For this year’s A to Z Challenge I am posting an event involving someone in my family tree for that date. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
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I had a difficult time finding an item for April 29. My family seems to have skipped that date. Or perhaps just made no record of happenings. Then I remembered that for several years I have done the National/Global Poetry Writing Month along with the A to Z Challenge. There had to be some poems written on the 29th. There were. I chose the one below.
I almost forgot today's poem. Lying in bed, writing on my phone. Still enough light to see the sky, trees silhouetted. The light from the office reflects on the window. I get up and snap a photo. Done.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Baby Howard with big sister Mary Virginia in 1929 in the backyard, Detroit.
On April 28, 1929 Howard Graham’s first tooth appeared. Howard Alexander Graham was my mother’s youngest brother. He was named after my grandmother Fannie’s father, Howard Turner. Howard was born September 7, 1928, in the year following his older brother Mershell’s death by trauma after being run over by a truck on the way back to school. My grandparents felt that Howard had been sent to fill the space left by Mershell. Unfortunately he died of Scarlet Fever, exacerbated by Diabetes in 1932.
The only reason I have this xeroxed copy of a page from Howard’s baby book is that I needed an “X”. I had the tooth appearing on April 28, so I copied it and using the make-it-look-like a xerox function on my GIMP photo program, I made myself an “X” for the A to Z challenge.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Henry, Albert, Gertrude, Ola and Pearl Cleage, 1947 photo from my family archives
We visited the Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church in 1910 on their third anniversary in U – United Presbyterian Congregation Celebrates. Today we move forward to 1947 and the 40th anniversary. My family founders have traveled from Detroit back to Indianapolis for the event. They have aged from their twenties to their sixties in the photo above. Some have died – Jacob and Edward Cleage. More have been born. My grandparents have seven children. Henry and Ola have two. Once again my grandfather is speaking.
The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Apr 26, 1947 Page 11
The Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church will observe its 40th founders day Sunday with all-day services. The pastor, the Rev. Clinton Marsh, will speak at 11 a. m. Dr. A.B. Cleage, Detroit, who was among the early members of the church, will be guest speaker at 7:30 p. m. Dr. J. L. Hummons, who was organizer and founder of the beginning group, will be master of ceremonies. Before the address by Dr. Cleage there will be a brief sketch of the history of the church, which was moved from North West and Walnut Streets to the present site about 15 years ago. Among former out-of-town members expected are- Mrs. A.B. Cleage and Henry Cleage. an active member of the church and leader in its activities until he transferred from a federal position here to Detroit several years ago. The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Apr 26, 1947 Page 11
For Z we will go back to the founding of Witherspoon. Luckily for me, they were founded in April and continued to celebrate through the years.
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Other posts related to Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Celia Rice Cleage Sherman holding granddaughter Barbara Cleage
My great grandmother, Celia Rice Cleage Sherman was born into slavery about 1855 in Tennessee to Susan Rice and an unknown (to me) member of the enslaving Rice family. In 1870, Celia was living with her mother and siblings in Athens Tennessee, not too far from her future husband Louis Cleage and his family. She was the only one in her family who was able to read, although she couldn’t write. I don’t know how or when she learned to read.
On April 25, 1872 my great grandmother Celia Rice married her first husband, Louis Cleage in Athens, Tennessee. Twenty seven years later on April 25, 1899, she married her second husband William Roger Sherman, also in Athens, Tennessee. I had never noticed this before looking for all the April events I could find in my family.
Celia was seventeen when she married my great grandfather Louis Cleage in 1872. Louis was twenty. Five children were born to this union, Josephine (1873), Jacob (1874), Henry (1877), Charles Edward (1879) and my grandfather Albert B. Cleage (1883). In 1880 the family was living in Louden County, Tennessee where Louis was sharecropping.
By 1900 Celia was in Athens and had remarried. Louis was working as a furnace laborer in Jefferson County, Alabama. Louis could not read or write.
