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Description
Key Words: Charlie Clevenger, Growing Up in Claremont, Claremont History. [Tape 1] Elsie Clevenger Findlay was born in 1903. At the time of the interview (1991), she had been living in Claremont for 89 years. Her father, Charlie Clevenger, was Claremont’s first police marshal. Elsie grew up in Claremont along with six sisters and one brother. She remembers her mother going to the stable on the corner of Second and Yale to hire a horse and buggy that would take her to Pomona where she could buy groceries from the dry goods store. She recalled having birthday parties, the Fourth of July, and Christmas. She remembers going to Claremont Church every Sunday with her mother. Elsie speaks fondly of her father, Charlie. She recalled that her father had a dog, Spitz, who would follow him around, and that her father preferred to ride around Claremont on a bicycle instead of in a car. Charlie Clevenger could speak Spanish, and he got along very well with the Mexican Americans living in Claremont. Elsie also remembered the workers that came from India and lived near the foothills. She added that her father frequently was called to settle fights between the “Hindus.” She commented, “They had smuggled these women from India there and that was what they were fighting over. Dad said they couldn’t have them there anymore, so he had them all shipped down to Los Angeles for deportation.” She remembers that the president of Pomona College [James Blaisdell] owned much of the land north of Claremont, and he had hired the Indian workers to clear the land so that it could be planted with orange trees. Elsie remembers that her father would hunt for deer in the foothills with his brother. Her father and her sister, Alice, would sometimes pan for gold in the foothills. Her father played the violin very well and would play for the children in their neighborhood. The college boys would hire her father to play the violin as they danced with the college girls in Evey Canyon. After going to church on Sundays, her family would go home and have a big dinner. Sometimes her family would take long walks around the city. Other times they would gather in their home and sing or play music. She remembers her father taking her family to Camp Baldy for a whole summer when she was in fourth grade. [Tape 2] Elsie remembers a water jar made by Native Americans that had been passed down in her family. She and her family still have many photographs of early Claremont.
Type
sound
Format
Master Audio cassette
Form/Genre
Oral histories
Extent
1 Tape of 1
Identifier
caclah_000015
Language
English
Subject
Fathers and children Local history Police
Time Period
1903/
Place
Claremont (Calif.) Mount Baldy (Calif.)
Provenance
Claremont Heritage California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.
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