Rosa Nixon 1889 – 1970

April 20, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Investigations, Montgomery Alabama, One Place Study, PhotographsKristin

This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Most are about my grandparent’s circle of friends. All of the news items were found on Newspapers.com. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.

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Rosa Nixon was a friend of my grandparents. One of her sisters married into the same family that one of my grandmother’s first cousins married into. She graduated in the class of 1906 at State Normal School for Negroes, as did Mattie Graham.

Miss Rosa Nixon Accepts Position In Baltimore

Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 20- Miss Rosa Nixon of this city, resigned her position as head of the Art Department of the local State Normal School on Monday of this week in order to accept a position in the Baltimore Colored High School. The resignation went into effect Tuesday, the 19th inst., and Miss Nixon will leave to take up her new work at Baltimore on Thursday morning, February 21st.

Miss Nixon is one of the leading art teachers of the race, having studied in the foremost art schools of the country. Her excellent work as a teacher, club worker and member of the local Red Cross Auxiliary in this community will be sadly missed and her host of friends here are loath to have her go to another field. Miss Nixon has been head of the Art Department in the Normal School here for several years, during which time she has enlarged and developed the department to a high standard of efficiency.

While looking through my grandmother Fannie’s photographs, I came across this picture of Rosa Nixon. I wondered who she was. On the back it says “Mershell C. Graham – Rosa. And then in my mother’s handwriting it says ‘Not related! – One of Daddy’s girls, I suppose – he didn’t marry until 1918.’“

Rosa Nixon was born into a family that started off after slavery with more advantages than most. Her grandmother Winnie Nixon, received land, livestock, furniture and money upon the death of her former slave master, William Owen Nixon of Lowndes County, Alabama in 1868. In 1870 she had real estate valued at $4,000 and personal property valued at $1,000. All except the youngest two of her nine children were attending school. One of them was Rosa’s father, Alfred Nixon.

Rosa Nixon was born in September, 1889 in Montgomery, Alabama, the second of the four daughters of Alfred and Hattie (Clayton) Nixon. Hattie and her youngest baby girl, Zenobia died within a few months of each other in 1895. Zenobia was a year old. Hattie was 25.

Alfred Nixon worked as a porter and then as a bar tender. He remarried in 1901. He and his second wife, Mattie Coleman had three children together. One died. Two boys, Alfred Floyd and William O. Nixon were born in 1902 and 1904. Rosa graduated from Normal School in 1907. My grandmother Fannie and all of her cousins also graduated from this school, which went from first grade through high school.

Receive Diplomas

Graduation At Normal School For Negroes

Program Includes Addresses by Tom Benjamin, Music and Addresses by Principal Paterson, and Several Friend of School

Twenty-four students, seventeen girls and seven boys received diplomas yesterday morning from the State Normal School for negroes (sic.). The graduating exercises included addresses by ten of the students, vocal and instrumental music, and remarks by Principal W.H. Paterson and friends of the school. The dominant note in each of the speeches made to the students and patrons of the school was that the negroes must educate their children, that they must supplement the work being done, by the State and that they must throw safeguards around the morals of their children as well as giving them assistance in securing knowledge.

Incidentally, the municipality of Montgomery was criticized for its failure to give negro children equal opportunity with white children in the schools and the lack of school room for negro children in this city was pointed out.

The closing exercises were held in the chapel, which is on the second floor of the main building. The twenty-four graduates formed a double semi-circle on the stage, which was decorated in the colors of the school, and the class of 1907. Sitting with the class on the stage were many of the negro preachers of Montgomery, including Bishop J. W. Alstork.

Simplicity marked the dress of the girls in the graduating class. They wore calico dresses. Frequent allusion was made to this simplicity of dress by Principal Paterson and the other speakers. The Principal said he had promised the girl students that he would provide the cloth if the girls would make the dresses and wear calico. they had readily consented and this simplicity of dress, he said, would be adhered to in the future. It was done, he said, in the interest of the poor parents of many of the student.

The graduating class consisted of Frederick D. Adair, Edna T. Barnett, Maris H. Brown. Dora D. Beverly, Melissa B. Culpepper, Mattie E. Graham, James B. Hatcher, Nora J. Holly, Olivia C. Hunter, Helen E. Jones, Adam J. Joseph, Queenie V. Lee, Gertrude R. Lucas, Rose H. Nixon, Alfred A. Poole, Sadie M. Richardson, Olivia A. Royal, Mary L. Sawyer, Rosa L. Shaw, Emmaline L. Simpson, Cornelius S. Sampson, Henry J. Todd, Charles D. Watkins, Ellen A. Wimbs.

According to the custom of the school, the ten students making the highest marks, prepared essays. Three essays were delivered without reference to manuscripts. They gave evidence of careful preparation and some of them were delivered with fine effect. None but members of the graduating class were on the program, which was as follows.

Invocation.

Piano Duet, “Jeunesse Doree” – (Smith)-Helen Jones and Rosa Nixon.

Salutatory and Oration, “The Christian Ministry” – James E. Hatcher

Oration, “Nature & Mysteries” – Emmaline Simpson.

Vocal Quartet, “Over the Hills at Break of Day” – (Geibel) – Olivia Royal, James S. Hatcher, Sadie Brown, Alfred Poole.

Oration, “The Conditions and Needs of Women Wage- Earners” – Hosea L. Shaw.

Essay, “The Leisure Class” – Olivia A. Royal.

Piano Solo. “Fanfare” – (Ascher) – Nora Holley

Oration, “The Genius of Japanese Civilization” – Olivia C. Hunter

Essay, “The Most Lasting Monuments” – Sadie B. Brown.

Vocal Duet, “When Gathering Clouds” – (Shuey) Sadie B. Brown, James E. Hatcher

Oration, “Has the Negro Race Made Any Real Progress?” – Charles D. Watkins.

Oration, “Women in History” – Helen E. Jones.

Piano due, “La Baladine” – (Lysberg) – Mary Sawyer and Dora Beverly.

Oration, “The Duty of the Hour” Rosa Nixon

Essay, “The Results of Fraternities” Harry J. Todd

Sojourner Truth Club Essay – Helen N. Jones

Valedictory. “Through Trials to Triumphs’ – Dora Beverly.

Presentation of Diplomas

“My Old Kentucky Home” – By the Class

Benediction

Principal Paterson announced that Helen Jones had won the prize annually offered by the Sojourner Truth Club, an organization of negro women, for the best essay on achievements by the race. The Jones girl then went forward and read the essay written on “Self help.” It was also announced that Wilson Walker, Sadie Castle, Effie May Todd and Lena Davenport had won prizes for garden work.

At the conclusion of the graduating exercises, brief addresses were delivered by Bishop Alstork, Nathan Alexander and other friends of the school.

In concluding the exercises, Principal Paterson said the school now owned property valued at $30,000, and that plans were making for an extension of its work another year.