Celia was 44 when she married William Roger Sherman, who was 53. They also married in Athens. In the 1900 census Celia was working as a cook, William Roger was a carpenter. Both of them could read but not write. Celia’s three youngest sons were living in the home and attending school. They were now 21, 19 and 17. Her daughter Josie was married and lived next door with her family. Her son Jacob lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee where he was a waiter.
Louis Cleage died in Indianapolis in 1918.
The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Feb 9, 1918 Page 5
Lewis Cleage, of Athens. Tenn. has been with his son. Jacob Cleage, of this city, for nearly two years, died Thursday afternoon at the city hospital, where he was taken Wednesday. The funeral services were conducted today at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Josie Cleage, 1325 Massachusetts avenue, at 2 o’clock. The Rev. John Brice officiating. Besides a daughter. Mr. Cleage is survived by four sons, Dr. Albert Cleage Detroit. Henry and Jacob Cleage of this city and Edward Cleage of Athens, Tenn. The body will be taken to Athens for burial.
By 1920 Celia was living in Detroit with my grandfather and his family. William Roger Sherman was living in North Carolina with his daughter. He was in poor health and died later in 1920. Celia died in Detroit in 1930.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church. My grandmother Pearl, grandfather Albert, Uncle Jacob Cleage, Uncle Henry Cleage are in back row starting 3rd from right.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana · Sunday, April 24, 1910
The Indianapolis Star 24 April 1910 Sunday The Witherspoon United Presbyterian congregation will observe today the third anniversary of its founding. The pastor, the Rev. D. F. White will preach the anniversary sermon. In the evening at 8 o’clock the young people of the church will render the following program; Special music, the choir; duet, Mr. And Mrs George Brabham; paper, Miss Mary Fields: solo Miss Pearl D. Reed: address, Dr. Albert Cleage.
The Indianapolis Recorder 30 April 1910 Saturday
‘Items of Interest’ The Indianapolis Recorder 30 April 1910 Saturday The Anniversary services at the Witherspoon United Presbyterian church last Sabbath was in every way a great success. The Rev. D.F. White spoke in the morning on “The church” to a large and appreciative audience. The program by the young people in the evening drew a very large audience. The choir maintained its reputation for singing. Miss Mary Fields read a splendid paper on “The Man of the Hour.” It was a powerful presentation. Dr. A.B. Cleage reviewed “The Conquest of the Christian Church,” in beautiful language. The third anniversary of the Witherspoon U P- Church last Sunday was attended with large and appreciative audiences The pastor preached on “The Church” In the evening Miss Mary Fields read a paper on “The Man of the Hour”. “The Conquest of Christianity” was the subject of an address by Dr. A. B. Cleage.
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The Indianapolis Recorder is a black newspaper in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Star is a white newspaper in Indianapolis. Years ago, before I started blogging, I copied some articles from various newspapers on trips to visit my daughter in Indianapolis. I was able to go to the library and find records and newspapers that were not online at that point. I found the above article in a timeline of my Cleages in Indianapolis and was so happy to find something for April 30! Then I realized that I didn’t know which paper it came from. So, I started looking at various websites looking for it. No luck. It was not in the Indianapolis Star, although the first article above was.
Today I was making another attempt. I decided to look for Realty Hall, where Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church met when they first started. I clicked on an ad for housing in The Indianapolis Recorder. Voila, there was the column “Items of Interest”. Not the column I was looking for, but now I knew what paper to search. I found the date and there was the little item of interest to me.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Hugh Marion (Reed) AverettePearl Doris Reed 1904
My grandmother Pearl’s older brother, Hugh Marion Reed was born April 23, 1876, in Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky. His family moved to Indianapolis and he grew up there. His later years were spent in Los Angeles, California.
