1940 Census Indexing Update

I am helping index Ohio in the 1940 Census.

Thousands of volunteers for the 1940 US Census Community Project continue to index at a phenomenal rate. Overall, the indexing is 63% complete and FamilySearch.org reports that indexing is one month ahead of schedule.

Over 75 million records have been indexed and 20 states are 100% indexed and searchable on FamilySearch.org. States that are searchable by an individual’s name are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming. The following states are 100% indexed and will soon be searchable on-line: Alabama, Indiana, Maine, Nebraska and North Dakota.

You can see the 1940 Census Community Project progress map at https://familysearch.org/1940census/.

Searchable on Ancestry.com are Delaware, Maine, Nevada, New York and Washington DC. Rhode Island is searchable on MyHeritage.com.

Ohio is now 44% indexed. When I have a little extra time I try to index batches from Ohio. I just indexed my 50th batch yesterday. I have indexed batches from Allen, Auglaize, Lucas, Darke, Logan, Paulding, Lake, Licking, Defiance, Franklin and Cuyahoga counties. My Arbitration Results are 98% agreement. That isn’t too bad considering that some of the handwriting is difficult to read.

I indexed a couple batches from Kansas before Ohio was available. I enjoy indexing counties in the western part of our state because it is interesting to see surnames that I am familiar with. I hope to get some batches from Mercer County and I would probably be up all night indexing if that happens. I have heard of some indexers indexing their grandparents. Now that would be something!

I also indexed some Kansas batches.

There are also 1940 Census Indexing Contests for indexers and genealogical societies. Prizes are awarded from sponsoring partners Ancestors.com, Findmypast.com, ProQuest, FamilySearch and the National Archives. Congratulations to the Ohio Genealogical Society Indexing Group, May’s winning society with 16+ members. They won the top prize, a new lap top computer, for the most records indexed.

There is a lot of interesting information about Ohio on https://familysearch.org/1940census/1940-census-ohio/. This page tells that Ohio’s population in 1940 was 6,907,612 and 11,536,504 in 2012. It is interesting to see how the populations of Ohio’s cities have changes since 1940.

Since Oregon is one of the states that is now searchable in the 1940 Census I decided to try out the index and search for Ruecks in Oregon on FamilySearch.org. I immediately found my Rueck relatives.

L Jacob & Regina Rueck were living in Clackamas County, Oregon. Living with them were Claude A & Margaret Pullen, their son-in-law and daughter. Living next door to them was David Rueck. I know that David and Regina were brother and sister, siblings of my great-grandmother Christine (Rueck) Miller.

The Oregon Ruecks were all farmers and David had a poultry farm.  [source: “United States Census, 1940,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VRRX-PSV : accessed 14 June 2012), L Jacob Rueck, Barlow Election Precinct, Clackamas, Oregon, United States.]

We should all give a big thanks to the thousands of volunteers who are making the 1940 Census Index possible. If you think you would enjoy this type of project you can get more information at The 1940 US Census Community Project, https://the1940census.com. You are able download the Indexing Software there and get indexing instructions and tutorials.

I helped index the first half of the 1940 US Census.

I find indexing to be rather relaxing and I always have enjoyed entering data.Volunteering to help index the 1940 Census is a great way to help researchers today and in the future easily learn more about The Greatest Generation. It is a way of contributing and giving back.

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