#1 Baby Mary Virginia – #2 baby in cap Mershell – #3 Baby Doris – #4 Baby Howard
From the back pages of my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s Bible
“Our darling little Mershell Jr. was run over by a truck on Tuesday Nov. 1st – ’27 at 12:45 PM. on his way to school from lunch. skull crushed etc. – Neck broken – shoulder fractured- rushed to St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital – never regained consciousness – died – same night at 2:10 – Dr Turner at his sid(e) (Fun)eral-Nov 4th … (Lavi)scount offic(iated) sang….”
Mary Virginia born April 3rd 1920 at 5:10 AM on Saturday. Detroit Mich at 1031 St. Jean Ave, 7 #. Dr. Ames & … 2nd baby – Mershell C. Graham, Jr. born June 10th – 1921 at 7:45 PM. On Friday. Detroit, Michigan. Dunbar Hospital. 8 1/2# Dr. Turner. Died 11/1/27 killed by auto.
3rd baby – Doris J. Graham born February – 12th – 1923. 5:10 A.M. – on Monday at Women’s Hospital Beaubien and For(est) Detroit, Michigan 7#
Two pages from Howard Alexander Graham’s baby book.
The Arrival
A babyHoward A(lexander) Grahamwas born toMershell C. and Fannie Turner Graham – Woman’s Hospital.
On the7thday ofSeptember 1928at 5:10 o’clock P.M. Address6638 Theodore Street. Autograph of MotherFannie T. Graham Autograph of FatherMershell C. Graham Autograph of DoctorA.L. Turner M.D. Autograph of NurseAunt Abbie Allen Autograph of othersAunt Jean Walker presented this book to him.
Photographs
Saw his first circus – 2 1/2 years old – and what a thrill. July 1931 On Oct 23 1931 – Howard came into bathroom while Dad was trimming my hair. Where have you been I asked? Answer …In the children’s room. Question—What doing? Answer – “Lecturing on common-sense.” The above is true – Believe it or not. Had more sense then any child his age we’ve ever seen.
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2/20/32 Howard sent to hospital – scarlet fever. 2/28 – began to grow worse – they sent for us to come see him –Sunday 2/28/32 – He was unconscious and didn’t know us…remained unconscious 4 days On Tuesday 3/1 – called us to Hospital to see him. On Thursday AM he began to get better. Thursday eve – regained consciousness. At 12:45 AM. The phone rang and Dr. called us to come see him… Then again at 5:30 a.m. “Dr” phoned us to come. Mr. Vorpogel dressed and drove Daddy out there – but Howard was dead on arrival. Died 3/4/32 at 5:00 AM… Buried 3/15/32 – beside Mershell.
Lewis Cleage is one of my ancestors that I do not have a photograph of. Above is a photograph of his wife, Celia Rice Sherman holding their granddaughter Barbara Cleage Martin.
This photograph includes their five children. In the front are Albert B. Cleage Sr. (my grandfather), Josephine (Josie) Cleage and Edward Cleage. Behind Albert is Henry and behind Edward is Jacob (Jake).
Below are several descriptions and stories of Lewis by grandchildren who never met him.
Lewis Cleage and Celia were married and had young children. One of them was grandfather Cleage. Lewis C. worked all day for 50 cents. Celia worked all week for 50 cents. He often spent his on good times before he got home. Many nights he spent in jail – drunk – playing the guitar and singing! One evening she waited for him where he worked so she could get him and the money home before he spent it. He had had a drink or two and was cussing and threatening her as they went down a country road toward home. She was hanging on to him and crying. A passing white man stopped them, cursed Lewis, told him to stop abusing his wife, etc. And if he heard in future about him abusing her, he would find him and kill him. They never saw him again, until…
About twenty years later Celia was on the train going to see her children – who were now grown with children of their own. A white man on the train spoke to her. Asked if she wasn’t the same woman he had seen on the country road, etc., etc., and asked how she was! Thought you would enjoy this. Louis remembers everything – knows lots of good stories. Story by Louis Cleage (grandson) as told to Doris Graham Cleage. 1-29-79
Grandfather Louis: Tall, big-boned man in stature, heavy voice, coarse hair. As described by Juanita Cleage Martin (granddaughter) in her writing “Memories to Memoirs” 1990
Lewis Cleage was a large, dark skinned man. He spent a lot of time playing his guitar, drinking and landing in jail. They could hear him in the cabin over at the jail, singing and playing the guitar. He’d get drunk, they’d throw him in jail. He was born in Louden, Tennessee and was shot early on, leaving Celia a widow. As described by Henry W. Cleage (grandson) to Kristin Cleage Williams 1990s
According to his death certificate, Lewis Cleage didn’t die until 1918 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He died of Lobar pneumonia. I think I need to figure out how to find court records and see if I can find him there.
