1940 US Census Indexing Is Complete — #Genealogy, #Census, #1940

OK, Ancestry.com completed their indexing of the 1940 US Census and fast on their heels, FamilySearch.org also completed theirs — Stanczyk is not aware of the status of other 1940 Census providers’ status.

Prior To The Index

Prior to the indexes, I used Dr Stephen Morse’s One-Step website to figure out which Enumerated District (ED) I need to search sequentially, image-by-image. With most ED’s being between 35-50 images, this was not overly taxing and it yielded excellent results — after a week I had most of the people I most wanted to find.

State indexes rolled out, a few at a time. I found other high value targets in my index searches. Now that indexing is complete, I had thought to find the last few stragglers. I found some indexes as their was supposed to be in places that I had not suspected and hence the ED search did not yield them to me. A few had names that were slightly off in their transcription but none-the-less were easily findable. Some I had to get creative on imaging misspelling or mis-transcribing and I found a handful more.

I hope others did as I did in blazing my trail. When I found a badly indexed name, I used Ancestry.com’s View/Add Alternative Info. So when I finally found my Aunt Kitty (Catherine Eliasz, now married and a Perinoff), who was born as Casimiera Elijasz, but always used Catherine Eliasz in my lifetime. I entered the mis-transcribed name correctly so that other genealogists after me would be able to find my aunt Kitty more easily (and as a bonus they would also find me too).

Where’s Aunt Alice?

So, where is my Aunt Alice? I had correctly anticipated that both my aunt Alice (the eldest) and Catherine (2nd eldest) would be married and I knew the husband’s name. As you see I found my aunt Kitty. But my best efforts at locating my Aunt Alice have failed. I tried using only her first name or only the last name. I tried by other data points I knew (Detroit, MI, USA — I kept broadening the search, even though I “knew” she was in Detroit). I tried locating a woman living in Detroit born in 1910 +/- 1 year (then 2 and 5 years) who was born in Poland (and Russia, just in case they still referenced Russian-Poland partition in that way). No luck !!! I tried searching for her fist husband — not found either ??  So I tried locating her second husband — no luck, he was still single living at home with his parents. No Alice and no first husband — could they have been missed?

The Missing

So here is my list of most sought after ancestors: Aunt Alice (nee Eliasz), could be listed as some corrupted version of EPPERLY (although I tried a combination of this I could think of). My mother’s sister Helen McLean. My dad’s cousins: Emil Leszczynski, Stephen/Matthew/Stanley Sobieszczanski. I thought I would find Emil. I was prepared to find him living away at college (law school) — no luck. As for the Sobieszczanski boys I was surprised, that outside of their brother Henry, I could find none. Perhaps the three are in the US military — after all I had another uncle that served in the US Navy 1935-1938.

How about you? Do you have any AWOL ancestors from the 1940 Census too? Drop me a line (comment or email).

2012 – Year of the Census — #Genealogy, #Census, #State, #Territory

NY State Censuses: Colonial | State

2012 has certainly been a very good genealogical year for this jester. Recently, Ancestry.com completed the 1940 index for NY and I was thrilled to find my grand-uncle Frank Leszczynski ! Grand-Uncle Frank (aka Franciszek was 75 in 1940, and was the god-father at my aunt Catherine’s birth in 1914 and was from my great-grandfather Tomasz’s first wife, Julianna). He is a Naturalized citizen on/before 1940, after having filed in 1931 (Declaration of Intent). Why he is living with a family of Pawelczak as a lodger is a question. After all, he has two half-siblings living nearby, including my grand-uncle Michael whom he was living with when he filed the Declaration of Intent in 1931. So why live at 819 Oliver Street in North Tonawanda (Niagara County, NY) with the Pawelczaks — which he & the Pawelczaks did since 1935 according to the census data?

I still need to find Frank’s death certificate and death notice (if possible) and his Naturalization papers (Erie County or more likely Niagara County).

