1950s Census Records Available

[bears]

Apr 2, 2022 10:24:37 GMT -5 1yeartogo said:

How are people seeing all these details? All I see are age and job info.

Every fifth person is a "sample line" and more details on that person are in the section below, including their parents country of origin and last education completed.


My grandmother was on the sample line and it showed where her parents were born and that she did not complete high school. My father-in-law was only 3 at the time and was a sample line, but since he was only 3 and lived with his parents the details are not illuminating in that section. 

[timorousbeastie]

Is there a way to get to the next sheet after the one you’re looking at? Some of H’s family is at the end of one sheet, with the box checked off for “household continued on next sheet.” Just searching for the name of who I’d expect to be on the next sheet isn’t pulling anything up.

I’m slightly annoyed by the fact that I can find almost everyone in H’s past who was living in the US at the time, but I can’t find a single person on my own side.

[statgirl]

Apr 2, 2022 12:25:57 GMT -5 timorousbeastie said:

Is there a way to get to the next sheet after the one you’re looking at? Some of H’s family is at the end of one sheet, with the box checked off for “household continued on next sheet.” Just searching for the name of who I’d expect to be on the next sheet isn’t pulling anything up.

I’m slightly annoyed by the fact that I can find almost everyone in H’s past who was living in the US at the time, but I can’t find a single person on my own side.

If you look at the enumeration district of the page you found (labeled as ED In the result), you can then search for that ED in the area and get the next page. I read the records for our current location last night—the census taker noted all sorts of directions in the margins such as “Going north from the store towards the Sapp homestead.”

I can’t find my family but found my husband’s. (My family moved around a lot but his was in one area continuously).

[TBM]

I found my grandparents on both sides of the family, and one of my father's uncles or cousins, but boy are the names ever messed up.

The person who wrote down my maternal grandparents' information made lower case a's that looked like d's. I think that a little over half on the page were read as a, but the rest being d's made for some strange names on there....just in my mom's family (9 people) alone. lol

I guess my mom was in nursing school then because she wasn't listed. One of my aunts (17 yrs old) was on the sample line, so I found out that she had completed one year of college at that point, and she had made $400 the prior year doing child care in the church nursery. One of my uncles installed neon signs, and one of the others delivered newspapers.

[mbcdefg]

I couldn’t find any of my grandparents or parents (or rather, their older siblings). Or my husband’s parents and grandparents. Most of them all lived in the same city with a 300k population in 1950 and had fairly common surnames, and my late FIL lived in Brooklyn - not sure if my family members weren’t counted for whatever reason, or if the city is just too big to find them easily.

I did find my dad’s uncle and his family, so at least I found someone.

[YeahSure]

I have been excited for this release for about 4 years, but the interface is so bad! The only one I can find so far is my dad, and that's only because he remembered his address(from when he was a kid!!!) so I was able to use the enumeration district.

[TR]

I was able to find all 4 of my grandparents and some great aunts/uncles. One set of grandparents was married with two kids already and one set was 16 & 17 living with their respective families.

[arehopsveggies]

I’ve found 3/4 grandparents so far.
And my grandma is so excited about it that I’m taking her to lunch tomorrow to talk about what we found today.

[gummybear]

I found my maternal grandfathers family! My pop pop is crossed out? Like they wrote it in and then drew a line through him? I need to look more closely on my Pc!

[lilac05]

For those having a hard time finding people, try swapping a/o or o/a in your search. My grandpa’s handwriting looked pretty clearly “or” but it was transcribed “ar”.

Other errors transcribed “w” was transcribed “iv” and a capital “I” was “T”.

Hope that helps others find their family members.

One of my grandpas (baker) worked 96 hours and the other (farmer) worked 110. I believe both, especially if they asked during planting or harvesting season. My great aunt and uncle wrote “45 1/2.” They both worked retail, so it doesn’t surprise me that they knew exactly…but I also smile thinking that they’d be the kind of people who would be extra, extra careful not to be dishonest in any way.

[af1212]

Apr 2, 2022 22:33:07 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

For those having a hard time finding people, try swapping a/o or o/a in your search. My grandpa’s handwriting looked pretty clearly “or” but it was transcribed “ar”.

Other errors transcribed “w” was transcribed “iv” and a capital “I” was “T”.

Hope that helps others find their family members.

