Category Archives: Grahams

The Steamer “Eastern States”

Cleages, Detroit, Grahams, Great Migration, sepia saturday,
Mershell C. Graham

Both of my grandfathers worked on the Great Lakes steam ships. My maternal grandfather, Mershell Graham, worked as a steward for the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company when he first came to Detroit in 1917.  He had previously worked in the dining cars of passenger trains. After several years he got a job at Ford Motor Co. where he remained until his retirement 30 years later.

My paternal grandfather, Albert B. Cleage, Sr, worked for the same company in 1909. He was a medical student in Indiana and earned money during the summer by working on the Eastern States cruise ship as a waiter.  The excerpts in this post are from his letters.

Most of the photos and clippings about the Eastern States were found in the Great Lakes Maritime Database.

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DTWCLE1904

June 19 1909
I left Indianapolis last night at 7:25. Stayed all night in Hamilton Ohio. Am now in Toledo at 10 AM. Will leave for Detroit 2: 15.

June 20, 1909
Arrived in Detroit yesterday at 4:00 PM, and left for Buffalo via “Eastern States” Star. on which I am at work. Was lucky.  Am well,  found two old school friends on same boat!

June 20, 1909
I am sitting in an old ware-house door on the wharf at Buffalo, – tell me there isn’t an element of romance in my location to say the least. I will be in Detroit again tomorrow and will see many of the boys whom I know there. You can imagine how worn out I am – just stopped traveling this morning, and if the boat ever comes into dock again I shall go immediately to bed. I went uptown to get some things and it went up the Lake and left me, but it will return soon. 

Albert B. Cleage

June 24, 1909
Lawrence has come and we are working together.

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June 27, 1909 (On board the Steamer “Eastern States” – Lake Erie)
This is Sabbath night about 10:00 o’clock and we are about six hours ride out of Detroit and about twelve miles from land in the shortest direction. Surroundings are such as to impress one with his insignificance and emphasize the fact that he is indeed kept by Jehovah’s care. I shall first endeavor to acquaint you with the boat on which I am working. It’s name is “The Eastern States” and runs from Detroit to Buffalo. We leave Detroit one day at 5 PM and arrive in Buffalo the next morning at 8 o’clock, staying in

main

Buffalo all day we leave again for Detroit in the Evening at 5 PM you see we spend one day in Detroit and one in Buffalo. Today we were in Detroit and would it interest you to know how I spent it? Well, if it will interest you; after breakfast was over about 9 am, I went down to our “quarters” (I suppose you have only a faint conception of what that word means – I describe it later.) and slept until 11:30 – served lunch, after which Aldridge and I walked up town for about 2 hours – smoked some cigars, came back to the boat and took a couple of hours more of sleep. So you see I am putting in plenty of time sleeping. This stuff I’m sure does not interest you and I will not bore you longer but as I promised to say something about our “quarters”

It is one large room about 35 x 40 ft. in which are 32 beds – just think of it!! Those beds or better bunks are arranged in tiers of three and I at the present time am sitting on my bed (the top one) and there are two other fellows below me. What ventilation we get comes through six small port holes the diameters of which are about 6 in.

The fellows are a cosmopolitan aggregation, men from everywhere and at any time you can hear arguments and discussions on all subjects – Sensible and nonsensible. There are several students on board – boys from Howard University, Wilberforce University, Oberlin University, Michigan, and Indiana and out of them there are some very fine fellows to know…  I could talk all night about the desirable and the non-desirable features of my Steamboat experience.

This isn't the dining room of the Eastern States but the City of Detroit was a sister ship so it was probably similar.
This isn’t the dining room of the Eastern States but the City of Detroit was a sister ship so it was probably similar.

July 3, 1909 (Enroute to Buffalo, Steamer Eastern States)
Yesterday while Lewis and I were walking up the street in Buffalo, whom did we see standing on the corner (as if lost) but Miss Berry of Indianapolis, her brother and his wife and a Miss Stuart an Indianapolis teacher. Well to be sure we were surprised and they too seemed agreeably so. We spent the day with them taking in the zoo and other points of interest. They visited our boat and we showed them through it. That was experience number one.

