William Edwin Clark

William Willie Edwin Clark, Grandma Icel's dad,  was an only child. He went to live with his maternal grandmother in Portland when he was about 2 years old. He had been living in The Dalles with his mother but she became afraid of losing him to his father so she "hid" him. Had that happened in this day and age we would have seen his face plastered all over milk cartons and such.

What a doll he was! He looks a little like the Campbell's Soup kid to me.

When he was a teenager he became the ring leader of a group who called themselves the Albina Gang. Albina is an area in Portland. Compare it to Hillyard in Spokane or Soho in Manhattan. Here is a picture from that general area and  time.

They were not a gang like the characters who spray paint their symbols all over our homes and fences and neighborhoods to let rivals know where their borders lie. They were simply a gang of guys who hung out together. They played music on street corners. They jumped off the bridges of Portland for the seemingly worthy price of $5 per jump. This photo is not him of course but I just wanted to give a feel for the thing. Crazy!

Willie was given a clarinet by a man who was dying and who wanted to bequeath it to some worthy person. Willie proved himself to be that person and devoted much time and energy to teaching himself to play it. Later he acquired a saxophone and soon learned to play it too. (Again this picture is not him)



 As for developing ability to jump off of bridges.... I suppose you just lean over further and further until.....you have jumped.


Some members of his gang were Silas Harris, who later married Grandma's mother's sister Esther; Bill Marchekva who married another sister, Goldie; and Ed Coffin who married a third sister, Marie. Those girls were like a marrying gold mine for the infamous Albina Gang.

Grandma doesn't know at what point her dad joined the traveling circus or where it was camped when her mother met him but apparently he and she ran off together and were married, much to her parents dismay. She says he was a man everybody loved, that he hadn't an enemy in the world but I think maybe her grandparents were not too fond of him.

She can't remember exactly their ages when this elopement transpired but she does remember there was a 10 year gap in their ages. As a mother I would have been devastated...sick with worry......wondering what I had done wrong in my daughter's upbringing. As I have said a time or two already it was a different time.

As mentioned in an earlier post William had a trained bear.


He also trained horses and performed with them. He dressed as a clown and did tricks on their backs as they ran around the ring. I suppose he learned these feats the same way he learned to fall jump off of bridges. Grandma says there was a green velvet album full of pictures from those glory days but she could never locate it after her parents had passed away.

The people I have spoken to who remember him are filled with admiration and love for this man. My own beloved, Ray, shared a birthday with him and has very fond memories of gatherings to celebrate that day.