1940 Census - The Jowers Family

Some of you may be aware that the 1940 Census was released on Monday, April 2, 2012. According to federal law a census is made public 72 years after it was taken. The official census day was April 1, 1940, but of course the job of recording people took much longer than just that one day. The enumeration date of this particular census shown below was April 8, 1940.

I did my first 1940 census search on April 3 using the National Archives website (http://1940census.archives.gov/). The census is not indexed by names and has to be searched by enumeration district. Then you have to scroll through the photos of each page to look for family (or whoever you're looking for). It took some time to find who I was looking for . . .  my grandparents, Hilliard and Annie Jowers, and my daddy, Homer Jowers and his siblings. While it wasn't easy, I did find all but two brothers!

I looked for the family first in Leonia Church Enumeration District, Holmes County, Florida, which is where they lived in 1930. They weren't there in 1940. Then I scrolled through all the census records for Holmes County and some records for Walton County. Being unsuccessful, I had to do some more thinking. Cousin Edgar had mentioned to me one time that the family moved back and forth across the state line between Florida and Alabama. I also remembered my daddy joined the Navy in 1943 and his address was a Hartford, AL address. So, I looked there. I found them in Geneva County outside of (probably) tiny Hartford. Let me tell you, I was so excited to find them on the census. Sometime between 1933 and 1935 they moved just across the state line to Alabama. (Will explain how I know this later in the post.)

Here is what I found out from the census. My grandparents rented their home and lived in a rural area. Hilliard E. Jowers was listed as 59 years old, a working farmer born in Alabama who completed 5th grade. He is listed as #57 on the Farm Schedule (another census record). Annie (Gilley) Jowers was 48 years old and working in the home. She was born in Alabama and completed 5th grade in school.There is no indication who gave the information to the census taker.

Here are the children living with them:

Mozell (Mesell on census), age 23 years, completed 8th grade, born in Alabama
Homer, age 15 years, attended school, completed 7th grade, born in Florida
Gladys, age 13 years, attended school, completed 6th grade, born in Florida
Harmon, age 11 years, attended school, completed 4th grade, born in Florida
Era, age 7 years, attended school, completed 1st grade, born in Florida
Lutrell, age 4 years, did not attend school, born in Alabama

Here's how I know they moved to Alabama sometime between 1933 and April 1, 1935. Era Jowers was born in January, 1933, in Florida. The census recorded where the family was living on April 1, 1935. . . rural Geneva County, Alabama. That information narrows the move to between 1933 after Aunt Era's birth to before April 1, 1935, the date the census asked about.

I also looked in  Enumeration District to see if I could find any other family member, and I found my Aunt Voncile, her husband, and oldest child on the very next page. They were living nearby. Here is their information:

Beechum Bolin, age 21 years, 3rd grade highest grade completed  born in Alabama, lived in a rural area, and was a farmhand, lived in rural Geneva County, AL in 1935
Voncile (Jowers) Bolin, age 18 years, 7th grade highest grade completed, born in Florida, worked in the home, no listing of where she lived in 1935 (but it was most likely with her parents in rural Geneva County, AL
Lavona (Leevon), daughter, age 8 months, No place of birth listed

I did look for my uncles, Hubert and Henry, but couldn't find them. After spending several hours searching, I decided I'll just have to wait until Ancestry or FamilySearch has their indexing of records completed. Not knowing where they were living would make a continued search more time-consuming.

So . . . here my found family is in black and white on the 1940 census.

Hilliard and Annie Gilley Jowers and children in the 1940 US Population Census

Beechum and Voncile Jowers Bolin and child in the 1940 US Population Census

Thomas Gilley, Jr.

Last week I was looking in Google Books for anything I could find about my family. I looked up Jowers first, as I usually do, and ended up with nothing, as I usually do. Then I tried Gilley. Jackpot! I found several things about Thomas Gilley, Jr.

Thomas Gilley, Jr. is my great-grandfather, the father of my grandmother, Annie Gilley Jowers. He seems to have been an interesting person. In Aunt Nita and Uncle Henry's research, I found he owned a lumber business with his brother, Jere (Jeremiah). He was the Superintendent of Education for Dale County, AL in the 1890's (according to a piece of stationery). I haven't found the exact years yet. There's also a story in my family that he was a doctor. My cousin, Edgar, said he'd heard that TG, Jr. was an optometrist. He was also an ordained minister in the Church of Christ at Goodwater in Dale County, AL.

That brings me back to my Google Books search. I found several interesting pieces of information about Thomas Gilley, Jr.  At the meeting of the Medical Association of Alabama in 1894 it was recorded in the section of the county medical associations reports:  "Examinations -- for the study of medicine, John A. Steed and Thomas Gilley; Gilley was rejected."

Thomas Gilley, Jr. was about 36 years old at the time, and Annie Gilley was about 2 years old.

Then, in the Journal of the House of Representatives, State of Alabama, 1896-97, on the 39th day of the session, Thursday, February 4, 1897, I found this:

Introduction of Bills.

"On a call of the counties, bills were introduced, severally read one time, and referred to appropriate committees, as follows:
By Mr. Killebrew -- [W. B. Killebrew, representative of Dale County]
H. 1129.   To authorize and empower Dr. Thos. Gilley, Jr., to practice physic within a radius of ten miles of Wicksburg, and to make charges for service and collect the same."

I couldn't locate within the book (journal), what happened to this bill. I'm not sure why he was referred to as Dr. Thos. Gilley, Jr. I'll be looking into both issues at a later time to see if I can find some answers.

I wanted to put copies of the actual pages here, but I don't know how at this time. It's SO exciting to me to see our family's ancestors' names in documents.

First Post

Since I retired from teaching first graders two years ago, I finally had more time to put into genealogy research of my family and my husband's family. This blog will deal with my side of the house.

I actually started researching in the 1990's, dabbling here and there, but not on a consistent basis. I went to the Orange County Library from time to time and managed to find a little bit of information. I took a class or two in Winter Park, FL. My Aunt Nita and Uncle Henry shared some of their findings with me. My sister, Kathi, gave me a copy of pages from a Bible where someone had copied births and deaths in my daddy's family. My mother gave me a few names. Over the years I asked some questions and have since discovered not nearly enough.

So, being retired, I started taking genealogy classes at the local community college in Murphy, NC. What a blessing that has been! Beginning in the fall of 2009 and during subsequent semesters I've taken these classes: Beginning/Intermediate Genealogy; Genealogy on the Internet; Advanced Genealogy; Legacy (the computer program I use); and my current class Genealogy: Researching Your Family History on the Net (an updated version of my previous class - things change rapidly in the computer world). I've had the same instructor for all the classes . . . the very knowledgeable and experienced genealogist, Larry. In our first class this week, he encouraged us to blog about our genealogy. This is my attempt.

My purpose is to let my family know what I find out as I go on my treasure hunts and to share what I've already found out. Since I'm just beginning, this blog is starting out with a spare look, which I hope will change as I learn more about the mechanics of setting up and maintaining a blog.

So, here goes . . .