During the year just closed, the school enrolled 1,055 pupils.

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Rosa’s father died in 1908. There are no death certificates in Alabama at that time but I found a notice of his death and funeral in the local Montgomery paper.

The Montgomery Advertiser October 1, 1908

Funeral Notice

“The friends and acquaintances of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred F. Nixon, are respectfully invited to attend the funeral of the former, from the Old Ship Church at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1st, 1908.”

Alfred Nixon owned his house free of mortgage when he died in 1908. In 1910, Rosa and her older sister Eugenia were both teaching. The three youngest children were all attending school. Her step-mother was not working outside of the home. The step-mother’s mother also shared the home.

Rosa taught at art at State normal School. She was active in community and social activities, heading the Red Cross Drive in 1917. In 1918 the art department, under Rosa Nixon’s supervision, bought a potters wheel. The students were all excited and looking forward to making a plate each.

We have now reached the article that started this post. Rosa Nixon, now 28 years old and the head of the Art Department of State Normal School, is headed to Baltimore, Maryland to head the Art Department at the Colored High School there. She boarded with several other teachers. That summer she attended art classes at Columbia University in New York City.

In 1921 Rosa was appointed to head the Art Department of Dunbar High School in Washington DC. Over the years she organized trips to museums, art galleries and other places of interest to her art students. She also continued to expand her own skills with workshops and classes.

In 1929 Rosa married John Henry Hampton, a postal worker. She continued to teach at Dunbar although she and her husband maintained a house in Baltimore. In 1940, Rosa’s widowed older sister, Eugenia and her two sons, both young men, were living in a separate flat in Rosa and her husband’s house. In 1951, after 30 years of service, the school board retired her. It doesn’t sound like she went willingly. She was 61 years old. Rosa’s husband died in 1961. One of her nephews was living with her when Rosa died suddenly at the age of 81, on December 11, 1970.

Hampton

Suddenly, on December 11, 1970. Rosa N., of 2004 North Bentalou Street, beloved sister of William and Alfred Nixon. She is also survived by three nephews, Samuel N. and William W. Phillips and Rene Alvarado, four nieces, Mrs. Joyce Davis, Mrs. Myrtle Lancaster, Mrs Laura Nixon, and Mrs. Camille Lee and other relatives.

Friends may call at the Charles R. Law Funeral Home, 802 Madison Avenue. Services on Tuesday, 12 Noon from St. James Episcopal Church, Lafayette & Arlington Avenues. Family will receive friends on Monday evening from 7 to 9 P.M. at the above funeral home. Interment Arbutus Memorial Park.

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records and Military Records. The news item was found on Newspapers.com and Genealogy Bank. The photograph is from my personal collection.

Thomas Queen

April 19, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Great Migration, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyKristin

This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Most are about my grandparent’s circle of friends. The news items were found on Newspapers.com. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.

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My grandparents had no known connection with Thomas Queen, but I needed a “Q” and he did appear in The Emancipator.

Notice of Mortgage Sale

Under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in that certain mortgage executed by Tom Queen and Lula Queen, his wife, to Mrs. S.J. Harrington on the 5th day of January, 1917, which said mortgage is recorded in Book 277 of Mortgages at page 120, in the office of the Judge of Probate of Montgomery County, Alabama, the undersigned, Mrs. S.J. Harrington will on the 18th day of March, 1918, during the legal hours of sale, proceed to sell at public auction, for cash, at Court Square Fountain, in the City of Montgomery, Alabama, the following described real estate, lying in the County of Montgomery, State of Alabama, and which is conveyed by the said mortgage, to-wit:

Lot Twenty-five (35) and the West one (1) foot off of Lot Twenty-six (28) in Block, “A”, according to Rutter and Hardeman’s Subdivision of Part of Chappell’s Plat No. Three (3) in the Peacock Tract, said subdivision being recorded in Plat Book 2, page 58, in the office of the Judge of Probate of Montgomery County, Alabama.

The above sale is made for the purpose of paying the debt secured by said mortgage and the interest there on and the expenses incident to the sale, including attorney’s ee.

Mrs. S.J. Harrington,

Mortgagee,

Blakey & Strassburger, Attorneys

Thomas Queen was born in Alabama in 1865, the year the Civil War and slavery ended. In the 1880 census, his parents, Frank and Diana Queen and older brother James were farm laborers. They were illiterate. Thomas was nine and had not attended school. His three younger siblings were too young for school.

In 1896, Thomas married Lula Comer. They had six children together. Four of them lived to adulthood. In 1900 They had been married four years and had one child, three year old William. They were farming on rented land and neither one was able to read or write.

By 1910 They had moved to Montgomery. Thomas worked as a laborer in a railroad shop. Lula was not working outside of the home. Both were able to read and write now. The oldest child, William and one other child (born between censuses so name unknown) had died. The four remaining children were ages nine, seven, five and newborn. The two oldest had attended school. Lula’s brother, Morse and a woman lodger also shared the rented house. Morse was also working as a laborer in a railroad shop. The woman lodger was a laundress.

In January, 1917, the Queens lost their house in Montgomery for unpaid taxes. By 1918 they were living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In November, of that year, Thomas was seriously injured when a gas furnace at the Eliza Plant leaked gas. Twenty five were killed and 19 were overcome, including Thomas.

The Pittsburgh Press – Sun – Nov 10, 1918

In May, 1919 they bought a house at 46 Audley Street. This was probably a happy time, but bad luck was just around the corner.

In 1920 Thomas and his oldest son were working as laborers at the Mill. Lula was a sorter at a reduction plant. The youngest three children attended school. Everybody was literate.

Then, on March 24, 1922, Lulu Queen died of cervical and uterine cancer. She died in the hospital and doesn’t seem to have been under a doctor’s care prior to her death.

On October 9, 1922, while the family was away from home, someone burglarized the house and set it on fire.The firemen were delayed in fighting the fire by mud in the fire hydrant. There was over $3,000 worth of damage to the house.

Pittsburgh Daily Post – 10 Oct, 1922, Tue – pg 7

Trunk Mystery Remains Unsolved

“Richard Jordan, Negro, 24 years old, of Fifth avenue, was held for further investigation in Center avenue police court yesterday morning. Jordan was arrested Friday night following information by Thomas Queen, a Negro, of Audley street, whose home was damaged by fire after a burglar had pried open a trunk, taking $85. Queen testified that Jordan was with him when he put the money in the trunk. Jordan denied having anything to do with the fire or burglary.”

In 1923, the oldest son, Thomas Jr died of acute dilation of the heart. He was under a doctors care for three months before his death.

In 1926, Thomas was held up and robbed on the street by three white men armed with revolvers. The “What” in the title below should be “White”.

Pittsburgh Daily Post -08 Mar 1926, Mon pg 2

White Bandits Rob Negro

While walking in Soho street, near Wadsworth street, last night, Thomas Queen, 50 years old, Negro, of 46 Ardley street, was held up by three white men, armed with revolvers and robbed of $10 and a gold watch valued at $30.

