Unknown Man on Unknown Road
Category Archives: Cleages
Gamma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha
My grandfather, Albert B. Cleage Sr is 5th from the left, top row. Dr. Ames, who I talked about here Births, Deaths,Doctors and Detroit – Part 2- The Doctors & Detroit in the 1920s is 7th from the left in the 3rd row down.
Gamma Lamda ChapterAlpha Phi Alpha
Fraternity
Detroit, Mich 1926
Albert B. Cleage Jr. – Album Page
Today I have posted a page from a small photo album that featured a page for each member of my father’s family, plus some family friends. The contact size photos were not very carefully pasted in and are not identified or dated. Judging by the ages of the people, I think they were taken about 1938. Which makes my father, Albert B. Cleage Jr (Also known as “Toddy” to family and friends), 27. The theme this week is a man sleeping while posing for a photograph.
To see another page from the album, click Grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage
To see Sleeping (and other) Sepia Saturday offerings, click HERE.
An Interview with Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. – 1967/1968
My friend, historian Paul Lee, put this short clip of an interview of my father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. by Chet Huntley on You Tube. It is from late 1967 or early 1968, not long after the 1967 Detroit riot.
For a post about my experience of the Detroit riot click HERE.
For an audio of my father’s sermon the Sunday after the riot click HERE.
A Plea For Peace – Signed by Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr – 1948
A PLEA FOR PEACE and for AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Americans want and CAN HAVE PEACE. Many of us are shocked at the war hysteria evident in the President’s message to Congress on St. Patricks Day. We must not be swept into war. We will not flinch in our determination to save our traditional American freedom. The fight for democracy and for peace is not subversive – it is our American heritage.
Because our American tradition has made it possible for peoples of all creeds and opinions to live in peace within our borders, we know that Americans can live in peace with all peoples of the world no matter what their way of life. The United Nations must be supported and strengthened as the hope and prayer of all mankind for deliverance from the barbarism of atomic war.
We plead with Congress not to accept the President’s proposals on Universal Military Training and the draft as this program would militarize America and thereby lead to a police state and to war. We urge all like-minded people to make known their views. WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS TODAY.
Rev. F. B. Archibald Ben Wolf R.C. Weller, Jr.
Rev. James H. Hamer Dr. Carolyn Prowler Prof. Frank A. Warren
Rev. Glenn B. Glazier Robenia Anthony Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr.
Rev. Hadley B. Williams Maurice Kurn Rev. Hesakiah M. Hutchings
Rev. Emory Lincoln Wallace Richard M. Klein Rabbi Samuel Price
Leon Massa Rev. Howard L. Moore Sigmond Gomula
Abe Hoffman Rev. W.T. Teague Martin Griffin
Prof. Charles H. Hapgood Rabbi Naphthali Frischberg
What did Louis Cleage Look Like?
Lewis Cleage is one of my ancestors that I do not have a photograph of. Above is a photograph of his wife, Celia Rice Sherman holding their granddaughter Barbara Cleage Martin.
This photograph includes their five children. In the front are Albert B. Cleage Sr. (my grandfather), Josephine (Josie) Cleage and Edward Cleage. Behind Albert is Henry and behind Edward is Jacob (Jake).
Below are several descriptions and stories of Lewis by grandchildren who never met him.
Lewis Cleage and Celia were married and had young children. One of them was grandfather Cleage. Lewis C. worked all day for 50 cents. Celia worked all week for 50 cents. He often spent his on good times before he got home. Many nights he spent in jail – drunk – playing the guitar and singing! One evening she waited for him where he worked so she could get him and the money home before he spent it. He had had a drink or two and was cussing and threatening her as they went down a country road toward home. She was hanging on to him and crying. A passing white man stopped them, cursed Lewis, told him to stop abusing his wife, etc. And if he heard in future about him abusing her, he would find him and kill him. They never saw him again, until…
About twenty years later Celia was on the train going to see her children – who were now grown with children of their own. A white man on the train spoke to her. Asked if she wasn’t the same woman he had seen on the country road, etc., etc., and asked how she was!
