Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett 426 Muskingun St. City
230 Kenwood Ave City December 21, 1904
Mr. Jarrett, Homer your letter was received, gladly and I shall try to answer every question which you asked of me. I am very sorry to hear that you are leaving town so suddenly, we shall all miss you very much. You spoke as if someone could influence you in regards to leaving or remaining.
Just for an instant we will say that someone does care for a certain person, and that person wishes to visit his home and mother and friends, whom he has not seen for a long time. Do you think that she would be selfish enough to try to persuade him to remain here, and feeling that his heart is there? I do not think she is that kind of a girl. It is perfectly natural for one to turn homeward at Xmas tide.
Minnie, if she comes at all, will be here about Saturday at noon. Haven’t heard from her for nearly two weeks.
You think that you will not enjoying going to the entertainment alone Monday? I am sorry, for sure. Will you accompany us to Mrs. Rodger’s home and go from there to Church? If you will, be here at 6:15 or 6:00 o’clock if possible, if you are not here at 6:15 we shall go on alone.
Shall be pleased to see you Sunday afternoon. In regards to Xmas present, why anything that you get I shall like it. Do not worry about it for I should be pleased with anything.
This post includes both the article announcing the concert and a report written after the concert.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana Fri, May 8, 1908 · Page 12
Sings in Concert at Simpson Chapel
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 local talent. The following program will be given: Overture -“Northern Lights,” Y.M.C. A. Orchestra. Violin–Hungarian Rhapsodie, Clarence Cameron White. Solo- Dry Those Tears,” Miss Pearl D. Reed. Piano–(a) Valse in sharp minor; (b) Polanalse in A major, Alberta J. Grubbs. Violin-(a) ‘Tran Merci; (b) Scherzo, Clarence Cameron White. INTERMISSION Orchestra- The Spartan.” orchestra. Vocal Miss Pearl D. Reed. Readings- A. A. Taylor. Selection- The Bird and Brook,” orchestra.
The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, May 9, 1908Page 21
Clarence C. White’s Recital. The farewell appearance of. Clarence Cameron White, the colored violinist, prior to his going abroad to pursue further his study of the violin, drew a large audience to Simpson Chapel last night. Mr. White came under the auspices of the orchestra of the colored Y. M.C.A. which also contributed to the program. A pleasing feature of the program was the singing of Miss Pearl Reed. leading soprano of the Witherspoon Memorial church choir. Following is the program: Northern Lights,” Y. M. C.A. orchestra; Hungarian rhapsodie (violin), Clarence Cameron White; solo, “Oh, Dry Those Tears”, Miss Pearl D. Reed; piano, valse (a) sharp minor, (b) polonaise in A major, Mrs. Albert J. Grubbs: violin (a) Tran Merci, (b) Scherzo, Clarence Cameron White: vocal solo, “Goodbye,” Miss Pearl D. Reed: select reading, A. A. Taylor; selection, “The Bird and the Brook,” orchestra. The proceeds will be used for the purchase of a piano.
Homer; Your letter was handed me at supper and don’t you know, that I was rather glad to hear from you. I did not answer your letter before, because I thought you were tired of hearing such “silly” “little” letters. You have managed nicely to keep yourself out of sight lately, since I’ve come to think of it, I think it has been about a month – don’t you?
I heard of the bad news that you had from home and Homer I send you my sympathy. Are they better now, I mean the ones that were ill?
In regards to my music, why I suppose I am getting on quite well. My tutor flatters me and tells me that I am doing “Oh, so nicely”, but I don’t believe one half of what is told me. Do you know I’ve changed from the guitar to the piano? You must think me the most changeable person Homer, but I get so tired of everything so very soon, you know.
Aren’t you tired of this stuff Homer? Well I am.
Good-bye Pearl
****
My grandmother also sang in the church choir and at other community events.
My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky in 1886. She was the youngest of the eight children of A is for Anna Allen Reed. The four youngest, including Pearl, were the children of Buford Averitt, a white physician. The older children had different fathers. By 1888 Pearl’s oldest brother, George, had moved to Indianapolis Indiana to work at Van Camps cannery. The rest of the family soon followed. She graduated from high school and took music lessons. In 1903, Pearl was nineteen years old. She lived with her mother and older brothers in North Indianapolis, Indiana.
