Look up your WW1 Ancestor in 1940 US Census

The 1940 US Census was just released on Monday, April 2nd by the National Archives.  The US Census is released to the public after 72 years.   This is a great census to find your parents, grandparents and/or great grandparents. 

Many genealogy sites are rushing to get  these records on line as fast as possible.  Ancestry.com already has all the states up on it's site for free until April 10th.  You can also find them here:

• http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census
• http://www.familysearch.org/
• http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html
• http://1940census.archives.gov/getting-started/

All the sites are also working on an index so that you can search by name.  In the mean time if you know your ancestor's address you can search by enumeration district. 

Use the tools at the bottom and put in the cross streets.  If you know where they lived in Lowell you should be able to narrow it down to one enumeration district.  Keep a window open with google maps to help you out.  Remember that some street names have changed.  University Avenue used to be Moody Street in 1940.

It is a great resource for researching your WW1 ancestor.  My husband's grandfather, Irving Loucraft, a Sergeant in the 101st Infantry served with distinction in France during WW1.  He survived the war and was the holder of the Purple Heart with 2 clusters and the Silver Star.  Here he is in the 1940 Census in Lowell on Walker Street with his family.

1940 Census Image - Walker Street Lowell, MA
Irving Loucraft and family
E.D. 18-95