All posts by Kristin

Losing Teeth

September 9, 2025generations#Ayanna, #Azaria, #Aziya, #Cabral, #Imani, #Jilo, #Marsha, #Maya, #Mumia, #Olivia, #Tulani, #Tyra, ife williams, James A. Williams, meKristin

This is the first of a series of posts comparing experiences across the generations,. Some milestones that may be covered will be losing teeth, learning to read, going to bed, waiting for holidays, school days and others that may be suggested by family members.

Today we share memories of losing teeth from family members ages six through 80.

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Jilo: Mommy did you have an active tooth fairy retrieving your teeth as a child? Did daddy?

Me: I did. She would take our teeth and leave a dime or maybe a quarter, along with a box of Jujyfruits or Good and Plenty. I was talking to Pearl about the tooth fairy and she said “I remember a quarter but no candy! I think the tooth fairy played favorites lol.” I’m sure I remember a little box of candy under my pillow. Maybe by the time Pearl was losing teeth, the tooth fairy had decided against leaving candy.

Ife: Mommy, the tooth fairy left you candy? That sounds like something done to keep those teeth coming.

Me: It does seem incongruous. But I’ve heard that the Tooth Fairy does like candy!

Me: Your father/grandfather remembers nothing about a tooth fairy or money or even losing teeth. Your uncle Michael remembers the tooth fairy and getting a dollar under his pillow.

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My collection of my children’s lost teeth.

I used to save all of my children’s teeth. Didn’t someone find them? I still have them and they are so small!

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Tulani: I don’t remember losing any teeth, but I do remember getting 50 cents from the tooth fairy and putting teeth under my pillow. I also remember finding all the saved teeth in your jewelry box one time when Jilo banished me to your room for fighting with Ife or something, and I was looking through your jewelry box. I was older and don’t recall being disappointed.
No teeth under pillows for my children. And no money. Just the satisfaction of ripping a tooth out. Except Tatayana who worked the system and got whatever money Jilo was handing out.

Tatayana: I don’t think I ever believed in the tooth fairy, but I knew some of my cousins did so I’m pretty sure a few times when my teeth fell out I went to spend the night at Aunt Jilo’s because they got a few dollars there when their teeth fell out . I definitely used to push my teeth out. I also remember having Futch tie one of my teeth to dental floss and pull it out when I couldn’t get it out myself .

Matthew: “My very first loose tooth came out when I was eating spaghetti. I was sure it was blood, but it was just sauce! I don’t believe in the tooth fairy and don’t think I ever did. Big foot and tooth fairy same old same old. Just stories and not true. I collect my teeth and keep them in a box. Sometime I go back and look at them and remember how I lost them. “. I asked him his favorite tooth memory and he smiled a big smile and said, “that summer at the hotel when it was loose and dad tied it to a piece of dental floss to the door and slammed the door to yank it out. The first two times I was scared and moved with the door, but the third time it worked!”

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Me: As a continuing part of my losing teeth investigation, when Azaria and Aziya were here for my birthday celebration, I asked them if they put their teeth under their pillow and if they found any money in the morning. Aziya nodded. Azaria said that they did put their teeth under their pillows and they found $3 in the morning. She added that her mother didn’t have a tooth fairy when she was little, she had a tooth rat. Luckily I was able to ask Marsha and get her story.

Marsha: Lol…When I was little, I didn’t imagine the usual sparkly tooth fairy. Mine was a little rat dressed up as Abu from Aladdin. The night I placed my tooth under my pillow after watching Aladdin and I must’ve been half-asleep when I pictured Abu rat sneaking in to take my tooth. The next day I told my mom what I saw, and she thought it was so cute . So now my mom shares that story with Azaria and Aziya. Now it’s kind of become a sweet little family memory.

Me: When I asked Cabral if he remembered losing teeth and getting money under his pillow or anything, he replied kinda but not really. Tulani remembers when Cabral was about five he was sledding down the hill in front of the house and hit the fence post and lost a front tooth. He lost the other front tooth soon afterwards. They were out a long time.

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Dear Tooth fairy Why did you not responde and come yesterday? How are you please write

Tyra: I didn’t have any change. After that, I started keeping a stock of Dollar Store trinkets. Maya lost a tooth in an apple at lunch and the tooth came home in a baggie of cracker crumbs. We thought the tooth was lost but the tooth fairy visited anyway. I found the baggie in her lunch box the next morning.