Thought you would enjoy this. Louis remembers everything – knows lots of good stories.
Story by Louis Cleage (grandson) as told to Doris Graham Cleage. 1-29-79
Grandfather Louis: Tall, big-boned man in stature, heavy voice, coarse hair.
As described by Juanita Cleage Martin (granddaughter) in her writing “Memories to Memoirs” 1990
Lewis Cleage was a large, dark skinned man. He spent a lot of time playing his guitar, drinking and landing in jail. They could hear him in the cabin over at the jail, singing and playing the guitar. He’d get drunk, they’d throw him in jail. He was born in Louden, Tennessee and was shot early on, leaving Celia a widow.
As described by Henry W. Cleage (grandson) to Kristin Cleage Williams 1990s
According to his death certificate, Lewis Cleage didn’t die until 1918 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He died of Lobar pneumonia. I think I need to figure out how to find court records and see if I can find him there.
Louis Cleage – Work Day Wednesday
Louis Cleage was my paternal great grandfather. Lewis was born into slavery about 1852 in McMinn County Tennessee on the plantation of Alexander Cleage. I first found him in the 1870 Census in McMinn county, TN living with his family. His age was listed as 16 and he was neither employed nor in school. His father, Frank, was a laborer.
By 1880 Louis was married to my great grandmother, Celia Rice Cleage, and 4 of his 5 children had been born. My grandfather, Albert, would not be born until 1882. Louis’ age was listed as 28 and he was farming in Loudon County, Tennessee.
By 1900 Louis and Celia were no longer together. Celia lived in Athens, Tennessee with her second husband, Roger W. Sherman. The children lived with her and were attending school. Louis was working as a furnace laborer in the iron and steel industry that had grown up in Birmingham, AL. He had not been unemployed during the past year.
According to The Encyclopedia of Alabama: “The companies kept labor costs low by employing black workers, who came from depressed agricultural areas and supplied cheap labor. And the coal used to fire the furnaces was largely mined by forced convict labor leased to the companies at very low rates by the state and county governments.”
In the 1910 Census Louis Cleage was in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area working as a railroad laborer. He was enumerated in a railroad camp. He was listed as 54 years old and had been in his second marriage for 11 years. He was a wage worker and has not been unemployed during the past year, including the day before this census was taken, April 29, 1910. At age 54, there were only two men in the camp older than he was – 56 year old Lee McConnel and 70 year old Fate Parker. Most of the men are in their 20s and 30s with a good number in their late teens.
Louis could neither read nor write according to all the censuses. On his death certificate in 1918 his occupation is listed as laborer. His children all finished high school. Several of his sons graduated from college. My grandfather, grew up to be a physician. Uncle Edward was a barber with his own shop. Uncle Henry was a teacher and, after his move north, a postal worker. Uncle Jake (Jacob) was a teacher and, after moving to Detroit, a Wayne County deputy.
I got the idea for this post on the Blog, Reflecting on Genealogy.
Family Tree of Workers – Labor Day
Last year on Labor Day, I posted a chart of 7 generations of my family’s work history on both of my blogs. (How did I miss that I’ve been blogging for over a YEAR??) Today I’m going to repost them with a few minor changes. I can only find Lewis and Judy Cleage in the 1870 US Census and their marriage record. I am not convinced that all the children listed living with them are their children if their ages are correct. But having no other information, I put them in. I do not know what work the children did in the future. I think I will look for them again. Annie Green Reed had two husbands and four more children but I left them off of this chart. They were all laborers or farmers or housewives. Both Buford Averitt and Robert Allen come to the family tree as white men who did not acknowledge their black offspring as far as we know. Oral history and records of birth, marriage and death account for their making it onto my chart. I’ve pinpointed Buford but there are several possibilities with Robert so he has no job here. My direct line is highlighted in yellow. You can see a similar chart for my maternal side HERE.
Presbyterian Church Connections in the Cleage Family
Yesterday I was working like mad to complete an entry for the “Carnival of Genealogy – Our Ancestors Places of Worship”, by the midnight deadline when I came across two interesting pieces of new information.
