The other side of the street

 The 1940 Census has been available for a couple of  weeks now and even in that short time there have been many changes and improvements. I happened to be in Washington, DC on April 2, 2012 and when I drove past the National Archives there was a huge line of people wrapped around the building waiting to get in, I presume to take part in the scheduled festivities. I didn’t find out first hand because, after seeing the line, I couldn’t talk my wife into stopping.  We were sightseeing with my in-laws, who were celebrating their 60^th anniversary. That evening after supper, I got on my net book and try to get into the archives newly available 1940 census site, but got messages that due to overwhelming volumes it was unavailable.  So I failed to find my grandparents on day one as I planned.

Line to get into the National Archives on April 2, 2012

The next morning we were off to do some more sightseeing and it wasn’t until late that evening that I got back on the computer. I got right in and found the map for White Plains, I located the approximate street address and its associated Enumeration district (ED). This was way too easy!

The site asks for state, county, city and then only shows you valid ED’s, in my case 60-351 or 352, which really makes it simple. I picked the first ED and found myself looking at a page from the 1940 census, actually a photo of the page. Remember it is not searchable yet. I proceeded to scroll down the page. I looked for Harding street  in the first column and quickly skipped through the pages that listed other streets. I started looking at the Harding street addresses to zero in on address number 27, but they seemed to jump around a little, reflecting the enumerator’s trip up one side of the street and down another. Before I knew it, I was on the last page and disappointed that I couldn’t find the record I was looking for. Assuming I missed something, I slowed down and re-searched, more carefully, through every page, but was again disappointed. I noticed that this particular enumerator was a SLOB. He had poor handwriting, many names were scratched out and rewritten and there were even ink blotches obscuring information.  I began to think that with my luck he skipped the whole apartment building. I went back even s-l-o-w-e-r this time  and started to map out the streets on a scratch pad to compare them to the map and make sure I was in the right place.

I realized the enumerator hadn’t skipped the apartment building, but he either skipped the whole block, which was unlikely, or I had the wrong ED. I opened the only other  ED listed. AHA! I found the missing block. Newly confident, with my skillful powers of deduction, I skipped past the pages until I found Harding avenue and then went though all the names. No WALTON and NO 27 Harding, although this enumerator was much neater. The clock was ticking toward midnight and after a busy day of sightseeing, I was too tired for this nonsense. Just GIVE ME THE record so I can get to bed! Stupid computer!

I decided to go back to the beginning and once again, using a cross street  I found on Google Maps, (a good tool even though I later found out the street I used had changed.) I double checked the map location and the two ED’s. They seemed correct, yet I couldn’t find my record. It didn't make sense. I was LOST in 1940's White Plains! Determined to find SOMETHING, I decided to try a different search. I went back to the main screen and pulled up New York, Orange County, Middletown…My Mother’s home town.

Middletown was much smaller , having only one map compared to the 8 maps covering White Plains. OK, this should be a cinch! I opened the map and groaned. It was so faded you could hardly read the street names. Having spent half my youth in Middletown, I figured I knew the streets pretty well, but I might as well have been looking at a map of  the London underground. Nothing was where it should be and to make matters worse I could not locate “North Street”, one of the main avenues and the place my grandparents lived in 1940. Of course at this time of night, everything was getting blurry! After much searching, I finally realized that North Street was hidden under a bold black boundry line. Once I had my reference point, everything started making sense. I quickly zeroed in on my grandparents neighborhood and the matching ED. I searched through the records and…what the heck! The Packhisers were not listed either! Ruthann was sleeping peacefully ten feet away and I was ready to throw the computer out the window.

I double checked my information and rechecked the map, when I realized that North Street was a boundry. I had just picked the wrong side of the street. I opened the neighboring ED and BINGO, there they were! Wow My 7 year old mother, Her parents Erwin and Lydia Packhiser (my Grandparents) and a surprise….My Great-Grandmother..listed as the head of household!  I won’t bore you with all the other neat trivia listed in this record, but if you are descended from the Packhisers of Middletown, NY you will want to go there and look for yourself. (Look in ED 36-34, neighborhood 49, 251 North Street, Middletown, NY. ,page 20, line 62-65. http://interactive.ancestry.com/2442/m-t0627-02709-00032/?backurl=&ssrc=#imageId=M-T0627-02709-00051 )

I went to bed, tired, but somewhat satisfied. I wasn’t until the next day, when I was telling my family about my discovery at the B&B's breakfast table that I realized where to find my father…on the OTHER side of Harding street. After breakfast, I fired up the net book and found him quickly. He was right in plain site in ED 60-353 on Page 4, lines 45-49. (If you want to see them click this link. http://interactive.ancestry.com/2442/m-t0627-02709-00032/?backurl=&ssrc=#imageId=M-T0627-02814-00099)

There’s my, my grandfather,  Frederick; my Grandmother, Gertrude; my  10 year old dad, Frederick L. (L!?? It should be S., since his middle name is Stanley, after his maternal grandfather) and my uncle, Edgar. But wait, they also have a 3 year old daughter listed, named Agnes? I have NO idea who this is and when I queried dad, it was a mystery to him too! But at least I had the record and only 3 days after the records were made public.

So In summary, when you look up your ancestors in the 1940 census, make sure you’re on the right side of the street. And if they have a daughter named Agnes missing, I think I found her, she was visiting my grandparents!