"On our back porch 1959. Kris 13 & Nannie. She's just turned 13."
I look so comfortable leaning into my grandmother. Nannie was 71. It was almost back to school time. One more year ahead at McMicheal Junior High for me. Right now I’m wishing I could go back there again, even for just one of those Saturdays in my grandparents backyard.
Louis Cleage was my paternal great grandfather. Lewis was born into slavery about 1852 in McMinn County Tennessee on the plantation of Alexander Cleage. I first found him in the 1870 Census in McMinn county, TN living with his family. His age was listed as 16 and he was neither employed nor in school. His father, Frank, was a laborer.
By 1880 Louis was married to my great grandmother, Celia Rice Cleage, and 4 of his 5 children had been born. My grandfather, Albert, would not be born until 1882. Louis’ age was listed as 28 and he was farming in Loudon County, Tennessee.
By 1900 Louis and Celia were no longer together. Celia lived in Athens, Tennessee with her second husband, Roger W. Sherman. The children lived with her and were attending school. Louis was working as a furnace laborer in the iron and steel industry that had grown up in Birmingham, AL. He had not been unemployed during the past year.
According to The Encyclopedia of Alabama: “The companies kept labor costs low by employing black workers, who came from depressed agricultural areas and supplied cheap labor. And the coal used to fire the furnaces was largely mined by forced convict labor leased to the companies at very low rates by the state and county governments.”
The Sloss Blast Furnace in Jefferson County, Alabama
In the 1910 Census Louis Cleage was in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area working as a railroad laborer. He was enumerated in a railroad camp. He was listed as 54 years old and had been in his second marriage for 11 years. He was a wage worker and has not been unemployed during the past year, including the day before this census was taken, April 29, 1910. At age 54, there were only two men in the camp older than he was – 56 year old Lee McConnel and 70 year old Fate Parker. Most of the men are in their 20s and 30s with a good number in their late teens.
Unidentified railroad workers
Louis could neither read nor write according to all the censuses. On his death certificate in 1918 his occupation is listed as laborer. His children all finished high school. Several of his sons graduated from college. My grandfather, grew up to be a physician. Uncle Edward was a barber with his own shop. Uncle Henry was a teacher and, after his move north, a postal worker. Uncle Jake (Jacob) was a teacher and, after moving to Detroit, a Wayne County deputy.
The Tulane building in 2004. During the time of this event the Tulane family lived upstairs and the store was downstairs.
Here is a story my cousin Jacqui told me about her grandfather, Victor Tulane and his rescue of Dr. William Watkins in Montgomery, Alabama. This story was told to her by her mother, Naomi Tulane Vincent. Naomi was twenty and the family was living above the store on Ripley and High Street when it occurred. The Watkins family lived several blocks away on Union Street.
Walking distance between the Tulane’s @ A and the Watkin’s @ B was about 3 minutes according to Google Maps.
It was the middle of the night when the Tulane family woke up to car lights shining in the windows. They got up and looked out into the yard. It was full of cars and trucks. Victor Tulane told his wife, Willie Lee and daughter, Naomi to go back to bed, everything would be all right.
He let the white men in and they told him they were looking for William F. Watkins, a black dentist who lived several blocks away. Mr. Watkins, they said had insulted one of their wives and they wanted him. Was he there, they asked? Victor told them that nobody was there except his wife and daughter. They could look for themselves. They went through the whole house looking everywhere. Finally, satisfied that Dr. Watkins wasn’t there, they left.
As dawn approached, Victor brought Dr. Watkins out from his hiding place beneath the floor. He put him in the car, piled produce on top of him, drove him to the train station and put him on a train heading north to Chicago.
