Dear Group, I found my grandparents and great grandmother in the 1940 Census, although there were a few odd answered. They lived in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. My grandmother said she was three years younger than she was. (That wasn't odd!) However, my mother who was 8 years old isn't listed in the census! She is still alive and said that she did live them at the listed address. My great grandmother was living with them at the time. (She was looking after my mother while my grandmother taught school. However, the census states that my grandmother was [just] a housewife. My grandmother was also listed with supplimentary questions. She stated that both her parents were from California, but actually only her mother was (born in SF in 1871.) Her father came from Russia/Poland. There is a dash in the box that asked her age at the time of her first marriage. She had a first husband when she was 23 years old. There's also a dash for no. of children. As I said, my mother was 8 years old and very much alive. Did my grandmother lie? Did the census enumerator just not ask these questions? (There was also no salary listed for my grandfather who was a manager at his father's cooperage. No mentioned of the rent either which is very strange.) So, why was my mother not listed? How do I get to the bottom of this? Suggestions? Thoughts? Thanks in advance, Dean
I think I heard that if the person...even a child...was not at home the day/time the enumerator came, they did not count them. If your mom was out playing...or even at school, they may have just skipped her cuz the enumerator could not say she/he saw the person....SHRUG< Could be I guess. Judie On Apr 8, 2012, at 6:25 PM, Dean Micha Desman wrote: > Dear Group, > > I found my grandparents and great grandmother in the 1940 Census, although there were a few odd answered. They lived in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. My grandmother said she was three years younger than she was. (That wasn't odd!) However, my mother who was 8 years old isn't listed in the census! She is still alive and said that she did live them at the listed address. My great grandmother was living with them at the time. (She was looking after my mother while my grandmother taught school. However, the census states that my grandmother was [just] a housewife. My grandmother was also listed with supplimentary questions. She stated that both her parents were from California, but actually only her mother was (born in SF in 1871.) Her father came from Russia/Poland. There is a dash in the box that asked her age at the time of her first marriage. She had a first husband when she was 23 years old. There's also a dash for no. of children. As I said, my > mother was 8 years old and very much alive. Did my grandmother lie? Did the census enumerator just not ask these questions? > > (There was also no salary listed for my grandfather who was a manager at his father's cooperage. No mentioned of the rent either which is very strange.) > > So, why was my mother not listed? How do I get to the bottom of this? Suggestions? Thoughts? > > Thanks in advance, > > Dean > > > ----------------------------------------- > NORCAL ARCHIVES: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > Enter NORCAL. Browse by month. > Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. > ----------------------------------------- > To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
You may never get to the bottom of it, but in my experience, census records frequently leave us with many unanswered questions. In your case, it's not the least bit unusual for women to fib about their age, and your mother probably just wasnt home. I think many people misunderstood the questions. I have seen lots of misinformation in the Place of Birth columns which include person, father and mother. Additionally, people were sometimes afraid to state where they or their parents were from, especially during times of war. (Depending on when they were asked, my middle European ancestors were from Czechoslovakia, Hungry, or Austria, and spoke Magyar, Czech or Hungarian.) As for the rent and salary issues, your grandmother may have just told the census taker that it was none of their business! I'm sorry this census was so incomplete for you. Susan -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dean Micha Desman Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 3:26 PM (There was also no salary listed for my grandfather who was a manager at his father's cooperage. No mentioned of the rent either which is very strange.) So, why was my mother not listed? How do I get to the bottom of this? Suggestions? Thoughts? Thanks in advance, Dean ----------------------------------------- NORCAL ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ Enter NORCAL. Browse by month. Or click the "Search all archives" link to search by keyword. ----------------------------------------- To post a message to the NORCAL mailing list, send an email to [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message