Ancestry on 5th-June-2012 also released indexes and images of the NY State Census for 1892, 1915, 1925 (previously they had done 1905, partially?).

NY Censuses & 1940 US Census both making my research in NY state a little more complete.

State Censuses

Family Tree Magazine had a nice “Cut & Save” chart on State Censuses (not the US Federal Census). Here is my Cut/Saved images of the States and their Colonial or Territorial or State Censuses that are available … somewhere.

Alabama .. Minnesota

Mississippi .. Wyoming

1940 US Census Finds … — #Genealogy, #1940, #Census

Yesterday, Stanczyk wrote about some of the questions he was able to answer and also some of the interesting new pieces of information too. Today I wanted to list my finds:

1. 1940Census_ED15_35_SHT9A_MrozekAlbert.jpg
2. 1940Census_ED15_37_SHT6A_LeszczynskiMichael.jpg
3. 1940Census_ED15_37_SHT8B_LeszczynskiTheophilus.jpg
4. 1940Census_ED51_22_SHT10A_SolomonBenjamin.jpg
5. 1940Census_ED64_208_SHT13A_LeszczynskiJohnBuffalo.jpg
6. 1940Census_ED74_29_SHT8A_GronekFamily_PortHuron.jpg
7. 1940Census_ED82_100_SHT19B_GawlikowskiCatherineWidow.jpg
8. 1940Census_ED84_1246_SHT5A_Vespek_Family.jpg
9. 1940Census_ED84_583_SHT7A_GawlikowskiAdamRose_page1.jpg
10. 1940Census_ED84_583_SHT7B_GawlikowskiAdamRose_page2_also_SarotteFamily.jpg
11. 1940Census_ED84_586_SHT3B_KedzierskiMI.jpg
12. 1940Census_ED84_710_SHT5A_EliaszFamily_page1.jpg
13. 1940Census_ED84_710_SHT5B_EliaszFamily_page2.jpg
14. 1940Census_ED92_353_SHT16B_HajekFamily.jpg
15. 1940Census_ED95_217_SHT17A_NadolnyRose.jpg
16. 1940Census_ED95_217_SHT1B_SobieszczanskiFamily.jpg
17. 1940Census_ED95_221_SHT3A_EliaszVincent.jpg
18. 1940Census_ED95_221_SHT3B_MylekFamily.jpg

So I found: Eliasz, Gawlik, Gronek, Hajek, Kedzierski, Leszczynski, Mylek, Nadolny, Sobieszczanski, Solomon and Vespek.

The Locales involved so far are: Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo/Depew, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.

I have a folder on my computer titled, Source Documents. Within that folder, I have many sub folders for a wide variety of genealogical sources (Birth, Marriage, Death, etc.) and also a Census sub folder too. Some of those folders also have sub folders to organize like kinds of documents.

I have settled on a naming convention for these 1940 Census records that I wanted to point out:

1940Census,  ED, District_SubDistrict, Sheet#, DescriptiveOf Person(s)

This naming standard is really meta-data about the picture of the document.

I use ‘jpg’ despite its flaws because it can be posted to the Internet. The file name is also a kind of source documentation. I can easily go back to the source from the file name and get a new copy. Also if you are a related genealogist, the above list can aid you to go get your own copy (from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Archives.com, or FamilySearch).

What are you doing? How are you doing? Any great surprises?  Researching the Same People? Do tell — email me.

1940 US #Census, A Week Later — #Genealogy, #Results

Here’s a Post Mortem of Stanczyk’s 1940 US Census research …

Remember I had some questions that needed answering? So how did I actually do?

Questions

Will I find Rose Wlecial Gawlik’s brothers living with her?

Answer:  Boleslaw Wlecialowski was living with Adam & Rosa Gawlikowski family. I wonder why he was listed as a lodger (not brother/brother-in-law)? Rosa was the provider of the answers; Ergo, I would have expected her to say my brother Boleslaw. No Leon though. Is he in a VA Hospital (from WWI injuries).

