Catherine, known as Katie, was born on the Hurst plantation in Mouse Creek, McMinn County, Tennessee. She was the fourth of the seven known children of Hulda Hurst. When Katie was 13, Alexander and Jemima (Hurst) Cleage bought her from Jemima’s brother, Lewis Russell Hurst. She was put to work as the seamstress.
Phillip Cleage was born into slavery about 1843 on the plantation of Alexander Cleage in Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee. Phillip was the third child of the four known children of Julie Ann Evans. He grew up to work on the farm. Sometimes he drove the coach.
In 1862, when Phillip was 19 and Katie was 16, they were married by the slave holder, Alexander Cleage. They had two children together. The first was stillborn. The second died soon after birth.
When Sherman’s army came to the area, Phillip and other men from the Cleage plantations joined the 1st U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery (USCT).
As the confusion of war intensified, Katie decided she would leave too. She first went to Cleveland, Tennessee and after working a variety of sewing jobs, eventually ended up in the USCT camp in Chattanooga. She lived on the base with her husband until he died of smallpox on 9 February 1866. In 1883 Katie filed for a widow’s pension.
Her life story is told in her depositions and those of members of her community, including others who had been enslaved on the Cleage plantations, neighbors, men who served in the same unit as Phillip and members of the slave holding Cleage family.
Using these testimonies and related information I reconstructed Katie’s life in a series of blog posts in 2019. Recently, I found this Bill of Sale between L. R. Hurst and his brother-in-law Alexander Cleage for Katie (Catherine), and her siblings. They are not related to me, but are part of the community that my Cleages were also a part of on Alexander’s plantation.
Register
L. R. Hurst – bill sale – Alexander Cleage
State of Tennessee McMinn County October 19th 1857, For and in Consideration of the sum of Six thousand five hundred dollars, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, I have this day sold and delivered unto Alexander Cleage Six negroes, Vis, Charles, about eighteen, Abram, aged about sixteen, Isaac aged about fifteen years, Catharine, aged about thirteen, years, and Horrace & George, twins, aged about eight years, slaves for life, I bind myself to warrant and defend the title to said property given under my hand date above, witness, J. S. Hurst, L. R. Hurst
Related posts
“My husband purchased her when quite a child…” – Jemima Cleage
Katie Cleage Civil War Pension File
Small Pox! Phillip died of small pox!
Schools should teach history through genealogy, it is a different experience with world events when they are part of your family history.
That’s so true. Studying ‘regular people’ especially our own, beings it all to life. You were the first generation not to get a small pox vaccination. I’ve still got my very faint scar.
Yes he did. Katie lived in the big house as seamstress so she was vaccinated when the family was. Phillip lived in the quarters so he wasn’t. I didn’t even realize until I was writing the posts for Katie’s pension file that there even were vaccines back then.
Tbey were only married for 4 years before he died! In those years the had 2 kids and buried them, went to war and moved a few times! I rember those posts of her military pension file. So much information there
And she was 16 and he was 19 when they got together during slavery. The slave holders children were still in school.
Do you know Katie’s last name before she married? Was her last name Keith? I think I may have seen Katie Keith some in your writings.
Her parent’s last name was Hurst because they were on the Hurst plantation. Katie went to Alexander Cleage’s plantation. She was married at 16 to Phillip by the slave holder and he didn’t care about last names, but this particular Katie didn’t go by Keith.
Thank you!
Your A to Z posts are as good as a history lesson for me, reading afar,. from Australia.
That is good to hear. The posts about Australia, and other places, do the same for me.
Echoing Jennifer’s comment from Australia. Your post are opening our eyes to history in a different time and place.
I’m so glad.
This is really good Kristin…. you find out so much information and it’s really neat to see that penmanship…imagine if they taught kids to actually write now. That penmanship it itself is an art, not to mention the information you are digging up from the research.
Cheers,
Barbie
That’s some of the better penmanship. Some are so hard to make out.