Secondly – our boat was in a storm last night I awoke last night amid great excitement in our quarters and found that it was only possible for me to lie in bed with quite a great deal of effort. The old boat was being mightily tossed and driven and the angry waves were rising a high as your house or higher. We were sometimes on top of them and again between them at all times with a feeling that we would every minute be swallowed up by them. Great excitement prevailed. Most of the waiters got up and put on life preservers thinking they would have need of them. I neither was afraid or sick. Nothing serious happened and we arrived in Detroit only a few hours late this morning.

We are tonight taking over to Buffal0 a 4th of July Excursion. A large crowd is aboard. A great number of extra waiters are aboard and an extra amount of noise is present and unfavorable to letter writing accept the effort…

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After WW2, automobile travel replaced steamer travel and gradually the ships were retired, burned and scrapped. Here is a timeline for the Eastern States from the link above.

  •    Laid down as EMPIRE STATE.
  •     1902, Jan Launched Wyandotte, MI.
  •     1909 Owned Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co, Detroit, MI.
  •     1930 Owned Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., Detroit.
  •     1950 Laid up, Detroit.
  •     1956, Jun 21 Owned Lake Shore Steel Co & Siegal Iron & Metal Co, Detroit.
  •     1956, Dec 12 Burned as spectacle, Lake St. Clair.
  •     1957, May 6 Scrapped.
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Backyard Lunch

Grahams

My cousin Dee Dee, sister Pearl, me, cousin Barbara.
My cousin Dee Dee, sister Pearl, me, cousin Barbara.

This was one of the Saturdays my cousins, my sister and I spent at my maternal grandparents, Nanny and Poppy. We are eating lunch in their backyard.I can’t tell what we are eating but I do recognize the stripped plastic glasses we used when we weren’t using the metal glasses.

In the background is the Jordan’s house. It looks so much bigger than my grandparents house, which was big enough. They had a lot of children and then the mother died while the children were young and the house just went to pieces. It was already to pieces by the time we came along.

Reading the Paper

Biography, Grahams, sepia saturday

reading_old_plank
I’m reading the paper with my mother. 1962, Old Plank Road. Near Wixom, MI.

This is a small undated Polaroid snap shot. I dated it by looking at other photos from that year that were dated. It was probably taken in the summer or early fall.  I was 16 and would be a high school sophomore in the fall of that year.

What were we reading about? I decided to look up what happened during 1962. It was an eventful year.  Lot’s of above ground nuclear tests; countries in Africa and the West Indies gaining their freedom; Civil Rights demonstrations in Albany, GA; the Berlin wall; Thalidomide; the Cuban missile crisis and George Wallace winning the governorship of Alabama are a few stories we could have been reading.

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In February of 2013 I did post about reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning  Reading The Newspaper – 1962. Appears my mother and I did a lot of tandem newspaper reading.

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A Mouse Machine & Mrs. Topp

Grahams, sepia saturday

I forgot that I had this picture and article about Mouse (Move Only Under Spring Energy) competition that my daughter, Ife (smiling in the middle of photo 1) participated in as a middle school student. Unfortunately I can’t put my hands on a photo of her contraption but you can see one of them created by Mr. Bigford.

Article from The Lake County Star, about 1988.
Article from The Lake County Star, 1986.

mrstrop
Mrs. Topp reminded me of the woman in the prompt in this photo. Unfortunately she’s not riding in any sort of contraption.

Mrs. Emma Davis Topp roomed with Moses and Jean Walker, after her husband died in 1912. Her husband, John W. Topp was twenty years older than she was. He was an engineer, a black Canadian who arrived in Detroit at age 17 in 1875. My grandparents, Mershell and Fannie Graham were also roomers after their marriage in 1919. Mrs. Topp was born in Mississippi and attended school through the 8th grade.  She was working as a dressmaker in 1920.  By 1930 she had moved to Los Angeles, CA and was living with her cousin and aunt. She was no longer working and lived the with her cousin until she died in 1948.

