The 1940 census is out and, thanks to my mother’s good memory, I was able to find her on the 1940 census. She was born in 1933, so this is obviously the first census I read her name in. Such a thrill!

I noted that, according to the census, my mother’s brother, Joe, was born in Georgia. This was a big question mark for me, because I’d never, ever heard talk of my family living in Georgia. I figured I’d ask my mother about it next time I see her.

I posted a link to the census page on my personal Facebook page and my first cousin, Joe’s daughter, Janis, commented. That allowed me to ask her about the Georgia connection and she told me that our grandparents had lived there the year after they were married (they were married in 1930) and that my grandfather was a door-to-door lingerie salesman!! I’d never heard that before, but apparently my grandmother told Janis stories of living in Georgia.

I went back to the 1930 census and saw that at the time of the enumeration (April 1930) my grandfather was living with his parents and was listed as a “Commercial Traveler” for an adding machine company. I have a copy of his marriage license application, just a month later. So some time in 1930 (Joe was born in 1931), my grandfather went from selling adding machines in Missouri to selling lingerie in Georgia. I wonder how that happened?

By 1933 when my mother was born, my family moved back to Missouri. I’m going to see if I can get the story from my mother. This is such a springboard for conversation.

I love the connections the census allows us to make about our family members’ lives. I also love that posting about the 1940 census allowed me to make that connection with my cousin, who had this knowledge about our family that I’d previously known nothing about. And, of course, I love that Facebook is helping me make these connections.

Yet another reason I love family history research!