So what have you found - 1940 Census (find, search, free)
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Do you have to have like Ancestry.com to access the census online or is there a place for free?
When it first came out last week, it was only available here for free: Welcome - 1940 Census
I think Ancestry is also now offering it for free (for a little while anyway).
I found that my grandfather was working as a grocery store manager before he left to fight in WWII. My family knew he was a grocery store manager after the war but we didn't know about his working in the store before the war.
Do you have to have like Ancestry.com to access the census online or is there a place for free?
Ancestry.com will be offering the 1940 census for free for the next year. It will be a while before you can search it by name, though.
Right now the 1930 census is also free. That can help you find enumeration districts to search.
For example, you can search for someone by name in the 1930 census. When you find him, the enumeration district will be on the top of the page. You can then find the corresponding enumeration district for 1940 and browse through it for names you are interested in. If he has not moved since the 1930 census, you should find him.
If you know an actual address for him in 1930, you can find him that way, too.
The family I found ... distantly related. What I enjoyed most was knowing how much money they made. There was the adult couple, and then a married son and his wife.
The father was a laborer for the water company, and made $1,240.
The wife was a laundress, and made $900.
The son was a machinist on a railroad, and made $940.
The daughter-in-law was a secretary to a lawyer, and made $1,200.
The family I found ... distantly related. What I enjoyed most was knowing how much money they made. There was the adult couple, and then a married son and his wife.
The father was a laborer for the water company, and made $1,240.
The wife was a laundress, and made $900.
The son was a machinist on a railroad, and made $940.
The daughter-in-law was a secretary to a lawyer, and made $1,200.
Looks like the son married well!!!
Despite the difference in ages, and the related time on the job, both couples are also earning the same amount...
The family I found ... distantly related. What I enjoyed most was knowing how much money they made. There was the adult couple, and then a married son and his wife.
The father was a laborer for the water company, and made $1,240.
The wife was a laundress, and made $900.
The son was a machinist on a railroad, and made $940.
The daughter-in-law was a secretary to a lawyer, and made $1,200.
Looks like the son married well!!!
Sounds about average for the times. The daughter in law may be the only one without a manual labor job but it's not like the son married into high society or anything. A secretarial job for a woman was pretty common in 1940, before WWII.
So far, of the ancestors I've found, their incomes have ranged from $900 to $2,800. Annoyingly though, one of the records doesn't list their income at all! The wife had given the info and her husband's income is left blank while her son's says "doesn't know". So I'm assuming since it's blank, she also didn't know her husband's income. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - she was a full time alcoholic and would sell off her belongings for "gin money". I would not be surprised if the men of the house kept all financial matters away from her.
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