On today's project for Amanuensis Monday, I am transcribing the 1940 U.S. Federal Census for the Olena Johnson household. Olena was widowed in May 1931 and this record reflects the family lineup at that time.
Olena Marie Haner was born on 21 August 1903, in White Rock, Roberts County, South Dakota. She was my paternal grandmother, my father's mother. This census shows Olena along with her four children, the youngest is my father.
The document if a fill-in-the-blanks form, where a census enumerator went from house to house asking one of the residents there to provide the information that was entered into the blanks on the form. I'll only include the fields that were completed and the given information is shown as bold, italics, red font to improve quality. My comments are surrounded by square brackets [ ]/
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| IMAGE: 1940 U.S. Federal Census showing sheet 8A, Cedar River Election Precinct, King County, Washington. [1] |
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| SNIPPET: Left-hand panel highlighting the Olena Johnson household, lines 26-30. |
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| SNIPPET: Right-hand panel highlighting the Olena Johnson household, lines 26-30. |
-------- transcription begins --------
[Top heading follows]
State: Washington
County: King
Township or other division of county: Cedar River Election precinct
SD No. 8 [Supervisor's District]
Enumerated by me on: April 19, 1940
[Hand-stamped] 400
Anna Marie Gardin, Enumerator
Sheet No. 8A
[Column headings follow]
[0.] Line No.
1. Street, Avenue, road, etc.
2. House Number
3. No. of Household in order of visitation
4. Home owned (O) or rented (R)
5. Value of home or Monthly rental if rented
6. Farm? (Yes or No)
7. Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, Ä person responding
8. Relationship of this person to the head of the household
A. CODE
9. Sex
10. Color or Race
11. Age at Last Birthday
12. Marital Status
13. Attended school or college at any time since March 1, 1940?
14. Highest grade of school completed
B. CODE
15. PLACE OF BIRTH
C. CODE
16.Citizenship of the foreign born
17. thru 20 & CODED RESIDENCE, APRIL 1, 1935
21. Was this person AT WORK during week of March 24, 1940?
22. If not, was he at work on public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.)
23. Was this person seeking work?
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB?
25. Indicate whether engaged in home housework (H), in school (S), Unable to work (U) or other (O)
E. CODE
26. Number of hours worked March 24-30, 1940
27. Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940—in weeks
28. OCCUPATION
29. INDUSTRY
30 Class of Worker
F. CODE
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939
32. Amount of money, wages, or salary received (including commissions)
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary
34. Number of Farm Schedule
[Olena Johnson's Family entry]
[0] 26, [1] Rural Earlington Gardens, [3] 178, [4] O, [5] 1500, [6] No, [7] Johnson, Olena Ä, [8] Head, [A] 0, [9] F, [10] W, [11] 36, [12] Wd, [13] No, [14] 8, [B] 8, [15] So Dakota, [C] 68, [17] Same house, [21] No, [22] No, [23] No, [24] No, [25] H, [D] 5, [31] 0, [32] 0, [33] No
[0] 27, [7] [Johnson], Lloyd, [8] Son, [A] 2, [9] M, [10] W, [11] 16, [12] S, [13] Yes, [14] H2, [B] 10, [15] No Dakota, [C] 67, [17] Same house, [21] No, [22] No, [23] No, [24] No, [25] S, [D] 6, [31] 0, [32] 0, [33] Yes
[0] 28, [7] [Johnson], Gloria, [8] Daughter, [A] 2, [9] F, [10] W, [11] 14, [12] S, [13] Yes, [14] 8, [B] 8, [15] No Dakota, [C] 67, [17] Same house, [21] No, [22] No, [23] No, [24] No, [25] S, [D] 6, [31] 0, [32] 0, [33] No
[0] 29, [7] [Johnson], Gordon, [8] Son, [A] 2, [9] M, [10] W, [11] 12, [12] S, [13] Yes, [14] 5, [B] 5, [15] No Dakota, [C] 67, [17] Same house
[0] 30, [7] [Johnson], Billie, [8] Son, [A] 2, [9] M, [10] W, [11] 10, [12] S, [13] Yes, [14] 5, [B] 5, [15] No Dakota, [C] 67, [17] Same house
-------- transcription --------
A sentimental feeling always comes over me when I work on records of members of my immediate family. Today's record is one of these, this contributes to how glad I am to be sharing this with you.
The enumerator appears to have been given my father's nickname to use on the form. At this time, Dad was known by all acquainted with him as "Billie," but his name was William.
It is unclear to me why the questions about income and employment don't bring to the forefront that my Grandmother ran a small chicken business, selling eggs, etc. While her business was small, it required a large enough restructure to house her poultry. This building was converted, in World War II during a housing shortage that occurred in south King County. From a chicken coop, it was upgraded into a livable tri-plex. After remodeling, the building contained two full-sized one-bedroom apartments and a smaller bachelor unit. The building was complemented with an outhouse; now we all know what those are, right.... ;-)
Transcribing helps me to learn what a document contains. I have learned over time that I have a tendency to "skim" over an item; a bad trait for a researcher who needs to learn even the smallest details documented records contain. Transcribing helps me to slow down; to capture all aspects of the paper in hand. It also gives me a better opportunity to share the document with you.
I hope that your week has had a good start. Thank you for stopping by today and letting me share this document with you.
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Copyright (c) 2017, Darlene M. Steffens
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