His older siblings George and Sarah were in Indianapolis by 1887. His mother, Anna, and the rest of the family were there by 1892. That would make Hugh between 11 and 16 when he moved to Indiana.He finished the eighth grade and worked as a laborer for several years before enlisting in the US Army at age 22. He was discharged on November 13, 1898 in Willets Pointe, Queens, New York and joined the US Navy a month later. He worked as a Coal Passer on the USS Newark. The Newark saw action in South America and Asia. In 1900, Hugh was in China. He left the Navy the following year in Boston, Massachusetts. He returned to Indianapolis, Indiana and resumed life as a civilian.
Blanche Celeste with Theresa and Thomas
In 1906 he married Blanche Celeste Young. The occupation listed on the marriage license was janitor. Their oldest daughter Anna Roberta was born in 1907. Hugh junior was born in 1910. Theresa Pearl was born in 1913 and Thomas Perry, the youngest, was born in 1916.
Hugh jr, Thomas and Theresa, Anna
I could not find a death record for him or any member of his family. Then, I got a phone call from my cousin’s husband Eric, (a fellow researcher and a very good one!). He told me to check my messages on Ancestry.com and waited while I did. Now, he never calls so I knew this had to be big. It was. He had found Hugh’s death record and the reason we couldn’t find him. Hugh’s name on the death record was listed as Hugh Reed Averette. The family had moved to California, changed their name and decided to fade into the white population by “passing”. Averit was the last name of Hugh, Minnie, Clarence and my grandmother Pearl’s birth father – Buford Averit, a doctor with an office in nearby Bradfordsville Kentucky. As far as I know they never shared a house and there are no family stories that he supported his children or made life easier for Anna. In fact, I know nothing about the nature of their relationship except that they had 4 children together. Hugh was the first of the children. There are no contemporary records that prove this relationship, but DNA matches between me and descendants of Buford’s siblings provide proof in addition to family memories.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
The Detroit Tribune Detroit, Michigan • Sat, Apr 22, 1939 Page 1
At Third Annual Youth Conference
A group of delegates who attended the third annual Conference at Plymouth Congregational church last week. Seated left to right are: Roger Canfield, Mary Virginia Graham (note: my mother’s sister), Alice Stanton, Ida Pettiford, and Mary Goodson. Standing left to right. Frank Elkins, Clarence Woods, and the Rev. Horace White, pastor of Plymouth.
The Michigan Chronicle Detroit, Michigan • Sat, Mar 18, 1939 Page 6
Local Youth Plan Spring Conference
Rev. Horace White On Planning Board
Plans are well under way for a Youth conference which is scheduled to be held early in April. The planning committee, consisting of: Theodore Crosby, Clarence Bradfield, Herbert Simms, Todd Cleage (note; my father. His nickname was Toddy), Oscar Hand, Porter Dillard, Pearl Walker, Gloster Current, Clarence Bradley, Flossie Williams, Edward Swan, Ida M. Pettiford, Louise Blackman, Florine Cage, Lawrence Green, chairman and others, met last Monday evening to discuss further already tentative plans. The theme of the meeting will be “The World We Live In.” Todd Cleage was appointed to submit plans for the conduct of sessions dealing with change in government.
Edward Swan was appointed chairman of projects. Louise Blackman is chairman of sessions dealing with personal and social philosophies; Porter Dillard, chairman of the student sessions, and Pearl Walker, chairman of publicity.
Sharecropper Here
Rev. Horace White announced at the last meeting that there was a possibility of securing as main speaker for meet the outstanding hero of the recent sharecropper dilemma occurring recently in southeastern Missouri, the Reverend Owen Whitfield.
It is expected that Langston Hughes will also appear as a main attraction. The next committee meeting will be held Monday evening at Plymouth Congregational Church at 9 p.m. All youth groups interested in participating are requested to contact Lawrence Green at Plymouth church..
