My Detroit Rebellion Journal – 1967

Cleages, Detroit, sepia saturday, ,
My father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage & me.

I wrote this after the Detroit riot in July of 1967.  I was 20. I had been in Idlewild, MI at my Uncle Louis’ cottage with my Aunt Gladys and some of my cousins when it started. I ended up at my Grandmother Cleage’s house where my father, several uncles and cousins were also gathered. Her house was on Atkinson, about three blocks from the 12th street corner where the riot started. Aside from a little editing for clarity, these are my memories from 1967.

____________________________

 The fire siren that night in Idlewild went on and on and on. Gladys got a phone call that a riot had started. We left that morning. The sky was pink with smoke as we drove into the city.

During the riot, when it got dark, we turned off the lights, put on black clothes and waited. The shots that had been going all day got louder, closer, smashed together. We sat on the porch and watched the tanks go up and down the street full of white boys wearing glasses, aiming their guns at us.

One during the day went by in a yellow telephone repair truck. He rode in the elevated stand, pointing his rifle. We looked back at him.

Lights from helicopters whirred over us. Troops went down 12th, down 14th. The street shook. Afraid to sleep because somebody might shoot through the window, we stayed up until the sky got light. My cousins cleared out the furniture in front of the windows, so they could shoot.

Should they let them get in or shoot before they reach the porch? They lay there on quilts, looking out the window. Seeing soldiers and armored trucks in flowerpots and dump trucks. Dale asked how the gun worked. Ernie shows him by the hall light.

The guns sounded like they were in the alley. I sat on the landing. Thorough the window it was dark and unreal outside. Blair came up, scared, so we went in the basement and turned on a program about Vietnam, but then off to a horror movie nobody watched.

Daddy came down, with a drink, to use the phone and dictate demands to the papers. Ernie showed us how to bolt doors if someone tried to come in the window.

They tried to get Grandmother down to watch TV, but she wouldn’t. She stayed upstairs, watched TV and came out only at times to turn lights on and silhouette everybody hiding guns as the soldiers were pulled back.

On the police radio: Fifty policemen wounded in one hour. They were run out of the Clairmont Square again. A woman turns in her sniper husband.

Dale was left on the porch when they flashed light on the porch and summer-salted in. Bullets were so close I was afraid and went back inside.

Grandmother turning on lights with armed flower pots aiming at us.

Turning Vietnamese guns up loud to drown out theirs. Jan and I, sleeping on the hard scratchy rug. Ernie wanting just a ring to show he was there. Dale taping, taking pictures to show his children. Jesus painted Black.

All that Sunday cars full of white folks went down Linwood past the Church. Windows rolled up. Sightseeing. Long, slow lines, car after car, windows shut tight. Troop Jeeps going by pointing guns.

For other Sepia Saturday offerings click HERE.

Where My Great great Grandparents Were Born

Investigations

 I am running a bit late but Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings presented the following challenge Saturday evening:

1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint – you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]

2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3)  For extra credit, go make a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the “Heritage Pie” chart idea.]

4.  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.

 
Because all of my Greatgreat Grandparents were born in the United States, I made a pie chart in Photoshop using the states where they were born.  “Unknown” was born either in Virginia or Tennessee.
 
 
Maternal Side.
Eliza Williams Allen – born a slave in Alabama. Died free 22 June 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama
Dock Allen – born a slave in Georgia about 1839.  Died free 29 May 1909 Montgomery, Alabama.
They were married about 1860 in Alabama.
 
Joe Turner – born a slave in Alabama about 1939. Died 7 Feb 1919 Lowndes County Alabama.
Emma Jones Turner – born a slave in South Carolina about 1840.  Died before 1909 Lowndes County Alabama. They were married in 1861 in Lowndes County, Alabama.
 
No death or marriage information at this time.  They lived in Elmore county and probably died there.
Pricilla – born a slave about 1832 Alabama
Joseph Jackson – born a slave about 1838 South Carolina
 
Going by Census information for William Graham as I have no more information about them.
William Graham’s mother – b. Alabama
William Graham’s father – b. Alabama
 
Paternal side.
Frank Cleage – was born a slave in North Carolina about 1816
Judy Cleage – was born a slave in Tennessee about 1814.
They were married 11 August 1866 in McMinn County, Tennessee.  I cannot find them after the 1870 census so although I think they died free in Tennessee I am not sure at this point.
 
Mother of Celia Rice – born a slave in Virginia. Died free in Tennessee.
Father – Unknown white male in the Rice family – born free, owned Celia’s mother. Born in either Virginia or Tennessee.  Assume died in Tennessee. No marriage involved here.
 
