Tag Archives: #Mershell C. Graham

All Four of My Grandparents

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Fannie & Mershell  after marriage in 1919.
Fannie & Mershell Christmas 1969
Fannie & Mershell Christmas 1969

My maternal grandparent’s names were Mershell Cunningham Graham and Fannie Mae Turner Graham.  They were both born in Alabama in 1888. Mershell was born in Coosada Station, Elmore County. Fannie was born in Hayneville, Lowndes County.  Both counties are near Montgomery.

Before moving to Detroit, Mershell worked on passenger trains in the dining car. After coming to Detroit in 1917 he worked on a Great Lakes Cruise ship as a steward and finally put in 30 years at Ford Motor Company in the parts dept at the River Rouge Plant, before retiring.

My grandmother Fannie, managed her uncle Victor Tulane’s store in Montgomery before her marriage. After their marriage in 1919, she didn’t work outside of the home.  They both lived until I was in my mid-twenties. My grandfather died in 1976 at 86 years. I was 26. My grandmother died in 1977 at 87.  They both died in Detroit.   We spent every Saturday at their house when I was growing up and for the last year of college, they lived downstairs from us. They lived in that flat until they died. So I knew them and also research them.

Albert & Pearl 1922. Detroit
Albert & Pearl 1922. Detroit
Albert & Pearl 1950s
Albert & Pearl 1950s

My paternal grandparents were Albert Buford Cleage and Pearl Doris Reed Cleage.  Albert was born in Louden county, TN in 1883. Pearl was born in Lebanon, KY in 1886. They were married in Indianapolis in 1910.  My grandfather worked on a Great Lakes Cruise line summers until he finished Medical school and became a family physician.

We lived down the street from them for several years when I was 5 and 6 years old. We saw them often.  My grandfather died in 1957 after being ill for awhile. He was 73. I was 11.  My grandmother lived until 1982. She was 96. I was 35.  I knew both of them. I also research them.

Below are links to some of the many posts about my grandparents on this blog.

G is for Grandmothers

 Poppy Could Fix Anything

The Steamer Eastern States

 

 

The Steamer “Eastern States”

Mershell C. Graham

Both of my grandfathers worked on the Great Lakes steam ships. My maternal grandfather, Mershell Graham, worked as a steward for the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company when he first came to Detroit in 1917.  He had previously worked in the dining cars of passenger trains. After several years he got a job at Ford Motor Co. where he remained until his retirement 30 years later.

My paternal grandfather, Albert B. Cleage, Sr, worked for the same company in 1909. He was a medical student in Indiana and earned money during the summer by working on the Eastern States cruise ship as a waiter.  The excerpts in this post are from his letters.

Most of the photos and clippings about the Eastern States were found in the Great Lakes Maritime Database.

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DTWCLE1904

June 19 1909
I left Indianapolis last night at 7:25. Stayed all night in Hamilton Ohio. Am now in Toledo at 10 AM. Will leave for Detroit 2: 15.

June 20, 1909
Arrived in Detroit yesterday at 4:00 PM, and left for Buffalo via “Eastern States” Star. on which I am at work. Was lucky.  Am well,  found two old school friends on same boat!

June 20, 1909
I am sitting in an old ware-house door on the wharf at Buffalo, – tell me there isn’t an element of romance in my location to say the least. I will be in Detroit again tomorrow and will see many of the boys whom I know there. You can imagine how worn out I am – just stopped traveling this morning, and if the boat ever comes into dock again I shall go immediately to bed. I went uptown to get some things and it went up the Lake and left me, but it will return soon. 

Albert B. Cleage

June 24, 1909
Lawrence has come and we are working together.

