So, how has everyone been doing with the 1950 Census so far?

Time for a little case study. I found my grandparents living in the house my great-grandfather bought in West New York about 20 years before. My mother was a senior in high school and two of my uncles were in their teens. The youngest in the family was just four at the time. Also in that house were my grandmother’s sister, her husband, and their kids in the upstairs apartment.

Each Census page contains information on about 30 people, but if your name happened to land on one of the lines that was a multiple of 5, there were additional questions. People of all ages answered questions about their parents’ place of birth and their education. Those aged 14 and over also answered questions about work, income and military service. My grandmother and my great-uncle were two of the people listed on the page to answer the special questions.

There was nothing earth-shattering exposed about my mother’s side of the family in the 1950 Census. The only question I have is that it says my grandfather wasn’t working at the time, despite his being a produce dealer. I know that he started as a peddler, selling fruits and vegetables from the back of a truck and later opened a storefront on Bergenline Avenue. But since the 1950 Census took place in early to mid-April, I wonder if the weather had anything to do with that.

The sad thing is, I lost my mother this past April so I’ve lost my living gateway to generations past. I’ll have to call my uncle in Florida about this, but let my tragedy be a lesson to you: Ask questions of the older generations while they are still with us. You’ll deeply regret it if you don’t

On my father’s side, my Dad was serving in the United States Air Force at the time. My grandmother lived with his younger sister in Union City. His older brother and sister were married, my uncle just having gotten “hitched” two months before. My aunt was living in Maryland as her husband was serving in the military as well. My grandfather had passed away five years earlier.

So, like I said, no earth-shattering revelations unveiled by the 1950 US Census. And that’s okay, I didn’t expect any. I think that the main difference here is that the people on my Dad’s side of the family were a bit older and a couple of his siblings had gotten married and moved out on their own, while on my Mom’s side, everyone was still living under the same roof. But what this particular Census does for me…