The 3 Cleage brothers and Jacob’s wife Gertrude, lived in the house at 910 Fayette Street. Back row: Henry Cleage, Jacob Cleage, Albert Cleage, Pearl Reed. Front: unknown woman, Jacob’s wife Gertrude B. Cleage.
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April.
910 Fayette Street in 2011 on Google Maps.
10/18/’09 910 Fayette Indianapolis Monday night 10:15
Dear Pearl:-
This note is to inform you that Henry and I arrived here last night at about 12 o’clock. We left our brother much better and I think well on the road to recovery. Am anxious to see you. Hope you are well and happy.
As ever, Albert
Left to right: Albert, Josephine, Edward. Back L Henry, back R Jacob
After my grandfather Albert came back from his summer on the Steamer Eastern States, he and his brother Henry went to Athens, TN to visit their brother Edward. Edward suffered from rheumatoid arthritis most of his life. He was the only one of the 5 siblings who remained in Athens. He married Mattie Dotson and they had 5 daughters, although all of them might not have been born at the time of this visit. Edward died from ‘Tuberculosis and Rheumatism” in 1926, when he was 47 years old. Curing his brother’s arthritis was something my grandfather mentions several times in his letters. It must have been a great disappointment that he was unable to do so.
I have been so overjoyed at finding the house where my grandparents started their married life and my father was born that I never went to any site that showed the date it was built. While looking for a good photo on google, I looked at several real estate sites. One of them was the one above. I saw that this house was not built until 1930. How disappointing. The period I am writing about was 20 years earlier. There must have been an older house there that was torn down and this new one built.
I looked for some older houses and found this one built in 1870. The house my family lived in was probably not a newly built home. Maybe the house they lived in looked more like this, without two bathrooms and the ongoing renovations.
My grandparents – Albert B. Cleage & Pearl D. Reed in 1909.
For the 2014 April A-Z Challenge, I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April. Click on any image to enlarge.
2/10/’10
My dear Sweetheart:-
You perhaps were a little disappointed in not seeing me this afternoon as I promised you should, but I trust that the disappointment caused you no worry. Henry and I were on our way out to your home and decided that this being Sabbath it was likely that you were over run with visitors and it would be best for us not to swell the number which already might be an annoyance to you mother
Pearl I am sorry that in this hour of your sorrow, that I can’t be in closer touch and relationship with you and I assure you that I will be glad to be of any service to you that I can. If you need my services (I don’t mean professional services) at any time don’t fail to call upon me. You don’t know how much I miss you and long to see you and be with you.
It has been a bad old day – very much in accord with my feelings. Attendance at church has been rather small all day. Will be out again Tuesday evening, very probably. Received the card Sat. morning.
That your mother will soon be restored to health and strength is the prayer of your devoted
Albert:-
It seems that my great grandmother, Anna Reed, has been taken seriously ill. I wonder if it were a small stroke. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage the following February. It must have been very serious for my grandfather and his brother to even consider a visit.
My grandparents – Albert B. Cleage & Pearl D. Reed in 1909.
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April. At one point, this letter refers back to a letter from a year ago. You can read it here at K is for Kenwood.
3/18/10
My dear Sweetheart:-
How did you spend St. Patrick’s day? It was a lovely day sure and also has today been beautiful. How are you? Have you gotten entirely well. I hope that pains and aches with you are now “past history.”Does your mother seem to be improving?
These are busy days with me. Examinations for the close of the winter term begin Monday and will last one week after which comes a ten or twelve day’s vacation.- What can I do with so much time all by my loneself.
Do you remember that last year we planned a day’s outing in the country and I thinking the day appointed, too bad did not show up? And also how you got angry with me? See how well I remember. That has been one year ago but it to me certainly does not seem so long. You did go to Brookside with me, which was the beginning of several very pleasant trips which will always be sweet sweet memories to me. My vacation is about 10 days off and it may be yet that you will be able to take that trip which we planned last year.