Clara Hoskins Green – born enslaved in Kentucky about 1829.  Died free in Lebanon, KY after 1880.
Robert Allen – born free 1823 in Kentucky.  White slave owner. Died in Kentucky. No marriage involved.
 
John Averitt – white – born free in Kentucky 28 Feb 1810 died 1894 in Kentucky.
Elizabeth Tucker Averitt – white – born Kentucky 2 Sep 1813 died in Kentucky, date unknown.
They were married 17 April 1835 in Washington County, Kentucky.

Louis/Lewis Cleage’s burial spot

Cleages,
 

Several weeks ago Megan Heyl took this photograph of my great grandfather Louis Cleage’s burial spot in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He doesn’t have a headstone and neither do the people buried around him.  I think it looks very peaceful.  So many of my ancestors do not have headstones.  I really appreciate Megan and her husband taking their time to photograph the burial spots for me.

Other posts concerning Louis Cleage

Louis Cleage’s Death Certificate

Lewis Cleage (Pronounced as if it were Kleg)

Sale of Stock, Negroes and a Fine Carriage and Horses

Allen, ,

On Monday, 9th January next, we will sell at the Artesian Basin, in the city of Montgomery, at public auction, the following described personal property of the estate of John H. Murphy, deceased:
Seventy-five Shares of Stock in the Montgomery Insurance Company:
Fifty Shares of Stock in Alabama and Florida Rail Road Company
Six Shares of Stock in the Montgomery Gas Light Company.
Also, twenty-three NEGROES, among which are three good brick-layers, and plasters and several fine house servants, cooks, &c.  The negroes will be sold in families, and catalogues funished on the day of sale.
Also, a fine Carriage and pair of Horses.
The Stocks will be sold for cash.  The Negroes and Carriages and Horses on credit of 6 months, for approved Bills of Exchange with interest from date.
EDMUND HARRISON,
HENRY G. SEMPLE,
Executors of J.H. Murphy, dec’d.
dec 26 – d&wtds           [M.]

Edmund Harrison once owned my Great Great Grandmother Eliza Williams Allen and her mother Annie Williams.  The article that confirmed that information is here “She was owned before the war by Colonel Edmund Harrison of this county.” I found this article on Genealogy Bank.

Person of the Month – Barbara Pearl Cleage Martin

Cleages, ,

In 1990 my four youngest children began homeschooling.  They went from Ayanna in 8th grade to 2 year old Cabral.  Soon after we began to publish a family newsletter, The Ruff Draft.  They did the writing and I did the layout.  They would send out questionnaires to family members and write a Person of the Month article from the information they got back. Last night I was going through my Ruff Draft archives and thought I should publish some of the articles on my blog.  Since today is my aunt’s birthday, it seems like the perfect time to run this. Last year we went to South Carolina and helped her celebrate.  This year she said she’s keeping a low profile. See more photos and information about my aunt at Barbara’s 90th Birthday.


Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church 1909

Cleages, sepia saturday, ,
Witherspoon Presbyterian Church 1909, Indianapolis, Indiana.

This is a photograph of the congregation of Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, IN in 1909, two years after they organized. This photograph is from the personal collection of my cousin Vivian Vaughn McDonald.  My grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage is the third person on the top right. My grandfather, Albert Cleage is next to her.  They wouldn’t be married for two more years. Next to Albert is his brother Jacob and next to him is their brother Henry.  Directly in front of my grandfather Albert is Jacob’s wife, Gertrude. Three people over from Henry is James Cleage, their sister Josephine’s husband.  He was from a different Cleage branch.  In the second row, second from the right is Henrietta Cleage, oldest daughter of James and Josephine. Although the woman 4th from the left, front row, looks like Josephine to me, I’m told Josephine was not there for the photo but was home pregnant with Hattie Ruth, the youngest of her five children.

In the 1909 Indianapolis City Directory Witherspoon United Presbyterian Church is listed as located in Realty Hall with Rev. David White as Pastor.

Here is another photograph in front of the church.  Also from my cousin Vivian’s collection.  Josephine Cleage is on the far right, wearing a dark dress.  The history below is from the Witherspoon web page, however they seem to have taken the history section down.

My grandfather’s sister, Josephine Cleage, is on the far right wearing a dark dress.

On April 30, 1907 the Presbytery of Indiana of the United Presbyterian Church held a called meeting at Realty Hall in response to a petition signed by 31 persons asking to be organized into a United Presbyterian congregation.

Begins With 31 Members

Prof. David Graham of Rushville was moderator and Rev. W. W. McCall of Greensburg was secretary. Other members present were Rev. Fred W. Schmuch of Milroy, Rev. N. B. McClung of Vevay, Rev. Mr. McDill of Madison, and Dr. Cowan of Indianapolis.

