1930 CENSUS OF MERCHANT SEAMEN

The 1930 Census began on 1 April 1930, except in Alaska where it began on 1 October 1929 because of harsh weather conditions expected in April. For the first time in 1930 the U.S. Census Bureau enumerated merchant seamen serving on U.S. flag merchant vessels on a special Merchant Seamen schedule. Seamen who were to be enumerated on this special schedule were all persons aboard ship, except officers who had regular or fixed places of abode ashore. Information for these officers with fixed places of abode was to be obtained at their homes. Seamen and other persons claiming to be married or those who gave the names of their next of kin on the crew lists were to be included in the enumeration of the vessels on which they were employed or had secured employment on 1 April 1930, even though they may have maintained fixed places of abode on shore in the intervals between employment on different vessels.
more in Ancestry.com - Ancestry Daily News, 14 December 20051930 Federal Population Census: Catalog of National Archives Microfilm, National Archives Trust Fund Board (Washington, DC, 2002).

Source Information: Ancestry.com. "1930 Census of Merchant Seamen" [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005.
Original data: National Archives and Records Administration. "1930 Census of Merchant Seamen." M1932, RG 029, 3 rolls.
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

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