Tyra: I got silver coins, probably 50 cents? I left a dollar until i started leaving trinkets. I didn’t always have cash. And Maya didn’t always tell me she had a loose tooth. They liked the trinkets. Money was less gratifying. I needed to be fairy ready! The loose to lost process seemed to go pretty quickly with them. Two or three days. Olivia lost three teeth in one day. Once she got over the fear of pain, she pulled her own teeth.

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Jilo: I didn’t aggressively try to get teeth to fall out but I wiggled them when they were loose. When the tooth came out, I put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy came, took the tooth and left money. I don’t remember how much, but I remember being excited and looking forward to it. Also trying to stay awake to see her come. I believed in the tooth fairy until the time I put a tooth under my pillow and it was still there in the morning. When I told mommy she said “Oh! With Ayanna being sick I didn’t get a chance to get your tooth last night.” I still haven’t recovered. I don’t think that she knew that I really believed the tooth fairy was real. I mean why wouldn’t the tooth fairy be real when the other fairies are out there doing fairy things. To be honest I don’t think I stopped believing, I just figure she had a group of helpers like any international business woman would.

Hasina: Can confirm that at the Tisdale house we had the tooth fairy! I did make mine fall out faster – my favorite technique was to wiggle the tooth until I could fit the tip of my tongue underneath it to then push up and pop the tooth out. I think we got a dollar per, in cash or coin form.

Abeo: I honestly don’t remember much about the tooth fairy or loosing teeth. But I did have to have a tooth pulled out at the dentist cause an adult tooth grew in fully and the baby tooth wasn’t even loose or wiggly. Still got a crooked bottom tooth to show for it

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Sydney: I second that, the Graham household also had the tooth fairy.

Sydney: I feel like a dollar sounds right or maybe even 25 cents per tooth I don’t remember. I did not push my teeth out. I would wait until it was hanging on by a literal thread and my mom would have to pull it while i was sleeping.

Ife: The Graham House did have a fairy. She brought $1 per tooth in quarters. Occasionally she missed a pickup, usually Sydney’s, and I would tell Sydney that she hadn’t come because Sydney hadn’t slept enough and she didn’t want to be seen. Then we would leave the tooth another night and she would eventually get it.

Sydney would not wiggle her teeth much, like she was afraid of having them come out and several times her gums would grow around the teeth to keep it from falling out and we had to go to the dentist to get them out. Extra healthy gums were to blame. I still have all the teeth in dated little ziplock bags in my bedside table. What does a mother do with the teeth after the fairy turns over possession?

Sean and Sydney also argued with me about the existence of the fairy when I finally told them she wasn’t real. They had evidence to prove she did.

Ayanna: @ife do you have enough to make a line of smiling mugs?

Ife: Ayanna , I will look but I’m pretty sure they are such tiny teeth, they might need to be shot glasses ife

Abeo: I love that you still have Sean and Sydney’s lil teeth, ife!

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Kylett: I don’t recall ever believing in the tooth fairy. I think Cecelia might have had the tradition of giving us a quarter or two if we lost a tooth. She just gave the coins directly to us. I don’t remember any associations with us going to sleep or finding it under our pillow. Unfortunately I think for at least two of my teeth, they came out while I was eating and I accidentally swallowed them. I can’t recall what happened with the other teeth, we might have just thrown them away.

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James: Mumia remembers losing his first tooth at 4 years old. He let it come out at its own speed, not much pushing or rushing it. Once it was out, he thinks he got 5 dollars and 50 cents for it. At the time, he did believe that money came from the tooth fairy.

Ayanna: $5.50 for one tooth!

James: I remember losing an adult tooth when I was about 10. There was still part of the tooth left so the dentist put a filler on there. They said over time it would die and it would need to be pulled out, but so far so good. When I look at it, it’s shaped a bit differently, but it hasn’t given me any trouble. I remember losing another adult tooth at 15 or 16, when I was playing basketball in the street over by Reed’s house.
I don’t have much detail to my memories about losing my baby teeth. I am pretty sure we got 50 cents, but am not sure about the amount (vaguely remember that it was coins rather than paper though).

Ayanna: I remember nothing, really. I am sure we had visits from a nice tooth fairy or maybe I never lost any teeth? I still believe in the tooth fairy.

James: I agree with Ayanna. I heard stories about the tooth fairy leaving money when I was a kid, but I didn’t really believe in her – until I met her at a community festival earlier this year (apparently, she lives in Seattle).

Here is an article about her in the NYT, The Tooth Fairy Is Real. She’s a Dentist in Seattle.