Mrs. White, I believe goes to Lincoln Hospital tomorrow to be operated upon Monday. Mrs. Brady – Little Marcum Mitchell’s grandmother died at the City Hospital this morning.
Photo found with letters.
Of course I selected that negative which you liked better, others whose opinion I asked were about equally divided. I send you the other which is fast fading.
Be careful for yourself. The things you said in your last letter were surely the product of a melancholie mind – such moods are not good for you. Cheer up!! Of course, God in His wise providence might call your mother home, and ’tis he alone who can cause me to cease loving you. So wake up from your dream – you shall nurse, not patients for someone else, but (__?__) for yourself – Won’t you like that better. Yes, I believe you will – Ha! ha!
My grandparents – Albert B. Cleage & Pearl D. Reed in 1909.
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April.
Postmark – June 20, 1909. Somehow I had overlooked this postcard, but I felt I had to post it, even though I had to dig pretty deep to find a “J” connection. I wonder what my grandmother thought when she received this card?
Written in Toledo, mailed Buffalo C-
6/19/09
I left Indianapolis last night at 7:25. Stayed all night in Hamilton O. Am now in Toledo at 10 a.m. will leave for Detroit 2:14.
For this weeks Sepia Saturday foursome, I put together 4 postcards that my grandfather sent my grandmother that I am not able to fit into my A-Z Challenge format. They were all sent by him the summer he worked on the steamer Eastern States between Detroit and Buffalo. I wonder what he meant when he wrote that he sent her a song on two of the cards. The messages match the pictures in the same space – top left, bottom right etc.
Top left.
Buffalo – 7/28/’09
Dear Pearl – I see that a new danger has arisen about which I must warn you – beware of the waves as well as of snakes and ___. I guess you remember my advice. A.B.C.
Top right.
Aug 21 – ’09
I mail you a “song” I heard yesterday & liked. Don’t laugh at my taste, the sentiment is what appealed to me. A.B.C.
Lower left
Buffalo – 7-20-’09
Dear Pearl – I was disappointed yesterday and today in Buffalo in not getting a letter – “If a body write a body and get no reply, is it wrong for a body to write a body and ask the reason – Why? Albert
Lower right
Detroit
Sept 3 – 09
Hope you will like the accompanying music. I do. Your letter and the P___ will be mailed to you Sunday. Albert
My grandparents – Albert B. Cleage & Pearl D. Reed in 1909.
For this year’s April A-Z Challenge I am blogging everyday using items taken from the letters written by my grandfather to my grandmother from 1907 to 1912, starting with “A” and moving right through the alphabet to “Z” during April.
12/8/’08
Am sure this will not reach you in time for you to answer. Anyway – I’ll take a chance and come out tomorrow night. Look for me!!
Names are sometimes repeated in a family generation after generation. In my family, Pearl is one such name. My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed Cleage, was the first Pearl. She was born in Lebanon, KY in 1886, the youngest of 8 children.
Pearl Losin Mullins was the son of Pearl’s sister Minnie Mullins. He was born in 1908 in Indianapolis, IN. and died in 1986 in California.
Theresa Pearl Averette, was the youngest daughter of Pearl’s brother Hugh. She was born in 1913 in Indianapolis, IN. and died in 1941 in California.
Barbara Pearl Cleage, daughter of Pearl was born in 1920 in Detroit, MI.
Pearl Michelle Cleage, my sister, daughter of Pearl’s oldest son Albert and 2nd granddaughter was born in Springfield, MA in 1948.
Anna Pearl Shreve is my grandmother’s youngest daughter’s daughter. She was born in 1960 in Detroit, MI. Anna Pearl was the 4th granddaughter.
Ayanna Pearl, my daughter and my grandmother Pearl’s great granddaughter, was born in 1976 in Jackson, MS.
Jann Leya Pearl, great granddaughter of Pearl Reed Cleage, was born in 1983 in the Detroit area.
Liliana Pearl Nowaczewski, is another great granddaughter of the original Pearl. She was born in 1989 in Michigan.