In 1927, Thomas Queen lost his property for nonpayment of taxes. This had happened before in Montgomery.

The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) · 05 Sep 1931, Sat · Page 9

“Thomas Queen, owner or reputed owner, or who ever may be owner. D.T.D. 238, Jan., 1927. $130.60. Chas. A. Waldschmidt, Atty. Lot in Fourth Ward, City of Pittsburgh, 25?109 feet, Audley St., between Emma St. and Battalion AY. Having thereon a 1 1/2- story frame dwelling.”

In the 1930 census, Thomas Queen lived with his daughter seventeen year old Josephine and her husband, Jeptha Spencer. Thomas was not employed. Jeptha was working as a porter on the railroad. They lived on Wadsworth Street.

In 1934, Josephine’s husband, Jeptha died of complications from an appendectomy. He left a three year old son, Jeptha Jr., who would later grow up to be a jazz pianist.

Thomas Queen died of capillary bronchitis on March 20, 1936. He was ill for 5 days. The informant on his death certificate was Mattie Queen, his second wife. He was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery.

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. The news items were found on Newspapers.com.

Charles Lee Pope

April 18, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Great Migration, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyKristin

This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Most are about my grandparent’s circle of friends. The news items were found on Newspapers.com. Each item is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.

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Charles Lee Pope was my grandmother Fannie’s first cousin. Their mothers were sisters.

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“Mr. Charlie L. Pope who has been in school at Hampton for the past few years, was in the city for a few days this week visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Pope of Jeff Davis Ave. He will spend the summer at Newport News, Va.”

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Twins Annie Lee and Charlie Lee Pope in Montgomery, Alabama. They were born February 8, 1903 so I would guess this was taken sometime before 1910. Their parents were Robert and Beulah (Allen) Pope. They were my grandmother’s first cousins. This photo is from the collection of my cousin Ruth Pope Hatcher.

Charles Popes parents, Beulah and Robert Pope lived in Montgomery Alabama and built a house on Jeff Davis Ave. Beulah, as did her sisters, worked as a fine seamstress. She sewed only for well-to-do white people (who paid more) and her daughter Annie Lee. Robert Pope Sr. worked in a wholesale drug supply company called Durr’s and was an elder at Old Ship Methodist church. There were three children: twins Annie Lee and Charlie Lee were born in 1902. Seven years later, the youngest, Robert was born.

*The Emancipator*, Saturday October 6, 1917

“Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia – Messrs. Alfonso Brown, Julius Alexander and Charlie L. Pope.”

Charles (he hated Charlie and was called Charles) went to Hampton Institute in 1917. He left after several years. Then worked on the Canadian Pacific railroad and ended up at Ferris Institute (now Ferris State University) in Big Rapids, Michigan, He went to dental school with cousin Alfonso at Marquette Dental College in Milwaukee, but Alfonso couldn’t stand the racism and left for Meharry.

While attending dental school and for some time afterwards, Charles lived with his sister Annie and her husband Ludie Gilmer, a physician. Robert Sr. died in 1941. Beulah remained in Montgomery until 1947. By that time there was only one of Dock and Eliza’s children and grandchildren left in Montgomery, all the rest had moved north. Beulah moved to Milwaukee and kept house and cooked for Charles. Some years after his brother-in-law died, Charles’ sister also lived with him.

Charles Pope never married. He died in Milwaukee on October 26, 1981. His niece remembers him as being “the sweetest uncle”. My mother remembered that her Aunt Beulah was the envy of her sisters because of the way her son took care of her in her later years. Charles and his mother Beulah, his sister Annie and her husband Ludie Gilmer are all buried at Forest Home Cemetery outside of Milwaukee.

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. Some information was from family members, a special thanks to my cousin Ruth for her personal memories of her uncle Charles. The news items were found on Newspapers.com.

Otillia McCall Howard

April 17, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, DetroitKristin

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Alma Otillia McCall Howard was my grandmother Fannie’s first cousin. Their mother’s, Jennie and Mary, were sisters. James McCall, the editor and publisher of The Emancipator, was one of Otillia’s brothers. In 2011 I used Otillia for my “O” entry. There were several mysteries I have since cleared up. And other questions opened. I will begin with my first post, then give the answers I found.

“Mrs. J. H. Howard, formerly Miss Otillia McCall of this city but now of Holly Springs, Miss., was called home by the death of her father. Mr. Edward McCall, who died Monday, Feb. 2nd.”

I began with the intention of writing about my first cousin twice removed, Alma Otillia McCall Howard. I started by going to my Ancestry.com family tree page and pulling up her profile. I noted she was the 5th of 6 children and that her wedding date was missing. I opened my Reunion family tree software, hoping it was there. Her marriage date read 1911. That couldn’t be right. Her husband’s son by his first wife wasn’t born until 1912. There was no date for that marriage either. In fact there wasn’t even a name for Otillia’s husband, Joseph Howard’s, first wife.

Top row: Doorway to Otillia’s Chicago house. Siblings – Jeanette, Otillia, Roscoe, Annabelle, James. 2nd row: Students at Mississippi Industrial College(MIC) 1908; Otillia’s mother, Mary Allen McCall; postcard of the girls dorm at MIC; 1908 photo of MIC. 3rd row: Joseph, Jr. with drums and friends; Otillia’s apt house in Chicago; Otillia and her husband Joseph Howard about 1939. 4th row: MIC building now; my grandmother Fannie and friends in Holly Springs.

I searched on Ancestry.com. No luck. Tried Family Search, no luck. Then I remembered listening to an interview that my cousin Margaret McCall Ward did with Otillia’s step-son, Dr. Joseph H. Howard, Jr, about his amazing drum collection. Maybe there was something there. Looked for the interview in my itunes list and listened. Unfortunately, he speaks sort of quiet at the beginning when he is telling us his mother’s name and I can’t quite get it. I think he said “Evie” and then changed and spelled it out as “Dama”. Turned that off.

Joseph Jr.’s drum collection sounds interesting. Maybe there is something out there with biographical information. I google Dr. Joseph Howard drums. Several articles come up. I read them and learn the extent of his collection, his wife’s name and his two children’s name. And there are even photographs of him. Nothing about his mother. Unfortunately, he isn’t even actually related to me and none of this is about Otillia.

I remembered another interview that Margaret did with her Uncle Roscoe’s wife, Stella. Stella’s daughter and Joseph Jr. were both there and putting in comments. Maybe the information is there. It only takes a few minutes to find the transcript of the tape on my computer and open it up. Yay! That is what I was remembering. Right at the start of the interview, Margaret starts talking to Joseph and he tells where he was born and how his parents met in Guyana. His mother lived there and his father was working on a ship. He gives his mother’s name and even spells her last name, Sempert. I try looking for her using first name of first Evie and then Dama, hoping to find a death record. Nope.