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James: Imani and I made plans to try and catch the tooth fairy in action for a couple of her teeth that were lost over here. No luck yet though. The plans were nothing too extravagant, just stacking a few toys by the window, so the tooth fairy would knock them down if she came in that way, and me saying I would check on her often once she fell asleep and snap a picture of the Fairy if I came in when she was switching the tooth.

“Imani says she does know about the tooth fairy. When she lost her last tooth she left a little doll bed and snack size bag of skittles out on her dresser for the Tooth Fairy. In the morning, the skittles were gone!!!”

James: I was like “Wow. I didn’t even know that the Tooth Fairy liked Candy.”

Imani smiled and responded, “Well, I guess now you know… ” she thought about it a few seconds then added, “all the skittles were gone so she definitely does like Candy!”

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Other information about the Tooth Fairy . It turns out there is a well known Tooth Rat – “El Ratoncito Rerez” who takes teeth and leaves something under the pillow in Spanish speaking countries! And La Petite Souris (The Little Mouse) who preforms tooth duties in France and French speaking Belgium.

Tooth Fairy
Lillian Brown introduces the modern Tooth Fairy 1908
Ratoncito Perez

A to Z REFLECTIONS

May 2, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry ResearchKristin

REFLECTIONS

This was my twelfth year doing the A to Z Challenge. When I did my first challenge in 2013, there were over 1,800 participants. This year there were 179. I didn’t notice a big change in the number of comments. In fact, I may have gotten a few more this year. I was especially happy to get comments from several of my family members!

This year for the A to Z Challenge I posted an event for each date involving someone in my family tree. I had all of my posts pre-written. I did a bit of editing on the last few right before they published because I had left them since I had so much time and then forgotten. After reading On This Day in April by CRGalvin, I decided that every day during April I would also pick a happening from my family history that happened on that date.

I enjoyed finding the daily items and was able to make some new connections in my ancestors lives. When I do the A to Z Challenge, I have to look at my information in a different way. I look at facts that I may not have paid much attention to and find connections previously ignored.

You will find a list of my posts from this year here -> A to Z Challenge 2025 – April Family Happenings. I noticed some people are breaking down how many posts they did for men and how many for women this month. I did 13 for women (including two for me) and ten for men. With the remaining three about the founding of Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church including both.

I visited and commented on a variety of blogs. I did not attempt to visit all of them. These are the blogs I visited and commented on most days.

Anne’s Family History: family members matching the alphabet – Anne Young
Atherton’s Magic Vapour: a murder mystery – Melanie Atherton
A Multitude of Musings: personal growth and self-improvement – Astrid
Black and White: Bittersweetness & Light – Anne E.G. Nydam
Bold + Queer Kin: Melissa
CRACKERBERRIES: Empathy – Barbie
The Curry Apple Orchard: The Swinging Sixties – Linda Curry
Earlier Years: On This Day in April – CR Galvin
Family history across the seas: Airports, Airstrips, Aircraft, and Airlines – Cassmob (Pauleeen Cass)
How would you know…:Nonlinear memoir – Andrew Wilson
JillBallAu: jottings, journeys, joy – Jill Ball
Joy’s Book Blog: Activism – Joy Weese Moll
Living the Dream : personal musings – Susanne Matthews
Madly-in-Verse: all about Sarees – Nilanjana Bose
Musings of a Middle-Aged Mom : based on travel through Egypt, Turkey, and Greece – Lisa
Tell Me Another | personal stories, creative non-fiction: Books she loves – Josna Rege
Tracking Down The Family: The Earl Grey Orphan Scheme – Jennifer Jones
Very Important Stuff Here : Characters – tiredhamster

Thanks to the team that organizes the A to Z Challenge, to my husband who proof reads my posts and catches problems and to all those who read my posts and comment.

