My mother, Doris, being held by her mother, Fannie
Category Archives: Photographs
Photos, Photos Everywhere
This week I spent hours putting my photographs from the paternal side in order. First by grouping them into piles according to the numbers on the reverse side. After dividing them up by number, I then started dating the files. I was able to determine who some of the babies were in later photos by which siblings were already there and how old they were. I will show some of these in a later post. It’s been slow going and I almost missed Sepia Saturday. However I thought I should make an entry. Above you see some of the piles.
These two photographs have the same number. I have wondered for years if that boy with the stocking cap on standing next to the car was my father. When I saw the photo of my Uncle Louis (on the left) and my father, Albert, with the stocking cap, I saw it was him. There are other photos that have both boys that have different numbers but they appear to be taken at the same time on one of the family’s annual trips to Athens Tennessee, my grandfather’s hometown. One brother, Edward, remained in Athens. The rest of the family ended up first in Indianapolis, IN and then in Detroit, MI.
Here are some other posts about the Athens branch of the Cleages.
Uncle Ed’s daughters – 1917. Memories to Memoirs, and Juanita and Daughters.
To Read more Sepia Saturday post and to participate click HERE.
More Information About Yesterday’s Photo and a Discovery
Last night I posted an undated photograph of my grandparents. I assumed it was taken soon after they were married in 1910. Then one of my daughter’s asked me when it was taken and where it was taken. I went back to my box of Cleage photos to see if I could find some others taken on the same day. After going through quite a few pictures, I noticed that there were numbers on the back of the photographs.
Here is the back of the photo in question. That is my handwriting. I started looking for other photos with the number 573. Voila! I found two. One says ‘Toddy and Theodore Page”, not in my handwriting. Toddy is my father and Theodore Page was the nephew of Gertrude, my great uncle Jacob’s wife. He was living with them in Detroit, according to the 1930 census.
Taking a side trip, I began to look for information about Theodore (Roosevelt) Page. I found him at age 6 living with his parents, Jacob and Anna Eliza Page, and siblings William and Ophelia living on a farm in Mississippi in 1910. By 1920 he was 16 years old. He and his mother were living with sister his Ophelia and her husband, Henry Red, in Arkansas. He worked on the family farm and had attended school in the last year. I’ve been trying to find Uncle Jacob’s wife’s maiden name for years. Maybe finding her sister will help.
The other photo with the number 573 on it is a very blurry group photo. I see my grandmother Pearl on the far left with little Barbara in front of her. Hugh is next to Barbara, My father is in the front row center, next to him is my great grandmother, Celia Rice Cleage Sherman, a little kid, probably my uncle Henry is next. Behind Henry we see Theodore Page. My grandfather is on the end. Is he still holding the mystery object from the other photo?
Now I’ll make another attempt to date the photo. My father was born in 1911. He could be 10 or 11. Barbara was born in 1920. She could be 2. Gladys was born the end of September in 1922. Does my grandmother look pregnant? My estimate is summer of 1922.
With this new information I will begin sorting, and scanning the box of photos in the near future.
Albert and Pearl (Reed) Cleage -1922
My father’s parents at a picnic in 1922. My grandmother was pregnant with my aunt Gladys. My grandfather is holding a flag. I thought I should start my 100 posts about my father with something about his parents. Today a photo, tomorrow some basic information.
Sisters
Inspired by Nolichucky Roots photos of two generations of sisters I decided to do the same.
Eliza Williams Allen
It seemed right to start off the New Year off with a photograph of the person this blog is named after. She was born about 1839 in Alabama and died 22 June 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama.
Winter 1966 knitting
Here I am starting my one and only knitting project. When it was done the edges curled up. It was light blue, very long and wrapped around my head and face during the cold Detroit winters. I added fringe to the ends and wore it all through college. I’m wearing it below in 1969. To see other SepiaSaturday offerings click HERE.
My Mother, Doris Graham Cleage – 1952
My mother, Doris Graham Cleage at my Cleage grandparents house on Atkinson in Detroit, MI. I don’t know what the occasion was. My uncle Henry probably took the photo.
For more Sepia Saturday offerings CLICK.
Winter of 1949 -Springfield, Mass
I’m in the front, my mother is propping up my sister Pearl. My father took the photo in our yard. He was the pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield Massachusetts and we lived in the parsonage/community house right next to the church. We moved to my parents hometown, Detroit, when I was four where we still had plenty of snow.
These photographs are in a crumpling album that my father put together back in the 1940’s. He wrote comments on all the photographs. I have to photograph or scan them before they disappear.
Click here to see more sepia saturday posts from around the world.
A Drawing 1968 & A Photograph 1970
One day after dinner at my grandmother Cleage’s house, my aunt Gladys and I sketched each other. Mine was thankfully lost. I’ve kept her’s. I glued it in a scrapbook with rubber cement before I knew better. I should have framed it.