1940 Census Research—Womble Style

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that earlier this month the 1940 census was released.  It’s available for free digitally from the National Archives site at http://1940census.archives.gov/.  There are other sites such as FamilySearch.org that have the images available for free and these are being indexed as this post is being written.  11 states are almost completely indexed.  Delaware is the only state in the union that’s been completely indexed thus far.  Other sites have the images available and are working hard to get them indexed so that they can be more easily searchable.

The first week that the 1940 census was released I joined millions of others by jumping into the fray to seek out my ancestors, some of who are still living and listed in this newly released census.

My first stop was Knoxville, Tennessee where I searched for my father’s family.  To prepare for this census release, back in 2003 I asked my uncle (my grandmother’s youngest son) the family’s addresses during the years that they lived in K-ville.  He was able to give me what he believed to be the exact time periods and addresses for a couple of places.  In other instances, he was only able to give just the street name.

On one visit to Knoxville my father took me around to the houses and sites of the various houses where he and his family had lived and I took pictures. 

When the census was released I believed that I was completely set and that finding them would be a research slam-dunk.  Oh how wrong I was!  This is a lesson in how the best-laid plans don’t always pan out.  Always have a list of possible places when in this situation, just in case.  To start with, I only searched for them by street address and didn’t bother trying to find them using their last name.  After not finding the family at the address I was so sure of, I looked them up in the 1940 city directory.  The 1940 directory gave the address I had tried to locate them at in the census, but they weren’t there.  I looked for the family at another address my uncle had given me, but was also unsuccessful.

I considered just waiting for the state of Tennessee to be indexed by someone, but then decided to go back to the drawing board and reviewed the emails from my uncle when I asked about where he lived in K-ville.

Albert Womble-1940 Paducah, Kentucky

In the meantime, I located my grandmother’s father living in Paducah, Kentucky and my grandfather’s parents in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

My uncle’s emails mentioned the street Magnolia as one of the streets where they lived.  However, he didn’t know the house number.  Also, during that house tour with my father in Knoxville, he said he didn’t know where the house was either.  Today, he believes that it’s where a Taco Bell now stands.

Since I didn’t know the exact address of the Magnolia house, I searched the images for their last name.  I searched through some of the EDs that had Magnolia in them.  Then, I remember one interesting detail about his family.  For some reason during my search for them I noticed that the family moved within the same ED.  After searching through several EDs without any luck, I decided to test my theory and it paid off.  Sure enough, I found them in the same ED where I had found their other houses.  Because some of the people listed in this image are still living, I won’t post the image.

Ernest Womble-1940 Noble County, Indiana

Since locating my father’s family in the 1940 census, I’ve since gone on to look up other ancestors and having some success and some disappointment.  I easily located Albert Womble, my great grandfather’s brother living in Noble County, Indiana.  It took some work, but I was also able to find Albert’s son Ben in the census as well.  As of this writing, I’ve not been able to locate Albert’s youngest son, Paul who I believe was living in Paducah or at least within McCracken County, Kentucky.  I may have to wait ‘til the census is completely indexed before finding him.  Next on my list for 1940 census findings is locating Thomas Jefferson Womble, Albert’s brother.  I believe that he may have been living in San Bernardino, California and perhaps was at the state hospital there, so he may be an easy one to find, or perhaps he’ll be one of the elusive ancestors that are frequently encountered in genealogy. 

Albert Womble Papers

When I visited my parents this past September I went through a box of Womble family memorabilia.  Amongst the odds and ends of various items was a collection of items that I believe belonged to my great grandfather Albert Womble.

I had gone through some of these things before and even made photocopies of them too.  However, on this visit I wanted to take some of Albert’s paper home with me.  I sent aside the items and then asked my parents if I could take them with me.  They agreed to let me take them.

Last month I finally had the time to go through them and try to document my findings as I went.  I didn’t get through all of them because I found it to be a tedious process going through the papers, photographing it, and then writing about it.  It is a start though, and my advice to anyone who attempts this is to have patience and to realize that it’s a slow process. 

Some of the items I took were small pocket-sized memorandum notebooks.   One of these was simply titled Receipt and has written on a page B. I. Complex.  There is a list of tablets and the cost.  My assumption is that Albert was taking B1 complex pills and was trying to calculate the cost of different sized tablets and perhaps which sized tablet would cost the least over a period of time.  Today, I think of B1 complex vitamins as being pretty normal.  I don’t know that much about what certain vitamins are supposed to do, but I’m sure that in the past it was a new fangled thing.  I’ve heard stories that Albert didn’t have much money and so he didn’t eat very nutritious food. 

A single page was found and it looked as though it was torn from a notebook.  Strange phrases are written on this.  I assume that these are song titles.

