1940 Dundy County, Nebraska

In between indexing pages of the 1940 census of Nebraska, I took a look in Dundy County, Nebraska to see what Robert Newton "Tom" Turpin (Child #18) was doing in 1940. 

Haigler is a small town so I thought this should be a quick look up.

I came across a surprise.  I found a Robert Newton Turpin on the 3rd and 6th pages!  

Not only are 47-year-old Tom and Mamie Turpin living in Haigler, but first I found a 42-year-old Robert Newton Turpin.  He is the son of Francis Charles Turpin (Child #10).  

Newton (Tom) Turpin in Dundy County, Nebraska in 1940

Robert Turpin in Dundy County, Nebraska in 1940

Tom is working as a janitor in the public schools to support his wife and the two children at home.  He’d been a butcher and a farmer. We know that he and Mamie would be leaving for Colorado in the 1940s.   Times were hard. 

Tom’s nephew is working as a plumber.  The census lists him as married but there is a 7 in the census marriage status column meaning that his wife is not living in the house.  Robert was first married to Lela Margaret Pearson until after 1930.  He later married to Mary Frances Holt.    In 1940, he is sharing a rental with William Palmer a 74-year-old man from Connecticut, so this might be between marriages.   

Robert and Lela Turpin

Good finds -- I love the censuses!