Z – Zealously Founding A New Church

April 30, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, Cleages, Indianapolis#Henry William CleageKristin

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 Founding of Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church

Begins With 31 Members
Prof. David Graham of Rushville was moderator and Rev. W. W. McCall of Greensburg was secretary. Other members present were Rev. Fred W. Schmuch of Milroy, Rev. N. B. McClung of Vevay, Rev. Mr. McDill of Madison, and Dr. Cowan of Indianapolis.
The petition was discussed at some length. By unanimous vote an organization was decided upon. The 31 members who signed the petition were as follows: Henry W. Cleage, Mrs. Carrie Perkins, Mrs. Emma Moore, A. T. Roney, Mrs. Cora Donann, Mrs. Cathern Crenshaw, Mrs. Daisy L. Brabham, Albert Cleage, Mrs. Gertrude Cleage, James Myers, Mrs. A. L. McElrath, O. F. Dennis, Mrs. Hattie Mitchell, H. M. Mitchell, Mrs. Theresa Finley, Othello Finley, Miss Edith Finley, Miss Luell E. Hibbett, Mrs. Mary Peterson, Mrs. Anna Bowman, John T. Fox, Miss Pearl Reed, Thomas H. Bransford, Mrs. O. F. Dennis, Miss Alice Mathews, Miss Hilda Reeder, W. J. Perkins, Henry Moore and H. L. Hummons.
April 30, 1907 • Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA
This is from a history of Witherspoon church that used to be on the church website, but no longer is there.

***Indianapolis Recorder***, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 May 1907 page 2

A called meeting of the Presbytery of Indiana of the United Presbyterian church met in this city at Realty hall Tuesday night and organized a colored organization with thirty one members. Dr. H. L. Hummons, Henry W. Cleage and Thomas H. Bransford were elected Elders. Dr. J. Pl Cowan of the Woodruff Place United Presbyterian church was elected moderator of the session and will have charge of the organization until a minister can be secured. There will be preaching at Realty hall Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

Members of the Presbytery present were Prof. David Graham, of Rushville, moderator, W. W. McCall of Greensburg.

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***The Indianapolis News***, Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, May 11, 1907 Page 3

I didn’t realize until I was working on this post that Henry W. Cleage’s two year old daughter died of broncho pneumonia one day after he was involved in the founding of Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church. Martha Christina Cleage had been born in Indianapolis, Indiana October 10, 1904. She was named for her maternal grandmother Martha Loving .

Henry’s wife Minnie Loving Cleage, died sometime after the daughter was born and before her death. The only evidence I have found of her in Indianapolis, aside from her daughter being born there, is an unclaimed letter in the post office in 1905.

**The Indianapolis News**, **Indianapolis, Indiana · Saturday, November 02, 1907**

Special ordination exercises were held at the Witherspoon United Presbyterian church Sunday evening. The Rev. J. P. Cowan assisted the Rev. C. W. McCall, pastor, in the services in which Henry W. Cleage was ordained a ruling elder of the church. The following have been elected trustees: Philip Tasch, James Meyers and O. Finley.

Witherspoon History – Witherspoon Presbyterian Church webpage
H is for Henry William Cleage
H is for Henry Hummons

Y – Yearly Poetry Challenge Saves the Day

April 29, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025Kristin

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.

Poem by Kristin Cleage April 29, 2023

X – Xeroxed Record

April 28, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025Howard GrahamKristin

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.

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W – Witherspoon Celebrates 40th Anniversary

April 26, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, Cleages, Indianapolis#Albert B. Cleage Sr, #Henry William Cleage, #Pearl Reed CleageKristin

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.

Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church – 1909
John Wesley Cobb 1883 – 1958
The Rev. John Brice Officiating
H is for Henry Hummons
Presbyterian Church Connections in the Cleage Family

V – Very Special Day – Twice!

April 25, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025#Celia Rice Cleage, #Louis Cleage, William Roger ShermanKristin

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.

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U – United Presbyterian Congregation Celebrates

April 24, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, Indianapolis#Albert B. Cleage Sr, #Pearl Reed Cleage, Witherspoon United Presbyterian ChurchKristin

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.

‘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.

T – The Twenty-Third of April

April 23, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, Indianapolis, Kentucky#Hugh Reed AveretteKristin

Pearl Reed about 1904 — Hugh Marion (Reed) Averette

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.

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.

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.

Hugh Reed Averette died on November 13, 1951.

More About Hugh

Hugh Marion Reed Averette – Navy Experience
Oct. 29, 1905 – A Walk Into the Country, A New Aqueduct And A New Post Office
Training Duke – Sepia Saturday #111

S – Seated Left to Right…

April 22, 2025A-Z Challenge 2025, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Detroit, GrahamsKristin

*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..

**The Michigan Chronicle**
Detroit, Michigan • Sat, Apr 15, 1939Page 3

SPEAKER URGES FAITH IN LIFE AND IN RACE

‘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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X – Xeroxed Record

W – Witherspoon Celebrates 40th Anniversary

V – Very Special Day – Twice!

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SPEAKER URGES FAITH IN LIFE AND IN RACE

Oh Freedom After While