two doors down, had to answer 21 additional questions about her parents birthplace, military service in the family, Federal Social Security, tax deductions, number of marriages and total number of children, among other queries that most people thought were nobody's business.

Yes, the 1940 Census is now available to the public. And for the first time, the entire enumeration is available at no cost on the Internet (almost all of the earlier census information is also available, but on pay sites). The catch is, this census is not indexed, so you have to search by Enumeration Districts. Fort Stockton had only three and I got lucky and found what I was looking for on the 9th sheet of the first ED. Good luck with your Aunt Maude, who lived in Chicago.

The 1940 census reflects the economic tumult of the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal recovery program of the 1930s. Besides the usual name, age, relationship, and occupation, the 1940 census asked if anyone in the household, during the week of March 24–30, 1940, was at work on, or assigned to, public emergency work projects conducted by the WPA, the NYA, the CCC, or state or local work relief agencies. If unemployed, for how long, was this person able to work and was this person actively seeking work?

There was little new information in this census about my parents, though I was surprised that my mother had but one year of high school. Somehow I missed that. But it is an interesting document, nevertheless. Several entries before that of my parents, I came across the Burcham family. I don't actually remember the Burchams (we moved from Fort Stockton when I was about 2), but I remember the name as family friends - especially, for some reason, the youngest daughter - Roxie. The Bobo name is also familiar, but that may have been an association from somewhere else.

Interesting reading. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the more distant branches of the family tree.