Finding My Family in the 1940 U.S. Census

The LDS Church is really big into family history because we believe that we are eternal families. They have a program where people can look at scans of historical documents and then type them into a form. This is called Family Search Indexing and it is searchable so people can find their ancestors.

April 1 of this year was when the 1940 U.S. Census became open to the public. Of course, the indexing community was in quite the hubbub. (On a side note, for historical research purposes not related to family history, I am thrilled, as that is my decade of emphasis.) Utah and Idaho were indexed really fast. I was amazed, but was in the throes of thesis work so didn't start indexing until the last two weeks. No more Utah to index for me. But since my maternal Grandpa is from Wisconsin, I decided to index names from Wisconsin. I probably won't find him while indexing, but I am helping others find their Wisconsin family.

And today, the records that have been indexed for Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming were open to searching. I was excited and began looking for my family.

First search. "Bredthauer" in Salt Lake County. Nothing. I tried a few more times and determined there must have been a spelling error in the indexing and I would have to get creative to find my paternal Grandpa and his family. So I didn't get super discouraged and started the next search.

Second search. "Barg" in Salt Lake County. Carl R. Barg (my great-grandfather) popped right up, along with his family and my paternal Grandma Marian. She was 16 in 1940. Her dad was born in Germany and her mother was born in Denmark. I learned that my great-grandfather was an accountant at a machinery company. There they are, Carl, Julia, Marian, Ardella, Joan, and Don.

Detail of Bargs in 1940 U.S. Census

Third search. "Park" in Tooele County. George and Vera were at the top of this list, too. And there was my maternal Grandma Margaret. She was only 6 in the census. All her family, except her brother James, were born in Utah. This is the family line from which all my Mormon pioneer heritage comes from. I learned that my great-grandfather was a crewman at some place in Tooele (I couldn't read the handwriting). There they are, George, Vera, Dorothy, James, and Margaret.

Detail of Parks in 1940 U.S. Census

By this time, I'm on a high. I'm finding my grandparents! Well, at this point, only my grandmothers. But still! I can figure out a way to find my other family members.

Fourth search. "Bredthauer" in the whole database. I pulled a few death certificates and there are apparently a bunch of Bredthauers in Texas and Nebraska. News to me. But, I did find my paternal Grandpa Henry and his family in the 1930 U.S. Census. This, I decided, would be my key to the 1940 one. So there they are, Henry (the dad, and my Opa), Anna (my Oma), Sophia, Henry Jr. (my Grandpa, and that is not his real name), and Fred. This was very exciting. I know Aunt Sophie and I know Grandpa. Grandpa was 6 in this census. This was also incredibly helpful. I wasn't sure if Opa was going by Heinrick or by Henry in the U.S., since they had immigrated about five years prior. Now I could search for Henry. What a unique name in the early-twentieth century (not). Great.

Detail of Bredthauers in 1930 U.S. Census

 Fifth search. "Henry," limited by residence in Salt Lake County, Utah, census records only, birthplace in Germany, birth date between 1880 and 1885 (searching for Opa). See, I limited my search options very wisely. There were only about five Henrys that fit that description, and from 21 years of having my last name slaughtered, if was fairly easy to find the correct Henry--Henry Bredthann. And there is the rest of them, Anna, Sophia, Henry, and Fred, all listed as Bredthann. We can see in this round that Grandpa was 16 at the time of the census. Opa was a farmer, Sophie was a "wrapper" at a bakery (probably the Deseret Bakery, owned by Uncle Fritz), and my Grandpa Henry was a helper at the farm.

Detail of "Bredthanns" (supposed to be Bredthauers) in 1940 U.S. Census

So I contacted Family Search and notified them of the error in indexing. Granted, this census person has really bad handwriting and that is a super hard last name to spell, so I can't really blame the indexer. I just want my family to be on there correctly.

Anyway, I hope this inspires some of you to look for your ancestors on Family Search. You may be surprised at the wealth of information out there and what you are able to learn about your family. If you can't find someone, get creative with searching for them. And if you don't want to do that, you can be a historian and get involved in Indexing. It is fun and easy (well, some handwriting is easier than others...).

Happy Family Historying! I feel like such a legit historian finding people and reading handwriting and stuff.