Last week Megan and Jim Heyl were kind enough to do some cemetery sleuthing for me. In spite of the rude and unhelpful attitude of the office staff, they found the groundskeeper to be helpful. He located the sod covered headstones of my paternal grandparents. The Heyls dug them out and replaced them on top of the sod so that they are now showing. More on Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery in the future.
My father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage & me.I wrote this after the Detroit riot in July of 1967. I was 20. I had been in Idlewild, MI at my Uncle Louis’ cottage with my Aunt Gladys and some of my cousins when it started. I ended up at my Grandmother Cleage’s house where my father, several uncles and cousins were also gathered. Her house was on Atkinson, about three blocks from the 12th street corner where the riot started. Aside from a little editing for clarity, these are my memories from 1967.
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The fire siren that night in Idlewild went on and on and on. Gladys got a phone call that a riot had started. We left that morning. The sky was pink with smoke as we drove into the city.
During the riot, when it got dark, we turned off the lights, put on black clothes and waited. The shots that had been going all day got louder, closer, smashed together. We sat on the porch and watched the tanks go up and down the street full of white boys wearing glasses, aiming their guns at us.
One during the day went by in a yellow telephone repair truck. He rode in the elevated stand, pointing his rifle. We looked back at him.
Lights from helicopters whirred over us. Troops went down 12th, down 14th. The street shook. Afraid to sleep because somebody might shoot through the window, we stayed up until the sky got light. My cousins cleared out the furniture in front of the windows, so they could shoot.
Should they let them get in or shoot before they reach the porch? They lay there on quilts, looking out the window. Seeing soldiers and armored trucks in flowerpots and dump trucks. Dale asked how the gun worked. Ernie shows him by the hall light.
The guns sounded like they were in the alley. I sat on the landing. Thorough the window it was dark and unreal outside. Blair came up, scared, so we went in the basement and turned on a program about Vietnam, but then off to a horror movie nobody watched.
Daddy came down, with a drink, to use the phone and dictate demands to the papers. Ernie showed us how to bolt doors if someone tried to come in the window.
They tried to get Grandmother down to watch TV, but she wouldn’t. She stayed upstairs, watched TV and came out only at times to turn lights on and silhouette everybody hiding guns as the soldiers were pulled back.
On the police radio: Fifty policemen wounded in one hour. They were run out of the Clairmont Square again. A woman turns in her sniper husband.
Dale was left on the porch when they flashed light on the porch and summer-salted in. Bullets were so close I was afraid and went back inside.
Grandmother turning on lights with armed flower pots aiming at us.
Turning Vietnamese guns up loud to drown out theirs. Jan and I, sleeping on the hard scratchy rug. Ernie wanting just a ring to show he was there. Dale taping, taking pictures to show his children. Jesus painted Black.
All that Sunday cars full of white folks went down Linwood past the Church. Windows rolled up. Sightseeing. Long, slow lines, car after car, windows shut tight. Troop Jeeps going by pointing guns.
For other Sepia Saturday offerings click HERE.
Several weeks ago Megan Heyl took this photograph of my great grandfather Louis Cleage’s burial spot in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. He doesn’t have a headstone and neither do the people buried around him. I think it looks very peaceful. So many of my ancestors do not have headstones. I really appreciate Megan and her husband taking their time to photograph the burial spots for me.
Other posts concerning Louis Cleage
In 1990 my four youngest children began homeschooling. They went from Ayanna in 8th grade to 2 year old Cabral. Soon after we began to publish a family newsletter, The Ruff Draft. They did the writing and I did the layout. They would send out questionnaires to family members and write a Person of the Month article from the information they got back. Last night I was going through my Ruff Draft archives and thought I should publish some of the articles on my blog. Since today is my aunt’s birthday, it seems like the perfect time to run this. Last year we went to South Carolina and helped her celebrate. This year she said she’s keeping a low profile. See more photos and information about my aunt at Barbara’s 90th Birthday.
This is a photograph of the congregation of Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, IN in 1909, two years after they organized. This photograph is from the personal collection of my cousin Vivian Vaughn McDonald. My grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage is the third person on the top right. My grandfather, Albert Cleage is next to her. They wouldn’t be married for two more years. Next to Albert is his brother Jacob and next to him is their brother Henry. Directly in front of my grandfather Albert is Jacob’s wife, Gertrude. Three people over from Henry is James Cleage, their sister Josephine’s husband. He was from a different Cleage branch. In the second row, second from the right is Henrietta Cleage, oldest daughter of James and Josephine. Although the woman 4th from the left, front row, looks like Josephine to me, I’m told Josephine was not there for the photo but was home pregnant with Hattie Ruth, the youngest of her five children.
