Category Archives: Cleages

Deaths and Burials for the Cleage Family

Cleages,
Left to right: Albert, Josephine, Edward. Back L Henry, back R Jacob

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.

Old Plank Road in Shadow – 1962 – Sepia Saturday #80

Cleages, sepia saturday, , ,
Cousin Warren, Sister Pearl, Me and little cousin Blair

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.

Louis/Lewis Cleage’s Death Certificate 1852 – 1918

African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Cleages,

I recently found out that my Great Grandfather Louis Cleage died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1918 through a listing for Crown Hill Cemetery.  I previously found him listed in the 1918 Indianapolis City Directory living son Jacob Cleage.

The death certificate says he died in Marion County, Indianapolis, Center Township at City Hospital and his full name is Louis Cleage.  He was Colored and widowed.  He was born in 1852 in Tennessee.  He was a laborer.  According to the informant, his son Jacob Cleage, Louis’ father’s name was Frank. Mother’s name unknown.

There was an autopsy performed and he died on February 7, 1918 in the P.M. of Lobar Pneumonia.  His son Jacob lived at 925 Camp Street and Louis’ last address is listed as 828 Camp.  He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery Feb. 8, 1918.

What new information did I learn or have confirmed from this death certificate?  I found that his father’s name was Frank Cleage.  In the 1870 US Census Louis Cleage, born around 1852, was living with an older adult named Frank Cleage in Athens, TN.  I assumed that Frank was Louis’ father, but relationships were not noted in the 1870 US Census.

Trains – My Grandparents Mystery Tour

Cleages, sepia saturday,

I don’t know where my grandparents were going in these photographs from the 1950s.  They were traveling with a group.   I know they started in Detroit and ended up back in Detroit. In between they seem to have gone to the sea shore, the far west and possibly places in between.  For other train related (or not) posts, click Sepia Saturday.

My grandmother is on the far right of the first photo.

My grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage in the middle, next to her my dapper grandfather.

At a band shell.

Stage coach.

My grandmother after vanquishing the bull in the ring. Or....?

On a battery somewhere? Grandparents at right.

My grandparents on each end. Back on the train.

Idlewild Michigan – Mostly August 1948

Carnival of Genealogy, Cleages, ,

My Aunt Anna addressed her post card to everybody at the house.
Mrs. A.B. Cleage Sr. +Dr. L.J. Cleage + Mr. H.W. Cleage + Miss Barbara Cleage + Mrs. E. Warren Evans
6429 Scotten Ave.
Detroit 10 Michigan

Dear Folks!
Just arrived.  Haven’t made a complete investigation of the situation yet, but it promises to be a quiet, restful week.
’til then – P.W.
P.S. Hugh and I went swimming this morning – Henry who is this Vicki Draves? Gladys the cap is wonderful!  Really Barbara!

My grandfather addressed his card to his wife, Mrs. A.B. Cleage
8/2
Except food being cold and not sleeping well, having a fine time.  wish you were here.  Hugh and Anna o.k.
Albert

In 1948 the war was over and Hugh and Henry were back in Detroit after farming in Avoka as their Conscientious Objector service.  Hugh was working at the Post Office and Henry was  in law school at Wayne State.  Gladys was home visiting while waiting for her oldest son, Warren, to be born at the end of December.  No idea how or why my grandfather, Hugh and Anna had gone away alone to Louis’ cottage in Idlewild.  Anna, who signed her letter P.W. for her nick name of Pee Wee, was the youngest of Albert and Pearl’s 7 children.  She was 24 and at Wayne preparing to be a pharmacist.

Idlewild was organized by a group of white businessmen in 1912 as a resort for African Americans.  This was during the time of segregation and it didn’t matter if you were in the north or the south you weren’t going to be able to buy a cottage on a lake if you were black.  In it’s hey day, Idlewild had night clubs with acts by both the known and the unknown.  There was horseback riding at Sarges and skating at the skating rink in the club house. Various clubs from Detroit, Chicago and Kansas City got together to party and socialize.  The parties went on forever in the clubs and after hour places. This is what I heard from the old timers before I was an old timer.  My experience as a summer person in Idlewild consisted of swimming in front of my Uncle Louis cottage, socializing with my sister and cousins and jumping over the cracks in the roller rink floor (while skating).  In 1986 my husband, children and I moved to Idlewild.  It was a very different experience to be a local.  Lake county, where Idlewild is located is one of the poorest counties in Michigan.  But this isn’t that story.

