Success with the 1940 Census

Okay, so at first I wasn't too happy about the 1940 Census. It wasn't really available on ancestry.com because they're downloading it now instead of it being available right away since they only got the records at midnight, which is totally understandable. I just want it to see now that next to Puerto Rico it says "in progress". But the NARA website does have the records up but since there are so many people searching the website lags and can be very slow at times.

I decided to look up my family that lived in La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico during the 1930 Census. My great grandparents moved there from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico and are actually buried next to the La Perla in the cemetery near El Morro (more on that later since I finally got to find them!). After about searching through some 30 odds records I found my great grandparents living with 5 of their children, including my grandfather. This is the first census he appears on at the age of 3 (and actually my only grandparent on the 1940 Census!).

Here is the snapshot of them living in La Perla also written as "Mercado":

My great grandparents in the 1940 Census

I would say wait it out a bit and try at odd hours of the day to see if you can find your ancestors on the 1940 Census. A lot of people are trying to find people so there is a lot of hype and clogging up the website. But never fear; search and you'll be able to find them. I'm so happy I was able to find someone in my family already and hopefully I'll be able to find some more people soon!!