Even when I do find these ancestors in the Census (browsing images in the Enumeration District where each lives), I have to remember that within a month, some city-dwellers could be living elsewhere.
The Tradition of Moving Day
In the Big Apple, May 1 was when all rental leases expired. The same was true in Chicago for many years, and other big cities as well.
Families that lived in apartments spent the weeks before May 1 talking with new landlords who might be willing to negotiate rents or offer another incentive to move. Renters also signed contracts to have moving companies lug furniture to the new place on Moving Day.
Moving Day is unlikely to change where I look for my urban ancestors in the 1950 Census, since they were probably counted in the early days and weeks of enumeration. But it does remind me that the 1950 Census address might be only one in a long line of address changes for each ancestor.
Look for an address after May 1949
My recently married parents (Harold Burk and Daisy Schwartz) were in their second New York City apartment by the time of the 1950 Census. Their parents and other relatives, however, weren't necessarily living in the same apartment in April of 1950 as they were in April of 1949.
Similarly, in the Chicago branch of my family, many were renters. From one Census to another, I noticed that many of these ancestors changed apartments--and very likely they moved more than once in the decade between each Census Day.
So as I research my New York City and Chicago ancestors who were renters, I'm trying to find addresses after May of 1949. I'm looking at birth records of their post-WWII babies, city directories, phone directories, advertisements, news articles, and social items in the newspaper, among other sources.
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This is part of my series of blog posts about getting ready for the 1950 Census release, which will occur on April 1, 2022.