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June 27, 1909 (On board the Steamer “Eastern States” – Lake Erie)
This is Sabbath night about 10:00 o’clock and we are about six hours ride out of Detroit and about twelve miles from land in the shortest direction. Surroundings are such as to impress one with his insignificance and emphasize the fact that he is indeed kept by Jehovah’s care. I shall first endeavor to acquaint you with the boat on which I am working. It’s name is “The Eastern States” and runs from Detroit to Buffalo. We leave Detroit one day at 5 PM and arrive in Buffalo the next morning at 8 o’clock, staying in

main

Buffalo all day we leave again for Detroit in the Evening at 5 PM you see we spend one day in Detroit and one in Buffalo. Today we were in Detroit and would it interest you to know how I spent it? Well, if it will interest you; after breakfast was over about 9 am, I went down to our “quarters” (I suppose you have only a faint conception of what that word means – I describe it later.) and slept until 11:30 – served lunch, after which Aldridge and I walked up town for about 2 hours – smoked some cigars, came back to the boat and took a couple of hours more of sleep. So you see I am putting in plenty of time sleeping. This stuff I’m sure does not interest you and I will not bore you longer but as I promised to say something about our “quarters”

It is one large room about 35 x 40 ft. in which are 32 beds – just think of it!! Those beds or better bunks are arranged in tiers of three and I at the present time am sitting on my bed (the top one) and there are two other fellows below me. What ventilation we get comes through six small port holes the diameters of which are about 6 in.

The fellows are a cosmopolitan aggregation, men from everywhere and at any time you can hear arguments and discussions on all subjects – Sensible and nonsensible. There are several students on board – boys from Howard University, Wilberforce University, Oberlin University, Michigan, and Indiana and out of them there are some very fine fellows to know…  I could talk all night about the desirable and the non-desirable features of my Steamboat experience.

This isn't the dining room of the Eastern States but the City of Detroit was a sister ship so it was probably similar.
This isn’t the dining room of the Eastern States but the City of Detroit was a sister ship so it was probably similar.

July 3, 1909 (Enroute to Buffalo, Steamer Eastern States)
Yesterday while Lewis and I were walking up the street in Buffalo, whom did we see standing on the corner (as if lost) but Miss Berry of Indianapolis, her brother and his wife and a Miss Stuart an Indianapolis teacher. Well to be sure we were surprised and they too seemed agreeably so. We spent the day with them taking in the zoo and other points of interest. They visited our boat and we showed them through it. That was experience number one.

Secondly – our boat was in a storm last night I awoke last night amid great excitement in our quarters and found that it was only possible for me to lie in bed with quite a great deal of effort. The old boat was being mightily tossed and driven and the angry waves were rising a high as your house or higher. We were sometimes on top of them and again between them at all times with a feeling that we would every minute be swallowed up by them. Great excitement prevailed. Most of the waiters got up and put on life preservers thinking they would have need of them. I neither was afraid or sick. Nothing serious happened and we arrived in Detroit only a few hours late this morning.

We are tonight taking over to Buffal0 a 4th of July Excursion. A large crowd is aboard. A great number of extra waiters are aboard and an extra amount of noise is present and unfavorable to letter writing accept the effort…

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After WW2, automobile travel replaced steamer travel and gradually the ships were retired, burned and scrapped. Here is a timeline for the Eastern States from the link above.

  •    Laid down as EMPIRE STATE.
  •     1902, Jan Launched Wyandotte, MI.
  •     1909 Owned Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co, Detroit, MI.
  •     1930 Owned Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., Detroit.
  •     1950 Laid up, Detroit.
  •     1956, Jun 21 Owned Lake Shore Steel Co & Siegal Iron & Metal Co, Detroit.
  •     1956, Dec 12 Burned as spectacle, Lake St. Clair.
  •     1957, May 6 Scrapped.

Poppy – The Worker

While looking for summer photographs, I came across this photograph of my grandfather Graham and this poem by Edgar A. Guest that my my grandmother Graham saved in her scrapbook.

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Mershell “Shell” Graham.Taken in 1962, Milford, MI. on Old Plank Road.

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From my grandmother Fannie’s scrapbook. “That’s my Shell” 1-25-59.

Belle Isle – Summer 1922

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“Belle Isle. Grandma Graham – Mary Virginia – Clifton – Mershell Jr + Fan

This photograph was taken about two years after the one of my grandmother Fannie at Sugar Island. Grandma Graham was my grandfather, Mershell Graham’s adopted mother. Mary Virginia was born in April 1920 so she would be 2. Clifton was the son of my grandfather’s adopted brother, Clifton.  Mershell Jr was born in June of 1921 so he must be about 1 year old. My mother was born in February, 1923 so my grandmother may have been just pregnant with her here.  The park tables and benches are so unanchored. They are all cement now.

