What is Happening on April 2, 2012?

What are you doing on April 2, 2012? I bet one of two things. Either trying to locate your ancestors or family members in the 1940 census or digging right in and helping with the indexing. Do you know what I'm talking about? I bet there isn't a genealogist in the United States who doesn't know about this event. But there are probably a lot of other folks who happen to read this blog for whatever reason, and don't have a clue. Most bloggers have already written a piece about this soon to be released census. Bloggers have even talked about things that happened in the 40s, I will too at another time.

Let me share with you some information regarding the 1940:

Thousands of volunteers will be helping with the indexing. To do your part in helping this historic document get seen by everybody as quickly as possible, just sign up at The1940Census.org *. Scroll to the bottom and try out the indexing software for an example. It's easy, terribly simple...you know, if I can do it (with bad eyes), then you can too. You would be helping all genealogists as well as making your research easier too. You can choose your state, I selected Massachusetts, since I've lived in three towns there, but no family was there in 1940. You can select a genealogical society to get credit as well, I chose Connecticut Society of Genealogists, CSG.

*At the bottom of the above sign-in page, you will see:

DOWNLOAD THE INDEXING SOFTWARE

DOWNLOAD THE SOCIETY GETTING STARTED KIT

Did you notice that I said you could find your family in the 1940 immediately? But you now know there is no index. How is that possible? Well, you'll have to do some work. See the second blog for more information.

A few excellent blogs regarding the 1940, in far more detail than provided above:

Connie Potter on the 1940 Census by Judy G. Russell (please look at the video)

Gear up for 1940 Census Indexing and Researching by Thomas MacEntee (see article by Steve Morse on how to find out where your ancestor's / family were living and how to find them immediately on the 1940 census without an index)

My 1940 U.S. Census Compendium by Randy Seaver (lots of good blogs about the 1940 census project)

1940 US Census Indexing Simulation by James Tanner

What will I be doing? Indexing of course. (Note: This goal did not work out for me. I have a eye condition, that made it difficult to read and transcribe in a timely fashion. I thought I could, but..., I would often see 140, instead of 1940, so that's a major problem). With 566 ancestors and related family members listed in the 1930 census, I probably have more than 566 to look up,  so I'll wait for the completed index. My grandparents were all living in the same house as the 1930 census and my parents were both away at college, in New York, in 1940. Have fun with the indexing everybody and I hope we all share on face book or through blogs what towns or cities we are working on. If you don't use fb or blog, why not share in the comment section of this blog. Thank you everybody for doing your part in the indexing, and remember, the more who do it, the quicker it will get done.

Note: As part of the 1940census.com ambassador program this blog post enters me into a drawing for weekly prizes. Regarding this disclosure, I can assure you I am not doing this for the Gift Certificate, and I doubt anybody else is too.






https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/