After reading My Grandfather was an Enumerator on the blog ABT UNK, I decided to write something about my grandmother Fannie M. Turner who was an enumerator for the 1910 US Census in Montgomery, Alabama. She was 22 and lived with her mother and younger sisters in Montgomery, although not in the district she enumerated. Her grandmother Eliza Allen lived in the district. It was looking at the entry for Eliza that I first noticed that my grandmother was the enumerator. Recently I found a newspaper article online about the appointed census takers that said in part:
“Montgomery – City – Whites: Albert S. Ashley, E.F. Davis, James C. Westbrook, Leopold Loab, Thomas Robinson, R. Brownlee Centerfit, Charles S. Spann, Louis Lyons, Edgar W. Smith, Mrs. Fannie B. Wilson, Handy H. McLemore, Thomas M. Westcott, Alto Deal, Miss Gene Finch, Frank G. Browder. Negroes–To enumerate negro (sic) population only–Gertrude V. Wilson, Eli W. Buchanan, Fannie M. Turner, David R. Dorsey.”
Fannie M. Turner began work April 15, 1910 and enumerated her Aunt Abbie and her Grandmother Eliza on pg 2. She finished on April 26. Mrs. Fannie B. Wilson (white) completed the enumeration of Montgomery, Ward 4 by counting the white residents on several pages after that. As noted in the newspaper article, Negro enumerators could only count Negros. I wonder how that worked. Did my grandmother go to the door, note that they were white and tell them someone else would return to count them later? Did the neighbors alert her? Since she was already familiar with the neighborhood, did she already know where the white people lived or did all the white residences live in the same area?
My grandmother was a working woman who managed her Uncle Victor’s grocery store from the time she graduated from State Normal School until she married my grandfather in 1919. Wish I knew the stories she must have had to tell about that two weeks of counting the citizens in Ward 4.
I am running a bit late but Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings presented the following challenge Saturday evening:
1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places). [Hint – you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]
2) Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.
3) For extra credit, go make a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the “Heritage Pie” chart idea.]
4. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.
Because all of my Greatgreat Grandparents were born in the United States, I made a pie chart in Photoshop using the states where they were born. “Unknown” was born either in Virginia or Tennessee.
Maternal Side.
Eliza Williams Allen – born a slave in Alabama. Died free 22 June 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama
Dock Allen – born a slave in Georgia about 1839. Died free 29 May 1909 Montgomery, Alabama.
They were married about 1860 in Alabama.
Joe Turner – born a slave in Alabama about 1939. Died 7 Feb 1919 Lowndes County Alabama.
Emma Jones Turner – born a slave in South Carolina about 1840. Died before 1909 Lowndes County Alabama. They were married in 1861 in Lowndes County, Alabama.
No death or marriage information at this time. They lived in Elmore county and probably died there.
Pricilla – born a slave about 1832 Alabama
Joseph Jackson – born a slave about 1838 South Carolina
Going by Census information for William Graham as I have no more information about them.
William Graham’s mother – b. Alabama
William Graham’s father – b. Alabama
Paternal side.
Frank Cleage – was born a slave in North Carolina about 1816
Judy Cleage – was born a slave in Tennessee about 1814.
They were married 11 August 1866 in McMinn County, Tennessee. I cannot find them after the 1870 census so although I think they died free in Tennessee I am not sure at this point.
Mother of Celia Rice – born a slave in Virginia. Died free in Tennessee.
Father – Unknown white male in the Rice family – born free, owned Celia’s mother. Born in either Virginia or Tennessee. Assume died in Tennessee. No marriage involved here.
Clara Hoskins Green – born enslaved in Kentucky about 1829. Died free in Lebanon, KY after 1880.
Robert Allen – born free 1823 in Kentucky. White slave owner. Died in Kentucky. No marriage involved.
John Averitt – white – born free in Kentucky 28 Feb 1810 died 1894 in Kentucky.
Elizabeth Tucker Averitt – white – born Kentucky 2 Sep 1813 died in Kentucky, date unknown.
They were married 17 April 1835 in Washington County, Kentucky.
Today while looking for old Easter pictures, I found a partial answer to the question I asked at the end of my blog post on the migration from Montgomery to points north – Did Lowndes Adams and my grandfather ever see each other again, or keep in touch? I found a photo from 1965 of Lowndes and four of his sisters. I don’t know where it was taken, not at my grandparents house for sure, but it shows they did keep in touch. From L to R we have: Jessie, Maude, Jane, Alice and Lowndes.
