Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
2714 Kenwood Ave., Indianapolis, Indiana January 31, 1904
Homer Jarrett 9 Walnut St. Hot Springs, Ark
Homer;
Pearl Reed
Your letter was received and I was rather surprised at the way you misunderstood everything that I said in my letter. I did not mean that anyone out here would try to injure you, for the boys all like you and respect you. They often speak of you with praise, and are always glad to see you whenever you come out.
You will please note that I meant that you would probably neglect your studiesand thereby fail to make your grade if you thought of me often. You spoke of a certainvow that you had made and I did not want you to break it or, do anything else injurious to yourself, for me.
You wanted to forget me, you said, and, I thought you meant it and I have been trying to help you. You know I told you that I would. Homer, you had a novel way to find out what I thought of all the things which you have said to me. I congratulate you my friend.
Have I tired you Homer? I will cease now in I think I have explained my poor little letter. Now you understand me, do you not? I would be forgotten for your own sake, that you might be a learned man, and that your mother and friends would be proud of and pleased with you, Homer.
Hoping that I am fully understood at last, I remain,
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
2714 Kenwood Ave. Indianapolis, Indiana, January 27, 1904
Homer Jarrett 9 Walnut St. Hot Springs, Ark
Homer,
Pearl Reed
I received your letter about fifteen minutes ago and was pleased that you should be so solicitous of our welfare as to write to inquire about our health.
I am sorry to relate but I have a very bad cold from the exposure of Sunday evening. I was unable to be at my work Tuesday and, today was confined to my bed ‘till a few hours ago taking horrid old bitter remedies for my cold, and feel real badly yet, although I intend to go down town tomorrow whether or no.
I had intended to go to Allen’s Chapel Friday eve, but this slight illness has caused me to change my program for the week. If I am able to be at my work I will be contented. I am grateful to you for your kindness, but I am unable to accompany you on that evening.
You seem to be hurt over my calling you a coward. I said it, because, at the time you acted like one, but otherwise, I do not think you are. Forgive me if I spoke too plainly, for I did you an injury in doing so perhaps.
You must also forgive me for causing you to break your vow, in accompanying us to church and home. You should not have broken it Homer. You told me once before that you wanted to forget me and I told you that I would help you. We did quite well until Sunday Eve, and I suppose that you forgot. It shall not occur again, since, you wish it so, for I would not have you do an injury to yourself for me for anything, Homer.
Thanking you for every kindness that you have done for me and wishing you a successful career, I will say
Good-bye Pearl D. Reed
_________________
What did my grandmother Pearl miss and who were the True Reformers?
The Order of True Reformers has made elaborate arrangements for a public installation at Allen Chapel tonight, at which 105 officers will be installed. The affair is under the direction of W. S. Henry, chief of the Indiana department. An address of welcome will be delivered by the Rev. H. E. Stewart, and a response by the Rev. Charles Williams. An address will be made by the Rev. James M. Townsend on “Negro Enterprises,” and one on “Advantages of Race Protection,” by the Rev. J. F. Walker. The installation will be conducted by the Rev. J. T. Carpenter, of Washington, D.C., who is department general of the order. Representatives of the seven fountains (lodges) of the city will respond. There will also be music and recitations.”
More information about the history of True Reformers Bank.
Born in 1849, Browne was a former Georgia slave who escaped joined the Union Army in the North. After the Civil War, he founded the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers, a black fraternal organization. In 1887 when Browne visited Charlotte County, Virginia to establish a local branch of the True Reformers, he encountered problems. The branch arranged to keep its savings with a white shopkeeper in the county, but with racial tensions high after an 1887 lynching, the shopkeeper told other white residents that local blacks were organizing and raising funds, and the branch was forced to disband. Browne decided the True Reformers would have to found and run a bank itself so that its finances could not be monitored by whites. ” To read more, please click on the linked text.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
Homer Jarrett #230 Alleghany St. City
2714 Kenwood Ave., December 21, 1903
Mr. Jarrett –
Homer, do you remember a girl that you once knew and visited some times in the north part of this city? If you do, well that girl would like very much for you to come out to her house Christmas Day and take dinner with her and family, if you will be so obliging. It will give us great pleasure Homer if you will take dinner with us then, will you?