___________
Jacqui remembers meeting William Watkins in New York when she was a child. He was an old man with a white beard. He looked just like Colonel Saunders, she said, and asked if I could find out anything about him, if he was married, did he have children, when did he die? Using various online sources, I was able to put together the following timeline.
Timeline for William Franklin Watkins
1879 – Williams Franklin Watkins Jr. born to William and Sarah (Fauntleroy) Watkins in Montgomery, Alabama.
1880 Census – Montgomery, Alabama – William Watkins Sr. was a carpenter. William was 1 year old.
1900 Census – Montgomery, Alabama – The family lived at 518 Union Street. William Sr. was a carpenter. There were 6 children at home, including 21 year old William Jr. who was at school. The oldest daughter, Lula was 26, a widow and teaching. She had a 4 year old son.
1910 Census – Montgomery, Alabama – Williams Watkins is living at home with his parents and four other siblings.
1914 – William Watkins, Sr. Dies
Obituary from the Montgomery Advertiser – March 11, 1914 William Watkins Dead
William Watkins, well known negro (sic) of Montgomery, died at his residence, 518 South Union Street, Tuesday evening at 5 o’clock. He had been living in Montgomery nearly fifty years and was thoroughly identified with negro church, society and business life. He was a contractor and builder and stood well in business circles. He was a member and deacon of the Negro Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and a trustee of Swayne School
1917 – William Watkins Jr and Gussie Rue Harris marry in Birmingham, Alabama (Gussie’s home town.)
1918 – WWI draft registration card information. William is a dentist in Montgomery, Alabama. Address is the family house on 518 Union St. He is married to Gussie Rue Watkins. His eyes are brown and hair is dark. He’s of medium height and build.
1918 – Son William III born in Alabama
Between the draft card in 1918 and the 1920 census – the event described happened.
1920 Census
*William is a Lodger in Washington DC and practicing dentistry. Identified as Mulatto. He was 40.
*Wife Gussie living with her parents with their son William in Birmingham, AL.
*William’s brother Charles is living in Los Angeles, CA. He is a carpenter.
1924 – Daughter Alice born in Washington DC.
1930 Census – Los Angeles, CA William F. Watkins 51 years old. His wife Gussie and their two children, Williams and Alice, are also in the household. He practices dentistry in his own office.
1936 – His mother dies and is buried in Montgomery, AL
1954 – William F. Watkins died
I found some of William Watkins extended family on Ancestry.Com and was able to see some photos of the family. The person I contacted said he did look like Col. Saunders. Unfortunately they had never heard this story.
I posted this chart last year for Labor Day. Here is a chart showing 7 generations of workers from my 3X great-grandmother to my children. My direct line is highlighted in yellow. The women with children combined whatever else they did with cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and raising the children. The first generations started their work life as slaves in Alabama. You can see a similar chart for my paternal side HERE.
Last year on Labor Day, I posted a chart of 7 generations of my family’s work history on both of my blogs. (How did I miss that I’ve been blogging for over a YEAR??) Today I’m going to repost them with a few minor changes. I can only find Lewis and Judy Cleage in the 1870 US Census and 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 a similar chart for my maternal side HERE.
On the back of the photograph is says “A Merry Xmas to you all. Here are some roses for your (faded words – if you can read them let me know!) Your little niece, Theresa P. Reed.” “Hugh’s daughter.”
Theresa was my grandmother Pearl’s brother Hugh’s youngest daughter. She was born in Indianapolis, IN in 1914. There are several other photographs of her as she grew up to about the age of 12 or 13. Unfortunately I cannot find the family in the 1930 census, although I do find her father later on. Hoping I can find them in the 1940 census and back track.
You can read about Theresa’s father, Hugh Marion Reed by clicking HERE.
You can see more fascinating Sepia Saturday posts by clicking HERE.
Yesterday I was working like mad to complete an entry for the “Carnival of Genealogy – Our Ancestors Places of Worship”, by the midnight deadline when I came across two interesting pieces of new information.