‘Best Poetry, Not Books, But In Lives Of Men And Women’
“For want of a poet, the people perished,” is an old allegation. but last Sunday evening the people, many of them. lived and were inspired to dare new deeds and new dreams when Langston Hughes, dusky poet, traveler, playwright, lecturer and novelist, in convincingly courageous vein painted graphically, word pictures of the elements which contribute to the making of a virile, progressive race.
Poems of the People
Most of the numbers read by Mr. Hughes were as is characteristic of most of his poetry, poems of the people, their struggles and hardships. His appreciation for the realism therein expressed was emphasized, when In comment he said. “The best poetry is not written in books, but comes from the lives of men and women in the streets.” Representative of this belief were the poems “Elevator Boy” and “Porter.”
Mass Awareness Urged
Urging a comprehensive appreciation of the political structure within which we live, Hughes urged an awareness on the part of the masses of political trends indicating that out of Fascism come such enemies of Justice as unemployment, Jim crowism and economic oppression of millions. Specifically referred to were the recent Scottsboro case and the plight of millions of sharecroppers and tenant farmers throughout the south.
In the poems “Flight” and “Lynching Song” the poet revealed the dogged courage and determination of the Negro in the face of adversity and averred that “Poverty and lynching can kill a strong race.”
“Faith in life, self and the earth, helps a race, as it does an individual to live and to grow,” the poet contended. “It. has been said that no man lives alone and Negroes, to save and bring out the best in life for himself, must unite with other groups and classes whose problems are similar and whose solutions to problems lie in the same channel as the the Negro’s,” Hughes continued.
“The black man through correct evaluation of and reaction to his peculiar situation can teach other races what true Americanism is. The possibilities for resurrection from the dismal. abyss of inertia, the chilly tomb of oppression.’ according to the poet,. “are within the race.”
Closes Season
The presentation of Mr. Hughes marked the end of the successful mid-winter lecture season conducted by the lecture committee of Plymouth Congregational church of which Rev. Horace A. White is pastor. Mrs. Whitby is chairman of the committee..
Oh Freedom After While
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Out Yonder on the Road – long article about the sharecroppers demonstration in 1939. Includes photos, causes, methods and end result.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
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THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Saturday, Apr 21, 1951,Springfield, MA, page: 24
COMMUNITY GOOD WISHES–A gift went with good wishes to Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., left, at Hotel Kimball last night. William C. Jackson offers the gift as George A. Laws stands by. Mr. Cleage, minister of St. John’s Congregational Church five years, will become minister of St. Mark’s Community Church, Detroit, Mich., May 1.
Thank You’ Said to Mr. Cleage by 25 Men for His Work Here
When Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., resigned as St. John’s Congregational Church minister to go to Detroit, Mich., William C. Jackson had an idea that he took up with George A. Laws, chairman of the St. John’s standing Committee. The result was that 25 men, representing Springfield’s Negro community, had dinner with Mr. Cleage at Hotel Kimball last night. They came from different churches, different professions, different parts of the city. But they came for the same reason: to say “thank you” to Mr. Cleage for five years of effort toward church, community and racial improvement. Around the dinner table, among others,, were James H. Higgins, former Common Council president; Rev. Frederick A. Brown, assistant pastor, Alden Street Baptist Church; Walter English, Buckingham Junior High School teacher; Ernest Harrison, contractor. Also Dr. O. L. K. Fraser, dentist; Reginald Funn, former president of the local chapter, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: Paul Mason, Ward 4 councilman. And a group of St. John’s members; Robert Daniels, Romeo Elder, Russell Harrison, Howard Porter, Emery Butler and Eugene Sommerville.
Moving day. Me and sister with friends and their mother.
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Rev. Albert B. Cleage was my father. My sister and I were born in Springfield, Massachusetts where he was pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church. We moved back to Detroit, where both sides of our extended family lived when I was 4 and my sister was 2. That is where he became pastor of St. Mark’s United Presbyterian Community Church which ended up in the fight and split described in the post Q-Quite a Goal. Going alphabetically does put events out of chronological order.