You are far from your home and mother and I would be delighted if you would share mine on this day of “Peace on Earth, good will toward men.”
How are you? We have not seen you since the Sunday that you were out. Did you know that Minnie had moved on West Street now? I was at her house one evening last week, for a few minutes, and discovered that she had changed her dwelling.
I shall expect you for dinner Friday Homer and you will not disappoint us?
Your Pearl
____________________
Bookmark to Pearl from her brother Clarence E. Reed. Christmas 1903.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
2714 Kenwood Ave. Indianapolis, July 2, 1903
Homer Jarrett Exchange Hotel Union Stockyard City
Homer; I received your interesting little letter and was delighted to hear from you. I do not feel very well, in fact, I do not believe any one could this warm weather, unless they were composed of iron. Do you?
I think we shall leave for Benton Harbor Monday A.M. if I am not mistaken. We were speaking of our trip today and mother spoke as though she wanted to stay only two weeks, but I shall try to persuade her to stay two months.
Homer you spoke of our going to the park Sunday, well, if we go, I think it had better be at 2 P.M., for it will be cooler then.
If I have worried you with this message, forgive me. I am tired and angry and had to vent my ill humor on someone. Good-by. Pearl D. Reed
Pearl and her mother traveled from Indianapolis and Benton Harbor at least once a year to visit her older sisters Sarah Busby and Louise Shoemaker and their families. They would have taken the train. One train left at 7 AM and arrived in Benton Harbor at 8 PM that same day. The later train left at 11 AM and arrived the next day at 3:10 PM. Fri, Jul 17, 1903 – Page 9 · The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana) · Newspapers.com
The trip was 303 miles and lasted about 13 hours. The cost of a ticket in 1903 was about two cents a mile, bringing a the cost of one ticket to $6.06.
When I graduated from college, I took a trip to San Francisco via the Greyhound Bus. My grandmother Pearl packed me a big lunch to carry with me. I remember fried chicken enough to share and white buttered bread. And fruit. I imagine they packed a good lunch for the train trip.
Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Pearl Reed
2714 Kenwood Ave., City May 17, 1903
Homer Jarrett Exchange Hotel Union Stockyard, City
Mr. Jarrett,
Homer I am indeed very sorry that I was not at home Saturday when you came. In looking through “Evangeline”, I found your little missive and was glad to hear that you liked and enjoyed the books. Mother was feeling badly when you were here and is worse now. She was confined to her bed all of today. You need not answer this Homer for it is of no consequence and is not worth spending the time on.
My grandmother, Pearl Doris Reed, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky in 1886. She was the youngest of the eight children of Anna Ray 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.
Oldest sister Josie was dead before 1900. Sisters Sarah and Louise were married and lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan with their husbands and families. Minnie and James Mullins and her growing family moved back and forth between Indianapolis Indiana and Benton Harbor during this time.
Pearl’s mother, Anna Ray Reed, was born into slavery about 1845 in Lebanon, Kentucky. For most of her life she worked as a domestic or a laundress. During the time of the letters, she was often ill. Her sons supported her. Anna had two siblings. Her sister Clara remained in Lebanon, Kentucky. Her brother Thomas served in the Civil War. He moved to Indianapolis, about 1877. During the time of the letters, Anna and her family lived in the house directly behind Thomas’.
Homer Jarrett
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.
James Mullins
Minnie Reed Mullins
Minnie Averette Reed Mullins was born in 1878. Completed 8th grade. In 1898 Minnie married James Mullins in Indianapolis, IN. Their daughter, Helen was born in 1899, son James in 1900, Ben in 1901. Arthur was born in 1904. They had 12 children in all. They continued to move between Indiana and Michigan, settling in Michigan permanently by 1920. Minnie died in 1963 at 84.
