The 1940 Census - WTF?

Note: For the complete list of posts, go HERE.

Just as I think our family’s story is weirdly unknown, but pretty much a typical immigrant experience, the 1940 Census is released.

A lot of people other than records management and genealogical types don’t realize that Census data is sealed for 72 years. 

The U.S. government will not release personally identifiable information about an individual to any other individual or agency until 72 years after it was collected for the decennial census. This "72-Year Rule" (92 Stat. 915; Public Law 95-416; October 5, 1978) restricts access to decennial census records to all but the individual named on the record or their legal heir. After 72 years, the records are released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration. In accordance with the 72-Year Rule, the National Archives released the 1930 records in April 2002 and most recently, the 1940 records were released April 2, 2012.

So after a bit of a lag while companies like Ancestry ingested all of these records, here’s what I find in the 1940 Census.

The good news (sort of) is that Frank and Elizabeth were apparently alive. So much for the “died in the 1930s” story.

The bad news. Frank was at the Rockland State Hospital (NY). 

And… a bit of worse news. The Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital.

And the kicker...he’s listed in the Census as an “inmate.”