Person:Martha Peters (6)

Watchers
Martha Peters
b.16 Jan 1918 Brooklyn, New York
d.2 Apr 2007 Seattle, Washington
m. Abt 1908
  1. Frank Peters, Jr.1909 - 1992
  2. Florence Margaret Peters1911 - 1995
  3. Martha Peters1918 - 2007
m. 25 Dec 1941
Facts and Events
Name Martha Peters
Gender Female
Birth? 16 Jan 1918 Brooklyn, New York
Marriage 25 Dec 1941 8042 Eleventh Ave, Brooklyn, New Yorkto Edwin Anker Abrahamsen
Occupation? Salesperson, Claims Adjuster, Clerk, Retired
Death[2] 2 Apr 2007 Seattle, Washington
Burial? Apr 2007 Tahoma National Cemetary
Religion? Lutheran

In 1918, when she was born, her family was living on 14th Street in Brooklyn.

In 1921 her mother left and all three children we sent out of the family. Martha and Florence were taken in by the Brooklyn Children’s Aide Society, S. Kinshorn St. Her brother Frank went to the Muncie Home for Boys in Muncie, N.Y.

During the next four years she boarded with about four different families, but only once along with Florence. The last family she lived with was Mrs. Edna Houghton of 25 Pettit Blvd, Freeport, N.Y.

She went to P.S. 169 and then Dewey Junior High at 4th Avenue and 40th Street in Brooklyn. She went to high school ath Textile High on 28th Street in N.Y.C. for three years.

1935 she and her father were living at 543 39th Street, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY. (From 1940 Census)

In 1936 she went to night school at Bayridge High for typing and office skills and worked at H.L. Green’s “five & dime” store.

ca. 1937 - she kept home for her father, but he was difficult to live with and Martha got a job as a housekeepter and moved out for about two years.

1939 - she moved back in with her father and got a job at the Ford Mica Company doing office work.

1940 She and her father were listed in the 1940 census as living at 543 39th Street, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY. They paid $26 a month in rent. She was 22 and her father was 66. She was seeking work (occupation was salesgirl in a department chain store). Her father’s income was listed as $1,500 a year and Martha’s was $120

1940 She met Edwin and in 1941, they got married.

1942, Edwin joined the army and they moved to Maryland. She stayed in Maryland about a year and a half an then moved back to live with Edwin’s mother in Brooklyn. She stayed there about a year.

1946 she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank in N.Y. in the section that delt with counterfit money and after about a year and a half she left to have Barry in 1948.

1952, Ken was born.

1962 she worked for Doubleday Publishers in Garden City, N.Y.

1965 to 1966 she worked for Montgomery Ward in Hempstead, N.Y.

1969 to 1977 she worked for Blue Cross in Garden City, N.Y.

In March of 1977 she and Edwin retired to Florida

1980 they moved to Seattle briefly, but didn’t like it and returned to Florida

Over the next 15 years or so they moved around in FL every few years.

In 1997 they thought they would try Seattle again, but decided to return to FL in less than a month. They settled in Orlando, near Edwin’s brother Alvin and his wife.

In 1998, Edwin died and Martha moved to Seattle to be near her sons, Barry and Ken. At first she stayed with Ken and Tisha and then she got her own apartment in West Seattle. She lived there about two years and then moved into a retirement home called Council House on Capitol Hill in about 2002.

In March, 2005 she had abdominal surgery for intestinal adhesions, probably as a result of the hysterectomy she had in her 40s (or so). When she came of of the hospital she went into a nursing home for a few months before returning to the Council House.

When the Council House no longer served meals, she moved to Fred Lind Manor (1802 17th Ave) and lived there until she became seriously ill in March, 2007. She was in Swedish Hospital and was treated for heart and lung congestion, a badly-eroded esophagus and eventually pneumonia, until her death.

References
  1.   1940 federal census.
  2. Swedish Hospital