In the 1909 Indianapolis City Directory Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church is listed as located in Realty Hall with Rev. David White as Pastor.
Here is another photograph in front of the church. Also from my cousin Vivian’s collection. Josephine Cleage is on the far right, wearing a dark dress. The history below is from the Witherspoon web page, however they seem to have taken the history section down.
On April 30, 1907 the Presbytery of Indiana of the United Presbyterian Church held a called meeting at Realty Hall in response to a petition signed by 31 persons asking to be organized into a United Presbyterian congregation.
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.
For other fine Sepia Saturday photographs dealing with windows or lights or who knows click here. My family seems to have a habit of starting churches. To see a photograph of the congregation of a church started by the maternal branch of the family click Plymouth Congregational Church.
I have been looking for my great grandmother’s, Celia Rice Cleage Sherman, death record for years. I need to do a post just about that search but today I’m going to write about the death records and burial information I have found for most of the other Cleages I was looking for Here is my list for now.
Louis Cleage – my great grandfather – Born about 1852 in McMinn County, TN. Died 7 February 1918 in Indianapolis, IN and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery on 9 February 1918. The informant was his son, Jacob Cleage.
Celia Rice Cleage Sherman – missing
Their children and their spouses:
Josephine Cleage Cleage – born abt 1873 in Louden County, TN. Died 1956 in Detroit and buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery on 26 July 1956. The informant was Lucille Cleage Watkins, her daughter.
Husband James Cleage – born abt 1870 in McMinn County, TN. Died early October in Indianapolis, IN. Burial date was October 12, 1933 in New Crown Cemetery in Indianapolis, IN. Information from New Crown Cemetery.
Jacob Cleage – born abt 1875 in Louden County, TN. Died 7 December 1942 in Detroit and buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery on 10 December 1942. The informant was Gertrude Cleage, his wife.
Wife Gertrude Cleage born NC and died in Detroit 28 June 1982 and buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery 3 July 1982. Informant Richard Cleage, her nephew.
Henry William Cleage – born 25 January 1877 in Louden County, TN. He died 4 October 1956 in Detroit and was buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery on 10 October 1956. Informant was Willi A. Cleage, I think there is a typo, have no idea who Willi would be.
First wife Minnie Loving Cleage, B. TN 1878 and died TN after 1901. Death date and burial place missing.
Second wife Ola Mae Adams Cleage b. Danville, Kentucky 1888 and died in Detroit 3 July 1982. Buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery.
Charles Edward Cleage – born August 1879 in Louden, TN. He died 4 May 1926 in Athens, McMinn County, TN and was buried 7 May 1926 in Hammonds Cemetery, Athens TN.
Wife Mattie Cordelia Dotson Cleage born 4 November 1886 McMinn County TN. Died November 1966, buried Hammonds Cemetery, Athens TN.
Albert Buford Cleage Sr.(my grandfather) – born 15 May 1883 in Louden, TN. He died in Detroit 4 April, 1957 and was buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery on 15 April 1957. The informant was Pearl Cleage, his wife.
Wife Pearl Doris Reed Cleage – born 1886 Lebanon, KY. Died 16 July 1982 in Idlewild, MI. Buried 22 July 1982 Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery. Informant Henry Wadsworth Cleage, her son.
This photo was taken by my uncle Henry in 1962 at an old house we had in the country. It was between Wixom and Milford Michigan and about 40 minutes or less from Detroit. We had the old farm house and two acres, not including the impressive barn in the background. Maybe we were playing a trucated version of baseball. My cousin Warren seems to be coming in to touch base? I seem to be hysterical. Was small Blair in the game?
My Sepia Saturday tie in this week is not through the designated photo but through a fellow Sepia Saturday contributor who I got into a discussion with about racism in the USA today and in the past and somehow it came up that I have Canadian cousins and that one of them played football for the Eskimos until a recent achilles tendon injury. TickleBear turned out to be a big football fan and when I mentioned my cousin and said he was now playing for the BC Lions and that his name was Kamau Peterson, he (Ticklebear) was quite thrilled. I must admit that I’m not a sports fan of any kind and although I’ve kept up with my cousin’s growing family I have not really paid much attention to his football career. I had to go check his fb page and go to links to catch up. I knew he was doing well at it because that’s what we do, do well 😉 But I didn’t know the details. Here is a photo of my well known Canadian Football playing cousin, Kamau Peterson. He also has an awesome full back tattoo which you can see in progress here. You can see other Sepia Saturday offerings here.
My father, Albert B. Cleage, Jr (front row, second from left), with his 8th grade class at Wingert Elementary School in Detroit, Michigan. He was 12 years old. It was 1923.
