Fifty days until the 1940 U.S. census is released to the public...

...and this is why I'm looking forward to it:

• the new information asked of household members, including occupation, where they were living in 1935, and maybe most importantly, who provided the info to the census-taker (which will give you an idea of how reliable that info is)...
• kinda excited to see my paternal grandmother in her first census
• I have several ancestors, including my great-great grandmother, Meta Ricklefs Haase, and her mother, Meta Tiedemann Ricklefs, who I have no idea when they died, and this census will narrow the window either way, depending on whether they are in it or not.
• My two uncles (of the multiple greats-degree) Charles Ricklefs and John Ricklefs were in and out of prison and over the course of the first half of the 20th century and I'm curious to see where they both were in 1940.
• This will be the last census several of my ancestors are listed in - including my great-grandfather Timothy Cronin (died 1948), and great-great grandparents Rudolph Stutzmann (1946), Augusta Lindemann Stutzmann (1945), J.J. Raynor (1944), and Theodore Berg (1944).

While the census will be released April 1, be aware that it won't immediately be indexed, so unless you know where your ancestors were living in that year, you may have to go page by page looking for your family until an index comes out. Note - you can volunteer to index! Look at FamilySearch's website for details!!