Homer Jarrett, at a later date.
Homer Jarrett was a cousin of Minnie’s husband, James Mullins. He was born in Harris County, GA in 1882. He completed 8th grade. During the time of the letters he was moving around a lot, from Indianapolis, to Pine Bluff Arkansas to St. Louis MO and back to Indiana. He eventually moved to Boston, MA where he made his living in real estate. He never married. According to his draft records, he was short, slender, tan complexion, black hair and blue eyes, . He died in Boston in 1959 at 77.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Henry, Albert, Gertrude, Ola and Pearl Cleage, 1947 photo from my family archives
We visited the Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church in 1910 on their third anniversary in U – United Presbyterian Congregation Celebrates. Today we move forward to 1947 and the 40th anniversary. My family founders have traveled from Detroit back to Indianapolis for the event. They have aged from their twenties to their sixties in the photo above. Some have died – Jacob and Edward Cleage. More have been born. My grandparents have seven children. Henry and Ola have two. Once again my grandfather is speaking.
The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Apr 26, 1947 Page 11
The Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church will observe its 40th founders day Sunday with all-day services. The pastor, the Rev. Clinton Marsh, will speak at 11 a. m. Dr. A.B. Cleage, Detroit, who was among the early members of the church, will be guest speaker at 7:30 p. m. Dr. J. L. Hummons, who was organizer and founder of the beginning group, will be master of ceremonies. Before the address by Dr. Cleage there will be a brief sketch of the history of the church, which was moved from North West and Walnut Streets to the present site about 15 years ago. Among former out-of-town members expected are- Mrs. A.B. Cleage and Henry Cleage. an active member of the church and leader in its activities until he transferred from a federal position here to Detroit several years ago. The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Apr 26, 1947 Page 11
For Z we will go back to the founding of Witherspoon. Luckily for me, they were founded in April and continued to celebrate through the years.
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Other posts related to Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church. My grandmother Pearl, grandfather Albert, Uncle Jacob Cleage, Uncle Henry Cleage are in back row starting 3rd from right.
The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Indiana · Sunday, April 24, 1910
The Indianapolis Star 24 April 1910 Sunday The Witherspoon United Presbyterian congregation will observe today the third anniversary of its founding. The pastor, the Rev. D. F. White will preach the anniversary sermon. In the evening at 8 o’clock the young people of the church will render the following program; Special music, the choir; duet, Mr. And Mrs George Brabham; paper, Miss Mary Fields: solo Miss Pearl D. Reed: address, Dr. Albert Cleage.
The Indianapolis Recorder 30 April 1910 Saturday
‘Items of Interest’ The Indianapolis Recorder 30 April 1910 Saturday The Anniversary services at the Witherspoon United Presbyterian church last Sabbath was in every way a great success. The Rev. D.F. White spoke in the morning on “The church” to a large and appreciative audience. The program by the young people in the evening drew a very large audience. The choir maintained its reputation for singing. Miss Mary Fields read a splendid paper on “The Man of the Hour.” It was a powerful presentation. Dr. A.B. Cleage reviewed “The Conquest of the Christian Church,” in beautiful language. The third anniversary of the Witherspoon U P- Church last Sunday was attended with large and appreciative audiences The pastor preached on “The Church” In the evening Miss Mary Fields read a paper on “The Man of the Hour”. “The Conquest of Christianity” was the subject of an address by Dr. A. B. Cleage.
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The Indianapolis Recorder is a black newspaper in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Star is a white newspaper in Indianapolis. Years ago, before I started blogging, I copied some articles from various newspapers on trips to visit my daughter in Indianapolis. I was able to go to the library and find records and newspapers that were not online at that point. I found the above article in a timeline of my Cleages in Indianapolis and was so happy to find something for April 30! Then I realized that I didn’t know which paper it came from. So, I started looking at various websites looking for it. No luck. It was not in the Indianapolis Star, although the first article above was.
Today I was making another attempt. I decided to look for Realty Hall, where Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church met when they first started. I clicked on an ad for housing in The Indianapolis Recorder. Voila, there was the column “Items of Interest”. Not the column I was looking for, but now I knew what paper to search. I found the date and there was the little item of interest to me.