Later in the transcript, Joseph talks about how his step mother, Otillia and his father, Joseph Howard met. She was teaching at Mississippi Industrial College in Holly Springs, MS. Joseph Howard Sr was a physician and I don’t know if he was practicing in Holly Springs or if he was teaching in the school. Unfortunately, just as Margaret was getting ready to go deeper, she stopped herself and got back to her task of trying to find out where her grandfather was buried. I wondered what Mississippi Industrial College looked like? I googled and found a few photographs from 1908, a brief history, and a lot of information and photographs of how the beautiful, historic buildings are falling down before our eyes. There doesn’t seem to be any money to save them. An architect who worked on a rehabilitation project years ago writes about how he hated to stop when the funding ran out. Someone warns about walking up the steps of the auditorium and finding themselves looking two stories down to the basement.

Having read some articles about “ruin porn” while I was off on a tangent when writing a different post, I tore myself away from the wrecked buildings. Holly Springs? I remember a photograph of my grandmother and some of her friends that was taken in Holly Springs. I wonder if they were visiting Otillia? I find the photo and find nothing except place and names on the back.

I remembered an email exchange with my cousin, Ruth about her memories of Otillia and her large house in Chicago. I go back and find the emails and re-read them for any interesting information. She talks about her parents bringing her home from the hospital to that house and the other family members who lived there. It was a multi-unit dwelling. I found a photograph of the house on google maps when I was going to write Otillia and family up for the 1940 census. There was some confusion about whether the house I found was actually the house. I looked up the address on the 1940 census and googled it. I found several real estate descriptions and photographs of the house. I’m satisfied I found the right place.

At that point I started thinking about all the side roads I took and decided to write about that. I still owe Alma Otillia McCall Howard a post. It shouldn’t be too difficult because there can’t be any other side roads to go down, right?

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Questions and Answers:

What were the dates of Otillia’s husband, Joseph Hannibal Howard’s marriages?

I found the marriage record for Alma Otillia McCall and Joseph H. Howard. They were married June 17, 1914 in Montgomery, Alabama, which was her home town. She was 22. He was 36. According to the 1940 census Otillia had three years of college. She died In 1974 in Chicago, Illinois.

I was still unable to find the date of Joseph Howard’s marriage to Evie Shumpert. In the 1910 Census, Evie Shumpert was single and living with her parents and siblings in Holly Springs, Mississippi and teaching in the public schools.

Evie’s and Joseph Howards son was born on July 12, 1912 in Holly Springs. She died in September of the same year. The inscription on her grave stone in Hill Crest Cemetery reads “Evie Shumpert/ wife of J. H. Howard/ Born Mar 11, 1884/Died Sept 17, 1913/In life beloved, In death (mourned?)” She was 29 years old.

One more thing I remember about Otillia and her house is the story of how her mother, Mary Allen McCall and Mary’s half sister, Mattie Saffold Harris met there one summer. That is another whole story and you can read about it here -> Finding Eliza part 3.

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. Some information was from oral history gathered from email and taped interviews. The news items were found on Newspapers.com.

Naomi Tulane

April 16, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Montgomery Alabama, One Place Study#Naomi Tulane VincentKristin

This year I am going through an alphabet of news items taken from The Emancipator newspaper, published between 1917 and 1920 in Montgomery, Alabama. Each item was found on Newspapers.com and is transcribed directly below the clipping. Click on any image to enlarge.

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Naomi Tulane was my grandmother Fannie’s first cousin, their mothers were sisters. Naomi’s father was Victor Tulane, a very successful black Montgomery businessman. She played the piano at my grandparent’s wedding.

Montgomery Girl and New York Physician Wed

Montgomery, Ala., May 3.- 1920

One of the most brilliant weddings of the season to take place in this city was that of Miss Naomi Tulane and Dr. U. C. Vincent of New York City, which was solemnized here Wednesday, April 28 at 4:30 P.M., at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. V.H. Tulane, 401 S. Ripley Street. The spacious home was artistically decorated with palms, roses and smylax.

Just before the bridal party entered, Mr. Allen Carleton, the sweet-voiced tenor, sang “Dear Heart”, which was followed by, “O’, Promise me,” sung by Miss Bertha L. Loveless. The wedding march pealed forth and Miss Alma Alexander, bride’s maid, entered, attired in a beautiful nile green taffata with gold trimmings and picture hat to match. She was followed by Miss Miriam Garrett of Los Angeles, Cal. also bride’s maid, who wore a lovely gown of nile green taffata with trimmings of pink and hat to correspond.

Mrs. Ruth Dixon of Detroit, Mich., sister of the groom, was matron of honor. She was beautifully gowned in white satin with silver trimmings and a hat of shell pink.

The groom entered with Mr. Richard Harris of Montgomery, as best man. Then, Dorothy Lindsey and Victoria McCall, two veritable little fairies, the flower girls, entered, scattering sweet rose petals along the brides path. They were clad in dainty frocks of white organdy.

The bride entered with her father. She was beautiful in a creation of Duchess satin, real lace and pearl trimmings, the veil being trimmed with sprays of orange blossoms. In her right hand she carried a lovely shower boquet and indeed made a beautiful picture.

The ceremony was performed by Bishop J.W. Alstork, while soft music was played by Mrs. T.J. Mayberry who presided at the piano.

Immediately after the ceremony the bride changed to the traveling costume which was a handsome suit of blue tricotine with hat and accessories to match .

Pittsburgh Post Gazette Tue May 4, 1920 advertising a blue tricotine traveling suit.

A large number of guests were present. many handsome and useful gifts were received, including silverware, cut glass, linens, Money and various household furnishings.

The bride is a charming and highly esteemed young woman, the daughter of Mr. V.H. Tulane, a trustee of Tuskegee Institute and a substantial business man. Dr. Vincent is a young and promising physician who has already achieved much distinction in his profession. He is a member of the staff of Bellevue Hospital in New York City being the first physician of the race to hold this position.

A number of prominent out-of-town guests were present at the wedding, among whom were Mrs. Booker T. Washington and Mrs. Mollie Mallett of Chicago, a sister to Mr. Tulane; Miss Miriam Garrett, Los Angeles, Cal; Mrs Ruth Dixon, Detroit, Michigan.; Mrs. H.C. Bryant, Miss Nellie Bryant, Mrs. W. M. Coleman, Mrs. Alice Jackson, Dr. A. M. Brown, Birmingham, Ala.; Mrs. Jordan Taylor and Mr. and Mrs Peat of Wetumpka, Ala.; Miss B. Davis, Miss Marie Simms and Mrs. Taylor of Columbus, Ga.

Amid showers of congratulations the young couple left on the evening train for New York City, their future home.”

Bridal Breakfast Served By Mr. W. Simon

“On last Wednesday morning Mr. Willie Simon, expert caterer of High Street presented the bridal party of the Tulane-Vincent wedding with an elaborate bridal breakfast.

