Category Archives: sepia saturday

Athens Teachers – 1894

December 2, 2022Cleages, sepia saturday, Tennessee#Henry William CleageKristin

This information came from an article in an unnamed newspaper sent to me several years ago. To read the full article about the Athens Academy from The Athens Post, 21 December 1894. Page 22 – see Athens Tennessee Academy Henry William Cleage – 1894

STANDING LEFT TO RIGHT

MISS M. LEA JONES
a native of Dallas, Texas, attended Knoxville College for a number of years. She received her appointment as intermediate teacher to the Athens Mission in the Spring of 1900.

HENRY W. CLEAGE
is a native of Athens. He entered and finished the course of the Athens Academy under Rev. Cook’s administration. He then attended Knoxville College. His teaching one year at Riceville gave him his first ideas of the practical side of the profession in which he is now engaged. At present he is a member of the corps of instructors of the Academy of Athens.

MRS. MINNIE J. ARTER
in childhood enjoyed the advantages of the public schools of Americus, Ga., her native home. After graduating from Knoxville College, she taught seven years in the city schools of Americus and seven years in the mission schools in Alabama. She is now in charge of the teachers’ home and parsonage.

PROF. COLLIER
all of Mr. Collier’s instructors in his youth, except one, both in and out of the Atlanta University, were teachers from the North. He was graduated from the State Normal School at Fayeteville, N. C. Mr. Collier’s experience extends from the rural district to the principalship of graded schools. He is at present substitute teacher in the Athens Academy. Mr. Collier is in very feeble health.

SEATED LEFT TO RIGHT

MRS. MINNIE B. CLEAGE
is not in the profession now, but she finished the course at the Academy of Athens, and was a student at Knoxville several years. She is now the wife of Henry W. Cleage.

JAMES W. FISHER
attended the public graded schools of Eufaula, Ala, his home town, during most of his boyhood. He next attended Knoxville College in which he pursued his studies for five years. He was in charge of the Mt. Zion District school in Alabama for three years. His present position is assistant principal of the Athens Academy.

REV. JOHN T. ARTER,
principal of the Athens Academy, is a graduate of the class of ’95, Knoxville College; also of the class of ’98, Alleghany Theological Seminary. For two years he served at Catherine, Ala., as pastor of the U. P. (United Presbyterian) Church. He now has charge of the Athens U. P. church.

MRS. LOUISE COLLIER
entered the City School In Savannah GA when quite a child. Later she attended the Atlanta University for a number of years. While yet in school she accepted a position as teacher near Americas, GA. She afterwards taught in the city graded schools of Americus where she continued to teach for seventeen years, resigning there to accept her present position in Athens.

MISS CHRISTIANITA TOTTEN
of the Danish West Indies, came to this country in 1891, entered Knoxville College and graduated from the Normal department in 1885, after which she taught in the Missions for Freedmen for six years. She is now in charge of the sewing department and is very active in the mission work of Athens.

H is for Henry William Cleage

Mary Vee On A Bike

September 23, 2022Cleages, Detroit, sepia saturday#Fannie Turner Graham, #Mary V. Graham ElkinsKristin

On a Sunday in December, when my aunt Mary Virginia was eight months old, my grandmother held her on a tricycle for a photo opp.

The baby doesn’t look very happy about it. She looks cold, or terrified.Even though the weather called for rain instead of snow which made it rather warm for Detroit, I imagine it was still pretty cold.

I don’t know if the tricycle was an early Christmas gift or if it belonged to another child, a friend of the family because Mary Vee was the first and oldest child of my grandparents, Fannie and Mershell Graham.

Another photograph with a story I don’t know.

This is not the first time Bicycles have been a sepia Saturday prompt. Here are some of my past responses:

Biking at Old Plank Road, 1962
Girl On A Bike -Sepia Saturday #162
Buffalo Soldiers on Bicycles
Girls Riding a Bike, From the Porch of 5397 Oregon, 1962

A Buggy, A Visitor and a Mystery – 1950

September 17, 2022Biography, sepia saturday, Springfield, MA#me, #Pearl CleageKristin

The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts
Nov 04, 1947 · Page 13

We were living in Springfield, Massachusetts where my father was the pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church.