V is for Very Confusing

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This is my 22nd post for the April A-Z Challenge.  I have been writing about my grandfather, Mershell C. Graham’s possible family several times during this challenge.  At times it is a very confusing search.  I have put the various documents into a collage, which you can enlarge by clicking on it, to see if that would make it easier to understand. What do you think?

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The red arrows point to information that hints at a connection between my grandfather and Annie and Abraham Graham.

The Search – Step by Step

  •  I found a little New Testament in my grandfather, Mershell C. Graham’s things.
  •  I wondered who the Jacob Graham that the Bible was dedicated to and how he was related to my grandfather.
  •  Since I had Jacobs birth date I looked for him in the 1900 US Census in Elmore County, Alabama.
  •  I found him.  Although there were two other children and an adult, none of them were my grandfather or the people he named as his parents. I thought I remembered a sister named Annie.
  •  I sent for Jacob’s death certificate. Unfortunately it did not name his parents.
  •  I wondered if perhaps the other boy in the household in 1900, name of Abraham, was, perhaps, my grandfather identified by another name. I searched for Abraham and sent for his death certificate. His descripiton on the WW1 and WW2 draft registration forms matched my grandfathers. The names of his parents on all documents was the same as those given by my grandfather. He wasn’t my grandfather, I soon found out, because he had a complete life of his own.
  •  I decided to follow the girl in the 1900 household. She had 4 children and the youngest was named Michele, which was my grandfather’s original name. I found she lived on the farm as a servant of the woman who was the daughter of the people I thought may have been the slave holders of my grandfather’s mother, Mary Jackson.  I found a photograph of some children taken on the Oscar Barron farm ( husband of woman I mentioned above, from slave holding family.)
  •   Although I found much interesting information and some things that seem to tie this household to my grandfather, I have no proof that they are related. They never appear in documentation in the same place.
  • I don’t know what to do or where to look next.

U is for Umbrella

a-to-z-letters-uThis is my 21st post for the April A-Z Challenge.  Featuring a photograph from 1918 of my grandfather Mershell C. Graham with a huge umbrella.  I used this photo in 2011 for a Sepia Saturday post.  There are several others that go with it. If you want to see them go here – Poppy Was Cool.  I think that for my next  A-Z challenge I will use all family photographs that go with the letter, minus much writing. This is really wearing me out!  Hard to believe there are only 5 left.

umbrella

S is for Possible Sibling, Annie Graham

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This is the 19th post for the April A-Z Challenge.  Finding a small New Testament inscribed to Jacob Graham in my grandfather Mershell C. Graham’s belongings raised questions that I am still trying to answer. To read what I wrote earlier, follow these links, Jacob Graham, Abraham Graham, and William Graham and Mary Jackson. I have been unable to connect any of them with my grandfather with more than circumstantial evidence.

Annie Graham

Today I’m going to write about Annie Graham, another possible sibling of my grandfather Mershell C. Graham. Annie was born in 1885 in Elmore County, Alabama.  She first appeared in the 1900 Census with Zacharies, Abraham and Jacob in Robinson Springs, Elmore County, Alabama.  She was 15 years old, was literate and attended school within the last year.

Annie’s first son, Clyde Graham was born in 1905. William was born in 1906 and Emma Mae was born in 1907. In the 1910 Census Annie and her children were living in the household of Oscar P. Barron and his wife Emma (Jackson) Barron. as servants. Annie was listed as a cook.  She was listed as a widow and she and her children all used the surname Graham.  The Barrons were identified as white and the Grahams were listed as mulatto.

Emma B. Jackson Zimmerman Barron

Emma was the daughter of Absalom Jackson.  He owned a large plantation in Autauga County, Alabama.  In 1865, Elmore County was made from part of Autauga.  In 2002 I wrote to a descendent of Absalom asking for a copy of the names of slaves owned by James Jackson and divided among his heirs after his death in 1832.  I thought that these Jacksons may have enslaved my Jacksons.  I wasn’t able to make a connection between the Mary Jackson that may be my grandfather Mershell’s mother and the list at the time but I think I should take another look. That was 11 years ago!  In 1860 Absalom Jackson held 62 slaves and lived in Robinson Springs.