It was a feast so artistically and temptingly prepared that it displayed in a high degree the great genius which Mr. Simon possesses in the culinary art. The bill of fare was as follows:

Planked Spanish mackerel. (note: the picture in the link is not exactly the same, but the picture will give you an idea of planked mackerel with potatoes surrounding..)

Dutchcess Potatoes encircled all around the plank with four large pockets, garnished with pimentoes and parsley.

One pocket contained asparagus; another contained extra sifted early green peas. A third pocket held mushrooms, while the fourth was filled with Mexican sugar corn.

In the center of the plank was mackerel surrounded with creole sauce, and on the sides of plank were stuffed bell pepper and tomatoes with Risote.

In the center and top of the fish was a large grapefruit made into a basket which held a combination salad. On the handles of the basket were stationed two small dolls dressed as bride and groom.”

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There were so many articles about the wedding, that I am not going to write up her life. The links below are about Naomi Tulane Vincent’s life.

The Celebrated Tulane Coffee
Naomi Tulane Vincent and son Ubert
Mystery Photograph Identified
Another Photographic Mystery Solved
More on the Exciting Vincents
In Which I Hit the Google Photo Jackpot
1940 Census – Naomi Tulane Vincent

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The news items were found on Newspapers.com. The photos are from my collection.

Mattie Graham

April 14, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Detroit, Great Migration, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyMattie GrahamKristin

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Mattie Graham was my grandfather Mershell Graham’s adopted sister. He informally adopted the Graham family when he was a young man. My mother and her sister always called Mattie and Cliff Graham, “Aunt” and “Uncle”. I never met either one of them, although we were all in Detroit.

Detroit, Mich.

“Mrs. Mattie Graham Taylor formerly of Montgomery, and a graduate nurse of the General Hospital of Kansas City, Mo. is acting as night supervisor of the Dunbar Hospital of Detroit. Mrs. Taylor is kept quiet busy while in this city and we wish for her every success.”

I shared the whole clipping from Detroit because it mentions the growing Plymouth Congregational Church and also the arrival to Mr. and Mrs. Mershell Graham of a fine baby girl – my Aunt Mary V. Graham.

*I look the same now*. Sister Mattie Graham was my grandfather, Mershell C. Graham’s adopted sister. When I found the photograph several years ago, I did not know who she was until I found the article above.

I wrote about Mattie Graham before, in 2011 at “I Look The Same Now”. She was a mystery at that time. I had the photograph and I had the caption on the back, below. I could not figure out who she was or where she was. A reader figured out that she had attended nursing school at The General Hospital for Negroes of Kansas City, Missouri. When I found the news item, I saw that the mystery was solved!

*“Made in K.C. Mo. but just found a duplicate and had this developed – 10-10-1918. Over 1 year ago. Your sister, M.G.T (Mattie Graham Taylor). A and M College. Normal Ala.”* It all seems clearer this time around.

Mattie Graham was born in Montgomery in 1886, the middle child of Joseph and Mary Graham. She attended two years of college and was married twice. She married Frank Taylor in 1909 in Montgomery when she was 22. They were living together in the 1910 census. By 1916 she was in Kansas City, MO at nursing school. This marriage was officially ended by divorce in 1935, when Mattie was living in Detroit. In 1936 she married Earl Harris in Detroit. She had no children.

Mary Graham, Mattie’s mother, lived with her until her death in Detroit in 1951. Mattie died in 1973 in Detroit.I wrote about her brother, Cliff Graham this year for the letter “C”.

The speech below was given by my other grandfather, Dr. Albert B. Cleage, Sr on the occasion of the graduation of the first class of nurses from Dunbar Hospital. Dunbar was founded by a group of 30 black doctors in 1918 because they were not allowed to treat their patients at white hospitals in Detroit without special permission, and sometimes not even then. The hospital also served as a training school for nurses. Although Mattie did not graduate from Dunbar, she did work there as a nurse and no doubt had a hand in training them.

Dunbar hospital in the present with doctors from 1922. My grandfather, Albert B. Cleage Sr. is front row, all the way to the right. Composite photo © Kristin Cleage.

Speech to the First Nurse Graduating Class of Dunbar Hospital

By Dr, Albert B. Cleage (About 1920)

“Dunbar Hospital is the one institution in this city that demonstrates the possibilities of racial co-operation and enterprise. It is one of the outstanding successes of Negro effort and Negro management. Dunbar Hospital is a success and is rendering to this community a service that cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. We have come together tonight to celebrate the first commencement of its Training School. These graduates are the first fruits of this organization, and by its fruits alone shall its status in this community be determined. Therefore, the great responsibility that rests upon you at once suggests itself. From tonight the relationship that has existed between you and Dunbar Hospital for three years will be reversed. For these three years it has been concerned about what the world would think of your fitness, your efficiency, your capabilities, but from now on, the deeds you perform, the service you render, the very life you live will determine what the world shall think of Dunbar Hospital.

“By their fruits you shall know them”. This is the inevitable law of nature, and holds good not only in vegetable life, but also in the life of men and institutions. Young ladies, let me congratulate you upon your choice of a life work. You have demonstrated by your application and devotion that you could have made a success in any line of endeavor; but like your sister Mary of old, you have chosen that better part. You are entering upon a great service at a time when our race needs you most. You have by your own free will chosen a life of Sacrifice and Service, and in proportion as you make the almighty dollar the be all and end all of your existence, in that same proportion shall you succeed or fail. Let that same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, when he said ” came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” – You have by your own choice turned your back forever upon material wealth – Riches shall never be yours- You shall suffer hardships and your pleasure and joy shall be in the satisfaction of Service well done. You have chosen to dwell in the land of sorrow and sickness and death, and that you cannot always endure unless sustained by that same mind that was in Him, who wiped away the tears from the widow’s cheek at the gates of Nain, and stood by the tomb of Lazarus and wept.

You are now servants of the public, and believe me it is an exacting taskmaster. you cannot and must not make class distinctions – you shall serve alike the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the moral and the immoral. Ofttimes, your purest motives, and most unselfish services will be misunderstood, and you will become the subject of infamous tongues of gossiping men and women, but let not this deter you from the purposes of your high calling. Stand fast and immovable, and let that same mind be in you that was in Him who said ‘”Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

Dunbar Hospital is fortunate in having you for its first graduates. You have demonstrated that you possess the true spirit of Florence Nightingale. You are pioneers, you have set a high standard of efficiency and devotion to duty for those who come after you. Dunbar shall miss you; the physicians shall miss your ever encouraging and cheering smile, and the patients shall miss your kindly, tender and sympathetic touch, but we realize that our loss is the world’s gain. We then willingly send you forth as Angels of Mercy to serve and lessen the sufferings of that greater number of our folks as they pass through the Valley and Shadow of Death.