One cool day in 1950 my little sister Pearl and I were playing with our dolls and buggy in the back yard. Perhaps it was one of those in the advertisement to the left.

I was four. Pearl was about 18 months. An older girl appears on the scene. I do not remember who she was. A neighbor? The child of a church member? No idea.

The guest looks suspicious while I explain things and Pearl looks on.

Pearl is pointing at something in the guest’s hand. Are my fists balled up? My doll watches

For more posts about me and my family in 1950 go to this link- My family in 1950

For more Sepia Saturday posts, click picture

Riding the Clairmount Bus – 1969

September 8, 2022Biography, Detroit, sepia saturday#meKristin

Oddly enough, I do not have any personal photographs of buses. I do have an ancient journal entry chronicling a very bizarre bus ride I took in Detroit down Joy Road on the Clairmount bus in 1969. I had just graduated from Wayne State in December of 1968 and I was enjoying my freedom. I was living in my own apartment and working at the Black Star Clothing Factory. My cousin Barbara was living in New York City, the East Village. at the time and I was plotting and planning a visit with her. I did make it later that summer. I turned 23 that August.

Kristin and Barbara 1969, at her sister Dee Dee’s house.

I didn’t capitalize anything in the journal so I just left it like that.

journal entry

June 25, 1969

I don’t know what is going on, it isn’t good though. i was leaving friday for new york, but i don’t think so soon. i need a bit more time (for what?) i been listening to new leonard cohen record. two days over and over at first it was tired, but now i really like it, after the old revolution, i liked best the partisan song about coming out the shadows. i am so sleepy .

everybody is mad/crazy, and i really don’t understand at all. i need pearl’s youth card so that I can leave, go to NYC.

yesterday on the way to a photo show, I was on the clairmont bus on joy rd. the driver was crazy, he acted like he was taking a pregnant woman to the hospital, he was weaving the bus in and out between cars. that was bad enough – old ladies rocking, weaving and falling, when suddenly a red light backs up traffic, or just stops it. he pulls belligerently into the lane of oncoming traffic (which lucky for us was empty at the time) and raced two blocks in the wrong lane to pull and bully his way in front of some poor car when the light changed. I was cracking up. the people weren’t, just me. I couldn’t control myself laughing, mouth open etc. they probably thought I was crazy or something. so ridiculous, can’t even imagine a regular car doing that shit. I just don’t know, I really don’t. some lunatic jehovah’s witness knocked on the door to give me a bible study tract. says god’s kingdom is eminent. we should be so lucky.

An “At Home” In Honor of Chicago Visitors

September 2, 2022Detroit, News Items, Photographs, sepia saturday#Doris Graham Cleage, #Mary V. Graham ElkinsKristin

"At Home Eliza's descendents" — Hosts and guests posed for photograph. My mother, Doris Graham is the first on the far left. Her sister Mary V. is second from the right. Publisher James McCall is right in the middle.

"At Home Eliza's Descendants verso" — Verso of Photograph

“This is not the picture of a family reunion, although all in the group, with the exception of one intimate friend, are relatives who stood in the receiving line or assisted otherwise at the “At Home” given Monday evening, December 26 from 6 to 9 o’clock, at the McCall’s residence on Parker avenue, the affair was in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Howard, of Chicago, brother and sister of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. McCall and Mrs Robert F. Johnson, a sister, greeted guests at the door, while Miss Mary Virginia Graham, a cousin, acted as registrar. Mrs. Moses L. Walker, a sister, introduced the guests to the host and hostess, who in turn presented them to others in the receiving line – Dr. and Mrs. Howard, the honorees; Miss Victoria McCall, daughter; Miss Louise McCall, niece, of Chicago; and Miss Mignon Walker, also a niece. Mrs. William Hawthorn, a friend of the family, presided at the punch bowl, assisted by Miss Doris Graham, a cousin of the McCalls; and Miss Margaret McCall, a daughter. At the close of the reception, the principals and assistants stood together and were snapped by the camera. They are left to right: Doris Graham, Mignon Walker, Louise McCall, Victoria McCall, Dr. and Mrs J. E. McCall, Mrs. M. I. Walker, ( not named was Margaret McCall) Mrs R. F. Johnson, Mary Virginia Graham and Mrs. William Blackburn.”