First, even though I thought I had done this before with no success, I asked my cousins to ask their mothers what church they had attended as children in Detroit. The answer came back – St. John’s Presbyterian Church. At first I thought there was some confusion because I knew that my father had been pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield, Mass. and St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit but St. Johns Presbyterian? I didn’t remember ever hearing of it before. So, I googled it and found that not only was there a St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit but that my Cleage grandparents were among founders and that it was founded in 1919, the same year my Graham grandfather was participating in the founding of Plymouth Congregational Church, also in Detroit, also on the East side. I looked for more information on St. Johns. I searched for even one photograph of the old church. I came up with very little. I looked through the family photos for something that looked like it was taken at a church but also found nothing aside from a few where the family is on their way to church. I did find the information below.
Detroit and the Great Migration 1916-1929, by Elizabeth Anne Martin Religion and the Migrant
“We, the believers in Christ members, are very proud of our rich heritage. We rejoice always; give praise and thanksgiving to our Lord for His abundant blessings of the faithful shoulders we stand on. We accept our charge of ensuring an African-American Presbyterian witness for our Lord in the city of Detroit, Michigan and beyond to the glory of God! St. John’s Presbyterian Church was among the new congregations formed because of the migration. In the winter of 1917 Reverend J.W. Lee, “field secretary for church extension among colored people in the North,” came to Detroit hoping to establish a Presbyterian church. He was disturbed by the fact that many migrants of the Presbyterian faith had turned to other denominations because there were no Presbyterian churches in Detroit. In April 1919 Lee organized thirty-nine believers into a new congregation. He served as pastor until 1921, when he recruited a southern preacher front Alabama to take his place. By 1925 the Sunday services at St. John’s were so popular that some people arrived as much as three hours early in order to secure seats. Hundreds of persons had to be turned away at both Sunday and weekday services.” One clarification, there were Presbyterian churches in Detroit but they were white.
Something the churches my grandparents helped fond have in common is that they were both urban renewed and torn down to make way for, in the case of Plymouth, a parking structure and I’m not sure what for St. Johns but neither of the historic church buildings are standing today, although both churches are still going strong in their new buildings.
Next I decided to google the church my grandfather, Albert Cleage attended when he was growing up in Athens Tennessee. I found that he was too young to have helped start First United Presbyterian Church, it was founded in 1890 and he was born in 1883. However, his step-father, my great grandmother Celia Rice Cleage Sherman’s second husband, Rodger Sherman, is listed as the architect of the church on Wikepidia. Amazed? Yes, I was. Mr. Sherman and Celia Cleage weren’t married until 1897, First United Presbyterian church had been standing for 5 years by then. The church is still standing and still looking good today.
From the Website “J. Lawrence Cook – An Autobiography”
“After a short time at Fisk, just how long I do not know, my father (note: J.L. Cook) entered Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee. [5] He worked to pay his expenses, and was also aided by donations from individuals back in his home town of Athens. In 1888 he received his bachelor’s degree from Knoxville College and entered Allegheny Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to prepare for the Presbyterian ministry. [6] On 9 April 1890 he was licensed as a minister by the Allegheny Presbytery, and with this credential returned to Athens to establish a United Presbyterian mission. Fresh out of seminary, he began holding services in an old dance hall. [7]”
Other posts about church founding in my family.
From Montgomery to Detroit, A Congregational Church – COG Our Ancestors Places of Worship
Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church 1909, Indianapolis Indiana
Past is Present – Springfield Massachusetts 1948 – 1950
Here are three combined photographs using Google Images with photographs of my family superimposed on them. I am participating in World Photography Day on August 19, through the Family Curator website with these photos.
This a photograph of my mother, Doris Graham Cleage, standing on the porch of the parsonage at 210 King Street. This was taken in 1946, Several months after I was born.
St. John’s Congregational Church on the corner of Union and Hancock Streets in Springfield, Mass. My father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr, is sitting on the porch. This was around 1948.
The last photo was taken on the Community house/parsonage that we lived in after the house on King Street was sold. I am on the left, a little girl from church is in the middle and my sister Pearl is on the right. This was taken in 1950 soon before we moved to Detroit.