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Other posts with my memories of living in Springfield
This is an extra post and not a part of the A to Z Challenge. I wanted to share this post for two reasons, there is a photograph of Dee Dee’s Godfather, Jack Franklin sitting in front on the left. And even more so because finally I found a news item describing a gathering at someone’s house and they told us what food was served! I found the recipe below in The Household Searchlight Recipe Book from 1931.
The Social Sixteen – 1937. Howard Tandy, Phyllis Lawson, Shirley Turner, John Roxbourough, Doris Graham, Bob Johnson, Christine Smoot, Bud Elkins, Gladys House, Bobby Douglas, Walter House, Lewis Graham, Connie Stowers, Burney Watkins, Jean Johnson, Barbara Cleage, Jack Franklin, Mary V. Graham.The Detroit Tribune, Detroit, Michigan • Sat, Dec 4, 1937 Page 5
SOCIAL SIXTEEN CLUB The Social Sixteen Club met at the home of Miss Barbara Cleage on Scotten avenue. All members were present and the meeting progressed with the president, Miss Doris Graham presiding. The minutes of the last meeting were read by the secretary, Miss Shirley Turner. Old business was called for and discussed. The new business dealt with the party that the club is planning to give in the near future. Jack Franklin, who is an amateur photographer and is one of the club’s members, took flood-light pictures of the members present. Refreshments, which consisted of tuna fish and cheese sandwiches and orange-gingerale drink, was served by the hostess. This repast was enjoyed by all present.
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I found this Sandwiches of History site where he actually makes this sandwich. I had to add it.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Roy Wilkins, administrator of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, will be the principal speaker at a public rally opening the 1953 membership drive of the Detroit branch NAACP at 3:30 p. m. April 19 at Ebenezer AME Church, Brush and Willis. A parade from the Art Institute to the church will precede the rally. The Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., is chairman of the drive. L. Pearl Mitchell, special secretary of the NAACP, will direct the Detroit drive which seeks 7,500 members. Attorney Edward Turner is president of the Detroit NAACP branch, and Arthur L. Johnson is executive secretary.
In April 1953 my father had just been dismissed from St. Mark’s United Presbyterian Community Church, where he had been pastor for several years, in a dispute with the governing Presbyterian body. Over 300 members resigned, leaving about 35 members in the congregation.
CHURCH MEMBERS QUIT IN SQUABBLE Protest Dismissal of Young Detroit Pastor
Detroit – Rev. Albert B. Cleage, jr., was dismissed as pastor of St. Mark’s United Presbyterian Community church, here this week by the Committee of Missions of the Detroit Presbytery, the United Presbyterian church. Members of the congregation protested the action by a wholesale resignation. Dismissal of Reverend Cleage was the result of protests lodged with the committee by five church members, including Henry W. Cleage, the pastor’s uncle, following their resignation from the church in January. OBJECT TO PROGRAM The group objected to the young minister’s program of cultural and social activities, which, they said, interfered with the spiritual functions of the church. Explaining their action the committee said problems of church discipline were also involved. The charges against Reverend Cleage generally accused him of ignoring the authority of the committee and failure to program church activities in conformance with views of the committee. MEMBERS NOT ASKED Members of the congregation protested they had not been consulted in the dismissal. They had no word of the committee’s action until it was announced by the pastor. Congregation members protested the dismissal without investigation and resigned from the church en masse. At last reports they were organizing a new church with Reverend Cleage as pastor. REPLACEMENT UNKNOWN A replacement for St. Marks’ has not been announced. Approximately 35 members of the congregation remain. One member said he did not resign because “two wrongs do not make a right.” He said that he objected to the dismissal but could not agree with the mass resignations. The resigning members of the congregation said the Presbytery’s failure to consult or consider them in the matter made “it impossible for us to continue as members of this church.”
