Category Archives: Reeds

Labor Day – Part 2 (Paternal Side)

Cleages, Reeds

Yesterday I posted a chart of 7 generations of my maternal side of the family’s work history.  Today I’m going to do the same with the paternal side of the family.  I have found Lewis and Judy Cleage in the 1870 US Census.  I also found their marriage record.  I am not convinced that all the children listed living with them are their children, if their ages are correct.  But having no other information, I put them in.  I do not know what work the children did in the future.  I think I will look for them again.  Annie Green Reed had two husbands and four more children but I left them off of this chart.  They were all laborers or farmers or housewives.  Both Buford Averitt and Robert Allen come to the family tree as white men who did not acknowledge their black offspring as far as we know.  Oral history and records of birth, marriage and death account for their making it onto my chart.  I’ve pinpointed Buford but there are several possibilities with Robert so he has no job here.  My direct line is highlighted in yellow.  You can see the same chart for my maternal line here  Maternal Family Tree of Workers.

6 generations of my paternal line of ancestors and the work they did.

Two Newspaper Articles 1908 and 1960 – Pearl Reed Cleage

Cleages, Reeds

 May 8, 1908   The Indianapolis Star, Friday       Sings in Concert at Simpson Chapel

 Miss Pearl D. Reed The violin recital of Clarence Cameron White will be given this evening at Simpson Chapel under the direction of the Colored Y.M.C.A. Orchestra.  He will be supported by the best local talent.  The following program will be given:
Overture – “Northern Lights,” Y.M.C.A. Orchestra
Violin – Hungarian Rhapsodie, Clarence Cameron White
Song – “Oh Dry Those Tears,” Miss Pearl D. Reed.”
Piano – “Vaise in C sharp minor (b) Polanaise in A major.  Mrs. Alberta J. Grubbs.
Violin – (a) Tran Merel: (b) Scherzo, Clarence Cameron White
Intermission
Orchestra – “The Spartan,” orchestra
Vocal – :Good-by”, Miss Pearl D. Cleage
Readings A.A. Taylor.
Selection – “The Bird and Brook,” orchestra

1908    May 16 The Freeman An Illustrated Colored Newspaper page 4 “The Cameron White Recital” 

Clarence Cameron White ably sustained his reputation as a violinist at Simpson Chapel church last week under the auspices of of the Y.M.C.A. Mr. White plays a clean violin; he gets all out of it there is – dragging his bow from tip to tip, and more if it were possible.  He did not attempt any of the great big things – the big concertos, and perhaps for the best.  Yet he showed his capability for such work and at the same time satisfied his audience.  His encores as a rule were selections that the audience recognized and through the beautiful renditions it could easily form some estimate of his playing ability.  Mr. White was a decided success.  Seldom is has a good class of music been so thoroughly appreciated.  He was supported at the piano by Samuel Ratcliffe whose playing was commendable.  Miss pearl D. Reed proved an acceptable contralto singer.  The orchestra under Alfred A. Taylor did some very effective work.  Mr. Taylor proved a reader of ability; he read several of his own selections.  The audience was magnificent and paid the utmost attention to the renditions.”

My Grandmother Pearl’s Family Tree

Reeds, ,

The newspaper clipping above includes a photograph of my grandmother Pearl Reed from The Indianapolis Star, Friday May 8 1908.  She sang at church and at many community events.

Around 1975 I asked my  paternal grandmother, Pearl Reed Cleage, to send me the names of her parents and grandparents .  I actually sent her a chart to fill out but instead she sent me back a piece of loose leaf paper with a list of her children and their professions and her parents and grandparents and my grandfather’s parents.  I have yet to find anyone with the name of the man she listed as her father.  He is not the father listed on anyones, including her own, marriage license or birth record or death certificate.  She has her grandmother listed as a Cherokee Indian but when we did the DNA test with my aunt Gladys several years ago the results came back from Family Tree HVR1 Haplogroup L3e2* which is found in West Africa.

Paternal Maternal DNA line – from the youngest to the farthest back in time fore-mother we can name.
My cousins grandaughters – Lyric
My cousins daughters – Shashu, Jann, Sadya, Lillieanna, Sofia
My cousins – Jan, Anna, Maria
Aunts – Barbara Pearl, Gladys Helen, Anna Cecelia
Pearl Doris Reed 1886 (Lebanon, KY) – 1982 (Reed City, Michigan)
Anna Allen abt 1849 (Kentucky) – 1911 (Indianapolis, IN)
Clara Hoskins abt 1829 (KY) – ? (KY)

This line also includes my grandmother Pearl’s sisters and their descendants.
Aunt Josie’s daughter and her daughter Bessie and any female descendants she has.
Aunt Sarah Busby and her daughters and granddaughters and on down.
Aunt Louise Shoemaker and her daughter, granddaughter, and on down
Aunt Minnie Mullen’s daughters, granddaughters and on down

Hugh Marion Reed

Reeds,
Uncle Hugh Marion Reed Averette

Not many in my family served in the military.  In fact several were conscientious objectors.  My grandmother Pearl’s older brother, Hugh, was the exception.

Hugh Marion Reed was born April 23, 1876, Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky.  He reached adulthood in Indianapolis,  Indiana and spend his later years in Los Angeles, California.

According to my Uncle Henry, his uncle Hugh Reed passed for white and joined the Navy several times and was a stoker during the Spanish American War.  His uncle told them he would be so tired after his shift that he would just lay down and go to sleep until time for the next shift.  They were locked down there during the shift.

In the U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798 – 1914, it says that Hugh Reed enlisted 13 July 1898 in Indianapolis, IN for three years.  He was 22 3/12 and a Bridge builder.  He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy out of New York City on 8  December 1898.  He was discharged 2 December 1901 in Boston, MA.

In 1906 he married his wife Blanche C.Young.  They had four children.  Anna, Hugh, Thomas and Theresa.

In 1928, according to the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866 – 1938, Hugh Reed, born in Lebanon, KY was admitted 13 December 1928 with rectal prolapse.

He is mentioned in his brother George’s Will in 1946 as living in Los Angeles, CA. In 2010 I had not found a death record for Hugh Marion Reed. Since then it was found with a name change from Reed to Averette, his father’s last name.