Real estate agents will tell you it's all about location, location, location! And that was absolutely true for me growing up in Gardena, California. Our house was just a few blocks from my paternal grandparents, living in the same tract, and we were just a few minutes' drive from my maternal grandparents whose address was technically in the city next door, Hawthorne.
Week 44: Voting
In elementary school, I met my best friend, Crystal. The school was in close proximity to my house, as was Crystal's home. We spent lots of time at one another's houses playing and getting to know each other's families. But what I didn't know was just how serendipitous our locality was until many years later, and neither did Crystal!
When it came time for her to purchase her own home as an adult, she bought nearby to her parents' house, just a few blocks away. What she wasn't aware of at the time, was that my paternal grandparents had lived in the house practically across the street! The reason why this never came to light was because we had hung out at each other's houses, but never at our grandparents' houses. Plus, my paternal grandmother had passed away before I was born and my grandfather when I was a toddler, so Crystal never knew them or the fact that all of the photos of me as an adolescent were snapped at the giant palm tree that she could now see looming not far from her front yard!
Kira Foltz on Cerise Ave., Gardena, California, ca. 1987.
Kira Foltz on Cerise Ave., Gardena, California, ca. 1987.
And the coincidences don't stop there. During my ancestral research of my grandparents, I looked back on California's voting registration records. They illuminate the fact that my paternal grandparents' mailing address is only a few digits difference from Crystal's -- plus, it would seem my grandparents had differing opinions on political parties.
Alta and Harry Foltz, Cerise Ave., Gardena, CA, voter registration.
But the 1960 Los Angeles County roll was even more fun to examine. I quickly spotted my grandmother, Edna (Dean) Millhouse, living at 14903 on Yukon Avenue in Hawthorne. She was listed as a registered Republican, and what I find interesting is my grandfather doesn't appear to be a registered voter alongside her at this moment in time.
State of California, Great Register of Voters, Sacramento, California; California State Library, Sacramento, California, Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, roll 138; Ancestry.com, California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968, online database, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com : accessed 13 Nov 2021) Provo, Utah; Hawthorne, California, voter registration for Mrs. Edna Millhouse and Mr. and Mrs. Sherman and Irene Canty, 1960.
But what jumped out at me even more were the entries just to the left of Edna's row! The name Canty leaped off the page. This was my friend Crystal's surname. And I had discovered her grandparents registered on the page right next to mine. It turned out their address was only 1 digit difference from my grandparents' address -- 14902. They were literally living 3 streets directly to the west behind my grandparents! What are the odds.
Without the voting records, I'd likely never stumble upon all of these locality coincidences. It's amazing how small our world really is.
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