For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.
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While looking for some of his ancestors several years ago, my cousin Peter Olivier found a packet of letters online written by my grandmother Pearl Reed (Cleage) from 1903 to 1905. They were for sale by Michal Brown Rare Books who “specialize in Americana, especially manuscript materials. We offer manuscript letters and archives, diaries, journals, personal and business correspondence from the 17th century through the 20th.“
By the time I found out that the letters existed, they had been sold to the University of Georgia in Athens. I thought it was strange because neither my grandmother Pearl Reed nor Homer Jarrett, the young man she was exchanging letters with, were well known. Homer seems to have saved every piece of mail he ever received. Eventually all of those hundreds of pieces (which included my grandmother’s letters) ended up being sold after his death. In their entirety they give a unique picture of the era in which they were written.
I immediately got in touch with Special Collections Library at The University of Georgia in Athens. I was able to purchase scans of all 41 letters and envelopes very reasonably. I was very excited to have a look into my 19 year old grandmother’s life through her letters. It was lucky that the University purchased them. I could never have afforded to buy them.
Below is one of the letters in the package. It was written on April 7, 1904.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Homer Jarrett, at a later date.
Homer Jarrett #230 Bird St., City
2730 Kenwood Ave City April 7, 1904
Dear Homer; Forgive me for not writing sooner, but don’t you know I did write but tore up the letter a few hours after. Mother is very ill now and has been since Easter eve. I am having a terrible time. I could not go to church Easter Morn and have just received an invitation to a friends at her birthday anniversary but had to send her my regrets. Pity me. Your little friend
P.S. I am in an awful hurry, forgive this writing.
Your Pearl
P.S. Minnie’s address is #337 Colfax Ave. Benton Harbor Mich.
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Pearl Doris Reed 1904
Pearl Reed was my paternal grandmother. Homer was a friend of my grandmother. Minnie was my grandmother’s older sister who was married to Homer’s cousin and had moved from Indianapolis with her husband and family to Benton Harbor, Michigan.
At this time my grandmother was about 20 years old. She had graduated from high school and lived at home with her mother and her oldest brother, George. One other brother lived nearby with his family. Another brother lived in Chicago and all three of her living sisters lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan with their families. Her oldest sister died around 1900.
My grandmother would not meet my grandfather for several more years.
My maternal grandfather, Mershell Cunningham Graham was born about 1887 in Coosada Station, Elmore County, Alabama. He was the fourth of six children. His parents farmed. His maternal grandmother lived in Elmore county, but she doesn’t appear in any records after the 1880 census so she was possibly dead before he was born. His maternal grandfather was the slave holder and he died in 1860, well before Mershell was born. Mershell’s father, William Graham, doesn’t appear with his parents, so I don’t know who they were, much less if they lived nearby and were alive when my grandfather Mershell was.
Albert B. Cleage Sr.
My paternal grandfather, Albert B. Cleage, was born in 1884, the youngest of five children. His father, Louis Cleage was share cropping in Loudin, Tennessee. After Louis Cleage and his wife Celia Rice Cleage, divorced, she moved back to Athens where her mother Susan Rice Regan lived. Susan lived until 1911 when my grandfather would have been grown. I am sure that he knew her.Susan and al of her children had been enslaved on a Rice plantation south of Athens. Celia’s father was an unknown slave holder by name of Rice and I’m sure that my grandfather never met him. Albert B. Cleage’s paternal grandparents were Frank and Juda Cleage. They were enslaved on Alexander Cleage’s plantation in Athens, Tennessee. They do not appear in any records after the 1870 census. According to the testimony of Adeline Sherman in the pension case of Katie Cleage, Frank and Juda died before 1890, when she gave testimony. I doubt that they they lived long enough for my grandfather to meet them.
Pearl Doris Reed 1904
My paternal grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, the youngest of eight children, was born about 1886 in Lebanon, Kentucky. Her mother Annie Allen Reed and her maternal grandmother, Clara Hoskins Green, lived near each other. Clara died after 1880. Annie’s father is listed as Robert Allen. I cannot find a Robert Allen in their area. Pearl probably would have met Clara if she lived until the 1890s. Annie and her children moved to Indianapolis, Indiana about 1891 when Annie and her oldest son George appear in the city directory. Pearl was about five years old. Her father Buford Avritt was a white doctor who, according to oral history, did not support the family in their time of need. I was warned never to mention his name to my grandmother. I’m sure she never met her paternal grandparents.