Why have I had such a hard time locating her borthers (Boleslaw & Leon) in city directories?

No Answer.

Is Anthony Gawlick alive or dead?

Answer: Dead. No uncertainty now. He was alive in 1939 City Directory and now is found deceased in April 1940. Ergo, he must have died between mid-1939 and April 1940. At least the range os possibilities are small.

Is my grandmother’s older half-brother Frank Leszczynski still alive in 1940 ?

No Answer. He was not located, but I now need indexes to determine if he died since 1931 Declaration of Intent.

Is Frank Leszczynski living with Michael Leszczynski in Buffalo/Depew at 257 Broadway in the 1940 Census?

No Answer. 

 

Surprises

• William Gawlik was in the US Navy in 1935. This lead to finding his BIRL data and learning his range of enlistment.
• Mary Lou Sarotte was five doors down from Adam & Rosa. I guess this was how Uncle Joe Eliasz met aunt Mary Lou.

Misplaced Ancestors

Alice Eliasz “Epperly” – not found at any previous address. Catherine Eliasz did she marry and is that why she flew the nest? Is she married to Steve Perinoff and will her last name be Perinoff? Emil Leszczynski is the reason he is not at the family home because he is away at college (Fordham, I assume)? I still need to find a few Sobieszczanskis too — again the indexes will be required to find them. Where are my wife’s parents?

 

That is how Stanczyk has done so far.    How are you doing? Puzzled over my grandmother’s continued experimentation with “V” names in the US Censuses.  Verna, Violet, …  what was wrong with Valeria/Walerya?

1940 Census Preparations – Pays 1st Dividend

Stanczyk,

Found his grand-uncle Michael Leszczynski (deputy sheriff) at 5071 Broadyway, Depew, Erie County, NY in the 1940 US Census. He was in ED 15-37, on SHT 6-A (line 4 was Michael and his wife Felicia was on line 5). Click on the link if you have access to Ancestry.com.

Kudos to Ancestry.com for getting their 1940 US Census working in short order. Their Image Viewer is excellent, very fast.

Ancestry.com – 1940 US Census is Awesome … except can we have all 50 states, PLEASE?

Stanczyk,

 

     LOVES Ancestry.com version of the 1940 Census. The Image Viewer is fast, sleek, easy to use — aahh flawless.

My only request is to please get all 50 states ASAP!  I do not have any ancestors in:

DE, RI, NV, IN (or Panama Canal, American Samoa or Virgin Islands).

—

Oh, and please call  http://1940census.archives.gov and tell them how deploy Scalable, Well Architected, Web Apps, please.

1940 US Census – Here’s What Enumeration Districts I’m Researching

2nd-April-2012 (72 years are up)

Here is Stanczyk’s initial research list before there are complete indexes.

Enumeration Districts (EDs)

By State/County:

MI-Wayne-Detroit — 84-590,  84-710,   84-583,  84-584,  84-586,  84-1246,  84-1471

MI-Macomb — 50-70A

MI-St Clair — 74-14

NY-Erie-Depew — 15-37

OH-Lucas-Toledo — 95-217,  95-221

PA-Philadelphia — 51-22

Families

MI — Eliasz, Epperly, Gawlik/Gawlikowski, Gronek, Kedzierski, Vespek, Wlecial/Wlecialowski

NY — Leszczynski (Frank, Michael, Teofil)

OH — Eliasz, Mylek, Sobieszczanski

PA — Solomon

Related Spreadsheet

https://mikeeliasz.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/1940-us-census-9-days-away-genealogy-preparation/

Related 1940 Census Info (EDs, etc)

http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/finding-aids.html#maps

Ancestry Adds 1940 US Census ED Maps — #Genealogy, #1940, #Census

Stanczyk, saw that Ancestry.com released/updated the 1940 US Census, Enumeration District Maps. It actually says ‘and Descriptions’ in its database title, but for the life of me I did not see any textual descriptions nor any images of words other than Legends and stray comments on hospitals, asylums, nunneries, etc (which were interleaved in the whitespace of the maps).

