The countdown is nearing its end until the 1950 Census is available for genealogists and family historians to search. According to the “72-Year Rule,” the National Archives releases census records to the general public 72 years after Census Day. As a result, the 1930 census records were released April 1, 2002, and the 1940 records were released April 2, 2012. The 1950 census records will be made available on April 1, 2022.
According to Ancestry.com, over 151 million people were recorded in the 1950 census (that’s 14% more than in 1940), and about 30 million of those were age 9 and under, appearing in a census for the first time.
I well remember my excitement leading up to the release of the 1940 census because I knew that I would make my first appearance in a census enumeration. Sure enough, there I was as a 2 year old living with my father and mother in the house owned by my maternal grandmother on West Main Street in Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio.
For the 1950 census, I will be able to see the listing for our family in our house on South Main Street in Andover, including my sister and brother for the first time.
I will be interested in looking at the residences along South Main and East Main Streets because I delivered the Ashtabula Star Beacon along these streets six days a week at that time.
Initially, I will have to search out the enumeration districts for these Andover streets and scroll through the census pages because there will be no searchable index available until later, probably mid or late summer.
As I understand it, new technology is being utilized to create a draft index of names and places and then volunteers will proofread the draft to create the searchable index. This proofing effort is being undertaken by volunteers working with the National Genealogical Society, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch.org.
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