The Detroit Tribune, Detroit, Michigan 31 Dec 1938, Sat • Page 5

The Detroit Tribune was published by James E. McCall and his wife, Margaret Walker McCall. He was also a poet and had lost his sight while attending college after having typhoid fever.

The links below take you to more information about various people in the photograph.

Victoria McCall interviews Eleanor Roosevelt in 1945
1940 Census – James and Margaret McCall and Family
James Edward McCall, Poet and Publisher 1880 – 1963
Interview With Mignon Walker Brown & 3 Hats
Otillia McCall Howard
Louise and Ronnie
Mary Virginia Graham – Social Reporter
Doris Graham, High School Senior – 1940
F – FAMILY, MY GRAHAMS in the 1920 Census
My Mother in the News

Click photo for more Sepia Saturday photos!

The Cleages at home

August 27, 2022Cleages, Detroit, sepia saturdayKristin

My paternal grandparents Albert and Pearl (Reed) Cleage. Youngest daughter Anna in the background.

Albert and Pearl Cleage at home. This was a tiny photo, probably cut from a proof sheet my grandparents doesn’t have the best exposure.It was taken in the house on Scotten Avenue in Detroit, in the mid 1930s.

Anna Cleage with groceries and ice cream.

Here is a better photo of youngest daughter Anna holding a bag of groceries and eating an ice cream cone on her way into the house when one of her brothers stopped her to take a photo. I bet they didn’t offer to carry that bag in though.

Click above for more photos of couples with children or anything really.

Theresa With Roses

August 18, 2022Reeds, sepia saturday#Theresa Reed AveretteKristin

“A Merry Xmas to you all. Here are some roses for your parting of 1915. Your little niece, Theresa P Reed. Age 1 yr. 9 months Dec. 1915.”

I had this colorized at MyHeritage in Color. The first on on the left is the one they colorized. The one in the middle is the original photograph with the flowers colorized by me. The one on the right is the MyHeritage colorization after I recolored the roses.

__________

Theresa Pearl was born in March 10, 1913 in Indianapolis Indiana. She was the third child of Hugh and Blanche Celeste Reed. Hugh was my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage’s brother

Theresa’s middle name, Pearl, was after my grandmother, Pearl. That is probably why there are more photographs of her in the family photo collection than any of the other children.

By 1928 the family had moved to Los Angeles, California where Hugh changed the family name to Averette (his father’s last name) and they began passing for white. In 1930 Theresa was a 17 year old student living with her family in Los Angeles California. She was identified by her nickname “Tut”.

https://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2022/08/sepia-saturday-635-20-august-2022.htmlAbout 1932 Theresa married Bennett Shaffer. Both of them had completed 2 years of college. Their daughter, Betty Jeanne, was born in 1934. Their son, Bennett Shaffer Junior, was born in 1935. The family lived in Los Angeles.

In 1940 Theresa and her family were lived in Glendale, California. Theresa and her husband, Bennett, were both 27 years old. Bennett worked as distribution manager for a daily newspaper. Six year old Betty Jeanne was attending school. Bennett was only four and too young for school.

Theresa Pearl Averret Shaffer died in 1941 at age 28. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Bennett died the following year.

Cousins on the Running Board

August 17, 2022Allen, Photographs, sepia saturdayKristin

Cousins Annie Lee Pope Gilmer & Jeanette McCall McEwan and sons. The boys are Charles E Gilmer, Robert and Raymond McEwen. Photo taken 1923.