They’re as follows:

My little Becck a roo

Wagin Westward   [not sure if this should be Wagon Westward]

I can’t give you anything but love

% for 2

Manhatin Seranade [sic]

My blue heaven

Molly and the baby

A letter to Albert Womble from his brother Thomas.  Inside the letter folded up was a listing of radio programs for Thurs. Dec. 30.  I’m not sure of the year, but it must be during WWII because there are some war programs.  It may be from the Knoxville News-Sentinel because it makes reference to the News-Sentinel magazine and there’s a station that has the call letters WNOX.  I think WNOX is a Knoxville radio station.  The backside of the clipping makes reference to that city in various ads.  The year might be 1942 because of the used car ad next to a bunch of Help Wanted ads.  My reasoning is that the ad is pushing ’39, ’40, and ’41 cars.  If these cars are used than the year probably isn’t 1938 or ’43 because it would have ’42 cars listed.  The letter isn’t dated and is very short.  Apparently Thomas Womble suffered from blood poisoning in the past and was very sick.  This might explain previous addresses I’ve seen for him addressed to a hospital in California.  In the letter Tom tells his brother that he’s feeling better and he seems to offer Albert help of he ever is sick or needs money.

There was a folded up article about the death of his oldest son, Joseph who died during an indoor baseball game at the Centralia YMCA.  I had the impression that Albert may have carried that article with him everywhere.

In a partial envelope is a receipt dated 2 June 1941.  It says, received from A. Womble Eight and no dollars June 2 to July 2 $8.00 Mrs. J.P. Welsh.  On the back of this receipt is written: 

6-2. to 7-2-41.

7-2 to 8-2. - 41. –

Mrs. Welsh $8.00. 

8-2 to 9-2 $6.00

Mrs. Welsh

9-2 to 10-2. 6.00

Mrs. Welsh

To me this looks like Albert Womble is paying rent to someone named Mrs. Welsh.  Maybe it's for 303 Madison in Paducah, Kentucky. 

I did some research on Mrs. Welsh and found a listing in the 1941 Paducah City Directory for a Jas. P Welch.  He's living at 323 Madison and his wife's name is Luna.  He is a harness-maker at Ferguson Co.  There is also a listing for a Louisa Welch living a 303 Madison who furnishes rooms.  I think this means that they rent out rooms. These are listed on page 629 of the 1941 Paducah, KY city directory.

In the 1937 Paducah City Directory, Albert Womble is living at 303 Madison and working for the Ferguson Co.  The name J.P. Welsh is written in the address section of one of Albert Womble's memorandum books.  I think these Welch/Welsh people are the same that are mentioned in Albert Womble’s papers.

Torn corner of paper, written in what appears to be my grandmother's handwriting about John Womble and his Rev. War service and some things about his life.  I think this was written after Albert died because it looks like it's written with a ballpoint pen.  In the brief biographical sketch about John Womble it says that her was born in 1756 in NC and died in Edgecombe County, NC in Oct. 1820.  He was married twice and he married and he married his 2nd wife Catherine in 1798.  One of their 11 children according to this was named John Winfield who was Albert's dad.  John Womble had another son named John with his first wife in 1788.  He received a pension from the war and two land grants.

Handmade leather wallet or case that is held together with masking tape.  On the masking tape is written in what looks like my grandmother's handwriting it says Notes and Records of Albert Womble son of John Winfield Womble of Nashville and Hardin Co.  John Winfield Womble was the 12th child of John Womble-Rev. War soldier in N. Carolina who fought [?] at the siege of Savannah & Charleston, captured at Charleston & sent to prison of British after war.  Enlisted in Spring of about 1778-1779.

 Inside wallet is a notebook made of leather that looks handmade.  Notebook seems to contain some sort of Union joining ceremony and bylaws.  Also information about harness making and the construction of other similar leather made devices.

I think that the wallet case and torn corner of paper are the source for Winfield being the mistaken middle name for my great-great grandfather.  Since the handwriting appears to be that of my grandmother, Virginia, I believe that she may be the source of this misinformation.  I’ve seen this mistake in other papers that I’ve gotten from some relatives and my only guess is that they got this wrong information from her.  I’ve never seen anything directly from my great grandfather, Albert, which gives his father’s middle name as Winfield.  It’s always Washington, which is correct. 

My grandmother seemed to know a lot about her dad’s family, but I’m not sure if this is because she was interested in it or had just heard about it from her dad.  Her father, Albert seems somewhat interested in his heritage because I saw something written in one of his notepads about having an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.  Maybe he had only heard about it from his sister, Maude, but otherwise wasn’t too interested in it much.  Perhaps he actually had more pressing things to think about other than genealogy?  Such as basic survival in the world, I got the impression that Albert Womble didn’t have much money and at times, or quite possibly his lack of funds was a frequent occurrence.  Based on one letter I read when I was visiting my parents, his son Ben mentions sending his dad a money order so that he can pay a pharmacy bill.  From the tone, it sounds as if Albert’s children often send money to their dad to help him make ends meet. 

My experience has shown me that children sometimes tend to internalize aspects of their parents’ personality or their home environment growing up.  I’ve heard that my grandmother tended to be preoccupied about money.  If this really was a personality trait of hers, it’s possible that it comes from her father’s own preoccupation with money that I’ve seen evidenced in his papers.  Other stories I’ve heard have mentioned that Albert’s family didn’t have much money.  Sometimes people who don’t have money growing up become fixated on this or any other item that they believe was lacking in their childhood.  My grandmother’s alleged monetary quirk may have been also because she witnessed her own parent’s money troubles and so became concerned that she may face the same issues down the road.

I think that’s enough psychoanalysis for one blog posting, but it is interesting to hear these family stories and then try to piece together what motivated certain a ancestor's actions or personality traits.