For nearly four years I have been searching for my maternal grandfather and his family in the 1940 Census with no luck. I figured with a name like Branyan it was probably misspelled. Armed with the family's address from the 1930 Census I thought I'd be able to find them. No such luck. There were different people living in that house. I thought about looking page by page of the 1940 Census trying to find their names, but that would have been like looking for a needle in a hay stack, not to mention hours of research. I had just about given up.
Then I requested my grandfather's Civilian Conservation Corps records. He joined in 1935 when he was 17 years old. One of the first things I noticed was that on his General Information Form his original typewritten address had been crossed out and a different address was handwritten. I wondered what the chances were that his family would be at the same address five years later and I would be able to find them in the 1940 Census.
It was time to start digging. I knew a good place to start would be to find the Enumeration District, a geographic area assigned to an individual census taker, or enumerator, usually representing a specific portion of a city or county. I used an Enumeration District (ED) finder and searched by my grandfather's 1935 address. Once I knew the ED I started looking through the Census page by page searching for that address. When I finally found it, I was disappointed. Another family was living at that address. But then something caught my eye. There they were...in the house next door! Of course I was wondering why they would have moved to the house right next door to the one where they were living in 1935. But that's a question for a later time. I finally found my grandfather's family!
Every ancestor is more than just a name. Every one of them has a story. We are connected genetically, physically, and emotionally. We are who we are because of who they were.
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Bills of Repairs September 24,1904
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GOOD GOING MICHELE. I KNOW YOU WILL EVENTUALLY FIND ALL THE ANSWERS ABOUT MY DAD AND HIS FAMILY
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