1940 Census - Millicent and Grover

In the 1950 census, we found Grover and Millicent married with three kids living in Louisville, Kentucky. Where were they ten years earlier during the previous decennial census?

Millicent was living with her father Peter C. and her two brothers, Peter H. and Frederick C. Tschudi. They lived at 1308 Rufer Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky.

1940 Census Image - Peter C. Tschudi Household

Peter C. was a widow as his wife, Amelia Tessman, passed away on February 22, 1935. He was now 62 years of age. The census says his birthplace was Michigan, however other evidence indicates his birthplace was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He had an eighth-grade education. He was a foreman at Scales Manufacturing, working 40 hours per week. The previous year, he worked all year and earned $1,900.

He owned the house at 1308 Rufer and it was worth about $1,600. The house is still there today. It's not a very good neighborhood, but if you look at Google Maps Street View, someone was living there in May 2019. But if you roll the history back to 2007, the house was boarded up.

1308 Rufer Ave. in May 2019
from Google Maps Street View

All three children were single and were born in Michigan.

Peter H. was 24 years old. He had an eighth-grade education. He was a laborer and also worked at Scales Manufacturing. The previous week he worked 49 hours and the previous year he earned $1,144.

Millicent was 22 years old, and she had a tenth-grade education. She was not working outside of the home, but somehow, she had another source of income. There is no indication of the source or amount of the other income. She was the informant to the census taker.

Frederick was 21 years old, and he had a twelfth grade education. He was looking for work as a new worker.

There was a question of the 1940 census about where the person lived five years earlier, on April 1, 1935. The answer for all four people was "Same Place" which means they lived in the same city, but not the same house. (If they were in the same house, the answer would have been "Same House.")

Grover's story was a little more interesting. He had also lost a parent. His father, Grover C. Brown, died on March 28, 1936. 

At the time of the 1940 census, he was living with his mother, Margie Toomey (nee Mamie Mokley, aka Margie Brown) and his stepfather, John B. Toomey.

1940 Census Image - John B. Toomey Household

They lived at 523 West Broadway. This is now the location of the Courier-Journal newspaper in downtown Louisville. John Toomey was renting the place for $20 per month.

Grover was 20 years old. He was still single and had a tenth-grade education. He was not working, but seeking a job. He had been unemployed for the previous 104 weeks (2 years) and his last job was a pump operator at a gas station. He had no income in the previous year.

His mother was 39 years old and had a ninth-grade education. She was a beautician and was a proprietor (as opposed to working for someone else for wages). She worked 48 hours in the previous week, worked all 52 weeks in the previous year. She was the informant to the census taker.

There is much more to learn about Mamie. Stay tuned for more on her. She was a pretty interesting woman.

John Toomey was 35 years old and had a seventh-grade education. He was working as a shipping clerk at a Wholesale Plumbing manufacturer. He worked 40 hours the previous week and only worked 10 weeks in 1939, earning $190.

All three were listed as living in the "Same Place" in 1935, meaning in Louisville.

Grover and Millicent were married in August 1941, about 16 months after the census was taken. They lived about 2.3 miles apart. Neither was working at the time.

Google Maps - directions from Grover to Millicent

My questions and thoughts are:

• How did they meet?
• Had they already met by this time?
• These are things that we will never know, but it's kind of fun to speculate.

What are your thoughts about this? 

Please post your thoughts and comments below.