Then if you remember nothing else I have said tonight, remember you can’t go wrong and that success and joy and peace will always be yours if you let that same mind be in you that was in Him of whom it is written. –“He went about doing good”–

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I found the information for this post on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories and Death Records. The news item was found on Newspapers.com. The photographs and speech are from my personal collection.

Lowndes Adams

April 12, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyKristin

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Lowndes Adams was a close friend of my grandfather Mershell. He sang a solo at my grandparent’s wedding. I found more than a few news items about him singing at various events. Then I found this one in The Montgomery Times.

$25.80 Verdict Awarded Adams

“A jury in the circuit court this afternoon returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the case of Lowndes W. Adams vs. M.M. Sweatt.

The suit was for money alleged to have been paid to Mr. Sweatt. The judge gave Adams $25.80, the amount sue for.”

Millard M. Sweat was a white real estate agent. I was unable to find out what the case was about. While trying to find more information about that case, I came across a case in 1914 where an insurance company did not want to pay him and then this one in 1915 where he finally wins.

L.W. Adams Wins Insurance Case

In the list of applications for rehearings handed down by the supreme court this morning is the case of the Afro-American Insurance company against Lowndes W. Adams. It seems that Emma Broadnax had her life insured for the benefit of Lowndes W. Adams.

The Afro-American company alleges that the papers filed with the company gave the name of Adams as a grandson of Emma Broadnax and when she died the company refused to pay the insurance on her life, alleging that she did not set forth the facts in the case, as to being related to her.

The supreme court held that Emma Broadnax had the right to insure her life for whom she pleased and rendered a decision in favor of Lowndes W Adams for the sum of $542.42. The Afro-American Life Insurance company made a motion for a rehearing. The court this morning declined this motion and Lowndes W. Adams wins his suit against the company.

Emma Broadnax was rooming with the Adams family she died October 1, 1913. I found very little about her, two directory entries and a death record. The $543.43 she left Lowndes would be worth $13,264.21 in today’s money.

Lowndes’ father died in 1909 when he was eighteen years old. Both of his brothers were dead by 1900. He had two older sisters and three younger ones. He completed high school and worked as a a porter, a stenographer, an agent for the Avant Company and eventually at the Ford Factory when he moved to Detroit.

Here is a letter that Lowndes wrote to my grandfather Mershell after his move to Detroit.

204 Oak Street
Montgomery, Ala
May 17, 1918

Dear “Shell”:

Really I had begun to say little mean things about you, for it did look like you were going to take as long to write as you did when you first landed in Detroit. You may know what a pleasure it is at all times to receive a letter from a friend and pal.

Well, Cliff and Chisholm are there and how do they like Detroit. Tell Chisholm I know he will conserve a week looking at the skyscrapers and be sure to hold him when he is taken out to the lake. It was a great surprise to know that he left with Cliff, as no one seemed to have been aware of his leaving until several days back. Of course there is no need of advertising your intentions, but he and Cliff both got away without my knowing.

We have been having some real cool weather for this time of the year, and it has caused everything to be unbalanced somewhat.

Yes, I thought strongly of leaving this place on account of the depressing standing of our business and since it has changed for the better, I think I’ll stick a little longer. I thought that my leaving would have been compelling from that point of view.

Edgar is home now, the Pullman Company gave him a run out of here to Mobile so he has transferred here. He told me that he saw you and so many others that he knew and all seem to be getting along fine.

Would you believe me if I say that John Blakey, Lewis Gilmer, Rufus Taylor and myself are the only boys here and we look “motherless.”

Say, I want you to write me if you should see anything that you think may interest me. Have you payed any attention along the typewriter lines; and should you see anything in the papers concerning this particular line of work – send it to me.

Was in Pensacola on April 29 to see my sister. Had a dandy time, and went out to the Navy yard and saw some of our latest methods of war-fare. Tell Chisholm and Cliff to write me sometimes, and my regards to Charlie Anderson and wife in fact, all of my friends that you come across. Now I am expecting to hear from you real soon. With best wishes from us all,

Your chum,
Lowndes

I wrote about Lowndes for the 2016 A to Z Challenge and you can read that in this post Ula Mae’s Uncle Lowndes Adams. I also wrote about him in Lowndes Adams Found in 1965 and Three Men in Hats.

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records and Military Records. The news item was found on Newspapers.com. The photograph and letter are from my personal collection.

Kizziah Jackson

April 12, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyKristin

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Death Claims Mrs. Kizziah Jackson

“On June 16th, Mrs. Kizziah Jackson, a well known citizen, died at the home of her son, Mr. Anderson Jackson, 746 Riply St. The funeral services were held at First Baptist Church, Dr. A. J. Stokes pastor, officiating. The deceased is survived by one daughter, Nancy Brown two sons, Messrs. Anderson and James Jackson, one sister, Mrs. Anabel Jackson, Mt. Meigs; and a brother, Mr. Dunk Jackson of Verbena. The interment took place in Oakwood Cemetery.”

First Baptist Church Ripley Street. For the story of the “Brick-a-day” church click the link in the transcription.

Kizziah Jackson was born into slavery around 1855 in Alabama. Her mother’s name was listed as Viola Jackson on her death certificate. I was unable to find either of them, or any of the siblings mentioned in her obituary, in the 1870 census. The 1870 census is the first one in which formerly enslaved people were listed by name. During slavery days we were listed by age and color under the slave holders name in a separate slave census.

In the 1880 census, Kizziah Jackson was living in Bullock County, Alabama. She was the only adult in the home and was listed as single. She had two children, Nancy Jackson, age seven and George Jackson, age five. Nancy attended school. Kizziah worked as a cook and laborer.

The 1890 census was destroyed by fire so we lose 20 years of records. In 1900 Kizziah Jackson was still in Bullock County. She was 45 years old and listed as a widow. She worked as a cook. Kizziah had given birth to four children and all four were living. The two youngest lived with her. Anderson was nine and attending school. James was five.

Nancy Jackson Brown, the oldest child, was 27 years old,. She was married to her second husband. Of the two children she had given birth to, only one daughter was still living. She lived with her paternal grandparents.

I have not found son George after the 1880 Census. He would have been 25.

In the 1910 Census, Kizziah and her younger sons had moved to Montgomery. They shared a home with Nancy. Her husband was not enumerated in the home. Nancy’s daughter died the year before in 1909, at the age of sixteen. Nancy worked as a washer woman. Anderson was 19 and worked as a porter at a grocery store. James was 16 and worked with a blacksmith. Everybody in the household, except Kizziah, was literate. No occupation was listed for her. There was one lodger, Mary McGee, who worked as a cook.

In the 1919 Directory, Kizziah Jackson was living with her son James. She is listed as a domestic. He worked as a presser. Anderson was married and worked as a drayman. He lived on South Ripley. Nancy was a laundress and lived on Jeff Davis.

Kizziah Jackson died on June 16th at her son, Anderson Jackson’s home. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.

