The theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks in week 4 is Curious. I have not been able to find my great grandmother Catherine White or Katie Siepmann in the 1940 Census. I have been curious why although I suspected it was a transcription error. My family used to drive to Belle Plaine, Iowa to visit Kate Siepmann who lived with her son Fred and daughter Kate. Kate Siepmann passed away in 1950 so I knew she had to live there in 1940. I was too young to meet my great grandmother but I do remember visiting Aunt Cake and Uncle Fred in Belle Plaine.
I asked my family to make sure no one else had already looked for this source but no one had found it. I turned to Family Search as I have found quite a few records for Belle Plaine on their site. I thought the best way might be to look through the 1940 Census for Belle Plaine page by page. Luckily Belle Plaine was not a huge community. According to Wikipedia, the population in 1940 was only 3,202.
Woohoo! I found it. The problem was the transcription. It was transcribed as Stepman rather than Siepmann. Looking at the form I can understand why that happened. I did edit the transcription so other people looking for this record might have an easier time finding it now. I have seen many creative ways to spell Siepmann during my search but have to admit Stepman didn’t cross my mind.
My Tree in the Forest 
I have been looking for my grandmother on 1920’s census in Ontario, Canada. Perhaps trying again using a different spelling might be the answer. Thanks for your story.
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I too have been scouring the census for “missing” ancestors. You remind me to consider alternate spellings outside the usual due to transcription errors. Thanks for sharing.
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