You can read about my maternal grandmother and her grandparents at this ink -> when it goes up
This is my tenth A to Z Challenge. My first was in 2013, but I missed 2021. This April I am going through the alphabet using snippets about my family through the generations.
Several years ago, I wrote about a trip to the west that my grandparents, Albert and Pearl Cleage made by train from Detroit to California. They were traveling with a group. I wasn’t sure when or where they went, aside from starting in Detroit. Since then I have found photographs that show they visited The Garden of the Gods in Colorado, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and a beach with Oil derricks in the distance which may be Venice, California. They also visited an old west set and a mission bell, which I have so far been unable to locate.
I also decided that a photo of the grown children still living at home, eating dinner with my parents, dates the photo between 1951 and 1953 when we lived in that house.
Waiting for the train. My grandmother Pearl Cleage on the far right.
Garden of Gods-outside Colorado Springs.By Ahodges7 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8776166
Garden of the Gods . My grandfather Dr. Albert B. Cleage Sr. By Dicklyon – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109743047
Southwest Mission Bell
A stagecoach on a movie set.
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 grandmother holding her hat on.
Looking out over the vista. My grandparents are on the far right.
Venice California oil derricks. Venice is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California.
The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California
At a train station
We moved back to Detroit in 1951 and lived down the street from my grandparents who lived on Atkinson. At that time my aunts and uncles in the photo below lived with my grandparents.
My mother seems to be on her way to the kitchen, perhaps to refill a serving dish. From the left, we have my uncle Louis, my mother, Uncle Hugh and part of Aunt Anna and my father. I believe that this dinner took place when my grandparents took the trip. I can think of no other reason that they would all be crowding around the dinner table. The photographer must be my uncle Henry, who doesn’t appear in the photo. Where were my sister and I? Perhaps sitting at a different table. Perhaps it was after dark and we were in bed.
This week’s Sepia Saturday features an old airplane. I have two photographs of a small, old plane in my Cleage collection. Unfortunately there is nothing written on the back of either photo but I recognize my aunt Barbara – the baby in white, and the edge of my great grandmother Celia on the right edge.
Another view of the plane.
Here is a photograph of my family standing in a field in Detroit, about 1921.
Standing in a field
My grandfather Dr. Albert B. Cleage, Sr holding baby Barbara. next to him in my father Albert Jr, standing to the far right is my great grandmother, Albert Senior’s mother. My uncle Louis is front left, Henry is between Louis and Hugh who is standing with his hands on his hips.
My grandmother and great grandmother look tired out.
Front row: my uncle Louis and my father Albert. In the back row: My grandmother Pearl holding baby Barbara, Henry, Hugh, Great grandmother Celia. My aunt Barbara was born July 10, 1920 in Detroit, Michigan.
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
Naps were a regular part of my day back then. Usually I fell asleep because I remember several times when I woke up and nobody seemed to be around. Once I wandered down the hall and found the movie “The Thief of Baghdad” being shown. I came in just as the genie was coming out of the bottle and it was quite frightening. I didn’t see the rest of the movie.
Another time I woke up and, again no one was around. This time I heard music and noise outside and went out to find that the church was holding a carnival with rides and I don’t know what else. I think there was even a ferris wheel like the one my sister got for Christmas that year. I seem to have had my nightgown on and was hustled back into the house.
Kris, Dee Dee, Barbara. Pearl was napping
In the photographs at my grandparents in Detroit, Pearl doesn’t appear in some of them and my grandmother wrote on the back and speculated that she must have still been sleeping from her nap.
Dee Dee and Kris have a chat while Pearl makes a get-away and Barbara sleeps
The same happened in Springfield when my cousin Barbara didn’t appear in the photo, my mother guessed she was still asleep from her nap.
The Naughty Little Guest
I remember this little 2 x 3 inch book. The picture I remember is of the writing on the walls that was done by the naughty little guest, who was actually the little goat’s imaginary friend, ie herself.