Here is a list of household members in the 1900 census. James M Adams 53 Ida Adams 41 Sarah Adams 18 Emaline Adams 16 Maud Adams 13 Ida Jessie Adams 12 Lowndes W Adams 9 James Russel Adams 6 Alice Adams 3
Although Jane doesn’t appear in this census, she does appear in the 1910 census as an 8 year old.
After reading the letters my grandfather’s friends wrote to him in Detroit from Montgomery, I wondered what happened to those he left behind. Did they stay? Did they leave? I know that my grandparents never returned to Montgomery once they married so I wondered if he ever saw any of them again. I didn’t find them in the photographs in the backyard of the house on Theodore but, if they had moved to Detroit there wouldn’t have been any backyard photos. Those were reserved for out of town guests.
Lowndes, Rufus and Lewis with Lowndes niece,Edoline Speigner.
The six young men mentioned were Lowndes Adams, Robert Blakley, Rufus Taylor, Lewis Gilmer, Edgar Speigner and Nathan. I was able to follow them with varying degrees of success. There were twists and turns and connections and dead ends. And always more information to look for and check. Today I decided to write up what I have found so far.
Lowndes William Adams was born February 11, 1893, in Montgomery, Alabama to James and Ida Adams. James was a grocer. Lowndes was the 5th of 7 children. They all were educated and several of his sisters were teachers. Lowndes worked as a stenographer and later was the branch manager of an insurance company. He never married and shared his home with his widowed mother, several sisters, nieces and nephews. He was in Montgomery in 1930. He died in Detroit in 1977. My grandfather died in 1973. I wonder if they had a chance to spend time together.
Lowndes older sister, Emma Lena, married Edgar Speigner before he registered for the WW 1 draft in 1917. Edgar was born September 17, 1882, in Montgomery. He and his brother Charles were raised by their mother, Carrie Taylor who was a cook. Tall and stout, he worked as a pullman porter all of his adult life. Edgar and his wife Emma, raised four children. He died in 1954 in Montgomery, Alabama.
Rufus Taylor was born January 19, 1886 in Montgomery. His parents were Jordan and Fannie Taylor. Rufus was a cousin of Victor Tulane. Victor was married to Eliza and Dock’s daughter, Willie Lee. Rufus lived with the Tulane family for many years and worked in the store first as a clerk and then as a salesman. He remained in Montgomery and married Nan Nesbitt Jones. As far as I know he had no children but helped raise Nan’s son, Albert, from her first marriage. Nan Nesbitt was the niece by marriage of another of Dock and Eliza’s daughter, the youngest, Beulah. That is, Nan was the stepdaughter of Beulah’s husband’s sister. (Are you confused yet?) Rufus died in Montgomery at the age of 51 in 1937.
Mystery woman, Rufus Taylor, his wife Nan.
After posting Migration Story Part 3 last week my cousin, Ruth (who is not related to Nan) asked her cousin (who is related to Nan) if Nan was married to Rufus Taylor, who was Victor Tulane’s cousin and my grandparent’s friend. The answer was, yes, Rufus was Nan’s third of four husbands. After Rufus died, Nan married a Mr. Murphy and ended up in Ohio, where she died in 1988.
I believe Nathan was Nathan Nesbit, a cousin of Nan but have not been able to follow a trail, yet.
Lewis Abram Gilmer was born in Alabama on May 18, 1885. I’m not sure if he was born in Montgomery but he was raised there by his parents Louis and Carnelia Gilmer, along with 7 siblings. His father was a porter, a butler and a chauffeur. Lewis worked as a bank messenger in Montgomery. He and his wife, Annie, had four children. The oldest was born in 1919 in Montgomery. The second was born in1924 in Mississippi and the two youngest were born in 1925 and 1927 in Detroit, Michigan. Lewis worked as a porter at a department store in Detroit. He died there in July, 1969. I tried to find a link between Lewis Gilmer and Ludie Gilmer, who was the son-in-law of Beulah Allen Pope. No luck. Both their wives were named Annie but not the same Annie.
John Wesley Blakley was born January 22, 1893 in Montgomery, Alabama. He married Virgie Dorsette Beckwith, who wanted to leave the south according to John’s letter to Mershell. He was a barber in Atlanta before WW 1 and in Chicago, Illinois afterwards. He and his wife do not seem to have had any children. John was in Chicago in 1942. I have not yet found a death record or census records for 1900, 1910 or 1920 so I do not know his parent’s names or if he had siblings.
