Our father’s family came from Massachusetts, and our mother’s roots traced back to Alabama. They met in California and we all believed they were the first from either side to venture this far west—aside from our mother’s uncle, who settled in California after serving in the Navy during World War II.
That belief began to unravel when I started exploring our family tree. To my amazement, I discovered that the paths I had forged in my own life often crossed—and even followed—the very trails once taken by these close relatives.
The Crenshaws – Our mom’s mother was a Crenshaw. This Crenshaw line traces back to a 1666 arrival from England to Virginia. Subsequent generations migrated to South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Our branch comes from Shelby County, AL, but I recently discovered a 2nd great-granduncle (2GGU) who had six children following the Civil War that settled about 100 miles away in Tallapoosa County, AL.
1899 – Two Brothers Head West
At just 23 years old, our first cousin three times removed (1C3xR), James J. Crenshaw, left Tallapoosa, Alabama with his wife and their one-year-old daughter in search of better farming prospects. They settled in Holland, a small farming town in Bell County, Texas. Accompanying them was James’ older brother, Wiley Davis Crenshaw, who was 33 and still unmarried at the time.
1903–1920 – Wiley Marries and Keeps Moving
Wiley Davis eventually married Alabama “Bama” Brown a Texas native, and together they began a journey across Texas and states west. Over the next 16 years, they lived in the Texas counties of Milam, Williamson, and Irion, welcoming three children along the way: Wiley Nixon, Robert Rankin, and Emma Faye. In 1910, they took another leap west, settling in Maricopa County, Arizona, where they had their fourth and final child, Thelma Virginia. Then between 1910 and 1920 Wiley would work as a farmer and rancher moving to lands in San Diego and Merced County, California.
1920 – Roots in Santa Cruz County, California
Amazingly, in 1920, Wiley and his family moved one last time—this time to Santa Cruz County, California, and settled in Watsonville. Unbeknownst to them, this would be the same county a future cousin (me) would call home 80 years later. Watsonville, for those unfamiliar, lies in one of California’s most fertile agricultural regions—a perfect locale for a family rooted in farming.
1931 – The Passing of Wiley Davis
Eleven years after putting down roots in Watsonville and dedicating himself to working the land, Wiley Davis passed away at the age of 63. According to his obituary, he was remembered as a “prominent” member of the community—a testament to the life he built and the impact he made in his adopted home.
The Crenshaw Children
The four children of Wiley Davis and Bama Crenshaw are our second cousins, twice removed (2C2xR).
The eldest of their children, Wiley Nixon Crenshaw , married Sylvia May Cunningham—a native of Salinas—in 1925. Together, they had one daughter, Ruth Virginia. Wiley went on to manage the Central Coast’s well-known Pep Creamery, a position he held for many years. He outlived all of his siblings and lived a long life, passing away in Watsonville in 1997 at the age of 92.
Amazingly, that means my mother—his first cousin once removed (1C1xR)—and I lived less than an hour’s drive from him for 35 years, completely unaware of the family connection!
In 2001, I moved fro the Santa Clara Valley to Santa Cruz and lived there until 2014. That means for 13 years, I lived just a short drive away from my 3rd cousin, and Wiley’s daughter, Ruth for 13 years!
Robert Rankin Crenshaw became a fruit buyer in his early twenties—a fitting career for the son of a farming family. In 1930, he was single and renting a room at 121 Washington Street in Sunnyvale, California, just a few blocks from the Libby’s Cannery.
Incredibly, I would grow up in Sunnyvale 35 years later! In fact, we lived less than a mile away, and to this day, the smell of stewing tomatoes brings back vivid memories of my early childhood.
In 1931, Robert married Lois Galetsa Card, a native of Berkeley. The couple settled at 221 Loreto Street in Mountain View—just three blocks from where I would later live on Mercy Street for a time when I was two years old in 1964.
Robert and Lois had one daughter, Barbara Jean, and over the next 30 years, they moved between various locations in Santa Clara and Alameda counties.
Robert passed away in March 1965, having spent his final years on 756 Citron Street in Sunnyvale. I was born in October 1962, so our lives overlapped by more than a year—and during that time, we lived only three miles apart!
The two youngest children of Wiley Davis and Bama were Emma Faye and Thelma Virginia Crenshaw – The Crenshaw sisters were close in age, just about two years apart, and both attended Watsonville High School, graduating by 1930. Tragically, Thelma passed away from tuberculosis in 1932 at just 22 years old, only ten months after the death of her father.
Emma Faye first married Robert Stanley Ramer in 1930, and they had one daughter, Sylvia Faye Ramer. She later married Homer Earl Casey, and together they adopted a son, Leslie Earl Kiefer. Emma passed away in 1971 at the age of 62 in Monterey County—just an hour from where I was living as a nine-year-old!
I lived in Santa Cruz for many years, unaware that I had relatives who had lived, worked, and built their lives along the same beautiful stretch of California’s central coast. They were laid to rest just a short drive away in Pioneer Cemetery. Had I known, I surely would have visited their graves before I moved away and taken time to reflect on the heritage we share.
The McDonalds
Our mother’s father was a McDonald, and this branch of the family was also rooted in Shelby County, Alabama. As I mentioned earlier, we once believed that our mother’s uncle was the only relative to venture west. But as my research unfolded, a different story began to emerge.
I was surprised to discover that George Rowland McDonald, our great-granduncle, had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area all the way back in 1907 at the age of 23. He worked as both a lineman and bookkeeper for the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Sierra Power. I can only assume he left Alabama to seize the many opportunities created by the massive rebuilding efforts following the 1906 earthquake.
George married Amy Bell Allen, a California native, in 1917, but they never had children. The biggest revelation? George once lived in several areas where I would later patrol as a deputy sheriff in Santa Clara County. It’s a surreal thought—I must have driven past homes he lived in hundreds of times, never realizing a family connection had lived there.
- 1947: 696 N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, CA
- 1954: 19311 Bear Creek Road, Santa Clara County, CA
- 1959: 16509 Oleander Avenue, Santa Clara County, CA
George passed away in 1959, just two years before his grandniece (our mother) would move to the Bay Area and three years before I would be born.
In the end, these discoveries remind me that the journeys we take are rarely ours alone. Long before I ever set foot in California or cruised the streets of Santa Clara County as a deputy, relatives I never knew were already paving their own paths across the same landscapes. Their stories, once scattered across states and centuries, now form a tapestry that connects our present lives to the migrations, hopes, and quiet courage of those who came before us. By tracing their footsteps, I have come to realize that we often walk much closer to our ancestors than we ever imagined.
Shervington.net 
Very interesting. Of course, as you and I have discovered, it can also reveal some family secrets. I just wish we could find more information about the discovery that connects us. Thank you for your inclusion of me in your research.
Ann Bailey
LikeLike