As of this Monday, you can find out that, and a host of other information about the people who once occupied your home, neighborhood and community.  The 1940 US Census http://1940census.archives.gov/ was released by the National Archives, giving genealogists, local history buffs, and the curious a window into every community in America.

The National Archives digitized the original hand written census forms taken by census workers who went door to door in Malden and throughout the country collecting this information. 

The downside to the data is that is it organized by street and city blocks. The records are not search-able by last name. Ancestry.com will be indexing the data, so that users will be able to search by name in the future.

I had a few moments this week to take a peak around and look up my old neighborhood, as well as search for a few family members in the process. Here is what I found.

My father at the time lived at 69 Granite Street, with my grandmother and 2 aunts. They were living there in 1935 according to the form.

They rented the apartment from the Brennan family. The grandparents, who were in the 70s, were born in Ireland (listed as Eire on the census form). They had 2 sons and a granddaughter living with them as well. The children and grandchild were born in Massachusetts.

The census data for Ward 6 shows a good number of residents of Swedish ancestry, including the family that lived across the street from me when I lived on Cherry Street.

The data for my current neighborhood here in the West End shows a few households had live-in servants.

Please share with us what you find. Happy hunting!