In Colorado

Roy Peterson lived for a short time in Colorado before moving to Washington State.  The information I have is sketchy but I do have one good clue here:

In Tacoma

The 1945 Tacoma City Directory list a Roy F. Peterson with a wife named Bertha that lived at 280 Omak. He was a welder at the Todd Pacific Shipyard.

Todd Pacific was known as the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. until June of 1944 when they changed their name. The Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. (Todd Pacific after June 1944) was a major builder of ships for the U.S. Navy. They built all kinds of ships - but mostly transports and "baby flat-tops".

Why move to Tacoma?  Grandpa was a Welder and Tacoma needed welders...

Berkeley Daily Gazette, 27 Feb 1945

I wonder if grandpa had a hand in building any of the big navy ships used in the second world war?

 Spokane Daily Chronicle, 30 April 1945

Here is an interesting/funny article from the same time period:

Toronto Daily Star, 27 June 1945

The following picture was taken in Tacoma.

In this photo is Bertha Lawson Peterson and four of her and Roy Peterson's kids: 

Velma & Don (holding hands), Charles & Olen Peterson.

Sources:

• e-Mail from Bob Schuler, Special Collections, Tacoma Public Library
• Berkeley Daily Gazette, 27 Feb 1945
• Spokane Daily Chronicle, 30 April 1945
• Toronto Daily Star, 27 June 1945

Robert Peterson's Foster Parents

Martin & Mathelda Peterson adopted Robert Peterson according to census records.  I have not determined if this adoption was official.

Here is a newspaper account regarding Robert's foster parents:

Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, Missouri, Tuesday, February 23, 1897

"A subscriber to the Mail, who resides at Sandstone, this county, writes that, having seen an article relative to the Peterson children, whose parents died recently, he will give one of them a home.  His request is referred to the ladies of the Children’s Home Society."

More than likely this person was Martin R. Peterson (no relation) who took the three year old (Robert Peterson) under his care.

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Other Sources:

1900 Vernon County, Missouri Census

Name	Age	Birth Month/Year	Birth place	Other
Martin Peterson	41	May 1855	Sweden	·Occupation:  Taylor ·Immigration year:  1871 ·Living in United States 32 years (doesn’t match immigration year) ·Naturalized Citizen · Married for 20 years
Matilda Peterson	41	April 1859	Sweden	· Had 6 children but none living. · Married for 20 years
Robert Peterson	4	Sep 1893	Missouri	·Listed as Grandson. ·Note:  age and birth year don’t match

1920 Morgan County, Missouri Census

Name	Age	Birth place	Other
Martin R Peterson	67	Sweden	·Owns his home ·Immigration year 1871 ·Became a Naturalized Citizen in 1876 ·Occupation:  Taylor
Matilda Peterson	64	Sweden	·Immigration year 1871 ·Became a Naturalized Citizen in 1876

1930 Morgan County, Missouri Census

Name	Age	Birth place	Other
Martin Peterson	77	Sweden	·  Widower ·  Rents Home
Robert Peterson	33	Arkansas	·  Divorced ·  Listed as adopted son
Paul Peterson	3	Missouri	·  Listed as Grandson

The following picture is of Martin Peterson (according to my Aunt Leona), date unknown.

Sources:

• 1900, 1920, and 1930 Census, Ancestry.com