This is my first post for the April A-Z Challenge. I will be blogging everyday using the letters of the alphabet as a prompt. Today I am going to write about one of my great grandmothers, Anna Allen Reed. Anna Allen Reed was my father’s mother’s mother. I don’t have any photographs of her but … Continue reading A is for Anna Allen Reed
This is the 3rd post in my February Photo Collage Festival and the Family History Writing Challenge. Today I will write about Hugh Marion Reed, my grandmother Pearl (Reed) Cleage’s brother, and how he and his family were found after years of searching. Hugh’s parents were never married. His mother, Anna (Allen) Reed had 4 … Continue reading Hugh Marion Reed Averette – 1876 -1953
My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky in 1886. She the youngest of the seven children of Anna Allen Reed. Pearl’s father was Buford Averitt, a white physician. By 1888 Pearl’s oldest brother, George, had moved to Indianapolis Indiana to work at Van Camps cannery. The rest of the family soon followed. … Continue reading Dr. Albert B. Cleage and Miss Pearl D. Reed were married at noon Thursday…
Clarence Elwood Reed was the youngest son of Anna Reed and the brother next in age of to my grandmother Pearl. When I was collecting stories about the family my aunts and uncles told me that Clarence was a good looking man who went to Chicago from Indianapolis, never married and lived a wild life. … Continue reading Clarence Elwood Reed
Not many in my family served in the military. In fact several were conscientious objectors. My grandmother Pearl’s older brother, Hugh, was the exception. Hugh Marion Reed was born April 23, 1876, Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky. He reached adulthood in Indianapolis, Indiana and spend his later years in Los Angeles, California. According to my Uncle Henry, his … Continue reading Hugh Marion Reed
Nine years ago I started this blog, Finding Eliza to tell the story of my family and my search for their stories. I had no idea how much I would learn, nor the connections I would be able to make. This past year has been a very productive one for me and the blog. I … Continue reading Nine Years of Blogging
My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky in 1886. She was the youngest of the eight children of Anna Ray Allen Reed. The four youngest, including Pearl, were the children of Buford Averitt, a white physician. The older children had different fathers. By 1888 Pearl’s oldest brother, George, had moved to Indianapolis … Continue reading The Letters – The People
I found another two articles about Eddie Evans and Gladys Cleage. This one tells a little more about what the happy couple was doing before the wedding. It also mentions more friends of the family, including Dr. Gamble and his wife who were old family friends of my grandparents. I came across my uncle Hugh’s … Continue reading Gladys Cleage’s Marriage – Part 2
There are six months unaccounted for in my father’s letters. No letter rejoicing in finding a church at last or hashing out the details. I began to wonder what happened during that time. Did my grandmother lose those letters? Did my parents stay in Los Angeles? Did they return to Detroit? What was happening in … Continue reading The Missing Months – March to November, 1945
Page two of the New Year Eve letter my father wrote home in 1944. This part deals with a cinema class he was taking. I will have to post his theory, which he explained in a previous letter home, soon. Everything is O.K….(pursues its petty pace from day to day etc.) Last week one of … Continue reading Hi folks: (HAPPY NEW YEAR) Part 2