Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website Message Boards

I have had some limited success in locating 1940 census data on family and friends of Audie Murphy. In the "Researchers Only / Library / 1940's" section of the message board, I have postings for April 1940 that describe the households of ...

Jefferson and Sarah Killian (Farmersville)

Polan And Corrine Burns (Farmersville)

Audie Evans (Farmersville)

John and Willie "Ma" Cawthon (Celeste)

I want to locate the household of Emmett and Josie Murphy which will probably be in the city of Greenville, since Josie isn't listed with the Burns residence in Farmersville. In other words, since Josie and her children are not listed with Corrine, Emmett hasn't yet abandoned the family and should therefore be still in Greenville.

One of the reasons for doing this is that the age of each child is given at the time the census worker records the information. If Emmett and Josie participated, then it seems pretty reasonable that Audie's correct age would be given by the parents. In the absence of a family bible, I think this would be the final proof needed to dispel the birthdate issue.

My problem is that I have to go through each and every single page of the Census for Greenville which is posted on the National Archives Website. There are about 340 to 350 census pages that have to be reviewed line by line.

It isn't difficult to review individual sets of pages (anywhere from 30 to 66 pages each). You basically scan the Name Column. In this case you would be searching for the name "Murphy" and checking for the familiar names of Emmett (or Pat) and Josie. The children living with them will be listed too. When you find the correct page, there is a "download" button at the top that allows you to save the individual page you are on. This image can then be posted to the message board where I can package it for the library.

Would anyone like to give me a hand? If you are willing, please post a message here and state which of the following sets you will sponsor. A link that takes you straight to that set is given for each set too.

Remember, you will need to review each line of the Census data, each page. When you click on a link below, it will take you to the photographed pages. WAIT until you see the pages. There is a list page that shows up first, but the photograph pages will open a few seconds later.

Set #1, (30 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... t=Bookmark COMPLETED
Set #2, (50 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX COMPLETED
Set #3, (62 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX COMPLETED
Set #4, (66 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX JACKPOT ... page 13 of set
Set #5, (48 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX COMPLETED
Set #6, (66 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX COMPLETED
Set #7, (58 pages): http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... e&state=TX COMPLETED

Listing of all 7 Sets: http://1940census.archives.gov/search/? ... &year=1940

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Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

I am taking on the first set. I will post my start and finish time too to give you an idea of how long it takes me to do the pages of this particular set.

Start time: 12:10 PM
End time: 12: 25 PM
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Total time to review 30 pages: 15 minutes, using a wireless Internet connection.

Unfortunately, no Murphys were found in Set 1:

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

It took approximately 23 minutes to do the 50 pages of Set 2.

I did spot some Murphy's ... no relationship as far as I can determine. Some pages are intentionally left blank too, which makes it easier to review the sets. Interestingly, hotels, boarding homes, "tourist camps" are also being canvassed.

Moving on to the next set ...

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Nothing found in the 3rd set. Moving on to the 4th set ...

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

GOOD NEWS ... well, sort of.

I located Emmett and Josie Murphy in the Census. They are on page 13 of ED 116-4. The date of the visit and record is April 8, 1940. The address of the Murphy household is 3202-1/2 Washington Street; Greenville, Texas.

The disappointing news is that Audie isn't a member of the household. Those living with Emmett and Josie are ... Josie, Richard, Eugene, Veda, Billie, and Joe. Nadine is also missing.

Anybody have any thoughts on who Audie was living with at the time? He is bound to be in this census and we should be really close to locating him.

The Search Continues I think I need to look for Audie's name by itself or as a lodger to Jake Bowen with a son named William (the radio repair shop owner). Can anyone think of anything else that could yield results?

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

No Audie Murphy in this set. No Jacob or Jake Bowden either. Moving on to set 7

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Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

No Audie Murphy or Jake or Jacob Bowden in Set 7. Going to set 5.

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Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Richard-I missed out on this last night, but got a chance to look at Simpson's book this morning. It says that Audie Murphy spent most of 1940 working on a farm one mile north of Floyd, for Mr. Haney Lee. He then moved to Greenville in the fall (possibly coinciding with his father leaving his family for good in November 1940) and worked in a grocery store/gas station belonging to Snow Warren (Lee's brother in law), before working for Jake Bowen.

Assuming the Census reached Floyd at about the same time that it reached Greenville, he would most likely have been a member of the Lees' household in or near Floyd at the time, I think.

Edit: Floyd seems to be included in Census Record ED 116-20, but I didn't see the Haney Lee family in there.

Going over family tree I noticed that Richard was born February 16, 1926. It is unlikely that Audie and Richard were born 8 months apart. Hope you find Audie in Census.

I went ahead and checked the last image set and found nothing there of interest ... I am convinced that the Greenville census workers either missed Audie or as you point out he wasn't living in Greenville at all.
. I was going to check it this morning but you save me the trouble. Audie will likely never be on a census record as a child ... unless we can think of another lead. I wonder if the 1930 census record can be somehow found? Hmmmmm... Thanks Christie.

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Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

I hope so too, Jackie. It's a tough nut to crack, this one. But it's a lot of fun to dig stuff up that no one has ever seen before. Keeps me out of trouble

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website

Maybe that gives credit to the 1924 birth day of Audie. Makes one wonder, now.

That is also the reason I have always believed that Audie was born in 1924 since Richard was born in early 1926. Also I remember reading something where Corrine stated she was 14 years old when Audie was born and she was born in 1910 so 1910 plus 14 is 1924. I think some people have put too much credence in the driver's license that was found near Audie's body but we all know many people do not tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth on one's driver's license.

Sharon

Christie, good news and bad news. First the good news: I may have located the Haney Lee census record. The one I spotted is in ED 116-17, the third page (page 2A) in the series.

I looked in Simpson at the reference to the Haney Lee's farm, I think on page 18, and it stated it was about a mile north of Floyd. So based on the census map, I thought it might be in the set ED 116-17. When I reviewed it, the top 4 lines of the page are the ones of interest. The top line shows the name written as "Haney Lee" with wife Vergie and sons Harold (15) and Bobby (7). The listing is easy to miss because "Lee" should have been written followed by the first name "Haney". I guess the census worker thought Haney was the last name and assumed Lee was the first... an understandable assumption.

Anyway, I couldn't cross-reference in Simpson any of the first names of the rest of the family. Maybe you can. I am convinced this record is the correct one.

The bad news? No listing for Audie. I am uploading this record to the 1940's Library folder. Let me know if you can confirm or disagree that the record is the correct one for Haney Lee.

_________________
Richard L. Rodgers
Webmaster
Audie Murphy Memorial Website