Chole Pearl is the youngest family Pearl. She was born in 2003 in New Orleans, LA and is a great great granddaughter of Pearl Reed Cleage.
Recently I posted about my Cleage grandparent’s household in 1950. I wondered what they had paid for the house when they bought it the year before. Information sent to me by my ever helpful cousin Jan shows that the price was $12,600.
My maternal grandparent’s names were Mershell Cunningham Graham and Fannie Mae Turner Graham. They were both born in Alabama in 1888. Mershell was born in Coosada Station, Elmore County. Fannie was born in Hayneville, Lowndes County. Both counties are near Montgomery.
Before moving to Detroit, Mershell worked on passenger trains in the dining car. After coming to Detroit in 1917 he worked on a Great Lakes Cruise ship as a steward and finally put in 30 years at Ford Motor Company in the parts dept at the River Rouge Plant, before retiring.
My grandmother Fannie, managed her uncle Victor Tulane’s store in Montgomery before her marriage. After their marriage in 1919, she didn’t work outside of the home. They both lived until I was in my mid-twenties. My grandfather died in 1976 at 86 years. I was 26. My grandmother died in 1977 at 87. They both died in Detroit. We spent every Saturday at their house when I was growing up and for the last year of college, they lived downstairs from us. They lived in that flat until they died. So I knew them and also research them.
Albert & Pearl 1922. Detroit
Albert & Pearl 1950s
My paternal grandparents were Albert Buford Cleage and Pearl Doris Reed Cleage. Albert was born in Louden county, TN in 1883. Pearl was born in Lebanon, KY in 1886. They were married in Indianapolis in 1910. My grandfather worked on a Great Lakes Cruise line summers until he finished Medical school and became a family physician.
We lived down the street from them for several years when I was 5 and 6 years old. We saw them often. My grandfather died in 1957 after being ill for awhile. He was 73. I was 11. My grandmother lived until 1982. She was 96. I was 35. I knew both of them. I also research them.
Below are links to some of the many posts about my grandparents on this blog.
I am the first daughter, born during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night.
I was born at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts, August 30, 1946. My parents arrived there the fall of 1945 when my father was chosen as Pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church. My mother was 23 and my father was 33. Although I was one of the people present in the delivery room, I’ve had to rely on the memories my mother shared with me. My mother was given a wiff of ether as I crowned so she did not see me born. I had a head full of dark hair, enough that a nurse pulled it up into a little pony tail and tied a ribbon around it. The nurse told my mother that all of the dark hair was going to come out and I would have blond hair. She was right. All of that fell out and I had a small amount of blond hair. It would be years before there was enough to pull up in a ribbon. My eyes were blue/gray.My mother said that she was unable to breast feed me because she had no milk. I always felt very sad about this, not so much for me, but because I think that if I could have gone back in time with what I learned about nursing when my own babies were born, I could have helped her make a go of it. After ten days in the hospital, we went home. A member of the church, Reginald Funn, drove us to the parsonage because my parents didn’t have a car until I was 8 years old. Looking at my baby book, there were many visitors and gifts from friends, family and neighbors.
Reginald Funn and car.
Both of my grandmothers came from Detroit to help out. I was the first grandchild on my father’s side and the second on my mother’s side. My maternal grandmother, Fannie Graham, had a cold so she was regulated to washing clothes and cooking and other duties that kept her away from me so I would not catch her cold. My Grandmother Pearl Cleage had the care of me. My mother said that her pediatrician told her not to give me any water because it would make me drink less milk. Below is a letter my Grandmother Pearl wrote home about it below. Poor baby me.
In this letter, Toddy was my father’s family nickname. Louis was his MD brother. Barbara is my father’s oldest sister, left in charge while her mother was in Springfield.
210 King St Springfield Mass Monday 23/46
Dear Barbara,
How are you? How are Gladys and Daddy and the boys?
