This is an introduction to Thomas Ray Allen. The other posts during the A to Z Challenge will expand on details mentioned here. Thomas Ray Allen was born into slavery about 1845 on Foster Ray’s plantation in Lebanon, Marion County Kentucky. Thomas’ mother, Clara was sixteen years old. His father’s name was Louis Allen. Two … Continue reading Thomas Ray Allen 1847 – 1907
This was my sixth year doing the A to Z Challenge. I took small social items from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. The items were of marriage, death, travel and movement to other cities – Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Most were family or friends of my … Continue reading A to Z posts
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April. My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky in 1886. She was the … Continue reading P is for Pearl
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April. Address: Miss Pearl Reed, 2730 Kenwood Ave, City 3/30/’09 In my judgement, the weather today … Continue reading K is for Kenwood Ave.
After watching Episode 3 of Many Rivers to Cross in which the Civil War; black soldiers, contraband; freedom; 40 acres and a mule; suffrage and loss of it; the all black town of Mount Bayou, MS; lynching and finally Plessey vs. Ferguson were discussed, it took me a minute to come up with a tie … Continue reading Joe Turner – Land, Mules and Courts
This is a small undated Polaroid snap shot. I dated it by looking at other photos from that year that were dated. It was probably taken in the summer or early fall. I was 16 and would be a high school sophomore in the fall of that year. What were we reading about? I decided … Continue reading Reading the Paper – Sepia Saturday 192
My Aunt Gladys sent word this weekend that my parents did, indeed, spend some time in Michigan before moving on to Springfield. These photographs are in an album and labeled “En Route to Springfield.” Most of them were taken in Idlewild, at my Uncle Louis’ cottage. There were only a couple taken in Detroit, all … Continue reading Idlewild 1945 – En route to Springfield
My grandparents, Albert and Pearl (Reed) Cleage were married in October of 1910 in Indianapolis, Indiana. For their honeymoon they went to the Appalachian Exposition in Knoxville, Tennessee and from there to visit my grandfather’s people in Athens, Tennessee. After returning home, they went to Decatur, Illinois to decide if that was where my grandfather … Continue reading The Hat – Sepia Saturday #108
Week 49. Historical Events. Describe a memorable national historical event from your childhood. How old were you and how did you process this event? How did it affect your family? Me in the upper left corner. News photos from 1963. In 1963 I was 16 and a junior at Northwestern High School in Detroit. In … Continue reading Remembering 1963
Mary Agnes and her husband. My Aunts both identified the woman in this photo as Mary Agnes Miller and the man as George Payne. He appeared in this blog earlier with his brother Paul and my uncle Hugh here. One of my aunts says that Mary Agnes was very striking, and a nice person. The … Continue reading (Not So) Wordless Wednesday – More About The Mystery Couple