I just got an email from Ancestry.com that 15 more states had been added to their 1940 Census collection. Included in these states is one I'm really excited about: Georgia. (Also added: Alabama, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington or Wisconsin)
For the most part, I have already found most of my Georgia ancestors in the 1940 Census - but those are my Dad's relatives. They were farmers who sat in the same place for a few hundred years and made things easy. My mom's ancestors on the other hand... talk about mobile. It's not like they were moving all over the country; they just moved down this street and up this other one and maybe across town or to the neighboring state for just a few months. And they did this constantly.
I had multiple addresses cir 1940 in which to look for my Great-Great Grandparents, Leverett and Louise Waters. They were nowhere to be found. I did find their daughter (my great-grandmother), one of the their daughters-in-law (sans husband) and Leverett's sister-in-law (sans husband).
With today's addition of Georgia into Ancestry's 1940 Census collection, I was able to find Leverett and Louise. I learned that Leverett apparently never had any official schooling (which I had guessed based on his shakily printed signature) and Louise had only four years. At the time Leverett was working as a barber and Louise stayed at home. Their youngest boy, Jack, was still at home.
Now let's just South Carolina indexed and I'll be happy!
I'm so glad that you posted about this since I didn't an e-mail from them. My family hails from GA, KY, and WV, so I'm so glad to this this big chunk added to the 1940 Census.
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