The petition was discussed at some length. By unanimous vote an organization was decided upon. The 31 members who signed the petition were as follows: Henry W. Cleage, Mrs. Carrie Perkins, Mrs. Emma Moore, A. T. Roney, Mrs. Cora Donann, Mrs. Cathern Crenshaw, Mrs. Daisy L. Brabham, Albert Cleage, Mrs. Gertrude Cleage, James Myers, Mrs. A. L. McElrath, O. F. Dennis, Mrs. Hattie  Mitchell, H. M. Mitchell, Mrs. Theresa Finley, Othello Finley, Miss Edith Finley, Miss Luell E. Hibbett, Mrs. Mary Peterson, Mrs. Anna Bowman, John T. Fox, Miss Pearl Reed, Thomas H. Bransford, Mrs. O. F. Dennis, Miss Alice Mathews, Miss Hilda Reeder, W. J. Perkins, Henry Moore and H. L. Hummons.

For other fine Sepia Saturday photographs dealing with windows or lights or who knows click here.  My family seems to have a habit of starting churches.  To see a photograph of the congregation of a church started by the maternal branch of the family click Plymouth Congregational Church.

George Reed 1867 – 1945

Biography, Reeds

George Reed was my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage’s oldest brother. He gave his birth date as January 10, 1867, in Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky.  He never married and had no children but as the oldest in a home without a man, he became the man of the house.  He never learned to read or write and earned his living as a laborer.  We have no photographs of him.

George is found in the 1870 through 1910 Census with his mother Anna Reed and various siblings.  After Anna died and Pearl married I haven’t found him in any census but I did find him in the Indianapolis City Directory again in 1930. Turned out, George was not listed in the 1920 or the 1930 census due to the census taker stopping at the end of the 2800 block of Kenwood (both times).  George does appear in the 1930 and 1940 Indianapolis City Directory at 2730 Kenwood Avenue.  Pearl married in 1910 and mother Anna died in 1911, which means that George lived at 2730 Kenwood, alone, for over thirty years.  Today the 2700 block of Kenwood is a parking lot.

George is listed as 3 in the 1870 census and 13 in the 1880 census.  This would make him born in 1867.  George is listed as 28 in the 1900 which would make him born in 1872, same as on his death certificate.  Clearly there is a five year discrepancy in his age as reported on various documents.

According to my aunt, George migrated to Indianapolis as a young man of 15 to work at the Van Camp Canneries in 1887.  Since there are two colored George Reed’s in Indianapolis during the 1880s we need to be careful here.  Our George is listed in 1891 at 11 Willard Ave.  There is a George E in 1889 and a George in 1888 in the City Directory that also may have been him.  I believe that George did arrive in Indianapolis in 1887, however he would have been twenty years old and not fifteen at that time. During the next several years the whole family followed George to Indianapolis.

 My Aunt Anna told me that a friend of her parents called them from Indianapolis in 1945 to tell them that George had been found wandering around disorientated.  My grandparents went and got him and he stayed with them in Detroit where he died later that year.  He died on May 28, 1945.  His body was sent back to Indianapolis by train and he was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.  There is a simple marble slab with his name and dates on it.  I visited once.  You can see it here.

Click to enlarge

George Reed Funeral

“Funeral services for George Reed, 73, colored, who died Monday at the home of Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Cleage, Detroit, were held today at the C. M. C. Willis mortuary, with the Rev. J. A. Alexander, pastor of Bethel A. M. E. church, officiating. Burial was in Crown Hill. the body was accompanied here by Dr. and Mrs. Cleage and Henry Cleage, Detroit. Mr. Reed became ill here a year and a half ago and was taken to Detroit where he had lived with his sister, Mrs. Cleage. Survivors, besides Mrs. Cleage, are two other sisters, Mrs. Sara Busby, Benton Harbor, Mich; and Mrs. Minnie Mullins, Detroit; and two brothers, Clarence Reed, Chicago, and Hugh Reed, who has lived in the West several years.”

According to the Administrator’s Final Report there was $18,462.91 (Worth $243,814.95 in today’s dollars.) on deposit at the Railroad Men’s Building and Loan Association.  He had a dividend on a savings account for $193.50 in 1945 and another $195.24 for 1946.  Royalty from Rubber Stock came to $3.00, which brought his assets to $18,854.65.  He also owned a single home at 2730 Kenwood, Ave.  Included in the $1,025 costs for the administration of the Estate are $9.65 railroad fare to carry his remains back to Indianapolis and $75 to the Hoosier Monument Company.