One of my grandpas (baker) worked 96 hours and the other (farmer) worked 110. I believe both, especially if they asked during planting or harvesting season. My great aunt and uncle wrote “45 1/2.” They both worked retail, so it doesn’t surprise me that they knew exactly…but I also smile thinking that they’d be the kind of people who would be extra, extra careful not to be dishonest in any way.

Wow did your family write their info themselves? On all of mine the census person wrote it.

[msmerymac]

I was able to find my grandmother, who was an 18 year old college student!

[msmerymac]

I found my MIL’s family and her grandparents.

My MIL was a sample line, but unfortunately they didn’t record anything since she was an infant.

[lilac05]

Apr 3, 2022 6:57:49 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Apr 2, 2022 22:33:07 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

For those having a hard time finding people, try swapping a/o or o/a in your search. My grandpa’s handwriting looked pretty clearly “or” but it was transcribed “ar”.

Other errors transcribed “w” was transcribed “iv” and a capital “I” was “T”.

Hope that helps others find their family members.

One of my grandpas (baker) worked 96 hours and the other (farmer) worked 110. I believe both, especially if they asked during planting or harvesting season. My great aunt and uncle wrote “45 1/2.” They both worked retail, so it doesn’t surprise me that they knew exactly…but I also smile thinking that they’d be the kind of people who would be extra, extra careful not to be dishonest in any way.

Wow did your family write their info themselves? On all of mine the census person wrote it.

No, they didn’t. It just happened to be that the first one I looked at was my grandpa’s. The page wasn’t full and he had a big family, so I didn’t pay attention to the handwriting being the same on the whole page. It looked enough like his that I didn’t make note of the others. Then I went to look up the others and noticed it was the same on every sheet (from a census worker), but didn’t change it in the post.

[basilosaurus]

Apr 2, 2022 22:33:07 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

For those having a hard time finding people, try swapping a/o or o/a in your search. My grandpa’s handwriting looked pretty clearly “or” but it was transcribed “ar”.

Other errors transcribed “w” was transcribed “iv” and a capital “I” was “T”.

Hope that helps others find their family members.

One of my grandpas (baker) worked 96 hours and the other (farmer) worked 110. I believe both, especially if they asked during planting or harvesting season. My great aunt and uncle wrote “45 1/2.” They both worked retail, so it doesn’t surprise me that they knew exactly…but I also smile thinking that they’d be the kind of people who would be extra, extra careful not to be dishonest in any way.

Mine had a instead of s. 

[mrspez07]

Another tip when looking, if it pulls up names that are similar but not identical, look for a list in the digital info of first names of the rest of the family and that will help you find it. My grandparents last name starts with an HOW, but was transcribed as HAW, so that’s how the search came up, but I could find them because subsequent lines had the rest of the family names listed.

My other grandparents, my grandfather’s line was not very readable, including last name, so I had to search by my grandmother’s unusual first name, and could see my mom and uncle listed in the digital list following her to know it was correct.

[msmerymac]

@@@

Based on some misspellings, I found my grandparents and my aunt, as well as my great-grandparents (who still had their 3 youngest kids at home, plus their DIL and 2 grandchildren). My great-grandfather had a special line and it looks like he made $4800 in salary the year prior to the census.

It also clarified that his father WAS born in England, which a lot of people in my family don't believe since his family was originally from Scotland.

[arehopsveggies]

Apr 3, 2022 10:21:29 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Apr 2, 2022 22:33:07 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

For those having a hard time finding people, try swapping a/o or o/a in your search. My grandpa’s handwriting looked pretty clearly “or” but it was transcribed “ar”.

Other errors transcribed “w” was transcribed “iv” and a capital “I” was “T”.

Hope that helps others find their family members.

One of my grandpas (baker) worked 96 hours and the other (farmer) worked 110. I believe both, especially if they asked during planting or harvesting season. My great aunt and uncle wrote “45 1/2.” They both worked retail, so it doesn’t surprise me that they knew exactly…but I also smile thinking that they’d be the kind of people who would be extra, extra careful not to be dishonest in any way.

Mine had a instead of s. 

My great grandpa was listed with n instead of v and n instead of r, so his name was really messed up

[mbcdefg]

I found my maternal grandparents by searching for my grandmother’s maiden name. That search worked because my grandmother’s father was apparently living with them at the time, which I didn’t know. The AI transcription completely fudged my grandfather’s name which is why I couldn’t find them at first.