I queried on the ED I got from Steve Morse’s One-Step website (unified census page) that let me convert 1930 EDs into 1940 EDs. I used ED 84-590 (where I expect to find my grandmother and her children — including my father).

I did an exact search on 84-590 and Ancestry showed me an option for either the city map or the county map. While the county map was interesting, the city map of Detroit was what I was after. I clicked on the link to view the city map for ED 84-590, but what I got was page 1 of 46 pages (not the page where 84-590 was). Well I “gutted it out” and browsed sequentially through all of the pages searches from one corner to the opposing corner reading each and every ED until I found ED 84-590 on page number 40.

That kind of brute force search was not a total waste. I did confirm 84-590 was correct ED that I should search on Monday when they release the 1940 US Census. I was also able to confirm my Vespeks ED as either  84-1246 or less likely (since it is for the prior address) 84-1252. Perhaps my dedicated readers will note that this is the one ED (it gave 84-1244 or 84-1245 — which were close) that was wrong in Steve Morse’s webpage lookup. The fault as I said before was not Steve Morse, but the US government providing inaccurate mapping of the 1930 ED to the 1940 ED, but the description of the EDs on Steve Morse’s lookup image did give me a look at the other descriptions nearby and I was able to divine that 84-1246 should be the one I search. Well this also points out the value of Ancestry’s new database. I was able to look at ED Map and confirm that 84-1246 was correct ED and that 84-1244/1245 EDs were near misses to the known address I had.

I was also able to verify that ED 84-583/584 would probably contain my Galiwks and Wlecials [assuming they are in enumerated in Detroit and not at the Macomb county farm address]. I could see how close they were to  St. Adalbertus church and the the last known addresses I had and how they were all closely clustered in the same area (not obvious from the addresses).

My only complain is that Ancestry should take you to the correct page for your ED and not force you to do a brute force, page-by-page search. Detroit was a LARGE city in 1940 — imagine NYC, LA, Chicago or Philadelphia where were (and still are) larger than Detroit; Those would be awful searches.  For my friends that have Polish family in Hamtramck, not to fear, there are only four pages to comb through. For the few people that I have emailed through the last few months about CHENE St project, just go to image/page 40 of Detroit (or click on the link) you are near my grandmother’s ED.

Archives.gov says you have 2 days and about 16 hours (and counting) to ready yourself for the 1940 US Census. Good Luck!

Boleslaw Wlecialowski born(ur.) 6-Nov-1892 – died(zm.) 8-Mar-1961

Stanczyk is killing time until April 2nd and research can begin in earnest on the 1940 US Census.

Wlecialowski, Boleslaw

One of my focus points will be Boleslaw Wlecialowski, my first cousin, twice removed. I have had problems locating him in the US Censuses. So I am hoping 1940 will be different.

Boleslaw, like many Polish-Americans, “Americanized” his name. So Boleslaw became Bill — very alliterative. Of course, if your name is Bill, then your formal name must be William. So we find records for Boleslaw under Boleslaw, Bill or William.

Here is a brief summary of Boleslaw Wlecialowski ‘s  life as I can document it:

