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Vivian Vaughn McDonald was my second cousin. Her grandmother Josie Cleage and my grandfather Albert B. Cleage Sr. were siblings.
Thanks to Jody DeLoach for sharing photographs, and to Tanya Harris for sharing the funeral program with me.
Mr. Joe Jackson was the youngest son of Annie Mae Graham, my grandfather Mershell C. Graham’s sister. In his early youth he was known by Michele, but later changed to Joe. A thank you to my cousin Cedric Jenkins for sharing this program with me.
Clyde was the oldest son of Annie Mae Graham. I do not have a funeral program for him, but do have an obituary from the Montgomery Advertiser.
Will Jackson, Sr. was the 2nd oldest son of Annie Mae Graham. He was a nephew of my grandfather Mershell Graham.
Earlier this year I met via Ancestry.com Cedric Jenkins, a newly found cousin, who is a descendant of my grandfather Mershell Graham’s sister Annie Graham. He shared this funeral program and also programs for Annie Graham’s children, which I will share in the coming days. My grandfather and his sister lost contact after he moved to Detroit.
The late MRS. ANNIE GRAHAM was born August 13, 1885 in Elmore County, Alabama to the late Mr. William Graham and Mrs. Mary Graham.
Her early childhood was spent around Elmore County. At an early age she confessed hope in Christ and joined the fellowship of the East Chapel Methodist Church under the pastorate of the Rev. Ed. Bowens.
She was a member of the Esthers of America. She was always ready to serve and willing to give. She met everyone with a smile. She was a good neighbor, who would always come to the rescue and do whatever she could for others.
She departed this life October 15, 1964 at the home of her daughter.
She leaves to mourn one daughter, Mrs. Emma M. Reeves, Millbrook; three sons, Mr. Will Jackson, Birmingham Alabama, Mr. Clyde Jackson, Coosada, Alabama, Mr. Joe Jackson, Millbrook, Alabama; three daughter-in-law, Mrs. Odessa Jackson, Birmingham, Alabama, Mrs. Edith Jackson, Coosado, Alabama, Mrs. Ethel Jackson, Millbrook, Alabama; sixteen grandchildren, forty-three great-grandchildren, a host of other relatives and friends.
Servant of God, well done,
Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle is fought, the victory is won;
Enter thy Master’s Joy.
Links to more about Annie Graham
R is for Relatives, of the Elusive Kind
Mystery Photograph
Annie Graham – Sibling?
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Other Posts about Theola Davenport Williams
Christmas Cards
1940 Census – Chester and Theola (Davenport) Williams
Fire-Bombing- A Williams Family Memory
Five Generations of Marie 1891 – 2003
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Gladys was my father’s sister and my aunt. She contributed her spit for DNA testing, helping make new family discoveries. I spent much time with Gladys when we both lived in Idlewild. We used to walk to Head Start together. I remember she told me some of her childhood and adult memories and I wrote them down in one of my notebooks, and I haven’t been able to find them, but I am going to go through page by page soon. She also shared memories of her extended family, which I quote in some posts. Gladys also shared with me the letters that her father wrote to her mother when they were courting, which I used to write an A-Z series several years ago Index to the Letters from Dr. Albert B. Cleage. I wish I could have shared the letters that her mother wrote to Homer and the information about my grandmother Pearl’s uncle Thomas Allen who fought with the USCT in the Civil War. Hopefully, she knows.
Date: Friday, July 23, 1982 Page: 7 B
Edition: Metro Final Secton: OBT
Pearl D. Cleage, a founder of St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit, died Saturday while vacationing in Idlewild, Mich. She was 94.
Mrs. Cleage, a Detroit resident since 1915, was the widow of the late Dr. Albert B. Cleage SR. and the mother of Reverend Albert B Cleage Jr., minister and founder of the Shrines of the Black Madonna, who began the Black Christian Nationalist movement in Detroit in the late 1960s. The Shrines are in Detroit, Atlanta and Houston.
Mrs. Cleage often lectured on African-American history. She was a member of the Auxiliaries of the Iota Boule and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternities.
Survivors include four sons, the Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr., Dr. Louis, Henry and Hugh; three daughters, Barbara Martin, Gladys Evans and Anna Shreve; nine grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
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Other posts about my paternal grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed Cleage.
Introduction to the letters my grandfather Albert B. Cleage wrote to Pearl Reed before their marriage from 1907 to 1910.
Grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage’s Birthday
Pearl Reed Cleage With Baby Henry
Grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage – photographs
Two Newspaper Articles 1908 and 1960
Dr. Albert B. Cleage and Miss Pearl Reed Wed
1940 Census – The Albert B. and Pearl (Reed) Cleage Family
Pearl Doris Reed Cleage 1884 – 1982 – Two Photographs
Albert and Pearl Reed Cleage – Cemetery
Albert and Pearl (Reed) Cleage 1922
Grandmother Before the Party – 1971
Oh Dry Those Tears
For years, my aunt Anna was the pharmacist at my uncle Louis Cleages clinic. When we went to the doctor’s, my sister, mother and I would stop in the back for a visit with her. Sometimes she would give us things that I guess were trinkets from the drug salesman. The only one I remember was a pile of what looked like pennies painted a gold color and glued to look like a heap.
Many year later, when I was grown and living in Idlewild with a family of my own, I would always stop by and visit my aunt and uncle, Anna and Winslow in Detroit. They both had great memories and a wealth of family stories. I would drink tea and eat cookies or something while they told me tales of the family’s past.
Anna had a distinctive laugh and my daughter Ife sometimes laughs in the same way. I do miss them still and wonder what stories we never got around to.
Other posts about Anna
Skating Champions
Anna, Gladys and the Dog
The Cleage Sisters at Home
Three Sisters