First, even though I thought I had done this before with no success, I asked my cousins to ask their mothers what church they had attended as children in Detroit. The answer came back – St. John’s Presbyterian Church. At first I thought there was some confusion because I knew that my father had been pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield, Mass. and St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit but St. Johns Presbyterian? I didn’t remember ever hearing of it before. So, I googled it and found that not only was there a St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit but that my Cleage grandparents were among founders and that it was founded in 1919, the same year my Graham grandfather was participating in the founding of Plymouth Congregational Church, also in Detroit, also on the East side. I looked for more information on St. Johns. I searched for even one photograph of the old church. I came up with very little. I looked through the family photos for something that looked like it was taken at a church but also found nothing aside from a few where the family is on their way to church. I did find the information below.
“We, the believers in Christ members, are very proud of our rich heritage. We rejoice always; give praise and thanksgiving to our Lord for His abundant blessings of the faithful shoulders we stand on. We accept our charge of ensuring an African-American Presbyterian witness for our Lord in the city of Detroit, Michigan and beyond to the glory of God! St. John’s Presbyterian Church was among the new congregations formed because of the migration. In the winter of 1917 Reverend J.W. Lee, “field secretary for church extension among colored people in the North,” came to Detroit hoping to establish a Presbyterian church. He was disturbed by the fact that many migrants of the Presbyterian faith had turned to other denominations because there were no Presbyterian churches in Detroit. In April 1919 Lee organized thirty-nine believers into a new congregation. He served as pastor until 1921, when he recruited a southern preacher front Alabama to take his place. By 1925 the Sunday services at St. John’s were so popular that some people arrived as much as three hours early in order to secure seats. Hundreds of persons had to be turned away at both Sunday and weekday services.” One clarification, there were Presbyterian churches in Detroit but they were white.
Something the churches my grandparents helped fond have in common is that they were both urban renewed and torn down to make way for, in the case of Plymouth, a parking structure and I’m not sure what for St. Johns but neither of the historic church buildings are standing today, although both churches are still going strong in their new buildings.
Next I decided to google the church my grandfather, Albert Cleage attended when he was growing up in Athens Tennessee. I found that he was too young to have helped start First United Presbyterian Church, it was founded in 1890 and he was born in 1883. However, his step-father, my great grandmother Celia Rice Cleage Sherman’s second husband, Rodger Sherman, is listed as the architect of the church on Wikepidia. Amazed? Yes, I was. Mr. Sherman and Celia Cleage weren’t married until 1897, First United Presbyterian church had been standing for 5 years by then. The church is still standing and still looking good today.
First United Presbyterian Church – 2004
From the Website “J. Lawrence Cook – An Autobiography” “After a short time at Fisk, just how long I do not know, my father (note: J.L. Cook) entered Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee. [5] He worked to pay his expenses, and was also aided by donations from individuals back in his home town of Athens. In 1888 he received his bachelor’s degree from Knoxville College and entered Allegheny Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to prepare for the Presbyterian ministry. [6] On 9 April 1890 he was licensed as a minister by the Allegheny Presbytery, and with this credential returned to Athens to establish a United Presbyterian mission. Fresh out of seminary, he began holding services in an old dance hall. [7]”
Northern Congregationalists came south to Montgomery, Alabama after the Civil War. First Congregational Christian Church was founded in 1872. They also supported a school nearby. My grandmother, Fannie, attended both the school and the church. She met her husband, Mershell, in the church.
When Mershell Graham, my grandfather, migrated north to Detroit in 1918 many of his friends, who were also members of First Congregational Church, were also leaving segregated Montgomery. In 1919 a group of nine gathered together to form Plymouth Congregational Church. They first met in members houses and in borrowed space until they were able to purchase their own building, a former Synagogue, in 1927. They moved in, in May 15, 1927.
Plymouth Congregational Church – September 1928. Detroit, Michigan
Plymouth had been in the building a little over a year when this photo was taken. My grandfather, Mershell C. Graham, is standing behind his daughters, Mary V. and Doris (my mother). Their cousin, Margaret McCall, is standing between them. They are in the front row, towards the left side of center. The minister, Rev. Laviscount, is standing behind Mary V. My grandmother, Fannie, had just given birth to their youngest son, Howard, so she was not able to be there.
You can read an online history of Plymouth Congregational Church of Detroit Michigan HERE.
A post about the Cradle Roll my grandmother Fannie filled out at Plymouth HERE.
You can read about Witherspoon Presbyterian Church which my paternal grandparents were founders of HERE.
Learn about the Presbyterian Churches founded by the Cleage side of my family HERE