We have had atime with this baby, the first nights and all last week Toddy and I were up allnighteachnight! She cried and cried and screamed until she would be exhausted and so was I! Last night and today, so far, she has slept a lot better. Before we talked with Louis I’ve put her feedings 3 hours apart, justlastnight because she acted like she would burst open, with crying. This a.m. we got the Bio Lac and are giving her water regularly too and she is acting 100% better!
When I would have given her water before, they told me her stomach would not hold it and food and had me stop her feeding at about 3 ounces, for fear she couldn’t hold it all, not to feed her too much, and Kris just starving to pieces! I did as they told me until I said I was going to talk to Louis because I had never seen a baby eat and be dry and then just act like she was starving to death and never sleep!
***************
I regret that nobody took any photographs of little me with either of my grandmothers.
Two excerpts from a letter my father wrote home in January. Actually, I did look like him, and more and more so as the years passed until now, if he were still here, we could pass as twins.
January 1, 1947
“…Doris and Kris welcomed in the New Year in their own inimitable way…at home. They got out only once during the holiday…on Christmas day we went to a Turkey dinner at the Funns. We had a tree “for Kris (and Doris) which Kris ignored…disdainfully. Our double-octet went out caroling to the hospital Christmas eve (yes Louis, for the white folks) and came back by and sang carols for us afterwards. Kris listened to them with her usual disdain…and they all agreed that “she is the most sophisticated looking baby they had ever seen!”
“…. She loves to play from 2 until 4 a.m. She had the sniffles for part of one day…but seems to have so far avoided a serious cold…even with us and the rest of Springfield down with Flu, Grip and everything else… She weigh 11:4 (last week) She’s learned to yell or scream or something…and will scream at you for hours if you’ll scream back (Just like M-V) and seems to love it…then after an hour or so…her screaming will shift into a wild crying…and then she must be picked up and played with for several more hours…SHE LOVES ATTENTION…No, mama, we do not let her cry…and her navel seems to be doing O.K. AND SHE DOES NOT LOOK LIKE ME! All reports not withstanding!”
March 18, 1947 – from a letter to my father’s sister, Anna by my mother.
“Kris (with her 2 teeth) says anytime for you all laughing at her bald head – I fear it’ll be covered all too soon with first one thing and then another.”
__________________
March 31, 1947 – From a letter to the Cleage’s from a friend of my parents in Springfield
“Last night at home, Kris had quite a time with her teeth and I think Doris was quite anxious. Reverend Cleage had to leave for Loring before Kris really let go so he didn’t know how much the baby suffered. I know it won’t last long, tho’ for mother says some teeth give more pain than others, but it is soon over with.”
__________________
From an April 7, 1947 letter my father sister Gladys wrote home while visiting Springfield.
“Kris is no good- but cute! Head’s not like the picture – kids! I definitely have no way with babies – I have truly lived!”
________________________
June 29, 1947 (from a letter by my father’s visiting sister, Anna)
“… Doris went to a reception today and I watched Kris. I tricked her, I played some soft music on the radio and waltzed around the room with her a few times, then eased into a rocking chair and first thing she knew she was asleep – so I put her in her crib and the next thing she knew Doris was home waking her to feed her.”
_______________________
I seem to have done fine, as you can see below, with my dirty bare feet I am sitting on the porch with my father’s father and my parents. I started walking at 9 months and my first words were – “Bow wow.” soon followed by “Some manners if you please!” My mother said that people didn’t usually understand what I was saying when I came out with that.
My paternal grandfather, Dr. Albert B. Cleage Sr. sitting on the railing. My mother, Doris Graham Cleage, holding me. My father Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. Summer of 1947 on the back porch of the house on King street.
You can read the front page of the Springfield Republican for the day I was born here.
10/18/’09 
I have been so overjoyed at finding the house where my grandparents started their married life and my father was born that I never went to any site that showed the date it was built. While looking for a good photo on google, I looked at several real estate sites. One of them was the one above. I saw that this house was not built until 1930. How disappointing. The period I am writing about was 20 years earlier. There must have been an older house there that was torn down and this new one built.