You can find part 1 and part 2 by clicking on these links.
Recently I received a phone call from my cousin Jacqui. We met by phone several years ago. My great grandmother Jennie was her grandmother Willie’s sister. Jacqui sent me photographs of ancestors I did not have – one of Eliza (for whom this blog is named) and of two of Eliza’s children – Anna and Ransom. Earlier this month, Jacqui sent me a packet of information about her father’s side of the family. Included was this photograph of her father, Ubert Conrad Vincent and also some of his parents. Read more about the Tulanes and Vincents in these posts. Hitting the Google Jackpot. Naomi Tulane’s Engagement Photograph. Willie Allen Tulane. Victor and Willie Allen Tulane. Victor, Willie and Children’s Graves. And more. I had no idea I had done so many posts on this branch of the family.
Anyway, back to the phone call from cousin Jacqui. She mentioned that she did not know the names of her grandparent’s parents. Of course I decided to see what I could find. The information I started with was from a Power Point Program Jaqui used for a presentation about her father.
Andrew B. Vincent
Rev. Andrew B. Vincent
Born on Cherokee Territory in Ashville, NC
Professor at Shaw University.
Later became Dean – School of Theology
Received an honorary Doctoral Degree on his retirement in 1904.
Cora P. Exum
*Born in Wilson, NC
*Professor at Shaw University
*Taught Domestic Science
*She had 14 children.
I first looked at Ancestry.com and found Andrew and Cora Vincent in Raleigh, North Carolina in the 1900 and 1910. In both of these censuses everyone was listed as “black” with self and parents born in North Carolina and they were enumerated in Raleigh Ward 3, Wake, North Carolina.
In 1900 the household included
Andrew D Vincent 43
Cora P Vincent 31
Mable Vincent 13
Ubert C Vincent 9
Cora P Vincent 6
Ruth E Vincent 4
Baby Vincent 3/12
Andrew and Cora were married in 1884 and had been married for 16 years. She had birthed 8 children and 5 were living. His occupation was listed as missionary. They were all identified as black.
In 1910 the household included
Andrew B Vincent 50
Cora P Vincent 42
Ubrot C Vincent 19
Cora Vincent 16
Ruth Vincent 14
Alfred B Vincent 10
Reba G Vincent 6
Burnice Vincent 2
Alice Hardin 20 (listed as a servant)
Rev. Andrew Vincent was working as a missionary for a Sunday school.
In the 1919 Raleigh, NC City Directory, Andrew, Cora and Cora Pearl Vincent were all listed as teachers.
In 1920 the family was enumerated in New York, New York. Andrew was not ennumerated there. Perhaps he was out of town on an Evangelistic tour when the census people came to the house because he is back by the 1925 census. Household Members: Name Age
Cora Pearl Vincent 50
Ubert C Vincent 27
Pearl Vincent 24
Reba Vincent 15
Bernice Vincent 11
Claudia Foy 36
Hebda Vincent 9
Cora was listed as the married head of the household. Ubert was a doctor at Bellevue Hospital. The whole household was identified as black and born in North Carolina.
In the 1925 New York State Census, the family is ennumerated in New York, New York. All were identified as “C” colored. Housework meant Cora and Pearl were doing their own housework in their own home.
Household Members Name Age Occupation
Andrew Vincent 67 minister
Cora Vincent 45 housework
Pearl Vincent 20 housework
Bernice Vincent 16 at school
Heba Vincent 14 at school
Next I went to Family Search. I searched for Andrew Vincent and didn’t find who I was looking for, so I put in Cora P. Exum. The first couple to come up were A.B. Vincent and Cora P. Exum for 26 July 1884. The marriage took place in Goldsboro Twp., Wayne, NC. There were no parents listed for Cora but A.B.’s were listed as H. Vincent and N. Vincent. Both were identified as black.
Back to Ancestry.com. I looked for H. Vincent and found some John H. Vincents in the 1870 census and decided to just look for all the Vincents in N.C. in 1870. There were over 8,000. On the first page I found a Nettie Vincent married to Henry Vincent. I believe they got Nellie’s age wrong as in the 1880 census she and Henry are the same age. Relationships are not given in the 1870 census.
