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Genea-Musings blogger Randy Seaver has posted
a response to a letter to the editor printed in the July/August Family
Tree Magazine. The letter-writer thought that we at Family Tree Magazine,
as well as other genealogy organizations, got overly giddy about the 1940 census.
He thought that the time spent browsing for an ancestor’s listing in the then-unindexed
1940 census yields little to no new genealogical information (now, though, 24
states are searchable by name).

Randy disagreed—you
can see why in his post—and he wants to know what others think.

Personally, I’ve found the census useful. In some cases, I just confirmed what I knew;
in others, I found evidence to support educated guesses. And as Randy points out,
until you check a record, you don’t know whether it’ll hold a surprise. I was looking
for someone else entirely when I
found my grandfather staying at the YMCA in Cincinnati. When the Ohio name index
comes out, you can bet I’ll be searching for my grandma, who met my grandfather here
soon after 1940.

A Family
Tree Magazine Facebook fan says she’s using the 1940 census to help in
her search for living relatives. Another Facebook fan gets a kick out of finding his
family members’ names, whether he learns anything new or not. So do I! What about
you?