My grandfather Mershell Graham and Emma Topp in the Walkers yard. 1919.
My grandfather Mershell Graham and Emma Topp in the Walkers yard. 1919.

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Fannie Mae Turner Graham’s Bible

Grahams, sepia saturday, , , ,

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My grandmother Fannie with my mother Doris, Howard and Mary V. 1931 In their Detroit East side backyard.

bible cover
Howard Alexander Turner Graham. Born Sept 7, 1928 in Detroit.
died – 3-2-1932. Scarlet Fever

Nanny's_Bible

Between some pages my grandmother’s Bible are little snippets of hair.  It is a well used Bible. The covers are missing. Part of the front cover remains, tucked between pages. On this and on the back pages, corners worn away, she wrote about the births of her children and deaths of her two sons. I don’t know who the hair came from, but I would guess from her children. They were all blond as babies.

nannybiblentries

Mershell and Doris with their father. 1925.Belle Isle, Detroit.
Mershell and Doris with their father. 1925.Belle Isle, Detroit.

“Our darling little Mershell Jr. was run over by a truck on Tuesday Nov. 1st – ’27 at 12:45 PM. on his way to school from lunch. skull crushed etc. – Neck broken – shoulder fractured- rushed to St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital – never regained consciousness – died – same night at 2:10 – Dr Turner at his sid(e) (Fun)eral-Nov 4th … (Lavi)scount offic(iated)  sang….”

Mary Virginia born April 3rd 1920 at 5:10 AM on Saturday.  Detroit Mich at 1031 St. Jean Ave, 7 #. Dr. Ames & …
2nd baby – Mershell C. Graham, Jr. born June 10th – 1921 at 7:45 PM.  On Friday.  Detroit, Michigan. Dunbar Hospital. 8 1/2#  Dr. Turner.  Died 11/1/27 killed by auto.
3rd baby – Doris J. Graham born February – 12th – 1923. 5:10 A.M. – on Monday at Women’s Hospital Beaubien and For(est) Detroit, Michigan  7#

nannybirths4th baby – Howard Alexander G(raham) born at Woman’s Hospi(tal) Sept 7th ’28 at 5 P.M.  7#10 oz. Dr. Turner

__________________

Our baby Howard was taken ill Nov. 17th 1931 – Dr. turner came + pronounced it Diabetes … cured — Jan 1932… On Feb 20- 1932, he developed Scarlet Fever – was sent to Herman Kiefer Hospital an(d) on acct of his condition died March 4th 1932 and was buried Sat. March 5…Private funeral at Memorial Park Cemetery 3 1/2 years old born 9/7/…

—–#—–

Our loss is truest g… God fills the pla… by our 2 ba…

Poppy – The Worker

Grahams,

While looking for summer photographs, I came across this photograph of my grandfather Graham and this poem by Edgar A. Guest that my my grandmother Graham saved in her scrapbook.

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Mershell “Shell” Graham.Taken in 1962, Milford, MI. on Old Plank Road.

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From my grandmother Fannie’s scrapbook. “That’s my Shell” 1-25-59.

Belle Isle – Summer 1922

Grahams, , ,

names
“Belle Isle. Grandma Graham – Mary Virginia – Clifton – Mershell Jr + Fan

This photograph was taken about two years after the one of my grandmother Fannie at Sugar Island. Grandma Graham was my grandfather, Mershell Graham’s adopted mother. Mary Virginia was born in April 1920 so she would be 2. Clifton was the son of my grandfather’s adopted brother, Clifton.  Mershell Jr was born in June of 1921 so he must be about 1 year old. My mother was born in February, 1923 so my grandmother may have been just pregnant with her here.  The park tables and benches are so unanchored. They are all cement now.

Sugar Island July 3, 1919

Detroit, Grahams,
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“Sugar Island Group” My grandmother, Fannie Mae Turner Graham is lounging in the middle front. She had moved to Detroit with my grandfather in 1918 after their marriage in Montgomery, AL.

