Category Archives: Cleages

Bill of Sale for Charity, Caroline, Jim, Joe, Sally, Arch, Margth, Bill, Charles, Mary, Henry and Lydia Cleage

African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Cleages

This is a copy of a companion Bill of Sale to the one that conveyed my 2 X great grandfather Frank Cleage from David Cleage, Walter Nutter and Elizabeth H. Nutter to Alexander Cleage.  After the death of Samuel Cleage, father of David, Elizabeth and Alexander, died there was some shuffling around of enslaved people, livestock and household property between the sibling.  In each document 12 slaves and the same amount of money are exchanged.  This is one of three Bills of Sale that I have of those transactions.  It is transcribed below. As always, click on them to enlarge.  There was no punctuation in the document and I added none.bill of sale david cleage 5Bill of sale - David Cleage

Know all men by these presents that we Alexander Cleage and Walter Nutter and his wife Elizabeth H Nutter have this day bargained and sold to David Cleage and his heirs and assigns forever Charity fourteen,  Caroline sixteen  Jim thirty  Joe eight  Sally near ten  Arch sixteen  Margth fourteen  Bill forty five  Charles twenty four  Mary thirty one  Henry four  Lydia one year of age

For five thousand two hundred and fifty dollars being his distribution share out of the proceeds of the slaves of Samuel Cleage deceased  We warrant said negroes (sic) to be slaves for life and that we as the heirs at law of Samuel Cleage have a right to convey them

Given under our hands and seals this 20th day of March 1852

Witness

Sam H Jordon                                            Alex Cleage

Geo W Mayo                                      Walter Nutter

Elizabeth H Nutter

State of Tennessee

County of McMinn

Personally appeared before me Geo W Mayo clerk of the county court of said county Alexander Cleage  Walter Nutter and Elizabeth H Nutter wife of said Nutter the bargainers to the above bill of sale with whom I am personally acquainted each of whom acknowledge the due execution of the same on the day and year it bears date and for the purpose therein expressed and that the said Elizabeth Nutter wife of the aforementioned Walter Nutter was by me examined privately and apart from her said husband Walter Nutter who declared that she executed same knowingly & free from any compulsion or restraint on the part of her said husband Walter Nutter

Given under my hand at office in Athens the 20th day of March 1852

Geo W Mayo clerk

Bill of Sale

Alex Cleage

Walter Nutter

Elizabeth H Nutter

to

David Cleage

Bill of Sale for Joe, Jane, Lynd, Frank, Phillip, Lewis, Sam, Jeff, Martha, Lea, Julian and Patsy Cleage

African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Cleages, Slavery,

This is a copy of the Bill of Sale that conveyed my 2 X great grandfather Frank Cleage from David Cleage, Walter Nutter and Elizabeth H. Nutter to Alexander Cleage.  After the death of Samuel Cleage, father of David, Elizabeth and Alexander, died there was some shuffling around of enslaved people, livestock and household property between the siblings.  This is one of three Bills of Sale that I have of those transactions.  The documents are transcribed below. As always, click on them to enlarge.  There was no punctuation in the document and I added none.

slave docs cleage to alex
to alex cover

Know all men by these presents that we David Cleage and Walter Nutter and his wife Elizabeth H Nutter have this day bargained and sold to Alexander Cleage and his heirs and assigns forever Joe forty four years of age  Jane eighteen  Lynd eleven  Frank thirty nine  Phillip forty  Lewis twenty six  Sam ten  Jeff five  Martha twenty one  Lea thirty four  Julian forty three  Patsy five

For five thousand two hundred and fifty dollars being his distribution share out of the proceeds of the slaves of Samuel Cleage deceased  We warrant said negroes (sic) to be slaves for life and that we as the heirs at law of Samuel Cleage have a right to convey them

Given under our hands and seals this 20th day of March 1852

Witness

Sam H Jordon                                            David Cleage

Geo W Mayo                                               Walter Nutter

                                                                       Elizabeth H Nutter

State of Tennessee

County of McMinn

Personally appeared before me Geo W Mayo clerk of the county court of said county David Cleage  Walter Nutter and Elizabeth H Nutter wife of said Nutter the bargainers to the above bill of sale with whom I am personally acquainted each of whom acknowledge the due execution of the same on the day and year it bears date and for the purpose therein expressed and that the said Elizabeth Nutter wife of the aforementioned Walter Nutter was by me examined privately and apart from her said husband Walter Nutter who declared that she executed same knowingly & free from any compulsion or restraint on the part of her said husband Walter Nutter

Given under my hand at office in Athens the 20th day of March 1852

Geo W Mayo clerk

Bill of Sale

David Cleage

Walter Nutter

Elizabeth H Nutter

to

Alex Cleage

Louis Cleage & Family – 1880

Cleages,
Loudon County farm land today.
Loudon County farm land today.