Father:	Maciej Wlecialowski (1868 – after 1918)
Mother:	Katarzyna Elijasz    (1863 – after 1918)
Individual Facts
Birth	6 Nov 1892	Kwasów, Swietokrzyskie, Poland
Arrival	6 Jul 1910 (age 17)	Going to uncle Jan Elijasz in 7829 Burke Ave, Cleveland, OH [same addr in August 29th]; New York, New York (on SS Vaderland)
Arrival	29 Aug 1910 (age 17)	from father Maciej Wlecialowski in Pacanow, Stopnica, Kielce, Poland    to uncle Jan Elijasz, 7829 B; New York, New York
Arrival	29 Aug 1910 (age 17)	Line #2Series: T715,   Roll: 1542,     Frame: 328, 327; on USS Vaderland in NYC at Ellis Island
Residence	22 Dec 1913 (age 21)	from brother Leon’s Ship Manifest SS Pretoria arrival of same date; 449 Grady Ave, Detroit, MI
Residence	1915 (about age 23)	from 1915 Detroit City Directory; 67 Playfair, Detroit, MI
Residence	5 Jun 1917 (age 24)	from World War I Draft Registration; 15 Playfair St, Detroit, MI
Arrival	21 Jul 1920 (age 27)	Going to sister Rozalia Gawlik, Detroit, MI.  Returning from WWI (Haller’s Army);
Residence	31 Dec 1924 (age 32)	3121 Nevada St, Detroit, Wayne, MI; From Decl. Of Intent
Residence	14 Jan 1929 (age 36)	3121 Nevada St, Detroit, Wayne, MI; From Nat’l Petition
Residence	1929 (about age 37)	from 1929 Detroit City Directory; 3121 Nevada St, Detroit, Wayne, MI
Death	8 Mar 1961 (age 68)	Macomb County, MI
Burial	11 Mar 1961 (age 68)	Mt Olivet Cemetery

Let me put some of the above into a narrative form.

Boleslaw Wlecialowski was born (ur.) November 6th, 1892 (Gregorian date) in the Russian-Poland partition village of Kwasow in the parish of Pacanow, Poland (gubernia of Kielce). His parents were Maciej Wlecialowski & Katarzyna Elijasz (my great, grand-aunt) — hence Boleslaw is my first cousin, twice removed. I have Boleslaw’s church record (#171 of Pacanow parish 1892 Births) written in Russian (Godparents: Jozef Slawamowski & Marrianna Elijasz).

He arrived at Ellis Island on July 6th, 1910 on the SS Vaderland. He was coming from his father, Maciej Wlecialowski in Pacanow, Stopnica, Kielce, Poland and his destination was his uncle, Jan Elijasz in 7829 Burke Ave, Cleveland, OH  [hence, Stanczyk’s interest in the Cuyahoga County/Cleveland OH Elijasz families].

He made his way to Detroit, MI where his older sister Rosalia Wlecialowski Gawlikowski lived. He was living at 449 Grady Ave, Detroit, MI, when his brother Leon arrived at Ellis Island on the SS Pretoria arrival on 22 Dec 1913.

1940 US Census – 9 Days Away — #Genealogy, #Preparation

Stanczyk has finished his preparations for the 1940 US Census (sans index). After the index is finally transcribed, I will query widely for years. But for 2012, I needed to be able to search via the Enumeration District.

As I said before, I made extensive use of Drs:  Steve Morse & Joel Weintraub 1940 Census Tool .

I created a spreadsheet. I listed the most important people I wanted to find in 1940. I used the 1930 US Census and recorded their Enumerated District (ED). This is a necessary precursor to looking up the ED’s for 1940. The only other way is to start from a street address. Now use the link to the 1940 Census Tool [see above] to convert your 1930 EDs to 1940 EDs (or your last known address to 1940 EDs). I made sure that when I got a long list of possible 1940 EDs that I used their ED descriptions and the Google Map to highlight the most likely ED (or EDs) to start with.

I also used the Ancestry.com City Directories (Beta) to finalize my analysis. While doing that I got the idea to pose and hopefully to answer with the 1940 Census some questions. I noticed in a 1941 City Directory that one of my Gawlik/Gawlikowski families started using, Gawlick . In fact due to emails with another genealogist I was prepared to accept Gawlick for this family already.