Hugh Marion Reed Averette
Hugh Marion Reed Averette was born on April 23, 1876, in Lebanon, Kentucky. He completed the 8th grade. Hugh served as a coal presser during the Spanish American War and returned to Indianapolis in 1902. He married Blanche Celeste Young in 1906. They had four children. They moved to CA in the 1940s and the whole family passed for white. He died in 1951 at 75.
Lillian Louise Reed Shoemaker
Lillian Louise Reed Shoemaker was born about 1873 in Lebanon, Kentucky. In 1891, Louise married Michigan native, Solonus Shoemaker, in Benton Harbor, MI. Daughter, Mildred, was born in 1899. Son, Floyd 4 years later in 1903. She died in 1938 at 65.
George Reed: Was born in 1867 in Lebanon, Kentucky. His mother was 18 when he was born. There was an older sister, Josephine, who was born during slavery and died before 1900. George never married and had no children. As the oldest son 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. He moved to Indianapolis in 1887, where his mother’s brother Thomas Ray Allen had been living for at least five years. The rest of the family followed. George died in 1945 at 78.
Sarah Jane Reed Busby
Sarah Jane Reed Busby was born in 1871. Completed 4th grade. In 1889, she married James A. Busby in Indianapolis. They immediately moved to James’ home in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They had ten children. She died in 1954 in Benton Harbor, at 84
Possibly Clarence Reed
Clarence Elwood Reed was the youngest son of Anna Reed and the brother next in age to my grandmother Pearl. He completed 8th grade. In 1902 he moved with the rest of the family to 2730 Kenwood Ave. He later moved to Chicago and married at least three times. He had no children. He died in 1954 in Chicago at 72.
In 1900 a black laborer earned about $150. A black laundress earned $180 per year. By 1910 the average worker earned $200 – $400 per year.
This photo of the letters is from Michal Brown Rare Books website before they sold the letters.
While looking for some of his ancestors last spring, 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.
From Left to right My grandmother, Fannie Mae Turner Graham, peeking over my great grandmother, Jennie Virginia Allen Turner’s, shoulder. My grandmother’s sister Daisy Turner. Behind and between Aunt Daisy and Aunt Alice Turner, is my aunt Mary Virginia Graham Elkins, although she was not yet an Elkins. At the end, behind Alice, is my mother, Doris Graham Cleage, although she was not yet a Cleage either.
Grandmother Turner was 73, about my age. My grandmother was 51. Daisy was 49. Alice was 30. My mother was 16 and her sister was 19.
They are posed in Grandmother Turner’s backyard on the East Side of Detroit at 4536 Harding. The house is gone now. They look like they just came from Plymouth Congregational Church, however the photo is dated July 4, 1939 on the back. July 4 was on a Tuesday that year. My grandfather, Mershell C. Graham took the picture.
Front of Grandmother Turner’s house on Harding Street in Detroit.
It was June of 1971 and my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage was waiting for the party to begin. Uncle Hugh is in the kitchen getting things ready. Grandmother was 87 and didn’t break her hip for some years yet. I remember so many dinners around that table. There were always cakes with caramel icing for birthdays. This time it looks like there are two cakes – one chocolate and one with caramel icing. Both have candles.
Candy corns in the little silver dish. There were often candy corns in the covered candy dish that always on the front room table coffee table. Candy corns or red and white striped peppermints or sometimes chocolate kisses.
My parents at the party, a corner of Henry. Blair and Anna Pearl are at the kids table in the front room.
A better view of the front room. You can see the candy dish on the table behind Maria’s chair.
I can think of several June birthdays. My father turned 60 that year. My cousin Anna Pearl turned eleven and her sister Maria turned nine. It must have been an all June collective party. I wish I had been there. My oldest daughter Jilo turned one that June.
Sarah Jane Reed Busby was my grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage’s older sister. She was sixteen when my grandmother was born. She grew up in Lebanon, Kentucky and moved to Indianapolis around 1887. In 1889 she married James Busby and moved to Benton Harbor Michigan where their ten children were born. All but the two oldest lived to adulthood.
Her husband James; four of her sons – Rosco, Roscoe, James and Morris; two of her sisters – Josie and Lillian and three of her brothers – George, Hugh and Clarence preceded her in death.
