1930 Census – WWII Collection?
Mar 31st, 2009 by sharbrough
Uncle Bill
Uncle Bill wasn’t really named Bill. He was Calvin Bryan Sharbrough. I found the Sharbrough clan in the 1930 Census, living in Tyler TX, indexed as “Sharhough.” When you have a name like mine, you have to be creative when searching. I just looked for first name “Calvin” in Texas, and last names starting with “Shar.” I would normally use “Sharb” but that got me … nothing. The perfect zen search result. Of course it’s here, but you can’t find it. Not even enough syllables for a decent haiku.
Nevertheless, having found the family of James Otho Sharbrough, I see that Uncle Bill is 4-10/12 years old as of 1-April-1930. That’s a fairly specific birthdate … June, 1925.
Calvin B Sharbrough is in Footnote’s SSDI. His birthdate is 27-Jun-1925, and his death date is 10-Jan-1995. I remember driving from DFW to Texarkana for the funeral, with my sister.
Uncle Bill also shows up in the Army Enlistment records for WWII. He enlisted in 1943, on 13-Oct. He had been for four months, so it doesn’t appear that he rushed out to enlist on his 18th birthday. Further, it says that he has 2 years of high school education, and by that age many teens have had 4. It would seem that Uncle Bill dropped out and took up welding, since his enlistment says that he is a skilled welder and flame cutter. He lived in Rusk Co TX, which is where Henderson is located, and that’s where he lived when I first knew him, and where my grandmother lived from the time I knew her until she passed away in 1967. He enlisted in Tyler.
This enlistment record reminds me of the newspaper clippings that my grandmother saved while he was in the war. It reminds me of the letters he wrote to her from Berlin, which she also saved. Uncle Bill was a telephone man in the army, stringing phone wire around so that important people could talk to each other. When the war ended, he stayed in Berlin for two years as an MP, a policeman. He left a daughter, Brigetta, that we’ve never met, but who I claim as a cousin.
Finding these three records, one before and one after the war, give me insight into the life of this veteran, in a context that goes beyond a military assignment.
Garris Vada Hodges
Garris’ younger brother Billy was my first father-in-law. His name is on the wall at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. I took my youngest daughter, McKenna, there, and I could feel the connection she had to the man, and the battle. The USS Arizona Memorial is just spooky. You can see the outline of the deck of the ship, in the water. And instead of some jingo-istic war memorial, the USS Arizona Memorial is a place that cherishes peace.
I can see Garris’ name on that wall, in the interactive memorial at Footnote. “G V Hodges F2C” is a simple inscription, indicating that he was a Fireman, 2nd Class. My Navy daughter, Bailey, re-enlisted on Pearl Harbor Day and her Uncle Tim presented Garris’ Purple Heart to her, at that memorial. It was an unforgettable moment for everyone involved.
Garris is also found in Footnote’s Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls. The muster rolls for all of the navy vessels and stations at Pearl have been digitized from Navy microfilm, and published at Footnote. Garris is on the muster rolls for the USS Arizona between 1940 and 1941. The one for 30-Sept-1941 says that he enlisted on 04-Nov-1940, and has been on the Arizona since 11-Jan-1941. On the 31-Mar-1941 muster roll, his rank is Seaman 2nd Class. The muster rolls include a “report of changes” and on 31-Mar, he shows up as being from Dallas TX and is rated “AS” for ablebodied seaman, and is receiving a “CR” or change of rating to “Sea2c Auth:BuNav Manual.”
On the Report of Changes for 30-Apr-1941, Garris gets another CR, to “F3c, Auth: Art. D-5114(1)(a) BUNAV Manual.”
On the Report of Changes for 30-Sept-1941, Garris gets another CR, to “F2c, Auth: BuNavC/L 27-41.” Oh, his name was indexed as “Carris Y Hodges” on that one, but you have to be ready to exercise some creativity when searching for records, and this was no problem.
There are 24,000 Hodges in the Footnote 1930 Census Index. Only 2200 are in Texas. No first name Garris, or even a “Gar*” to be found. It’s not just Footnote. I can’t find him in the 1930 census index at Ancestry, either. I can find his parents and siblings, living in Rooseveldt County NM, but he isn’t there. Searches for just the surname or the given name were also not successful. Footnote has not yet indexed this county for 1930. But somewhere, there is an 8-year-old boy wandering around without his family. I wonder how many, maybe thousands.
Garris shows up in the Texas Birth Certificate Index, online. But Footnote’s Texas Birth Certificates don’t reveal him.
Not every research task turns out wrapped in a ribbon the first time you work on it. People lurk in the records for years before presenting themselves. But putting those frustrations aside, Footnote’s WWII collection is a great place to find information about people who served in that conflict.
