Most everyone in the genealogy world was anticipating the arrival of the 1940 census in April. I was. But I also made a point of staying away the first day or two. Good thing. The NARA website apparently crashed for awhile early on April 2 - not my fault! Now everyone appears to be in a race to get it online and be the first to have it indexed. I hope there isn't another 'crash' when the indexing comes online. I can always wait a day or two for that also.
I tried to find my parents, Ken and Margaret McDougall, on the Pittsfield Township portion of the Washtenaw County, Michigan census. I know right where they SHOULD be. But, I guess someone forgot to tell the census taker in the area that there was a small apartment above Cady's Food Market. Cady's was on the corner of Platt Road and Michigan Avenue, on the southeast corner. The Cady's lived around the corner and down Platt Road from the Market. My sister, Pat, remembers in later years, Mrs. Cady sitting in a rocking chair by the stove most days in the Market. Her daughter, Donna, would help out everyday after school.
Pat was born April 19 of that year, so I know she would have missed having her name there by 18 days. The census, even though there may be other dates at the top of the page - I see: May 6, April 11, May 7, on just a few I looked at - is supposed to be a list of the people who reside in the house at that address as of April 1, 1940.
I did find my maternal grandparents, also in Pittsfield Township. Garth and Edna Beckington. They are on Bemis Road, near Fosdick Road. They are listed along with my Uncle Garth (Toot), 29, Uncle Tom (24) and his wife, Aunt Dorothy (20) and daughter, Karen (1), Aunt Mary (20) and Aunt Jim (Alice) (16). Toot and Tom are both working for King Seeley Corp. My mom eventually worked there, starting when I was about 8 years old. Also, the ages listed would be the age at their last birthday.
My parents purchased land on 105 W. Bemis Road, where they eventually lived (moving there about 1942), but the house hadn't been built yet in 1940. We lived there until I was about 9, when we moved down the road to another house. It was much bigger and put us in a different school district. We kept the original house, and when my parents retired, they added another story and moved back. We sold it a couple of years after my father died in 1996. The land was in the family for almost 60 years.
It was fun 'going up and down' the roads in that area of Saline/Milan/Ypsilanti (Pittsfield and York Townships) and seeing all those familiar names from my childhood. They are still familiar after all these years, and the descendants of many continue to live in that area. I need to spend more time looking for other family members. Another day, another time.
