Census Sunday – Learning Something New from the 1940 Census

Have you found something interesting in a census report? This one added new information for my family tree.

Anna Gartner, b. 1891, was my maternal grandfather’s younger sister. I knew that she was born and lived in New York City. Like my grandfather, she worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company. Census reports and city directories from 1910 to 1930 show Anna Gartner/Gardner living with her father, Leopold. {Her mother died in 1908.]

By 1935 Leopold Gartner had moved to Buffalo, New York to live with his oldest daughter, Florence (Gartner) Weissberg and her family. What happened to Anna?

Leopold died in 1948 in Buffalo. His obituary gave me the first clue about Anna’s life. She was listed as Mrs. Anna Bearman of New York City. Who did she marry? What was she doing?

1940 US Census, New York, Bronx

The 1940 US Census might hold answers. I looked for & found an Anna Bearman living at 1215 Grand Concourse in the Bronx [SD 49, ED 252, Sheet 12A]. She was married to Benjamin H. Bearman from Lithuania. New York City is a big place and there could have been more than one Anna Bearman. The age did not match exactly but I have found that is often the case. I continued to read the census report and got quite excited when I saw Anna’s occupation. She was a book keeper for the Western Union Telegraph Company! Hurray! This was my grand aunt.

I wonder what the next census report will reveal. Here I am in 2012 and looking forward to 1950!