Pop Quiz, Part 3: 1950 US Census Vocabulary

This is the answer sheet for the vocabulary terms in Part 2 of my quiz series. 

5. Naturalized? AP

In answering the question about naturalization, enumerators would write "American Parents" when an individual was born to US citizens in another country or at sea. For more, see the full Urban & Rural Enumerator's Reference Manual on Google books here.

6. Sample Person - How would a person be designated as a sample?

On every page of the population schedule, enumerators were instructed to ask additional "sample" questions of people who they listed on certain line numbers. The line numbers varied by page, to add a measure of randomness. So on one page, a separate sample person would be designated on each of lines 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, and 26. On the next page, the sample person would be designated on each of lines 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, and 27. For more, see the middle of the page on Steve Morse's 1950 discussion here.

7. T-Night - What does the T stand for?

T is for transient. Two nights (April 11 and April 13, 1950) were designated for enumerators to visit hotels, hostels, flop houses, and other places where people lived temporarily. For more, see the History Hub blog post here.

8. $10,000+ - When would this be shown?

If an individual answering the sample question about income earned more than $10,000 in the year 1949, the enumerator would record it as $10,000+ rather than entering a specific higher amount. For more, see here for the History Hub discussion of sample questions and enumerators' instructions for recording answers.

I hope you enjoyed these pop quiz posts as you prep for the 1950 US Census release on April 1. For Part 1 pop quiz, see here.

PS: Want to download an original Form P1? See this page on the US Census Bureau site.

And read more about getting ready for the 1950 US Census release on my summary page here.

Pop Quiz, Part 2: 1950 US Census Vocabulary

This is Part 2 of the 1950 US Census vocabulary quiz!

First, the answers to questions in Part 1. 

1. Class of worker: P, G, O, NP

P = working for a private employer

G = working for a government agency

O = working in your own business (for pay)

NP = "no pay," as in working without pay on the family farm or in the family business

For more about the 1950 questions, see this page on the iPums site.

2. Enumeration District 

This is defined as the geographic area that one Census enumerator could cover during the Census period. In major metro areas, a single city block filled with apartment buildings might be one entire ED. For more, see Steve Morse's FAQs here.

3. Form P1 

This form is the "Population and Housing Schedule," the main questionnaire completed by enumerators in counting people for the Census. For more, see this History Hub article. 

4. Inmate - Who would be listed this way in the Census?

Not just inmates in correctional facilities, but also individuals in mental institutions, homes for the aged, and other institutional residences. For a lot more detail, see a pdf government report on the 1950 institutional population here.

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Now, it's quiz time again. 

Test yourself: Do you know the answers to these four additional vocabulary questions? 

5. Naturalized? AP - What do those two code letters indicate?

6. Sample Person - How would a person be designated as a sample?

7. T-Night - What does the T stand for?

8. $10,000+ - When would this be shown?

. . . Answers soon!

Was Frank Jacobs Enumerated on T-Night in the 1950 US Census?

Continuing my quest for addresses so I can browse for ancestors when the unindexed 1950 U.S. Census is released next year, I've been researching the whereabouts of my 1c2r cousin, Frank M. Jacobs (1896-1974). 

Serving overseas in World War I with the Marines, he was wounded at Soissons and lost a leg. After he recovered, he embarked on a career in advertising. As shown in the 1930 and 1940 Census (and in city directories), Frank lived in Brooklyn, New York with his mother (Eva Michalovsky Jacobs, 1869-1941). She died in July of 1941.

Did Frank leave Brooklyn?

Frank's World War II draft registration card from 1942 shows him living at the Hotel Tudor on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, very convenient for his work at Young & Rubicam on Madison Avenue. At the time, this hotel hosted a mix of transient guests and permanent residents in 598 rooms [source: NY Times, April 6, 1947, p. 120].

Frank also listed his brother Louis as his main contact and showed his brother's address as a mailing address in Brooklyn.

But was Frank staying at the Hotel Tudor for only a limited time? Because Frank died in Brooklyn in 1974, it's possible he returned to Brooklyn after retiring. Next step: Check city/phone directories.

Directory search

Many city and phone directories are available for free via the Internet Archive. I browsed for Frank in the 1949 and 1950 telephone directories for Brooklyn, New York, and found two "Jacobs, Frank" entries in both directories. 

The 1950 directory is dated March, 1950; the 1949 directory is dated September, 1949. Clearly, if one of the Frank Jacobs listed in 1950 is my cousin, the 1950 Brooklyn address would be the most updated one for me to use in finding an Enumeration District for him in the 1950 US Census.

However, Frank was fairly consistent in listing himself as "Frank M. Jacobs" so I can't be sure whether either "Frank Jacobs" in Brooklyn was my cousin. 

Of course, his brother Louis may have listed Frank as being in the Brooklyn household with him on Census Day of 1950...which I'll see as soon as I locate the brother's household in the Census. That would be a bonus!

Transient night at the Hotel Tudor?

Suppose Frank was actually living at the Hotel Tudor in Manhattan during April of 1950. He might have wanted to be close to his office rather than commute back to Brooklyn every evening.

If this is the case, I'll have to browse for Frank in the listing of people registered at the Hotel Tudor on T-Night, April 11, 1950. This was the night set aside for distributing Individual Census Report forms to guests (and residents) at hotels, to be collected by enumerators and then recorded on the Population Schedule. 

The Hotel Tudor's street address was 302-4 East 42nd Street in New York City. Using the wonderful Enumeration District Finder on SteveMorse.org, I've narrowed down the hotel's ED to 31-1266. That's where I'l begin browsing for cousin Frank when the 1950 Census is made public on April 1.

UPDATE April 15, 2022: Frank was NOT listed as being at the Hotel Tudor in the 1950 Census. I'll have to wait for the full indexes by Family Search & Ancestry & MyHeritage to search for him by name.

NOTE: For more information about the 1950 US Census, please see my full topic page here.