In 1880 my great grandfather Louis Cleage was 28.  His wife Celia (Rice) Cleage was 24. They were farming in Loudon County Tennessee. They had been married for 8 years and were the parents of four children – 7 year old Josie, 5 year old Jacob, 3 year old Henry and 1 year old Edward.  Louis’ 20 year old sister, Tennessee lived with them along with 5 year old Louseny.  Their 5th child, my grandfather Albert,  would not be born until 1882.  None of the adults could read or write.  The children were too young to attend school.

32686_236972-00701n
The census as it appeared on Ancestry.com.

The 1880 Agricultural Census Schedule that includes Louis Cleage are in poor condition.  Parts of it are unreadable because they are blackened. Other parts are pale and blurry making them difficult to read.  This is the information I could make out.  He rented his land for shares of his crops.  He had 15 tillable acres and 5 acres in woodland and forest. The farm, buildings, land and fences were worth $150. Farm implements and machinery were worth $125. The livestock was worth $125. He had 1 milch cow and produced 25 lbs of butter in 1879. I was unable to read if he had any swine, chickens, mules or horses, I hope he did. He had no working oxen.   He planted 25 acres of Indian corn, yielding 100 bushels. He planted 5 acres of oats, yielding 25 bushels and 5 acres of wheat that yielded 25 bushels.

As I was going over the 1880 Agricultural Census for Louis Cleage, I noticed some differences with my 2X great grandfather on my mother’s side, Joe Turner in Lowndes County, AL.  When I compared population censuses, farmers who owned enough land to be included in the agricultural census were further apart in Lowndes County.  There were many farm laborers enumerated in between. The farmers in Loundon County TN were right next to each other in the  population schedule.  Farm holdings were also smaller in Loudon County than in Lowndes County, AL.  I may go into this more in a future post.

By 1991, The Cleages were back in Athens, McMinn County.  This post Louis Cleage – Work Day Wednesday follows Louis through the following decades as he worked in the mines of Birmingham, AL and as a railroad hand.

Hugh Fishing At the Meadows

Cleages, sepia saturday,

Route from Capac to Detroit.
Route from Capac to Detroit.

I have used some of this information before but the photographs are all first timers.

These photographs were taken at “The Meadows” near Capac, St Clair County, Michigan around 1939.

My Aunt Gladys remembers that her father Dr. Albert B. Cleage Sr  and a bunch of fellow doctors bought it. It was to be a place where everyone could get away and the kids could meet and play… big house on the property with a porch that wrapped around 2/3 of the house…  dances on the porches… near Capac Michigan… they sold it later. She kind of remembers parties on the porch… a getaway other than the Boule or Idlewild … her brothers and their friends spending a couple weeks at the meadows during the summer and brother Louis packing the provisions.

Hugh at meadows
“Hugh at Meadows” fishing with a homemade stick pole.  I wonder if he caught the fish on the string below with that pole.

Hugh fish meadows 7:1939
This photograph of Hugh was also taken at the Meadows in July 1939.

Some entries about the Meadows from Hugh’s brother Henry’s diary, several years earlier in 1936.

August 29         Meadows
Arrived at meadows at about 7:30 (getting dark) Had seen Velma before I left – I have her ring now – after had gotten our trunk in – we went down to creek – other’s brought some wood up and started a fire – I stayed down watching the creek and the farm – as it was dark they worried and came and got me.

August 30        Meadows
Sunday Richard’s club gave a picnic – we played ball off and on all day.  Daddy came out and brought Bobby – wrote two letters – Velma and Carolyn.  Bobby deliver them.

Last night when the others were in bed Morrow, George, Paul, Hugh and I sat around camp fire and sang – Nice but a little chilly  (Benard’s parents came out)

Henry Cleage at the Meadows in July 1939.
Henry Cleage at the Meadows in July 1939.

August 31       Meadows
After breakfast some of us went swimming – after that we all worked on a raft till dinner – chopped heavy logs from a fallen tree – tied together with grape vines and barrel wire – after dinner went & christened it “Frogy Bottom” & launched it – it immediately sank – logs were too heavy – were we mortified – the same group sat around the campfire again sang after dark.

September 1     Meadows
“Gee! but I’m blue, and so lonely, I don’t know what to do, but dream of you!” (a song I like to sing out here)

Boys are playing horse shoes just after dinner – we fished and swam today – George caught a pretty large bass and I, trying to throw him across river to Morocco – threw him in.

I like to get on the hill and look down towards the creek in the evening and watch –  The other nite I was there, Morocco, George, Hugh and Benard were chopping wood.  Louis and Paul were sitting further down the hill with their arms full of wood – It was almost nite – The faint light from the west gave the scene a surreal quality – The grass uneven, the rolling land, the giant trees, the creek, all outlined in this light and the boys too reminded me of an illustration in the book “Tom Browns School Days.”

 

2014.10W.05
To see more Sepia Saturday posts, CLICK!

My Aunt Barbara Colorized – 1943

Cleages, Photographs

Last week I had several photographs of my Aunt Mary V. colorized.  This week I have a colorized photo of my father’s sister, Barbara Cleage Martin.  This photo is printed on thick, off white paper. I believe one of the Cleage photographers took and developed the photo. Which family member, I don’t know.  It was taken in 1943 when she was 23 years old.

