Always on the Move

When I began this blog I also began organizing and looking again at some of the different documents I have on my Swedish paternal grandparents. Some of these documents have been in my possession for some time yet I never noticed something before now. My grandparents moved a lot. I made a list using census records, birth records of my aunts and uncles, directories etc. and this is the list I came up with

          1910 - 530 10th ave. Moline, Illinois

          1910 - 1134 14th street Moline, Illinois

          1912 - 641 E. 6th street Davenport, Iowa

          1913 - 1316 4th ave Moline

          1913 - 130 Tremont Ave Davenport

          1914 - 1112 9th ave. Moline

          1915 - 31 1/2 near 2nd ave Moline

          1916 - 3247 Sheffield ave. Chicago

          1917 - 3121 Abbott ct. Chicago

          1920 - 3056 N. Clifton Chicago

          1925 - 1808 George street Chicago

          1930 - 3215 7th ave. Chicago

          1930 - 3215 Oketa ave. Chicago

          1940 - Ela Township, (now Lake Zurich)

          1942 - 2029 Pensacola ave. Chicago

          1960 - 1616 Hollywood Chicago

          1968 - 1618 Hollywood Chicago

Thats 17 documented residences from the time my grandfather arrived in the US in 1906 until his death in 1968. I am aware also there are large blocks of his life as in 10 or 20 years at a time that I have no documentation as to his address. It is never a good idea to assume but surely there are more moves during those blocks of time. My father once said he remembers in the depression moving out during the night because they were unable to pay the rent.That would account for a lot of folks instability during the depression years leading up to WWII. For precisely that reason, the 1940 census asks where people resided in 1935, measuring how tough it was for some and how the depression had adversely affected their living conditions. What however explains Richards early years? Was he a forever dissatisfied person? a rent skipper? itchy feet? didn't get along with neighbors? hiding something? What??? Unfortunately with my grandparents, parents and all my aunts, uncles and their spouses gone I guess I will never find the answer to this mystery. 

There might be some very good or at least interesting reasons for this apparent instability but once again I regret never even thinking of taking the time to just talk to my grandparents. To get to know the where, when, how, what, and whys of their lives. 

-Ranae