Card of Thanks

“We wish to thank the following ladies of S. Ripley St. Mrs. Eliza Jackson, Mrs. Ella Taylor, Mrs Ethel Brown, Mrs. Hettie Cloud, Mrs Fannie Williams, Mrs. Annie Cato and Mrs. Laura Sharp, for their kindnesses to our mother, Mrs. Kizziah Jackson, during her recent illness and death; also for beautiful floral designs.

Mrs. Nancy Brown. Anderson Jackson. James Jackson.”

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I found this information on Ancestry.com in Census Records, Directories, Death Records, Military Records and Marriage Records. The news items were found on Newspapers.com.

Jennie Turner – 1920

April 11, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Detroit, Great Migration, Montgomery Alabama, One Place Study, Turner#Jennie TurnerKristin

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Jennie Turner was Fannie’s mother and my great grandmother. I knew her for a few years before she died when she was wheelchair bound and not really talkative. I knew my aunts Daisy and Alice for many years.

“Mrs. Jennie Turner and two daughter, Miss Daisy and little Alice, left last Friday for Detroit, Mich.”

L>R – Robert Pope, Jennie Allen Turner, Alice Turner, Daisy Turner. Back – Beulah Allen Pope. 1921 Windsor, Canada.

My great grandmother Jennie and daughters were coming to visit my grandparents and their new baby daughter, Mary Virginia, who was born in April of 1920. They didn’t move to Detroit until 1922. My grandmother was a seamstress who worked for herself in Montgomery. My aunt Daisy taught school. In the photo with them are my great grandmother’s sister Beulah, who was also a seamstress, and her son Robert. The photo was labeled as being taken in 1921. Perhaps they came up again to visit when my grandparents second child, Mershell Jr. was born.

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My mother Doris Graham Cleage’s memories of her grandmother, Jennie Virginia Allen Turner

Today I’m going to write about Grandmother. Grandmother Turner was born about 1872, nine years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Don’t know if she finished high school – but she did go. Her mother taught her to sew and it was a good thing she did because grandmother worked the rest of her life supporting herself and her children at sewing. That is, she worked after husband Howard Turner died. They married when she was about sixteen. Don’t know his age. He looked something like grandmother’s father and also like my father, mother said. He was a farmer’s son from around Hayneville, AL, but he preferred the big city – Montgomery. His father had three sons and planned to give each one a large share of the farm when they married. Howard and Jenny received their farm, but neither one liked the country. One day they were in Montgomery. He was at a Bar-B-Q. She was at her parents with their daughters, Fannie Mae, 4, and Daisy Pearl, 2. someone brought word that he had been shot dead. Apparently no one ever knew who did it, but mother always said grandmother thought his father had it done because he was angry that Howard would not farm and had even been talking about selling his part. The father did not want the land sold, but wanted it to stay in the family forever. (Bless his heart!). He and the son had had some terrible arguments before they left to come to the Bar-B-Q. I often wondered why he was there and grandmother wasn’t. She always seemed to like a good time.

I remember her laughing and singing and dancing around the house on Theodore. She was short, about five feet I guess, with brown eyes, thin dark brown hair that she wore in a knot. She was very energetic, always walking fast. She always wore oxfords, often on the wrong feet, and never had time to change them. We used to love to tell her that her shoes were on the wrong feet. (smart kids!)

"Jennie Allen Turner funeral" — This photograph was taken in Montgomery during 1892 while the family was in mourning. Jennie holds two year old Daisy while four year old Fannie stands beside her.

She never did thing with us like read to us or play with us, but she made us little dresses. I remember two in particular she made me that I especially liked. My “candy-striped” dress – a red white and blue small print percale. She put a small pleated ruffle around the collar and a larger one around the bottom. I was about Deignan’s (note: that would have been about 5) size, I guess, and I really thought I was cool! The other favorite was an “ensemble” – thin, pale green material with a small printed blue green and red flower in it – just a straight sleeveless dress with neck and sleeves piped in navy blue – and a three – quarter length coat of the same material – also straight -with long sleeves and lapels – also piped in navy blue. She never used a pattern. Saw something and made it! She taught us some embroidery which she did beautifully but not often. She never fussed at us – never criticized – and I think she rocked me in the upstairs hall on Theodore when I was little and sick. The rocker Daddy made stood in that hall. I remember lots of people rocking in that chair when I was small.

Grandmother went to work when her husband was murdered – sewing for white folks – out all day fitting and sewing – and sewing all night – finishing while mother and Daisy stayed with their Grandfather Allen, who would tell on them when Grandmother came home and she would spank them. Mother said she remembered telling Daisy to holler loudly so Grandmother wouldn’t spank them hard or long and it worked!

Grandmother stayed single until she was about 37 or 38 when she married someone Mother hated – looked Italian, hardly ever worked. Liked a good time. Fathered Alice and left when she was very small. Somehow when mother spoke of him I had the feeling he would have like to have taken advantage of her. She was about 20 and had given up two college scholarships to stay and help Grandmother.

Sometimes after her husband’s death, Grandmother took the deed to the farm to a white lawyer. (was there any other kind?) and told him to sell it for her. He went to see it and check it out – told her to forget it – her title wasn’t clear, but he never gave the deed back and she figured he made a deal with her father-in-law.

"jennie's shot gun house" — A shotgun house. My mother’ description is off.

Aunt Abbie (note: Jennie’s sister) said the father-in-law built Grandmother and Howard a “shotgun” house on the farm. She would turn up her nose as she said it. You know that is a house like this – no doors on front or back, you could shoot a gun through hall without damage. Animals (pigs, dogs) would wander into the hall and have to be driven out. Aunt Abbie only stayed there when the plague was raging in Montgomery. Yellow fever (malaria) and/or polio every summer. Many people sick or dying. Huge bonfires in the streets every night to ‘purify’ the air”, and closing the city if it got bad enough – no one in or out. More than once they fled the city in a carriage through back streets and swamps because they were caught by the closing which was done suddenly to keep folks from leaving and spreading the “plague”

In Detroit, when they came in 1923 when Mother and Daddy had bought the house on Theodore and had room for them (room? only 5 adults and 3 children!) Grandmother, Daisy and Alice got good jobs, (they were good – sewing fur coats, clean work and good pay.) at Annis Furs (remember it back of Hudsons?) and soon had money to buy their own house much farther east on a “nice” street in a “better ” neighborhood (no factories) on Harding Ave. While they lived with us I remember violent arguments between Alice and I don’t know who – either Grandmother or Daisy or Mother. Certainly not Daddy because when he spoke it was like who in the Bible who said, “When I say go, they goeth. When I say come, they cometh.” Most of the time I remember him in the basement, the backyard or presiding at table. Daisy and grandmother were what we’d call talkers.

Grandmother got old, hurt her knee, it never healed properly. Daisy worked and supported the house alone. Alice only worked a little while. She had problems getting along with people. Grandmother was eventually senile. Died of a stroke at 83 or so. Alice spent years taking care of her while Daisy worked. Daisy added to their income by being head numbers writer at Annis!!