Emma Boling Jackson married John Zimmerman in 1867.  They had two children. He died in 1873.  In 1879, she married Oscar P. Barron. They lived in Robinson Springs, AL.  It was in their household that Annie and her children were living in 1910.

Back to Annie Graham

In 1911 Annie gave birth to her fourth child, a son named Michele. Another story, my mother told us that her father, Mershell, had been named Michele by his mother but that when he was a child he was a servant to a little white girl. He had to sleep on the floor outside of her room in case she needed anything. She said Michele was a foreign name and she changed it to “Mershell”.  So, Annie’s youngest son was named Michele, the same as my grandfather.

Who are they?
Who are they?

This is an unidentified photograph from my Graham Photographs. I don’t know if any of Annie’s children are in the photo. A few years ago I tried to make out what was written underneath, which isn’t easy.  For more information about the camera used to take this photo follow this link to the Photo-Sleuth’s post about the Autographic camera.

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“13/2/18 on Barrons farm.”

In 1920 Annie and her four children – Clyde 15, William 14, Emma 13 and Michele 9 were again living in the household of Oscar Barron and his wife, Emma. The household has swollen to include a daughter and granddaughter, husbands and children. Annie is listed as a servant working on her own account. That means she’s not getting wages, but in this case I don’t know what that even means. Her three oldest children are listed as “helpers”, the boys as farm labor.  Michele is listed as an “errand boy”.  Once again the Grahams are all identified as “mulattoes” and the Barrons as white.  All of the Barrons are literate or in school. Annie is literate but none of her children are and none of them are in school.

From Grahams to Jacksons – 1930 to 1940

In the 1930 Census Annie is living with two of her sons next door to the Barrons.  Emma Barron is dead but her daughter, Emma Powers, is running the house and Annie is working as her servant. Clyde, 25 and Michiel 16 are both working as laborers doing general farm work.  Both are still illiterate and both are now using the surname of “Jackson”. Annie is listed as single and still a Graham.  William is not to be found. Emma is now married to Captain Reeves and still living in Elmore County.  Emma is also using the name “Jackson” on her marriage record.

I cannot find Annie, William or Michele in the 1940 census. Clyde 35, is married to Edith 29. They have four children, Hettie May Jackson 8, Clyde Jackson 7, William Jackson 4 and Alice Lee Jackson 4/12.  He’s never attended school and earned $250 the previous year in the private sector working 52 weeks. They are still living in Robinson Springs, Elmore County.

Emma remains married to Captain Reeves and they have no children surviving. Their one son, Clyde Junius Reeves lived one month, born in November 1927 and dying in December the same year. Emma had zero years of schooling and her husband had three. She is keeping her own house, for no pay. He is farming his own land.

The Wrap Up

Annie died in 1964 of a stroke. Her parents are listed as William Graham and Mary Jackson. Her daughter, Emma is the informant. She died in Elmore County and is buried in the Jackson Cemetery in Coosada, Elmore County.

annie_graham_DC_online

Emma died in Columbus Ohio in 1993. Her work was cleaning houses. She was an 86 year old widow. Her father’s surname was “Jackson” and her mother’s maiden name was “Graham”.  She is buried in Jackson Cemetery, along with her husband.

Clyde died in 1965 in Montgomery of heart disease. His father is listed as Paul Jackson and his mother as Annie Graham. He is buried in Long Cemetery in Coosada, Elmore County.

And with that, I end for now.

R is for Relatives, of the Elusive Kind

a-to-z-letters-r

This is the eighteenth post for the April A-Z Challenge.  Finding a small New Testament inscribed to Jacob Graham in my grandfather Mershell C. Graham’s belongings raised questions that I am still trying to answer. To read what I wrote earlier, follow these links, Jacob Graham and Abraham Graham. Today I am going to write about William Graham and Mary Jackson, the parents named on my grandfather’s delayed birth record.

