Well finding my parents and all four grandparents was pretty easy, my mom and all four grandparents were in the same houses as in the 1930 census and will be in the same houses in the 1950 census. My dad did not stay in the same house he was listed in the 1930 census, in fact he actually was living in a lumber camp in 1930, but was listed with his parents in Spirit Valley Election Precinct. My dad was always interested in what I found on his family and was able to see himself listed in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census.
For 1940 I was pretty sure he had moved to Spokane, but not sure where. He talked about staying at a boarding house run by Mrs. Cook before he got married, so I looked for a Mrs. Cook in the city directory. While there was a whole page of Cooks only one lived in Hillyard at E. 2921 Queen Avenue, so with a little help from Steve Morse I found the Enumeration District and block number 142. There was 35 blocks in this Enumeration District and number 142 was near the end so I skipped through the images to close to the end and surprise it was one of the first blocks, so skipping back through the blocks I found out that the enumerator had started at the last block and worked to the first block, but the last person on page one of block 142 was Kate L. Cook a widow age 64 from Wisconsin. See below:
On the next page on line six was my dad Claude D. Hansen and his younger brother Leigh E. Hansen. My dad was working as a mechanic at Madren Brothers Studebaker dealership on Market and Everett in Hillyard. Leigh was working at a lumber yard south of Hillyard as a truck driver. Both my dad and Leigh always said that Mrs. Cook was a wonderful cook and they bought a meal ticket each week so they would not miss out on the meals.My dad was listed at the same address in 1935, by Uncle Leigh was listed as living on the farm with his parents (my grandparents) in the Spirit Valley Election Precinct in 1935.
I have driven by the house at E. 2921 Queen often over the years and never knew it was Mrs. Cooks boarding house. Madren Brothers closed years ago, and today the building is a beauty school teaching students on how to become a beautician. I find that hard to believe as there was so much grease and oil on the floors of the repair shop where my dad worked that it seems hard to believe it is a school today.
Another surprise in the 1940 census was on the page where the description of the Enumeration District for my grandparents at Spirit Valley Election Precinct, was TWO CCC camps, Camp F-159 had No Pop(ulation) while Camp S-263 had a Pop(ulation) of 2, but the men working in the camps were supposed to be listed with their parents not at the CCC Camp, only permanent residents of the CCC Camp were to be enumerated at the camp.
I was able to find many relatives because they were either living in the same place they were in 1930 or in the 1942 WW 2 draft registration. I had not thought to look in directories but that's a great idea.
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