My family started coming up to Idlewild in the early 1920s. In the photo above my father is the tall one with the cap on the far left, cousin Helen Mullins next, then my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage, two people I don’t know, my grandfather with his arms crossed on the right. Front row far right my aunt Barbara, the shorty in front of grandfather is Gladys, the kid with the bubble gum in his cheek or the chaw of tobacco or a toothache is my uncle Henry. I don’t know any of the rest.  Where are Hugh and Anna (aka Pee Wee)? Napping? Waiting until 1948 to show up and steal the show?

I miss Idlewild.  We went up during the summers when I was growing up and lived there for 20 years, longer than I lived any place else in my whole life. When I think about home, I think of Idlewild.  In the photo below my son Cabral is coming out of the lake after swimming across and back.  It was about 2003.

This blog post was written for The 4th Annual Swimsuit Edition The Carnival of Genealogy, organized by Jasia at CreativeGene.

A boy and his dog – Hugh Cleage

Cleages, sepia saturday

Hugh Cleage and dog

Obituary
September 28, 2005
BY CHRIS KUCHARSKI
FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

Hugh C. Cleage

Printer, political activist

Former Detroit political activist Hugh C. Cleage, 87, died Thursday after a long battle with bladder cancer at his home in Anderson, S.C., where he had spent the last few years supervising the ranch and riding stables of his nephew, Dr. Ernest Martin.

One of the organizers of the Black Slate and a candidate for Michigan state representative in the 1964, he was a member of one of Detroit’s most politically influential families, which included his brother, the late Rev. Albert Cleage Jr., founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna.

He was born in Detroit, graduated from Northwestern High School in 1936 and later earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Michigan State University. As conscientious objectors to World War II, he and his brother Henry chose farming as an alternative to military service.

In the early 1960s, he became co-owner of the Illustrated News, which he ran with his brothers and other citizens. The paper was distributed free to black churches.

The Black Slate, which evolved from that publication, sought to educate Detroit’s black voters and urged them to support black candidates.

As a member of the Freedom Now Party, Mr. Cleage ran an unsuccessful campaign for state representative in the 23rd District. It was said to be the first all-black political party.

Mr. Cleage retired to Anderson in the early 1990s.

He is survived by sisters Barbara Martin, Gladys Evans and Anna Shreve, and many nieces and nephews.

A private memorial will be held Friday in South Carolina, followed by a public service at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, 7625 Linwood, Detroit. Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army, 16130 Northland Drive, Southfield 48075.

For more posts about Hugh click Skating Champions,  Elections Past,   Hugh with Friends,

For more sepia saturday offerings click here.

Uncle Louis Plays the Organ

Cleages, sepia saturday
Louis playing the organ in the house on Atkinson while Hugh reads.

 In keeping with today’s Sepia Saturday theme, I offer my uncle, Dr. Louis Cleage playing an organ.  Louis had many talents and interests.  He spoke fluent Spanish and visited Mexico frequently.  He drove the fastest speed boat on Lake Idlewild in his day.  He had a short wave radio in the basement and as WAFM talked to the world.  He also was wrote “Smoke Rings” for the Illustrated News during the early 1960s.  He had a wicked sense of humor and a laugh unlike any other I have heard.  And I’m sure I’m leaving out half of it.

Louis began practicing medicine with his father at the Cleage Clinic on Lovett in the 1940s and continued practicing there until 1974. He closed the doors and walked away after being held up numerous times for prescription drugs.

Louis gives a polio shot to Harold Keneau. 1956.
Cleage Clinic as it looks today.

This organ also featured in a popular Sepia Saturday offering of my mother “My Mother – 1952“.