The household included:
Name Age
Henry Vincent 35
Nellie Vincent 54
Brown Vincent 12
Phillip Vincent 13
June Enox 2
Abz Bird 2
Henry was listed as mulatto. The rest of the family was listed as black. Henry was a wagon maker. Nellie was keeping house and Brown was at home. I know that people often went by their middle names so this seems a good possibility for Andrew’s family. It would help to know what his middle name was.I found Henry and Nellie Vincent in the 1880 census. They lived alone. They were both enumerated as being 50 years old. Henry was a farmer.
To confuse matters a bit, there was a 60 year old Caroline Vincent living one house over from Henry with her 24 year old son, Brown Vincent. In the 1870 census there was a Caroline Vincent and a house full of Vincents, including a 14 year old Brown Vincent living in the same area as Henry, Nellie and our Brown. I think that this Brown is Caroline’s son and not Andrew Brown Vincent, who should be at Shaw University by that time.
Today I found a death certificate for Phillip Vincent (remember him from the 1870 census above?) His parents are listed as Henry and Caroline Vincent with the informant being Phillip’s wife. Perhaps she got the name wrong? Perhaps Henry had two families and two sons named “Brown.”
I was unable to find Cora Pearl Exum in any census before her marriage record of 1884. Some time ago, I had access to the ProQuest Historical Newspaper Collection and I was able to find and download, many items related to the Tulane/Vincent family. I finally remembered this and looking through them, I was able to find an obituary for both Andrew and Cora Vincent. The Chicago Defender, national edition May 28, 1927. Obituary 2 “May 28, 1927 Physician’s Father Dies. Andrew Brown Vincent of 116 W. 130th St., father of Dr. U. Conrad Vincent, well known physician of 209 W 135th St. died at his late residence Saturday morning. The funeral was held Wednesday evening from Abyssinia Baptist church. “
Ta tum! His middle name was BROWN! Today, I goggled Andrew Brown Vincent – Shaw University and found : VINCENT, ANDREW . . . . . Pleasant Grove, N. C. on page 9 as a student in Shaw University’s Normal Department in the 1876 – 1877 school catalogue. I also found an ebook History of the American Negro with an entry several pages long on Andrew Brown Vincent, mother’s name Nellie Vincent. Much interesting information.
Cora’s obituary reads as follows, with, unfortunately, no mention of parents or siblings. The New York Amsterdam News June 29, 1932. pg 11
Hold Last Rites of Mrs. Vincent Mother of Physician Dies at Home Here – Husband Was N.C. Educator The body of Mrs. Cora Pearl Vincent, 55, who succumbed June 21 at the residence of her son, Dr. Ubert Conrad Vincent, 251 West 138th street was buried Friday beside that of her husband in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Three pastors officiated at the funeral services the same afternoon at Abyssiania Baptist Church. They were the Rev. A. Clayton Powell, Jr., assistant pastor of the church; the Rev. J.W. Brown of Mother Zion and the Rev. Richard M. Bolden of the First Emanuel Church.
Arrangements for the funeral were in the hands of the Turner Undertaking and Embalming Company, 107 West 136 street, and the pallbearers were Drs. Paul Collins, Ira McCowan, Chester Chinn, J.W. Saunders, Charles A. Petioni, William Carter, Jesse Cesneres and Police Sergant Samuel Jesse Battles.
Mrs. Vincent, whose husband, Dr. Andrew B. Vincent, was on the faculty of Shaw University for fifteen years, was born at Wilson, N.C., in 1873. She resided at Raleigh, N.C., until arrival in New York thirteen years ago. She was the mother of fourteen children, six of whom survive her. Besides Dr. Vincent they are Ruth, Pearl, Albert, Berniece and Mrs. Reba Ragsdale, the latter of the Dunbar apartments. Ruth, who lives in Chicago, came East for the funeral of her mother. The other children reside at 1849 Seventh avenue, where Mrs. Vincent made her home.
Read a variety of Sepia Saturday posts by other people here.
In my new batch of photos, I found another photograph in the #160 series that I showed in my last post, here. I didn’t notice, until after I posted this photo a few minutes ago, that there were words on the building, “Levy Bros.” “Falls City Ferry and Transportation Co.” Looking at the landscape, behind the ferry and building, I saw a distant shore. No longer looked like Athens, TN! Which is why I deleted that post and started looking things up.