From the drafts file.

Annie Lee Pope and Jeanette McCall were first cousins born in Montgomery, Alabama. They were daughters of the oldest and youngest daughters of Eliza, for whom this blog is named.

Annie Lee Pope and her twin brother Charles were born January 31, 1902 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was one of the set of twins born to Robert and Beulah (Allen) Pope. Their younger, Robert Pope was born seven years later. Her father Robert Pope completed four years of college and worked as a clerk and a porter through the years at a wholesale drug business. Her mother Beulah was a seamstress.

Annie Lee completed two years at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi In 1921 at 19 she married Ludie Thaniel Gilmer, in Chicago. Perhaps she was visiting Jeanette. Soon afterwards he became a physician. They moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where their son, Charles E. Gilmer born in 1922. Annie Lee did not work outside of the home.

Jeanette was born on February 18, 1897 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was the youngest of the six children of Edward and Mary (Allen) McCall. Her oldest brother, James McCall was the blind poet in She was owned before the war by…. Her father, Edward McCall, was the cook and turn-key at the city jail. Her mother, Mary Allen McCall, was a seamstress. Jeanette attended Alabama State Normal school, a primary through high school for African Americans in Montgomery that all of her siblings and cousins attended.

Jeanette also attended Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi and met her husband, Robert Anderson McEwen there. Robert and Jeanette were married on 8 April 1918, in Iowa while he was in the service. In the 1920 census they were living in Chicago as roomers. On January 2, 1920 she gave birth to her first son, Robert Jr. Robert Sr. worked at the post office. By the time their second son, Raymond, was born on December 16, 1923, Robert was a dental student. Jeanette did not work outside of the home.

By 1929 Robert was a dentist. Jeanette died December 22, 1931 of influenza, exacerbated by consumption. You may see another photograph of Jeanette here. Robert remarried before 1938 to Ethel Martha Goins. She was his nurse during his hospitalization at the end of his life. He died of a heart attack on June 29, 1938.

Click for more faces in search of a backstory.

Louis Cleage in Physics Class – 1931

March 20, 2022Cleages, sepia saturday#Louis Jacob CleageKristin

Louis Cleage is at the front right desk on the far right. From the Northwestern High School Yearbook for 1931.

Description of the above photo in the yearbook.

In 1931 my uncle Louis J. Cleage was a senior at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan. He was the second of the seven children of Dr. Albert B. and Pearl (Reed) Cleage. He graduated cum laud and went on to become a family doctor in his father’s practice. Years later he became a ham radio operator.

My uncle Louis Cleage with his ham radio. I can still hear him giving his handle – W8A(ble)F(ox)M(ary).

You can read more about Louis in this post and there are links there to even more posts! L – Louis Cleage

Woodworking Class, Rastrick Grammar School, 1950 (Sepia Saturday 613) Click photo for more Sepia Saturday Posts.

Mothers and Daughters

March 14, 2022Alabama, sepia saturday, Turner#Alice Turner, #Daisy Turner, #Fannie Turner Graham, Jennie AllenKristin

"Jennie Allen Turner and Daughters" — Fannie, Jennie (mother) Alice. Daisy standing.

Jennie Virginia Allen Turner was my maternal grandmother’s mother and Eliza’s daughter. This photo was taken about 1918, before my grandmother Fannie, married my grandfather. They lived in Montgomery, Alabama.

Jennie was a widow and was a seamstress, working for herself. Fannie managed her Uncle Victor Tulane’s grocery store. Daisy was a teacher and Alice was at home.

After her marriage my grandmother moved to Detroit with her new husband, Mershell C. Graham. Several years later, the rest of the family joined them.

My mother Doris Graham Cleage with my sister Pearl and me. About 1952. Detroit, Michigan

Graham-Turner Weddin g
Jennie Virginia Allen Turner
Daisy Turner
Tulane’s Groceries

Finding Eliza

Family history blog