6/9/2011
By David A. Fryxell
When was the 1945 Florida census taken?
Q. I've found other family members but not my grandmother and great-grandmother in the 1945 Florida census, leading me to think they may have been visiting family in another state at the time. My question: When was the 1945 Florida census taken?
A. We checked with the Florida State Archives, which holds the 1945 census schedules, and it turns out this question has come up before -- with no clear answer. There are no dates on the census returns, and archivists have been unable to find an official date elsewhere. The archivists' best guess, based on their research, is the census was taken before the summer of 1945.
To narrow that date range, we tried cross-referencing names from the Social Security Death Index with names from the 1945 state census. Individuals who died in April and May 1945 don't seem to appear in the state census, whereas those who died in July are listed. Results for June deaths are mixed, though mostly negative, leading us to suspect the census was taken in June 1945.