Category Archives: sepia saturday

A Stagecoach On A Trip West

October 9, 2014Cleages, sepia saturdayKristin

As I went through photographs of vehicles trying to decide which to use for the stagecoach prompt, I finally remembered that I did have a stagecoach photograph in my Cleage family photographs. I used this before along with other photographs from a trip my grandparents made out West during the 1950s. I cannot make out the writing on the side of the coach because when I blow it up, the photo is a bit blurry, as though the photographer did not hold quite still. Looking at the building on the right, which seems to be a false front with platforms and such in the back, I surmise that this was a movie set. If only I had noticed these photographs during my grandmother’s life time and asked her to tell me about the trip! Alas, I did not.

My stylish grandparents - Albert and Pearl Cleage. He is wearing the rakish white hat and she is wearing the stylish black hat, with a feather. — My stylish grandparents – Albert and Pearl Cleage. He is wearing the rakish white hat and she is wearing the stylish black hat.

To see more photographs from this same trip, Trains – My Grandparent’s Mystery Tour.

Reading Mad Magazine at Old Plank

October 2, 2014Cleages, sepia saturday#Hugh Cleage, #Pearl CleageKristin

My uncle Hugh, cousin Warren and sister Pearl in the living room at Old Plank.

Unfortunately Warren was not reading the Saturday Evening Post in this photo, he is reading a Mad Magazine. For several years I remember copies being around the house. Such a crazy magazine.

By searching online I was able to find a copy of the cover of this issue. It is dated October 1962. The copy in the picture above looks pretty new. Everybody seems to be wearing cool weather clothes so it could well be October of 1962. Warren and Pearl were both high school freshman in 1962. Hugh was printer/owner of Cleage Printers.

Old Plank was the farm house on two acreas that my family owned near Wixom, Michigan. We spent as much time as we could there and were often joined by other family members who also made the short drive from Detroit.

You can read more about Old Plank in these posts:

Playing Poker at Old Plank

Picking Beans at Old Plank

Biking at Old Plank

2014.09W.06 — For more Sepia Saturday, CLICK!

My Mother – 1955

September 25, 2014sepia saturdayKristin

In this photograph, my mother is standing in the living room of my Cleage grandparent’s house on Atkinson. The date says Nov. 55 but there are also summer photographs with the same date, so I will say it’s 1955 and it does look like cool weather, but I’m not sure it was taken in November, although that’s when the film was developed, so I’m not sure if it was Thanksgiving or not.

ma_towel_blog — Doris Graham Cleage holding a plate of something and a towel. A plate of what I cannot tell. The couch was green and I see the corner of the red and white candy dish which held candy corns or peppermints, on the table.

Probably taken the same day as the photo of my mother. My cousin Ernie, sister Pearl seated and me, standing. We are dressed for a holiday and playing with one of Ernie’s fabulous toys.

Another photo from the same batch of 1955 photographs. Can't believe I am making that face while my sister is looking so angelic. — Another photo from the same batch of 1955 photographs. This one was taken on Louis’ patio in Idlewild. Can’t believe I am making that face while my sister is looking so angelic.

2014.09W.03 — For other Sepia Saturday posts, CLICK!

My Quilt Tent – 1958

September 16, 2014Biography, Detroit, sepia saturday#meKristin

I am standing in front of my tent made of a quilt attached to the former chicken house, at that point storage shed, in Nanny and Poppy’s (my Graham grandparents) backyard. It was a June Saturday in 1958. I was 11 and would turn 12 in August. My cousin Barbara had her own quilt tent built over the wooden slide.

In the header we are eating lunch in the yard the same day. Sitting at the table from L to R is my aunt Mary V., my grandmother, my greatgreat aunt Abbie, my grandfather at the head of the table (of course) me, cousin Dee Dee and cousin Marilyn on the end. My mother probably took the picture.

More posts about my grandparent’s house on Theodore.

T is for Theodore Street

Memorial Day and the Fourth of July

For more Sepia Saturday Offerings - CLICK! — For more Sepia Saturday Offerings – CLICK!

Boys, Mules and a Cabin – 1918.