"Jennie Annis Furs" — Seamstresses at Annis Furs, Detroit 1920’s. Grandmother Turner far right, 2nd row. Alice next to her. Skip 1 + it’s Daisy.

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This information came from family information. The photo is from my photo collection. The news item is from Newspapers.com. The links within the story are to other blog posts about the topic.

Duncan Irby

April 9, 2018A to Z Challenge 2018, Great Migration, Montgomery Alabama, One Place StudyKristin

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The Emancipator, Montgomery, Alabama Sat. Oct 20, 1917.

“Mr. Duncan Irby, accompanied by his mother and little sister, also Mrs. Mollie Dillard and Miss Daisy Turner, motored from Selma to this city last Sunday and visited Camp Sheridan.”

"Jennie Allen Turner and Daughters" — Fannie, Jennie (mother) Alice. Daisy standing.

According to my mother’s family memories, Duncan Irby was my Aunt Daisy’s lost love. Here is what she wrote in 1980. Daisy was my grandmother Fannie’s sister.

Doris Graham Cleage’s (my mother) memories of her Aunt Daisy and Duncan Irby

“Maybe here a word about Aunt Daisy. Look at her picture, sweet, soft, pretty, taught school awhile in Montgomery (with high school diploma) loved Congregational preacher named Duncan Erby who loved her and waited for her for years. Had the church in Buffalo, NY. Whenever she really considered leaving, Grandmother did the old guilt trick “How can you leave me to take care of Alice (note: Alice was Daisy and Fannie’s younger sister. She was born 20 years after my grandmother) all by myself?” and “No man in this world is good enough to touch your little finger. They are all no good except (maybe) Shell.” (note: Shell referred to my grandfather, Mershell Graham.) and Daisy listened and stayed and played numbers, studied dream books and drank a little apricot brandy. I always found their house light, cheerful, full of magazines (McCall’s, Journal, etc.) which I loved to read, full of good things to eat. All three were super cooks and they had always just had a bunch of friends to dinner and to play cards or just about to have.

Daisy took us downtown to the show every summer and to Saunders for ice cream afterward. And I always ended up with a splitting headache. Too much high living I guess. She and Alice would buy us dainty, expensive little dresses from Siegel’s or Himelhoch’s. They all went to church every Sunday, Plymouth Congregational. Daisy always gave us beautiful tins of gorgeous Christmas candy, that white kind filled with gooey black walnut stuff, those gooey raspberry kind and those hard, pink kind with a nut inside, and chocolates, of course! She loved to eat and to cook. Never seemed bitter or regretful about her lost love.”

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According to his draft registration cards, Duncan Irby was five feet nine inches tall, stout, light complected with brown hair, brown eyes and freckles.

Duncan’s parents, Duncan Irby, Sr and Mary Smith were married in Selma, Alabama on Christmas Eve, 1890. Mary Smith Irby was the daughter of a house painter. Duncan senior’s mother, Emmeline Gee, inherited over 100 acres and a horse from a former slave holder, Josiah Irby. I do not know if Emmeline was enslaved on Irby’s plantation.

“Also I give and devise unto the said Emeline Gee, about fifty acres of land known as the Saw mill field, and bounded as follows to wit commencing at the point at which the P Bluff and Cahaba Road crosses the Athens and Parks Landing Road thence down the P Bluff & Cahaba Road to Chillatchie Creek at the Cahaba Bridge, thence up the said creek to a line between sections 11 and 12; thence West to Parks Landing Road; thence along said Road to the starting point in Township fourteen Range seven in Wilcox County. It is further my will and desire that at the death of the said Emeline Gee, that all the land herein before described and devised to the said Emeline Gee shall go to her and belong to her son Duncan. I also give and bequeath to the said Emeline Gee my Roan Horse named Tom”

After this, Duncan used the surname “Irby” instead of “Gee”. I do not know if they were allowed to take possession of the property. Emeline continued to use Gee as a surname.

Both Duncan senior and his wife Mary Smith Irby were literate. Emeline Gee, Duncan’s mother, lived with the family until her death in 1901.

The younger Duncan Irby was born in 1892. The following year Duncan Sr, a blacksmith, suffered injuries when he was trampled by horses while making some repairs on a hack. He recovered.

Mr. Duncan Irby Seriously Injured.

“Selma, April 4.-(Special.)_ This evening Duncan Irby, a blacksmith, while making some repairs on a hack, was run over and seriously wounded. Mr. Irby was in front of the horses when they started on a run, dashing the unfortunate man to the ground and trampling upon him. The horses were finally stopped. Not much damage was done to the hack.” The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery, Alabama Wed, Apr 5, 1893

The younger Duncan’s only sibling, Mary (To add to the confusion, Duncan Senior’s only sibling was also named Mary) was born the following year, in 1894. Both Duncan Jr and his sister Mary attended school. In 1908 they were both enrolled in Talledega College, a boarding school, in the College Preparatory Course. They studied Latin, Algebra, English Literature, Ancient history and Drawing along with hands on courses in Agriculture and Wood-Turning for young men and Dressmaking and Nurse-Training for young women.

Duncan’s sister Mary became a teacher. She married Edwin Gibson, a teacher and a principal. They had one son, Edwin Gibson Jr. They later divorced.

Duncan worked with his father in his blacksmith shop and later became a mechanic. The elder Duncan Irby died in November of 1915.

“Duncan Irby, one of the best known colored men in this section, is dead. He was a most reliable man and his death is regretted by whites and blacks.” The Selma Mirror, Selma, Alabama, Fri, Oct 15, 1915

Duncan Irby senior, left everything to his wife Mary Smith Irby, with the proviso that should she ever remarry, everything would go to their children. She did remarry in 1921. She married Rev. Marshall Talley. The family relocated to Homestead, Pennsylvania. Duncan was 35 in 1930 and worked as an auto mechanic in Homestead.

Several years later, they all relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana. Duncan, his sister who was divorced from her husband by this time and her son Edwin Gibson Jr. formed a household. Edwin Jr grew up to become a well known architect and the first black architect registered in Indiana.

In 1966 Duncan Irby died of pneumonia brought on by lung cancer. He was 74 years old and had lived in Indianapolis for 34 years. He never married.

“Death Notices Irby. Mr. Duncan Irby, age 74, 1238 North West St., died Wednesday at Methodist Hospital, beloved brother of Mrs. Mary Gibson, uncle of Edwin Gibson. Funeral Friday 10 a.m., Jacobs Brothers Westside Chapel. Cremation following. Friends may call after 4 p.m. today.” The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Indiana, Thu, Aug 4, 1966

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In writing this story I used writings by my mother, Doris Graham Cleage; Census, death, and other records from Ancestry.com and a surprising number of news items found on Newspapers.com