52 Ancestors: Random Fact

This weeks’ blog prompt is Random Fact.  While I have so many random facts, I had to stop overthinking it and pick just one. 

My parents were born 16 months apart in Fresno, California.  But the random fact is that they were born in the same hospital, Burnett Sanitarium.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ -- Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “CaliforniaHistorical Society”. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California

Burnett Sanitarium was established in 1897 and by 1905, a three story building at the corner of Fresno and S Street was opened.  In 1916, the Burnett Annex was built and by 1945, Burnett Sanitarium was sold to a nonprofit corporation named Fresno Community Hospital.  But during that time, many children were born including my parents, Gordon Levy and Geraldine Martin.

Gordon Levy was born on 11 February, 1927 at 9:04 a.m.  And from his baby book which I shared HERE, I know that he was 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 20” long.  Note that the Registrar was H. Hurlbert.



The family lived at 1212 N. Van Ness in Fresno.  From Google Maps, the house now looks like this.



This is one of the earliest photos I’ve found of my dad – cutie patootie.  Could this have been outside the house on Van Ness?

Gordon Levy, 1927

Geraldine Martin was born on 8 June, 1928 at 6:25 p.m.  While I don’t know how much she weighed or how long she was, I remember her telling me that she and Dad were both about 8 1/2 pounds, which she said contributed to my birth weight of 8 pounds, 5 ounces.  An interesting tidbit she told me – since her mother’s maiden name was Fitzgerald, her name was to be Geraldine if a girl, Fitzgerald if a boy.  We laughed that while she didn’t like the name Geraldine, we thought she got the better end of the deal.

Check out the registrar – H. Hurlbert!  Okay, so Fresno was probably a small town in the late 1920’s and H. Hurlbert may be been the only registrar but still interesting to see that he/she signed both birth certificates.  I’ve done a little research and haven’t found mention of him/her anywhere.

The family lived at 1023 Thorne.  Mom always told me that her grandparents lived at that address.  In fact, her grandfather, Edward Fitzgerald died in that home in 1968.  Here’s what it looks like today, courtesy of Google Maps.  I actually have a faint memory of visiting my great grandparents at their home which looked like this.

Could this be the same house the family posed in front of in about 1930?

Top – Francis Maria (Brooks) Martin (Gerry’s grandmother)

Bottom – Clara (Fitzgerald) Martin, Gerry Martin, Earle Martin

Geraldine Martin, 1928

Sure it’s not that abnormal to have parents born in the same hospital or have the same Registrar sign their birth certificates, but it makes for a pretty random fact.