Information My Mother Gave Me

In 1974, my mother had copies of some family photographs made for my sister and me. She identified the one below, on the left, as my grandfather, Mershell’s “real father”. She said that when she asked him if he wanted a copy, he said, no. I hung it on my wall with the others until I came into the possession of the family photograph collection. I noticed that the man in the picture looked exactly like the father in my grandfather’s informally (in adulthood) adopted family, Joseph Graham, and the house was their house. On the left you see a photo that was identified as “The Graham’s at home”. The man and the house in both photos look the same to me. I have heard nothing or found anything that makes me think that Joseph Graham was actually my grandfather’s father.

grahams_house
The Graham’s at home.
The photo my mother gave us of Poppy's "real father"
The photo  of Poppy’s “real father”

Before I forget here is something Daddy said to me once late in life, while we lived on Fairfield.  He said his real family, the ones in the album, his real sister who is in that picture, wrote once to the Theodore address and asked for old clothes or anything they could send because she was having a hard time and mother threw the address away before they could get anything together.  He said that he had always taken care of Mother’s people and she would have nothing to do with his. Now that doesn’t sound like mother, but on the other hand, she had often said that he was too good, that he didn’t have a dime when she married him although he should have, had always made good money, but his adopted family got it all from him because he was so generous, so when they married she told him let me take care of the money, if you do we’ll always have some when we need it.  He did.  She did.  And they did!!

 I wish I knew Daddy’s real family.  Bet they still live in Alabama and could be found if anyone had the energy.

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Click to Enlarge

My grandfather’s delayed birth record, which he filed in 1941, gives his parents names and ages at his birth. He named William Graham as his father and said he was 35 in 1888. That meant he was born about 1853. He named Mary Jackson as his mother who was 30 years old in 1888. She would have been born about 1858. He said he was the 4th of 4 children.

Early in my use of the internet for research, I looked for William Graham and Mary Jackson. I found a marriage record for them.

Alabama Marriages, 1809-1920 (Selected Counties)

Name:William Graham 
Gender:Male
Spouse:Mary Jackson
Spouse Gender:Female
Marriage Date:20 Dec 1874
Marriage Place:Elmore
Surety/Perf. Name:Wm. B. Hall

Perfect.  I looked in the 1880 census and found them living in Robeson Springs, Elmore County, Alabama with two children, 8 year old Crofford and 3 years old William.  Next I looked for them in the 1900 census, expecting to find them with two other children, one being my 12 year old grandfather Mershell.  I didn’t find them. I didn’t find him. I couldn’t find a trace of any of the family that was there in the 1880 census.  Or the 1900 Census. There is a William Graham the right age in the 1910 census living in the Elmore County Alms House. That’s it.

Monday I will write about what I found for Annie Graham, the other member of the 1900 household that included Jacob, Abraham and Zacharies.  She, too has William Graham and Mary Jackson listed as parents. Her youngest son was named “Mershell”.

Q is for Questions, Questions and More Questions

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This is the seventeenth post for the April A-Z Challenge.  Finding a small New Testament, inscribed to Jacob Graham, in my grandfather Mershell C. Graham’s belongings, raised questions that I am still trying to answer. To read what I wrote earlier, follow this link, Jacob Graham. Today I am going to write about Zachries and Abraham Graham. Annie will get her own post soon. There is not much to write about Zachries, because  I can’t find Zachries, Zakries, Zakery or Zak* anywhere, before or after 1900.

Abraham Graham

My grandfather, Mershell Graham.
My grandfather, Mershell Graham.

My first thought after finding Jacob Graham in the 1900 census in the household with Zachries, Annie and Abraham, was that, maybe Abraham was my grandfather being called by another name. I began to track him through the census records.

Abraham Graham was born about 1887 in Elmore County, Alabama, although he always listed place of birth as “Montgomery”.  He completed 8th grade before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked in various jobs as a laborer.  He was light enough to be mistaken for white, of medium height, slender, with grey eyes and dark brown hair.

My grandfather’s description in his WW1 registration:  white, medium height, slender with grey eyes and dark brown hair.

