Bluefields Families in the 1940 Census

A few weeks ago, I decided to finally devote some time to documenting the Bluefields families listed in the 1940 U. S. Federal Census. The census taker (a Mrs. Oda Mai Britt) made the task pretty easy, since she had clearly written "Bluefields Subdivision" in the left margin on all 7 census pages. There were 46 households listed, beginning with the Ora J. Stocker family and ending with the Donald E. Sanders family.

In reading all the names, occupations, etc. included in the census data, I naturally began wondering which house each of these families had lived in. The census records, however, only show the order in which each household was visited. They don't include the house numbers or Bluefields street name. So, it's difficult to know exactly what route Mrs. Britt travelled on those two days in April 1940 when she wound her way through our neighborhood interviewing families.

The next part of my research involved documenting what year each house in Bluefields was built, then searching Metro property records for names that matched those on the census. That's been a pretty slow process - especially since some of the records and deeds I looked at were more complete than others - but I did find a few matches. (I've also been simultaneously researching some of the fascinating people I discovered who were early residents. More on them in the coming weeks!)

Since I know I'm not the only one in the neighborhood who enjoys this kind of research, I would LOVE it if any of our Bluefields neighors could offer additional info (such as, "Oh, the Griggs family lived in such and such house..."). That would certainly help fill in some of the historical blanks!!

Meanwhile, here's the documentation I have so far:

Bluefields in 1940 - Click Here