CRYSTAL ANDREAS & "Marmalade" from San Bernadino, California

I (Laurie) was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1956. Our family moved thirty miles east to the Charter Oak area of the town of Covina when I was eighteen months old. I stayed in the family home until I joined the Navy after my high school years.



San Bernadino County outlined;
Upland is in the southwest corner

I have been particularly interested in Crystal since she lived only fifteen miles east of my childhood home. I wonder if her beautiful rock home is still standing? I have very little family left in Southern California now, but someday I would like to return and find Crystal's home if it is still there. I'll let you know if I do.


As you can see from the map, San Bernadino County is very large and is in fact the largest county in the lower 48 states. The county is comprised of the San Bernadino Valley and Mountains, and the Mojave Desert and Death Valley, and has a population of over two million people.



Upland in 1906, the year
it was incorporated

I am afraid that I don't know Crystal's real last name. The Farmer's Wife lists it as "Andreas," but her death certificate leaves out the "a." I have also seen "Andrews" and even perhaps "Anderson," so it is quite possible that I have missed something in her life story by not having the correct name.

Crystal's father, Godfrey, was born in New Mexico, and her mother Caroline (Carrie) was born in New York. Now how Crystal could have been born in Indiana, (and the family ending up in California) I can't possibly imagine, but apparently it is so. Her birth date was January 8, 1905. 

Crystal and "Marmalade"



The first census records that I can locate for the family are in 1920. At that time, Crystal is 15 and she is living in Upland, San Bernadino County, California. This is the same place that she won "Marmalade," so the family must have been there for quite some time. Crystal also has a younger brother, (August) John, born in 1908.

In the 1930 census, the parents are alone, and it is unknown where Crystal and John are living.

I do not know how Crystal spent the years in between, but I do know that she died in Los Angeles (about 45 miles west of Upland) in 1977 at the age of 72. Since her last name was still Andreas (actually listed as Andres), I can assume that she never married.

I permanently moved away from the L.A. area in 1978. Perhaps Crystal and I crossed paths once or twice? I'll never know...