Census Sunday : Ord Wehrly LeMaster household, 1940, Jay County, Indiana

My paternal grandfather, Ord Wehrly LeMaster, was enumerated in the 1940 US census in Jay County, Indiana in Portland, Indiana.  His street address was 507 E. Walnut Street, Apartment 2, which matches his residence from the 1941 Portland city directory.

1940 U.S. census, Jay County, Indiana, population schedule, Ward 1, Portland, enumeration district (ED) 38-18, SD 5, sheet 13B, household 322, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 January 2015); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

The family consisted of my grandfather Ord, aged 33, grandmother Ruth, aged 29, and three children : Paul, Idola and Juanita.  My grandmother, Ruth, was the source of the information given to the enumerator, indicated by the "x" next to her name on the census.  The children were listed out of birth order in the census.  Paul was listed as 8 years old and Idola as 6 years old.

According to the census, the family was living in the same place in 1935, and all were born in Indiana.  Ord was working as a laborer for the Sheller Manufacturing Company and Ruth was a housewife.  Paul had completed the third grade and Idola had completed the first grade.

The age of Juanita is a bit hard to read, it appears as if they are saying she is 11 months old, but she should have only been around 6 months old at the time of the census.

Another anomaly to my research is that grandpa Ord's highest education listed is only stated as the 8th grade, when he did graduate from Madison Township High School in Salamonia in 1928.

The family was living next door to Mary Beal in Apartment 1. Mary was a 61 year old widow.

Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

State & Federal census sheets are filled with information for genealogists. Both the population & non-population schedules give us insights into the lives of our ancestors. What have you found that is Surprising? Reassuring? Bewildering? Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Colleen Pasquale of Leaves and Branches.