New York stockbroker and the 1929 Wall Street crash

[sheeponahill]

Hello, I hope I’m posting this in the right place. It’s less of a lookup request, more of a request for advice.

I am researching Elijah Douglas Murphy (1858-1942). He was a wealthy stockbroker who lived on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. I have read (in an Ancestry note) that he lost everything in the 1929 Wall St crash. He ran his own brokerage, but I have no more details than that.

How could I go about investigating this? I am UK-based and not sure what US resources might be interesting.

Many thanks

[shellyesq]

Find him on the census or in city directories and see where he was living. 

The 1930 census (column and 1940 census (columns 4 and 5) indicate the value of home, if owned, or the monthly rental, if rented.

https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1850-1950

In addition to the federal census done on the years ending in zero, NY state has ones from 1915 and 1925.

[shellyesq]

His obituary gives some personal detail.  https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-statesman-obituary-for-elijah/165824734/

Here's the house where he was living when he died - https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Parkview-Ave-Yonkers-NY-10708/33002105_zpid/  So he must have had something.

[shellyesq]

I tried looking if he was on the will index for Westchester County, since that's where he was living at the time of his death.  I didn't see anything though.  https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=Q75M-C66%3A213305501%3Fcc%3D1920234&cc=1920234

I don't know if the online probate indexes for NY City go up far enough to cover 1942.

[sheeponahill]

Thank you Shelley. I might see if there are any company records I can access. If he ran his own brokerage then I assume he will be registered at a director somewhere.