I'm curious what resources exist for locating people during the 1930s and 40s. My maternal grandfather was apparently the inspiration for the song "Papa was a Rolling Stone" and he wandered around quite a bit during his short life (he died at age 49). He was born and raised in Lincoln County, GA, but before he was 21, he had moved to Florida and married his first wife, who was nearly 10 years older than he was. Around this time he also learned linotype, which would be his lifelong profession. He and his wife apparently moved to West Virginia, which is where he met my grandmother after which he divorced his first wife and married my grandmother. They didn't stay married long, and divorced in 1932. From that point until the late 40s, I have no idea where he was or what he was doing, though presumably he continued to work as a linotype operator. I have found him on the census in 1930 and I know that he worked for the Dallas Morning News in the late 1940s, where he also met and married his last wife (not sure if she was 3rd, 4th or otherwise), to whom he was married at the time of his death in 1950. At that time he was living in Atlanta and working for the Atlanta Journal. None of his brothers or sisters are alive any longer and when they were, they were notoriously closed-lipped about him. My mother didn't know him very well growing up and really didn't get to know him until she moved to Atlanta a few years before he died. I have cousins who knew him, but they were all much younger and didn't spend a lot of time with him. One of these cousins remembers that while he and his family were living in South Carolina, my grandfather would visit them frequently and my cousin believes he was living near Gatlinburg at that time. This same cousin also says my grandfather was frequently accompanied by a woman my cousin believed to have been his wife, but wasn't sure. I managed to track down information on his first wife, who died in California in the 80s, but they had been divorced a long time and information on her estate didn't contain any references to him. As I say, I've found him on the census in 1930, and at the time he was still married to my grandmother. I've found his first marriage listing in Volusia County, FL in the early 1920s and that's apparently where he divorced his first wife, but when I wrote to the courthouse for a copy of the divorce decree, I was told records from that period had been lost in a fire or otherwise destroyed. I do know he was working for the Dallas Morning News in Texas before he came to Atlanta, but I have no idea when he went to work for them or where he was prior to that. There were rumors in my family that he had another child with his first wife, but with the help of an extremely helpful records clerk in California, I was able to obtain fairly extensive records on her estate and there's no mention of any children, which of course only means she probably had none at the time of her death. This also does rule out that he had children with another wife or girlfriend. Are there searchable indices of vital records for the Carolinas during that period? I haven't yet written to the vital records department in South Carolina, where he may have been living during part of the 30s and 40s, because I'd like to narrow down the information a bit beforehand. I doubt any of the places he worked would still have records on him, considering that it's been over 50 years since he worked for any of them. Anyone have any suggestions? Matt Lupo -- G. M. Lupo a.k.a. matt at lupo dot com Up on the hill, they think I'm okay Or so they say... "G. M. Lupo" <deaconblues@steelyspam.org>

> I'm curious what resources exist for locating people during the > 1930s and 40s. > > <snip> > > G. M. Lupo a.k.a. matt at lupo dot com When was he born and when did he die? When did he live in Dallas? In Atlanta? Where was he living at the time of the 1930 census? I recommend you examine city directories for Atlanta, Dallas, and any other major city you suspect he lived in during the '20s and 30's (maybe even the '40s, although by then most people had phones and were listed in telephone directories). I live near Los Angeles, where the public library has a huge collection of city directories on microfilm. If your local public library does not have a collection of city directories, you can have your local reference librarian order city directories from another library on Interlibrary Loan, for free or for a nominal fee. Do you know your grandfather's Social Security number? You might want to send for a copy of his Social Security card application (form SS-5), which will show his address and parents' names; the cost is $27. You might also want to send for a copy of his WWII draft registration card, which will show the name and address of the "person who will always know [his] address" (probably his wife). Most WWII draft registration cards are available from the Selective Service System; here is a link: http://www.sss.gov/records.htm (Cards for men born between 1877 and 1897 are held by the National Archives.) Good luck. Mark Lomax Pasadena, CA mlomax1074@msn.com