The address of the 1950 residence of the Presley family, was (Building # entrance) 185 Winchester Ave, Apartment # 328, Memphis Tennessee.
Google maps is not the most cooperative for seeing the exact building entrance #185 because the overall building is at the corner of B.B. King Blvd, and the on-ramp for Interstate 40, and the entrance #185 is somewhere either facing the on-ramp or the parking lot. The historical sign is closest to building entrance #282.
The census was taken on or about April 11, 1950.
Sorry for the image being hard to read if you can't zoom in. Those are the limitations of Blogger.
Pressley, Vernon E., Head of household. White, male, married, age 34; Birthplace: Mississippi (code 064). In the week previous to the census, Vernon had worked 44 hours. Industry: Paint Factory. It appears that the name of the private company was Labels and Packs Paint.
(The
code numbers for columns are: C-1 -- 690 operative workers, C-2 -- 468
paint and related products, C-3 --1 private company. No doubt useful
information to the government in helping them understand the social and
economic things of society.)
Pressley, Gladys. Wife, female, married, age 33; This in of itself is noteworthy because in previous records, she is actually not younger than Vernon, but several years older than him. It would be interesting to know who answered the Census questions. She also appeared to have worked with Vernon maybe (unless it was simply a census taker error), because it was crossed out and an H was written (for homemaker).
Sometimes are those little white lies told to cover up inconvenient truths...? ?
One thing that I discovered over the process of time in doing genealogy is that human nature is human nature, and so information needs to be checked at least twice (more than one source) to make sure it's right. People said little white lies or big whoppers for the same reasons that people do today. Repution, covering up other little white lies, wanting to be older or younger in order to marry, go into the military, or get a job, etc.. Marital status -- saying single or widowed to cover up a divorce. Lies told to cover up nationality-background due to political winds, immigration status, etc.. Sometimes it was possibly memory lapses, wrong information in the first place, or the census taker was not the best listener or record-keeper.
Sometimes people would change their name or use a middle name, because they felt like it. The careful observer in genealogy will see this happen. This is another reason why it is good to find several records about a person. Spelling was not standardized in the past. Names of locations did and can change because boundaries or alliances change.
So,
because of all these things, take information with a small grain of
salt until you are more sure that the information you have is right.
Sometimes you just can't be 100% sure because the record was not
preserved or it hasn't surfaced yet. If you do your due diligence
though, you can do a pretty good job at having the right information.
It is unfortunate that some people are lazy or unskilled and just copy
other peoples' work with no or very little thought. Errors get
propagated. After time, there are so many errors out there, it is hard
to reverse the situation with the truth. I am using other people's work
on the Presley family tree, but I am checking my work as I fill in with
records.
Okay, off the genealogy soap box, and back to the census now.
Pressley, Elvis. Listed as a Son, white, male, never married, age 15, born in Mississippi, and Other occupation (likely student). Elvis did not have other work listed.
Pressley, Minnie. She was listed as the Mother of the Head of the household. That means, Vernon's mother. "6" in Code box A was to indicate this relationship to the Head of household. White, female, age 55, and widowed, born in Mississippi. The truth is, she was not widowed. She had been married to Vernon's father Jessie. They split up. Jessie didn't die until 1973. Her decision to say widowed was not that terribly uncommon back then, although I have seen others tell the truth on the census. I don't know if she put widowed due to public reputation concerns or something with government or retirement benefits. Her work status was listed as OT (other).
I am glad though that Vernon and Gladys took Minnie into their home. Better than being older and alone.