“Sugar Island is a small island in the Detroit River between Grosse Ile and Boblo Island. Sugar Island is part of Grosse Ile Township, Wayne County, Michigan, USA, and lies about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of the border with Canada. Currently the island is uninhabited and was recently converted to wildlife refuge by the US Fish and Wildlife service (see below). The majority of the island is wooded and it is known for its white sandy beaches and easy access by boat.” From Wikepedia

More of the Sugar Island Group.
“The A.A.O.C. Club Bunch (I don’t know what the initials stand for_
sugar_island3
“Dinner On Sugar Island.”
Sugar Island Photos

Upside Down

Detroit, Grahams, sepia saturday

In my maternal grandparents yard there was a metal pipe swing frame that my grandfather had attached to the apple tree. There was a big swing three or more people could sit in and there was a baby swing for one little person with a bar to hold them in, you can see it below to the right. And there were a pair of rings that my cousin Barbara was expert with.  I don’t remember ever doing a flip or anything else.

My aunt Mary Virginia and my cousin Marilyn

In this photograph my Aunt Mary V. is helping her youngest daughter, my cousin Marilyn learn how to use the rings. Marilyn was the youngest of the five cousins by 6 years. She was often regulated to “go-ie wo-ie” during games.

Sean hanging by a thread.
My grandson Sean hanging by a thread.
Sydney upside down.
My granddaughter Sydney upside down.
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“Where Are Our Leaders?” – Dee Dee Sings

Grahams

where_can_our_leaders_beToday I’m going to share the recording, Where Can Our Leaders Be? by my talented cousin, Dee Dee McNeil.  Dee Dee started writing as a child. I remember many holidays spent up in Poppy’s room practicing her plays with my sister and cousins. After dinner we would perform for our parents and grandparents. I don’t know if we sang her songs for “our public” but I do remember a few of them, especially “Ho, ho, the little bear skating”, which I can still sing.

In 1970 Dee Dee left Detroit and moved to Los Angeles to seek her fortune. She connected with the Watts Prophets soon after and became part of their group, appearing on their album, “Rappin Black in a White World” and sang “What Is A Man” on that album. She also penned and sang the title song of the album “Black In A White World” co-written with fellow Detroiter, Marthea Hicks.  Hicks would later die in the Jim Jones Guyanna massacre along with her son, nephew and younger sister. Dee Dee improvised the entire musical score on the original album, playing piano and performing “live” without overdubs. She also recorded several original poems along with the other three male poets who completed the group. She has written songs for several iconic Motown artists including Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, The Four Tops (who originally recorded “What Is A Man”), Edwin Starr, Nancy Wilson, David Ruffin,  Rita Marley and many more.  I don’t quite get what the visual is about on this YouTube version of “What Is A Man” , but the singing is wonderful.


I found this short, professional biography on Dee Dee’s website.  The website also has links to a radio interview, song writing credits, poetry, songs and much much more.

Dee Dee McNeil and Dwight Dickerson Quartet Perform at AUS

Students, faculty and members of the public enjoyed a captivating performance by Dee Dee McNeil and Dwight Dickerson Quartet held at American University of Sharjah (AUS) yesterday, February 17th 2010. A multi-talented vocalist, singer, songwriter, poet, journalist, producer, playwright and educator, Dee Dee McNeil has won renown for her art all over the world. As a contract songwriter for Motown Records in her native Detroit, Michigan, many legendary artists have recorded her music including: Diana Ross and The Supremes, Gladys Knight and The Pips, David Ruffin, Edwin Star, The Four Tops, Nancy Wilson, Rita Marley, Kiki Dee, Jonah Jones, Side Effect, and the rapper ‘Styles.’ She was a contributing member of the historic rap group, The Watts Prophets, now recognized as one of the major forerunners of contemporary hip hop music. She was one of the first women to rap in the late ’60s and early 70’s, speaking up as an articulate champion for women’s rights. One of her raps about respect for women was used as the televised theme song during New Zealand’s Miss Universe Contest in 1983. The plays she has written are based on historic figures and their musical contributions.

Where Can Our Leaders Be?