I actually have many people in my database that eventually ended up in Washington. Unfortunately, most of those are very distant cousins that I haven’t done a lot of research on. I do however have a fairly close family who lived in Spokane, Washington for a brief period of time.
My half second great-grandaunt, Margaret Murnane, married William E King 16 February 1898 in Chicago, Illinois. They were certainly in Spokane by June 1900, when they were enumerated in the census. They had a child in Spokane a few months later in October. Another child was born in 1902 and it appears that shortly after that birth, the family returned to Chicago.
At this point, I have no idea why the went to Washington or what prompted them to return. Still have lots of work to do on this family.
Genealogy By the States is a theme created by Jim Sanders over at the Hidden Genealogy Nuggets blog.
Spokane was growing very fast from the mid 1890s to 1910, lots and lots of jobs and the town was starting to settle down from the ruff and tumble mining town of the 1890s. It had two transcontinental railroads by 1892 and a third would come in 1909.
Thanks for the information, Charles. I really know nothing about the area so this gives me an idea of what was happening at the time and why they might have moved there.