It would be helpful to have James' birthplace and date, and the family members in 1950 that he might be in. There are name indexes online for the 1950 census, and the one at FamilySearch has a James McGarvey but in Bayonne, NJ on the 1950 census. If you have an address in 1950, that could be used to find the right Enumeration District and see if he is missing or mistranscribed.