I googled “Falls City Ferry and Transportation Co.” and found this entry in ‘The Encyclopedia of Louisville’ page 286. “The last ferry operation was between Louisville and Jeffersonville. The original company, facing difficult competition from electric interurban car service over the Big Four Bridge beginning in 1905, was reorganized as the Falls City Ferry and Transportation Co. in December 1920, with David B.G. Rose as principal shareholder. Among the minority shareholders was Harland D. Sanders, later of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. Though the passenger load declined through the 1920’s vehicular traffic increased as automobiles proliferated. There was as yet no vehicular bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville. Fares were low. During the 1920’s pedestrians were carried for five cents. Once aboard they could ride all day for that modest fee.”
Louisville is not on the Detroit, MI to Athens, TN route. It is on the route from Athens, TN to Indianapolis, IN, where Uncle Hugh Reed still lived. In fact, I have a photograph of my father and his brothers taken with Uncle Hugh’s sons, perhaps on the same trip. In this photo we have front row, Henry and Hugh Cleage. In the back row, Albert Cleage (my father), Hugh Reed Jr, Thomas Reed and Louis Cleage. About 1921 in Indianapolis, IN. My father is wearing the same outfit.
Last night I posted an undated photograph of my grandparents. I assumed it was taken soon after they were married in 1910. Then one of my daughter’s asked me when it was taken and where it was taken. I went back to my box of Cleage photos to see if I could find some others taken on the same day. After going through quite a few pictures, I noticed that there were numbers on the back of the photographs.
Here is the back of the photo in question. That is my handwriting. I started looking for other photos with the number 573. Voila! I found two. One says ‘Toddy and Theodore Page”, not in my handwriting. Toddy is my father and Theodore Page was the nephew of Gertrude, my great uncle Jacob’s wife. He was living with them in Detroit, according to the 1930 census.
Taking a side trip, I began to look for information about Theodore (Roosevelt) Page. I found him at age 6 living with his parents, Jacob and Anna Eliza Page, and siblings William and Ophelia living on a farm in Mississippi in 1910. By 1920 he was 16 years old. He and his mother were living with sister his Ophelia and her husband, Henry Red, in Arkansas. He worked on the family farm and had attended school in the last year. I’ve been trying to find Uncle Jacob’s wife’s maiden name for years. Maybe finding her sister will help.
The other photo with the number 573 on it is a very blurry group photo. I see my grandmother Pearl on the far left with little Barbara in front of her. Hugh is next to Barbara, My father is in the front row center, next to him is my great grandmother, Celia Rice Cleage Sherman, a little kid, probably my uncle Henry is next. Behind Henry we see Theodore Page. My grandfather is on the end. Is he still holding the mystery object from the other photo?
Now I’ll make another attempt to date the photo. My father was born in 1911. He could be 10 or 11. Barbara was born in 1920. She could be 2. Gladys was born the end of September in 1922. Does my grandmother look pregnant? My estimate is summer of 1922.
With this new information I will begin sorting, and scanning the box of photos in the near future.
While looking for my great grandfather Louis Cleage I encountered various spellings of his name.
1870 United States Federal Census
Name: Lewis Cleage
Home in 1870: District 5, McMinn, Tennessee
Age in 1870: 16
In 1970 Louis Cleage was living in McMinn County with who I think are his parents and siblings. I cannot be positive because relationships were not given in the 1870 census. No job description but he was born in Tennessee. I can’t find them in the 1880 Census and by that time Louis was Clage and married.
Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002
Name: Lewis Cloge
Spouse: Sela Rice
Marriage Date: 25 Apr 1872
Marriage County: McMinn
State of Tennessee, McMinn County
Marriage Bond
Lewis Cleage
23 day of April 1872
1880 United States Federal Census
Name: Lewis Clage
Home in 1880: Hackberry, Loudon, Tennessee
Age: 28
Tennessee Census, 1810-91
Year: 1891
Name: Lewis Cleage
Township: Dist. 7 Male Voters
1900 United States Federal Census
Name: Louis Cleag
Home in 1900: Precinct 8, Jefferson, Alabama
Birth Date: Jun 1850
1918 Indianapolis Indiana City Directory
Living with his sons Jacob and Henry Cleage
Cleage, Lewis
I haven’t found him in the 1920 census and I haven’t found a death certificate yet. I do not know when or where he died. I don’t have a photograph of him.
My first blog post was May 24, 2010. I hoped it would help me organize my genealogy information and share it with my family in a way that they would actually read it. I succeeded with both and along the way found some interesting and informative blogs and met some interesting bloggers. Here is what I would like to accomplish in 2011.
