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.