[basilosaurus]

I found my mom (and her brother, mom, grandmother who all lived together), but I cannot find her dad. I know her parents had divorced by 1950, but I don't think he ever left the state. Weird. I know very little about him because he left when my mom was an infant and didn't reconnect until she was in her 30s after her cancer diagnosis.

Grandma's middle initial was interpreted as N instead of A. And, honestly, I can see how that happened. I've never seen an A written like that.

[af1212]

Apr 3, 2022 10:02:24 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Apr 3, 2022 6:57:49 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Wow did your family write their info themselves? On all of mine the census person wrote it.

No, they didn’t. It just happened to be that the first one I looked at was my grandpa’s. The page wasn’t full and he had a big family, so I didn’t pay attention to the handwriting being the same on the whole page. It looked enough like his that I didn’t make note of the others. Then I went to look up the others and noticed it was the same on every sheet (from a census worker), but didn’t change it in the post.

Oh man I think it would be so cool to see their actual writing. Little window into who they were.

[lilac05]

Apr 3, 2022 17:13:24 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Apr 3, 2022 10:02:24 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

No, they didn’t. It just happened to be that the first one I looked at was my grandpa’s. The page wasn’t full and he had a big family, so I didn’t pay attention to the handwriting being the same on the whole page. It looked enough like his that I didn’t make note of the others. Then I went to look up the others and noticed it was the same on every sheet (from a census worker), but didn’t change it in the post.

Oh man I think it would be so cool to see their actual writing. Little window into who they were.

Yes, it would! My grandpa actually wrote me pages and pages long letters when I was studying abroad. Those are such a treasured possession. I don’t even recall if he finished 8th grade, and judging from his letters, he likely had some kind of learning disability. It helped me see and appreciate him in a completely different way than when we’d go visit him at his house. I wish I had the same from my other grandparents!

[babsbunny]

Anyone else having trouble with Columbus OH? It looks like they used a different form. I can't find a married couple with kids or an OSU college student.

[arehopsveggies]

Random finds-
Couldn’t find one grandpa and was going through pages and pages from that county. Stumbled across a page that was just mens names pretty much all 18-30. Realized it was the Air Force base (there was a note at the top). That was an interesting page.

One great-aunt was about 18, and it listed her job as babysitting and said she’d earned $15 the year before.

My grandpa’s page doesn’t have addresses. Just a note “working about three miles north of road #3”

[buffalogal]

I found my parents- but i have a question- how long did it take to record the census? my dad is listed as being 1- he was born in 48 so that would check out, however my mom is listed as being 2 and she was born in 52.

[af1212]

Apr 4, 2022 7:02:19 GMT -5 buffalogal said:

I found my parents- but i have a question- how long did it take to record the census? my dad is listed as being 1- he was born in 48 so that would check out, however my mom is listed as being 2 and she was born in 52.

That is really strange. The date they info was recorded is at the top of the page. In all of my family’s accounts it was in April of 1950.

[af1212]

I’m struggling to find one grandmother and grandfather - or anyone from that grandmothers family.

I have tried county and city, last name and first name.

Any tips for me?

[notreal]

Apr 4, 2022 7:02:19 GMT -5 buffalogal said:

I found my parents- but i have a question- how long did it take to record the census? my dad is listed as being 1- he was born in 48 so that would check out, however my mom is listed as being 2 and she was born in 52.

I'm not saying that this is the case with your family, but while doing family history research, we uncovered so many "skeletons" such as people using different names, multiple spouses we never knew about, different ages it was just easier to obfuscate or even not know basic facts about people when computers made it all readily available.

[TR]

Apr 3, 2022 22:24:17 GMT -5 arehopsveggies said:

Random finds-
Couldn’t find one grandpa and was going through pages and pages from that county. Stumbled across a page that was just mens names pretty much all 18-30. Realized it was the Air Force base (there was a note at the top). That was an interesting page.

I stumbled upon a page from a mental health hospital that was all men. It had their names & ages and then they were listed as "patient".

[msmerymac]

I found my mom's paternal grandparents, though not her dad yet (he was in college so probably rooming somewhere). I know virtually nothing about her paternal grandparents since her parents divorced when she was 6 and she was estranged from her father after that. Just that he was an only child and it appears they were older when he was born since they are in their 60s in the census and he would have been 26. I wish either one was in the extra line so I could find out more!

Cannot find her maternal grandparents at all, but their last name is very often misspelled.


It's really interesting how so many of the jobs recorded seem to be in manufacturing, and a few farming as well. Which makes sense for the time period.