1. This would be my father Albert B. Cleage Jr’s 100th birthday this year if he hadn’t died on February 20, 2000. I plan to do 100 blog posts about him this year. Maybe I’ll start with his birth and move forward with 1 a year with 11 bonus posts.
2. Participate in the 52 weeks of Personal Genealogy and History, Sepia Saturday and at least a few Carnivals of Genealogy.
3. Scan my photograph collection and organize it both on and off the computer and share the photos with family.
4. Write up more of my ancestors stories.
5. Organize and write up the information we recently received from my husband’s new found cousin from the Davenport/Brown line, from Mer Rouge, LA.
6. Identify and send for documents I don’t have for my parents, grandparents and great grandparents.
7. Re-establish communication with several cousins I have neglected.
8. Transcribe the interview with my aunt Anna made during a family gathering in December, 2005.
9. Identify what information I need to get while visiting Athens, Tennessee in July.
10. Visit the National Archives and/or the local Family History Center to become familiar with the information available.
11. Continue to organize the information I have already found.
In the past several months I have received several awards for my blogs. (I used to have two blogs, one for my maternal line and one for my paternal line. I combined them awhile ago.) I put off posting them because I am supposed to pass them on to 10 or 15 other bloggers and it seemed like almost everybody I follow already has received the awards, some multiple times.
Today I was determined to find ten bloggers to pass the awards on to and to be able to post my awards. I spent several hours going from blog to blog and it started to be funny to me because I found that bloggers were receiving the Ancestor Approved Award just before I got there. In one case two people passed on the award right behind each other! I don’t quite know how to handle this. I have decided that I will fulfill the other requirements and not pass on the awards at this time. If someone reading this has not yet received the Ancestor Approved Award, email me! I’ve got to post so people will stop thinking I haven’t received the award and keep sending them to me! So here goes…
Dionne Ford of Finding Josephine gave Finding Eliza two awards some months ago, The “Versatile Blogger Award” and “One Lovely Blog Award”. I apologize for taking so long to respond. I have to list seven things about myself and link back to Finding Josephine.
1. I can milk a goat.
2. I swam across Lake Idlewild and back when I was in my 40’s.
3. My third daughter, Ayanna, was born at home.
4. I home schooled my four youngest children.
5. I studied Spanish, French, Norweigian and Arabic with varying degrees of success.
6. I recently began strength training with my sister.
7. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 29.
I received the Ancestor Approved Award at My Cleages and Reeds (Now combined with Finding Eliza.) from Nolichucky Roots, Bill West of West in New England and Nancy atMy Ancestors and Me On Finding Eliza I received the Ancestor Approved Award from Nolichucky RootsandMissy of Fables and Endless Genealogies. I must admit to fiddling around with the award in Photoshop and adding my own ancestors, photographs.
This award was created by Leslie Ann Ballou at Ancestors Live Here. Leslie asks that recipients list ten things they’ve learned about any of their ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened them and pass the award on to ten other bloggers who are doing their ancestors proud. Here are my ten things. I’ve linked to those I blogged about.
1. I was enlightened to learn that the story my mother told about Eliza was true but not exactly in the way she told it. Eliza’s story is here. There are 3 parts to the story and a chart.
2. I was surprised to find that Annie Belle and her brass band ended up in Detroit after living in Florida and Tennessee.
3. I was saddened to learn that my great grandmother’s sister, Willie Allen Tulane had lost two of her three children in infancy.
4. I was enlightened and humbled to find that my great great grandfather Dock Allen tried to escape slavery by running and so met my great great grandmother Eliza and gained his freedom.
5. I was moved to tears when I found my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s father with his parents and siblings in the 1870 census and was able to take the family back a generation.
6. I was thrilled to receive copies of records from the Cleage plantation where my ancestors were slaves.
7. I was surprised when I found my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage had a singing double.
8. I was enlightened but frustrated to trace Jacob Graham’s little Bible to it’s first owners and to find his death certificate but I was still unable to connect Jacob with my grandfather Mershell Graham.
9. I was ecstatic to find photographs of my first cousin once removed, Naomi Tulane Vincent and her husband using Google.
10. I was overjoyed when I was contacted by my husband’s cousin who took us back a generation or two on this mother’s side and shared photographs, stories, places… whoo hooo!