Barbara colorized blog
Colorized photo. Click photos to enlarge.

 

A photo taken the same day that wasn't colorized.
A photo taken the same day that wasn’t colorized.

A Stagecoach On A Trip West

Cleages, sepia saturday

As I went through photographs of vehicles trying to decide which to use for the stagecoach prompt, I finally remembered that I did have a stagecoach photograph in my Cleage family photographs.  I used this before along with other photographs from a trip my grandparents made out West during the 1950s.  I cannot make out the writing on the side of the coach because when I blow it up, the photo is a bit blurry, as though the photographer did not hold quite still.  Looking at the building on the right, which seems to be a false front with platforms and such in the back, I surmise that this was a movie set.  If only I had noticed these photographs during my grandmother’s life time and asked her to tell me about the trip!  Alas, I did not.

A stagecoach on the big trip West.
A stagecoach on the big trip West.

My stylish grandparents - Albert and Pearl Cleage. He is wearing the rakish white hat and she is wearing the stylish black hat, with a feather.
My stylish grandparents – Albert and Pearl Cleage. He is wearing the rakish white hat and she is wearing the stylish black hat.

To see more photographs from this same trip, Trains – My Grandparent’s Mystery Tour.

For more Sepia Saturday CLICK!
For more Sepia Saturday CLICK!

Dunbar Hospital Article – 1995

Cleages, Detroit

More about Dunbar Hospital which was recently saved from being sold at auction when the it was decided to let the owners pay all back taxes, fines and water bill.  The article seems to be based on an interview with my aunt, Barbara Cleage Martin/Cardinal Nandi.

dunbar 1995

The sign on front lawn reads:

Dunbar Hospital: Michigan Historic Site.

At the time of World War I, health care for black Detroiters was inferior to that available for whites. Black physicians could not join the staffs of Detroit’s white hospitals. On May 20, 1918, thirty black doctors, members of the Allied Medical Society (now the Detroit Medical Society) incorporated Dunbar Hospital, the city’s first non-profit community hospital for the black population. It also housed the first black nursing school in Detroit. Located in a reform-minded neighborhood, this area was the center of a social and cultural emergence of the black residents of the city during the 1920s. In 1928 Dunbar moved to a larger facility and was later renamed Parkside, operating under that name until 1962. In 1978 the Detroit Medical Society, an affiliate of the National Medical Association, purchased the site for their administrative headquarters and a museum.

You can read more about Dunbar Hospital in previous posts at these links A Speech on the Graduation of the first class of nurses,  Births, Deaths, Doctors and Detroit, Part 2,Dunbar Hospital 1922 and 2014.  You can read about this building being auctioned in September 2014 here Detroit’s first black hospital hits auction…

And here is an article from The Michigan Citizen about the Dunbar Hospital being saved. Let’s hope something positive is done with it now. Saving the Dunbar.

Reading Mad Magazine at Old Plank

Cleages, sepia saturday,

My uncle Hugh, cousin Warren and sister Pearl in the living room at Old Plank.
My uncle Hugh, cousin Warren and sister Pearl in the living room at Old Plank.

Unfortunately Warren was not reading the Saturday Evening Post in this photo, he is reading a Mad Magazine.  For several years I remember copies being around the house.  Such a crazy magazine.

By searching online I was able to find a copy of the cover of this issue.  It is dated October  1962.  The copy in the picture above looks pretty new. Everybody seems to be wearing cool weather clothes so it could well be October of 1962.  Warren and Pearl were both high school freshman in 1962.  Hugh was printer/owner of Cleage Printers.

Old Plank was the farm house on two acreas that my family owned near Wixom, Michigan.  We spent as much time as we could there and were often joined by other family members who also made the short drive from Detroit.

mad_magazine_10:1962

You can read more about Old Plank in these posts:

Playing Poker at Old Plank

Picking Beans at Old Plank

Biking at Old Plank

2014.09W.06
For more Sepia Saturday, CLICK!

 

Dunbar Hospital Again

Cleages, Detroit,

I saved this article from the Detroit Free Press years ago during the 1980s, because my grandfather, Dr. Albert B. Cleage Sr was one of the founding doctors of Dunbar Hospital and the article featured my aunt and cousins.  By August 2014, Dunbar was being auctioned for unpaid taxes, after being closed up for years.  I should have written the date on it.  Click each article to enlarge so that you can read.

dunbarcleage
Dr. Ernest Martin, Warren Evans, Anna Cleage Shreve and her daughter Dr. Maria Shreve Benaim.

dunbarcleage2You can read more about Dunbar Hospital in previous posts at these links A Speech on the Graduation of the first class of nurses,  Births, Deaths, Doctors and Detroit, Part 2, Dunbar Hospital 1922 and 2014.  You can read about this building being auctioned in September 2014 here Detroit’s first black hospital hits auction…

And here is an article from The Michigan Citizen about the Dunbar Hospital being saved. Let’s hope something positive is done with it now. Saving the Dunbar.