September 12, 2014Alabama, sepia saturday#Annie Belle McCall Martin, Annie GrahamKristin

I have posted this photo several times as I try and figure out who these children are. In one post I wonder if they are on the ALLEN side and on another I speculate that they are on the GRAHAM side. I’m leaning more towards the Graham side because of the writing on the side which I make out as “date/18 On Barrons Farm” . My grandfather Mershell Graham’s sister, Annie Graham and her children lived on the Barron Farm in rural Elmore County Alabama. You can read more about these speculations here S is for Sibling, Annie Graham? The other post speculated that the family the McCall branch – “More About Annabell’s Family”. These are both families that I have lost and would so appreciate any cousins in those branches getting in touch to help me solve the mysteries.

For more information about the camera used to take this photo follow this link to the Photo-Sleuth’s post about the Autographic camera.

Jo Mendi

September 3, 2014poetry & literature, sepia saturdayEdward McCallKristin

I found this poem in my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s large scrapbook. She just pasted stuff in there without much rhyme or reason. Edward McCall, who was a poet and publisher, was her first cousin. Her mother Jennie and his mother Mary were sisters, both Eliza’s daughters. I remember seeing Jo Mendi ride around the ring at the Detroit Zoo in the 1950s on one of our annual Graham family Zoo trips.

Jo Mendi 1950 http://www.zoochat.com/562/jo-mendi-ii-detroit-zoo-chimpanzee-204753/ — Jo Mendi 1950

The note in my grandmother’s scrapbook says he died in 1934, but the photo I found on the webb says it was taken in 1950. It turns out there were 4 of them and you can click here for their stories The True Story of Jo Mendi. And here for a Chimp Trainer’s Daughter telling about the brutal side of training chimps.

You can read more about McCall in these posts:

James Edward McCall, Poet and Publisher.

Poems by James E. McCall

She Was Owned Before the War…

Belle Isle Conservatory 1925

August 28, 2014Detroit, Grahams, sepia saturday#Mershell GrahamKristin

My grandfather Mershell Graham holding little Mershell and my aunt Mary V. They are sitting outside of the Conservatory on Detroit’s island park, Belle Isle. The photo is dated 1925. Usually my mother and her sister had their hair cut short but in this and a few other pictures they have braids.

On Belle Isle. My grandmother Fannie, Mary V, my mother Doris, Mershell – who looks like he has his arm bandaged. This photo is dated 1926.

A photo of the Belle Isle Conservatory taken by Maya, Mershell Grahams 2X great granddaughter. — A photo of the Belle Isle Conservatory taken by Maya, Mershell Grahams 2X great granddaughter August 2014.

More about Belle Isle – 2 posts and some info.

My grandmother Fannie’s Fan

August 22, 2014sepia saturday#Fannie Turner GrahamKristin

Only the skeleton remains. It used to be covered with gossamer thin white material with little sparkling threads, like the fan below. All rotted away now.

fan1895 — The fan once looked similar to this one. Click photo to see another fan.

Fannie Turner before marriage - 1909. — Fannie Turner before marriage – 1909.

I wonder if she carried the fan when she was married.

Mug Shot – James Edward Williams 1972

August 6, 2014sepia saturdayKristin

Today’s mugshot is of James Edward Williams, my husband. He was arrested for driving without a license on the Wayne State University campus in March of 1972. This mugshot was included in his ‘red file’ which included local police files and FBI information from the 1970s. He was arrested for driving without a license often because he either lost it or forgot it. He didn’t spend time in jail but was released either with no bail or very low bail. After we left Detroit, it never happened again.

Signs From On High – Wayne State University

July 22, 2014Cleages, sepia saturday#Detroit, #Wayne StateKristin

Here is a photograph including 3 signs from the early 1940s and a rough sketch of the same area that I did in 1968. Both were taken from upper floors on Wayne State University buildings looking on Cass Ave. I did the sketch from an upper floor of State Hall. I believe that the photo was taken from Old Main, (the only tall building facing that direction on campus at the time), by my uncle Henry Cleage while he was a student at Wayne.

After looking on Google maps, I no longer think this was taken from Old Main, looking down Cass. I wonder where it was taken from because that is definitely the Macabee building.

cityscape2 — Photograph taken from Old Main in the early 1940s

The Macabees building on the upper left corner use to hold the Detroit Board of Education. My husband and I went and picketed there the first day we met, in support of the Northern high school student boycott in the spring of 1966. You can read more about that in I Met My Husband in the Library.

Finding Eliza