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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, July 6, 2012, pg. 9 As we all know, the 1940 U.S. Census has now been released to the public, including the listings for Albion. The difference between this Census and the previous ones is that the "results" were immediately available online on various internet sites. You didn't have to stand in line at a library genealogical center (such as in Lansing or Fort Wayne) to look up the listings on microfilm as before. Albion's results are found in the Calhoun County enumeration district 13, with the various city council precincts, or wards, being the divisions between the sections of the city. The 1940 Census asked the usual questions one would expect and some others, too. There were some additional questions however at the bottom of the ledger sheet for a couple of selected persons which asked for the birthplaces of parents, and national ethnic origins. Albion's 1940 population count was released in early January, 1941, giving us an official count of 8,345 persons. It should be noted that this Census was taken prior to the U.S. being directly involved in World War II. Many Albion families, particularly first generation immigrant European families with children, were still intact. So were many of Albion's African-American families. The War changed things, as the men went off to War, and the women got married and acquired other surnames. Thus the 1940 Census is an excellent resource of Albion's ethnic "melting pot" before things got stirred up a bit. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of a sample ledger sheet from Albion's 1940 census. I don't expect you to read this in detail of course. You'll have to go online to view this and other pages on your own computer. This particular sheet was from Enumeration District 13-6, enumerated on April 19, 1940 by Pauline Groby. She lived at 304 S. Ingham St. (which today is a non-existent street off E. Erie and E. Porter Sts. absorbed by Albion College) with her husband Robert. He worked for the State of Michigan for the Highway Department.  Sample ledger sheet from 1940 Census
This particular sheet enumerates the 400, 500, and 600 blocks of E. Porter St. just south of Albion College. At 516 E. Porter St. is found the Rev. Dempster Yinger family and extended members. He was the minister at the First Methodist Church. Also living there with the Yinger family at the time was my mother Pauline Kulikowski, then age 13, who is listed at the bottom of the page and described as a "ward." I encourage our readers to look at the 1940 U.S. Census for Albion, and see if you can find your relatives listed here. You just may come across some information nobody told you about before. All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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