Well there they were using Gawlick for their family name. There was also another detail in the city directory. It showed that Kath (the wife) was a widow (of Anthony) in 1941. OK, so now I had a boundary for the last possible year for Anthony Gawlick (aka Gawlik) as 1941. I tried to use Ancestry.com’s older city directories and I noticed that they were sparse (not all years) and also when they had a year, it was not always a complete scan of that city directory so my use of Historical City directories was hit or miss for some families and/or streets. But none the less, I was able to find Anthony alive in the 1939 city directory! Ok So now I had a short range: alive in 1939 … to dead in 1941. So maybe the 1940 will tell me is,  “Anthony alive or dead in 1940”? I added that question to my list of questions.

Questions

Will I find Rose Wlecial Gawlik’s brothers living with her? Why have I had such a hard time locating her borthers (Boleslaw & Leon) in city directories? Is Anthony Gawlick alive or dead? Is my grandmother’s older half-brother Frank Leszczynski still alive in 1940 (he declared his intent to be a US Citizen in 1931)? He’d be about 75 years old in 1940. I wonder what age he use (70 or 75) since I have multiple birth years for him? Also, I learned in my preparations that he used a younger half-brother’s address in 1931. So I wonder is Frank Leszczynski living with Michael Leszczynski in Buffalo/Depew at 257 Broadway in the 1940 Census? Until I had access to historical city directories, I had never realized that Michael and Frank had both lived at the same address — nobody ever mentioned that in any interview or email.

So beyond the facts that the US Census will provide about who is where and how old they are and whether they are US citizens or not, I am hoping to see what the older men were veterans of which US conflicts. The questions related to the Great Depression will also be interesting for all and will certainly be relevant to the political discourse of today — particularly as we march onward to the November elections.

Most of my immigrant Eliasz (aka Elijasz) forebears are deceased before 1940. My grandfather (Joseph) died in 1930 and my grand-uncle (John) died in 1936. So only Mary Eliasz Gronek can be found. Will I get any clues about Detroit Stanley Elyasz (a 1st cousin of my grandfather) and how about Buffalo Stanley Eliasz (is he a cousin or a sibling of my grandfather)?

The suspense and the anticipation is growing. Good thing we had WDYTYA last night and tomorrow night we will get the first episode of Henry Louis Gate’s genealogy show on PBS. Those can help ease the suspense for now until a week from Monday.

How are you preparing? Are you done yet? Are you doing something similar to what I am doing? This is what I am using (email me please) …

Related articles

• Help for the 1940 Census
• The Release of the 1940 US Census
• 1940 US Census – Blank Forms — #Genealogy, #US, #Census
• 1940 US Census Website – #Genealogy, #1940
• Preparing for 1940 Census
• 1940 US Census – 16 days away!

1940 US Census – 16 Days Away — #Genealogy

Stanczyk apologizes for being away for a few days. I have spent some of that time preparing for the 1940 US Census (sans index).

So I made extensive use of Drs:  Steve Morse & Joel Weintraub 1940 Census Tool .

I created a spreadsheet. I listed the most important people I wanted to find in 1940. I used the 1930 US Census and recorded their Enumerated District (ED). This is a necessary precursor to looking up the ED’s for 1940. The only other way is to start from a street address. Now use the link to the 1940 Census Tool [see above] to convert your 1930 EDs to 1940 EDs (or your last known address to 1940 EDs).

How are you preparing? This is what I used …

Related articles

• Help for the 1940 Census
• The Release of the 1940 US Census
• 1940 US Census – Blank Forms — #Genealogy, #US, #Census
• 1940 US Census Website – #Genealogy, #1940
• Preparing for 1940 Census

1940 US Census – Blank Forms — #Genealogy, #US, #Census

Legacy Family Tree has release blank US Census Forms (page1 | page2) for the 1940 US Census. April 2nd is coming, are you prepared? Is Ancestry.com prepared?

At #RootsTech 2012, the 3rd keynote was an Ancestry talking-head panel. They joked about whether the website could withstand the crush on April 2nd. Let’s see how this experiment goes.

This is the first US Census to be released in an all digital format.