1940 Wise County, Texas, Census

Below are the 20 Enumeration Districts for Wise County.
Transcriptions of select information is in tables-Click on ED in left column below 
Download PDF file of tables for each ED. Maps, tables, and an alphabetical index of names for that ED is at end of each PDF.
Click here for Alphabetical list of all names for the county
Maps of the county and some information are below this table

1940 Census Map of Wise County Showing the Enumeration District Lines
Precinct Numbers are in RED and ED (Enumeration District) Numbers are in GREEN
(Click on this map to make it VERY LARGE - Each House Can Be Seen as a Square !!)

Official 1940 Census Maps of Wise County From the National Archives Web Page
NW, NE, SW & SE
Click on any of these images to make them VERY LARGE
Precinct Numbers are in RED and ED (Enumeration District) Numbers are in GREEN

About the 1940 Census

               The 1940 census was started on April 1, 1940. Census takers, enumerators, went to each house and recorded answers to a series of questions. The 1940 census reflects the economic tumult of the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal recovery program of the 1930s.

            The National Archives released the 1940 census to the public on April 2, 2012 after a mandatory 72-year waiting period. The website (http://1940census.archives.gov/ ), designed and hosted by Archives.com, provides access to digital images of the census – more than 3.8 million pages. The images for Wise County Texas can be found there under Enumeration Districts (ED's) 249-01 through 249-20. There are also great 1940 official census maps online.

            For our conveniance we have also posted the Wise County census images under the links on page https://wisecountytexas.info/census/1940.htm  Our transcribed tables and index of names for Wise County also are links to these images.

Our Transcriptions

            The Wise County census has 544 handwritten pages. Shortly after the release of the census on April 2, 2012, volunteers started transcribing some of the information columns into Excel spreadsheets. Due to limited space, we transcribed only 8 of the 50 columns on the census pages. (See complete list of columns on page 7)

            Volunteers then compared each name with the 1930 Wise County census and other county records. In some cases we changed names to the spelling we found on headstones or in other records. We added the middle, maiden, and nick names that we could find in parenthesis or brackets.

            Our tables of information are by family and the location as the enumerator went from house to house. Some enumerators noted streets and roads, but most did not. Where known, our checkers, added locations in parenthesis.

            To find a name, first go to the alphabetical list of all names at the back of this book, note the ED and page number, and then go to the ‘table’ pages that are arranged in order of ED number.

Thanks to the 'Wise County Genealogy Email List' members ( txwise-L-request@rootsweb.com ), we were able to figure out some of the names in the census.

            We thought the last name to the left was 'Gengue' or 'Dengue'. We asked for help from 'the list' and several people knew the family as 'Teague'. Problem solved.

            People on 'the list' also knew the family below to be 'Zorns'.

        Some of this handwriting was hard to read! We know we have many errors!

Occupations - Wise County 1940

            In 1940 there are still a very large number of families making a living by farming. There are a number of people that worked in the sugar beet fields. Some of them followed the harvest to other areas. Lake Bridgeport was finished in the early 1930's and there are several 'fishermen' listed in that area.

            Take note of all the people that worked in some type of government works program. There were many road and construction projects and seamstresses in sewing rooms. You will see the following abbreviations:

CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942)

PWA - Public Works Administration (1933-1943)

WPA - Works Project Administration (1935-1943)

Volunteers in order of the number of pages transcribed or checked.

A special thanks to Douglas Harris, who transcribed and also checked the most pages. He checked the written entries with the 1930 census, and also the county birth, marriage, headstone, and funeral home records. He found many maiden names and put them in parenthesis and capital letters. It turned out that this checking was more time consuming that the transcribing.