William Edwin and Icel Lee Clark

Icel Lee Weekley married William Edwin Clark while he was performing with a traveling circus. He worked with trained horses and a trained bear. After they married she joined the circus too. She performed various acts including one with a boa constrictor. Two big, strong men would wrap the snake around her body! She also rode horses around the ring bareback.

This is them in those early days. They are the two on the left.

Two of their children were born during the circus years, Ralph and Harold: Harold Thomas Clark was born March 7, 1912 and Ralph Jenner Clark came along on August 3, 1914.

The circus camped at Berkely, CA during the winters. When the elder Icel was expecting Grandma Icel she put her foot down and said she did not would not have any more children in the circus. Ralph had been attacked by a bear and who knows what other craziness had happened!! She stayed on in Berkely which is where Grandma was born on April 14, 1917.

Grandma says her mother delivered her by herself. And that all of her 5 siblings were born at home.

 At some point William quit the circus too and joined his growing family. He took odd jobs to provide for them. When Grandma was about a year old they moved to Portland and stayed with the elder Icel's parents on Sumner Street. They purchased a lot on Webster Street where William and his father-in-law built a house for the young family. While the house was being built and the family was living with Icel's parents, a young Icel contracted scarlet fever. Because of this, her grandparent's home was quarantined and a flag was displayed to warn people. Her family had to pull her peeling skin off.

Grandma Icel said her dad could play any instrument. He is in this photo somewhere. Grandma wasn't sure which one he is but it's a cool picture.

William worked for the City of Portland but on weekends he played in a band that traveled on the Columbia River from Portland to Seattle. (Picture I found online)

When Grandma Icel was 11 they purchased this house at 2837 SE 90th Place:

This "legal" document was drawn up on the back of the photo:

It states:

"I certify that this is the building on the property described in loan application of Wm. E. Clark"

Her dad drew up plans to expand this house.

The kids all helped dig out the basement. They carried the dirt to the pond out back of the house. They poured a concrete floor inside the concrete block frame they built. The 3 older kids put on the roof.

Through the years they added onto the house. The kids' rooms were upstairs. At first the kids all shared a bed but eventually the girls shared one room and the boys shared another. The main floor had a front room, a large kitchen and a bathroom. There was no electricity at first - they used kerosene.

The large yard eventually had every kind of fruit tree you could imagine. Cherry, apple, peach, pear, fig, walnut..... There were grapes and berries, including logan berries, blackberries, blueberries and elderberries. The walnut trees were surrounded by potatoes. There was a large garden. They truly lived off the land. Icel Lee canned everything she could including jelly from her grapes. They sold berries on Division Street in Portland. 

They had a cow named Sadie which provided milk and butter. They had bunnies and they sold the babies. They had bantee chickens that were fighters says Grandma Icel. 

There were WPA workers nearby who bought pies that their neighbor made in her kitchen and the kids peddled for her. They charged 25 cents and the neighbor let them keep a nickel of the profit. I had no idea what WPA was but Grandma said it so matter-of-factly that I thought I should look it up. Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency.

The kids picked berries and worked in the hop fields to earn money.

Grandma says they were given an allowance every week and that they went to see a matinee every Saturday. The theater was on 92nd and they walked there.  One Saturday there was a raffle and the prize was a pony. Grandma won the pony but her brother Harold claimed it. He of course became the kids' pony and they named him King and they all loved him very much. Of course they couldn't afford a saddle so they learned to ride him bareback.

Here is a picture of Harold and Bud by the house:

Her dad, Grandpa Clark, later owned a Model T Ford. Grandma remembers that on a trip to Jensen Beach they were involved in a car accident and that she and Harold were thrown out of the car. The entire family of 8 and Aunt Daisy were all in the car when it happened but only Harold and Grandma were thrown out.

For fun they played games like kick the can, tag, run sheep run, baseball, basketball, checkers, marbles and card games like Old Maid and 500.

They had a pond on their 2 acres which they skated on in the winter. They had ice skates that their dad "rescued" from the incinerator where he worked.

Their mother, Icel Lee, saw to it that they all got along, although Bud and Harold would tend to fight. Harold could really tell some whoppers and get himself into trouble. Their mother would chase them with the broom or snap them with her dish towel. Grandma says Ralph resembled the actor John Garfield and his dad would pretend to be his manager. I think Harold may have inherited his story telling from his dad.

Their mother would make new clothes and hair for the girls' dolls every Christmas.

Young Icel, babysat for a neighbor who was a beauty operator and had 3 kids. She would pay her by giving her Nestle brand hair rinse for her red hair.

This looks like Icel Lee with a grandchild perhaps but the back doesn't say. Actually I peeled this off the black page of an old album which had no writing in it....