The Clavey River is named for the family of William Clavey, an Englishman who was a successful farmer and rancher in Stanislaus County in 1867, when he and Robert Lovell came to Tuolumne County seeking high country summer pastureland for their livestock.
On June 20, 1867, Clavey and Lovell purchased 320 acres of land from Jonas Rush and John Wooters for $1,150 at what is today known as “Hull’s Meadows” (Tuolumne County 15/37 Deeds, recorded June 20, 1867). Robert Lovell apparently played no further active role in the local scene, but William Clavey’s name continued for some years to appear upon the local Tuolumne County tax rolls. In 1867 (page 12) he was assessed $800.00 for a claim to a ranch of 640 acres. The 1869 tax roll (page 154) assessed the land to “Lord and Clavey” (Joseph Lord) and is for 480 acres. The 1871 tax roll (page 121) again describes the land as being 640 acres with improvements located at “Hulse Meadows.” On the 1874-75 tax roll (page 52) William Clavey is assessed for a one-half interest in 640 acres described as “Lord and Clavey’s Range.”
Clavey continued to be a highly successful rancher and grain raiser in Stanislaus County, where he became a naturalized citizen on October 10, 1876 (A/57 County Court Minutes, Stanislaus County). On April 26, 1871, he married Jane Ann Loney, the 16-year-old daughter of James Loney off Turner’s Flat, Tuolumne County (2/15 Marriage Records). A son, William Robert Clavey, was born at Oakdale, Stanislaus County, in 1873, and a second child, sex unknown, was born shortly after William Clavey’s death near Oakdale on June 29, 1885. Aged 41?
In addition to his acreage in the mountains, William R. Clavey acquired extensive property in the foothills in the area north of Lake Don Pedro. He never married and died on December 5, 1946, in a Sonora hospital (9/87 Death Records). All of his estate passed to a cousin, Belle Loney Schwoerer and her husband, Elgin (A-1079, Probate Records). This was the family for whom the Clavey River was named. Whether it was in memory of one particular member (Jane Ann, her husband William, or son, William R.) is unknown.
The name “Clavey River” apparently did not come into common use until around the turn of this century. On the first “official map” of Tuolumne County, drawn by County Surveyor A. B. Beauvais in 1882, the stream is designated as “Big Canyon Creek.” This may have caused a little confusion because a half—dozen miles to the west was a steep ravine named “Big Canyon,” or “Big Canon,” whose waters joined the North Fork of the Tuolumne River in Section 21, TiN, R16E,
M.D.B.M. The latter creek was well known then because of extensive quartz and placer gold mining activity carried on in its area.
 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment