The NEW YORK Walton's in the 1940 Census

Wrapping up a slice of 1940 Walton History

George Walton (1864-1910) and Constance Wilhelmina Long Walton (1869-1931) produced a total of  12 children, of which 9 survived to adulthood. Only one child, John (Jack), remained single. The rest of the siblings married and  produced families of their own.¹

 By 1940, George and Constance were both long gone, but their many children and grandchildren had spread beyond the borders of Tarrytown, the family home place. Most had stayed in lower New York. Son Harry was raising his family in Massachausetts while his widowed sister Connie remained in Arkansas City, Kansas where she lived with her husband before his unexpected death.

Constance Walton McMonagle in the 1940's

The 1940 Census gives us a unique look into these families and helps us see the roster of grand-children's names of this second generation of Walton's in America. For many readers, this generation is our parents or grandparents.


Back in March, I started looking for the "Westchester Walton's" in preparation for the release of the 1940 Census in April. Using the 1930 census as a starting point I located many of the siblings, but a few eluded me and Frank Walton absolutely refused to be found.

Starting with my grandfather, Fred Walton, the youngest sibling I located his census (see "The other side of the Street") and solved the genealogical mystery surrounding it (see "What became of Aunt Agnes?"). This was both challenging and rewarding. It took a little detective work to locate the proper record. I followed up by flexing my genealogical muscles and locating oldest sibling William, then, in birth order, I found Robert and Harry.

The next sibling, Charles, was in White Plains in 1930, but had moved by 1940 making him difficult to locate, so I skipped on to the next sibling, looking to harvest the "low hanging fruit" first.

I got stuck on the next sibling, eldest daughter Constance. She was no longer at her 1930 address either, but I had some clues that led me to a 1938 address in  Arkansas City, Kansas². A newpaper article I have showed her in WWII WAC uniform and described her as being from Arkansas city. Presumably this is after 1940 so I started searching through all the Census sheets for Arkansas City. I have gone through hundreds of pages and just found her this week. The remaining siblings had been on hold until I found Connie.

That changed last week. I learned Ancestry.com now has several states indexed, including New York. This makes searching so much simpler. I quickly and easily found three of the four remaining New Yorkers: Charles, Frank and Lillian.

John eluded me. He was living with Lillian in 1930, but had moved on by 1940, I suspected he was"hidden" amongst hundreds of John Walton's listed on Ancestry.com. This would take a little more investigation. I remembered he was in the Army, so I thought maybe he enlisted prior to 1940 and was away from home. Nope, his enlistment date wasn't until 1942. I went back and tried searching from many different angles, always getting the same result. No match for our John Walton (1906-1997).

In a way, it was almost too easy to find Charles, Frank and Lillian. I had enjoyed the mental workout of doing it the "old fashioned" way, looking through page after page of names until I felt like I was getting to know their neighbors. There is a certain thrill when you finally came to the name you were looking for, but enough is enough! where are you hiding John? Then it hit me...He isn't John! Well... he is John, technically, but everyone called him Jack. So I searched for Jack and Bingo! He is listed as a porter in a hospital in White Plains.

 I have now found my grandfather and ALL his siblings in the 1940 census. I  updated their links on the summary page "The Waltons of Westchester 1940 Census Summary" on this blog. I hope YOU will use these links to find your Parents and Grandparents.See what you can learn, beside the names. Did they own a house or rent? What was their rent, or the value of their home? What was their occupation? How much did they make?

The next step is to fill in the blanks. YOU can help me with that. Do you have family photos from the 1940s? Newspaper articles? Pictures of the family home? Stories? If you have anything you would like to share, I will gratefully accept your contributions. My goal is to create a page or more for each sibling to tell their story. How much detail we find about each sibling is up to you.


Notes:
1 Connie and E. J. Mcmonagle had a child in 1926 that died shortly after birth- source: newspaper article in Arkansas city newspaper and personal cards of condolence to Connie, now in the author's collection.

2. Connie's address when her husband died was 2403 N. A St. Arkansas City, Kansas on February 17, 1938. (Source:Diamond Grove Cemetery, located at 1601 South Lincoln Avenue, Jacksonville, Illinois)