Perhaps Abraham met his future wife, Pinkie Dorothy Holt while living in Nashville, where she was born and grew up. Or they could have met after both moved to Cleveland, Ohio. At any rate, in 1923, they were married in Cleveland, Ohio. He listed his parents as William Graham and Mary Jackson on the Marriage License.  My grandfather listed William Graham and Mary Jackson on his delayed birth record as his parents.

abram_marriage_lisc

Abraham continued to work as a laborer. He and his wife rented a house at 2278 E. 87th Street, where they lived for over ten years. They turned it into a boarding house, Dorothy ran it while Abraham worked as a truck driver. The house was full of her family and four or five lodgers.  In 1940 there were 11 people living with them. They didn’t have any children. Follow this link to see them in the 1940 census.

In 1942, Abraham filled out his WW2 draft registration card from the Edwin Shaw Sanatorium. He was already  suffering with the tuberculous that eventually killed him. He was described as 5 ft 11 in, 140 lbs with a sallow complexion, blue eyes and black hair. Race was first listed as “white”, crossed out and a check placed by “Negro”.

My grandfather’s description on his WW2 draft registration card: Race is checked as “white”. He complexion was light, height was 5 ft 9 in., weight 135 lbs with gray eyes and brown hair.

In May of 1943, Abraham’s wife, Pinkie Dorothy died of atypical pneumonia, sometimes called “walking pneumonia”.  Katie Mayhue, one of the lodgers, was the informant on the death certificate.

On October 29, 1948 Abraham Graham died of tuberculous at the Edwin Shaw Sanatorium.  His parents are, again, listed as William Graham and Mary Jackson.

abraham graham death certificate

He was buried in Mt. Peace Cemetery in Akron, Ohio on November 6, 1948.  Was he my grandfather’s brother?  What happened to William and Mary Graham? Where was my grandfather in 1900? What happened to Annie Graham, the other child in the 1900 Census?  Stay tuned.

I used census records, draft registration cards, death certificates and marriage licenses from Ancestry.com, Family Search and my personal collections in writing this piece.

Our Yearly Trip to the Zoo

This is the 25th post in the February Photo Collage Festival and the Family History Writing ChallengeThe photograph for today is from the Graham family’s annual trip to the Detroit Zoo.

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Front: Marilyn with Barbara & Pearl behind her. Back: my mother Doris, my aunt MV, cousin Dee Dee and me. 1956.

At the end of each summer my sister, cousins, mother, aunt and grandfather, Poppy, took a trip to the Detroit Zoo.

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Kris, Poppy, Dee Dee – 1959.

Sometimes the four older cousins spent the night before at our grandparents.  We slept on a foldout cot in Poppy’s room. We went to bed first and I was always asleep by the time Poppy came to bed. That worked fine, unless I woke up in the middle of the night. He had the loudest snore and it was impossible to get back to sleep until he turned over and stopped snoring.

My grandmother, Nanny, never went with us.  As I write this, I realize there are so many things I don’t remember.  I suppose our mothers drove across town with Marilyn, to meet us in the morning.  Did we take two cars – my grandfather’s and my mother’s?  I don’t think so. I think we all smashed into one car, three adults in the front and 5 children in the back, with Marilyn sitting on someone’s lap. Nanny probably made us a picnic lunch to take. I can’t imagine buying hot dogs and french fries with Poppy along.

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Marilyn, still in the front. Me, Barbara, Pearl taking a picture of the photographer, Dee Dee. In the back are Connie Stowers (my mother’s friend) and my mother. 1959.

Looking at the photographs I can see that Dee Dee was way ahead of the rest of us in cool. Even in 1956, when she and I both wore our plaid slacks, hers fit and look good. Mine are baggy. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to bother me.  That year Marilyn is so little and unaffected.

By 1959 Dee Dee is 16.  I’m amazed she still accompanied us to the zoo. It must have been a very important part of our year. I was 13 and still not at all cool. That expression on my face is one I recognize from other photos through the years, unfortunately. I would say the sun is in my eyes  but it doesn’t seem to be bothering anybody else. And why am I wearing that skimpy outfit?  The hats that Connie and my mother are wearing were some my mother bought for Pearl and me. White sailor hats were the rage for awhile. Unfortunately, those were the cheap version and did not look like the popular ones.  I don’t think we ever wore them. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have been squinting at the camera. Little Marilyn looks a lot more blasé in 1959. I believe she is wearing one of the little sundresses my mother made for Pearl or me when we were that age. It was yellow with lace on top.