Washington County Oral Histories

Elva Rossi oral history recording Part 1

Part one of an audio recording of an oral history of Elva Rossi and her life in Beaverton, Oregon, recorded on October 26, 1982. Rossi tells the story of how her family ended up in Oregon, starting with her grandparents on each side of her family. Her father’s side was originally from Italy and moved to Oregon in about 1870. They had a small farm on which her father had to work, forcing him to quit school after only attending it for four years. Rossi’s mother’s family is scattered throughout states across the country, but she and her parents ended up in the area of Portland, Oregon, in about 1888. Rossi’s parents likely met at school or at a community social event since they both lived in the same area. They married in 1894 and built their big house in 1912. Rossi describes each of her parents, August and Hattie Rossi, and their personalities as well as their little farm in Beaverton that Rossi grew up on. Rossi’s father died in March, 1927, leaving his business to be run by Hattie through the Great Depression. Hattie found other ways to make money also by renting out bedrooms. Rossi’s current house that she is living in was built in 1962 and she’s lived in it since. She finishes with commenting a bit about her two brothers. The voices are clearly audible throughout the recording. There is a full transcript attached with penciled-in corrections.

Rossi, Elva

Beaverton Oral History Project

Washington County (Or.) -- History

Rossi, Elva

Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon

Washington County (Or.)

Beaverton (Or.)

1 sound cassette (1 hr., 1 min.)

English

WCM_OH_252a

In Copyright

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Five Oaks Museum

Tanzer, Shirley

Audiocassettes

Sound