Fire-bombing – A Williams Family Memory

July 17, 2016Great Migration, WilliamsKristin

My husband James was a baby, the youngest of the five children of Chester and Theola Williams, when they moved from Dermott, AK to St. Louis, MO about 1945. At first they stayed with Theola’s sister who lived on Keokuk Street. James older brother Harold, born in January 1942, was kindergarten age, the family moved to a house they bought on Washington Blvd and Whittier Street.

Route from the house to the school. From Google maps.

Screen shot 2016-07-17 at 12.01.14 PM — Cole Elementary School from Google maps. Click to enlarge.

Harold remembers that he started kindergarten about 1947 at Cole Elementary School, which was around the corner from the house. He did not finish the year out because their house was fire bombed. They had moved into a white neighborhood where they were not wanted. The oldest sister, Jocelyn Maxine remembered that their mother was very calm as she moved the children from the front of the house, where the bomb entered, to a back room.

Because of the bombing, the city of St. Louis gave the family an apartment in Carr Square Village, a public housing project. When the family included nine children, they had outgrown that apartment and moved to Pruitt–Igoe, a large housing project first occupied in 1954. Eventually there were 12 children and the family bought a house on Cabanne Street. They lived there until about 1970 when they moved to Inglewood Court, where they lived until that property was taken by the city to build a strip mall about 2005.

My husband has been trying to find validation for this oral history, mainly searching old newspapers. So far he has not had any luck, but I think that he may have been searching the wrong years, so we are hopeful that eventually the story will be validated.

On The Way Home From Work – 1943

July 8, 2016Grahams, sepia saturday#Mershell C. GrahamKristin

poppy sidewalk — My grandfather, Mershell C. Graham. “On the way home from work 1943”

From my grandmother Fannie’s scrapbook. “That’s my Shell” 1-25-59.

River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan.

My grandfather, Mershell C. Graham came to Detroit from Montgomery, Alabama in 1917. He worked on the steamer “Eastern States” as a steward for awhile and then as a stockman in the library at the Ford River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan until he retired in the 1950s. Although he had a car, he did not drive to work, he caught the bus, first walking to the bus stop and then riding over an hour to get to work.

Unknown Man Walking — For other Sepia Saturday offerings, CLICK!

1854 Doctors Visits to the Turner Plantation

June 13, 2016African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Lowndes County, Slavery, TurnerKristin

header_lowndes_slavery — Turner Plantation house – Picking cotton – Slave dwelling – Lowndes County Courthouse, Hayneville AL

There are four lists from different dates for doctors visits to the enslaved on the Turner plantation. Sometimes those treated are named and sometimes they are just referred to as “negroe”. I have added the ages of those who are named based on other lists from the estate files.

Dr. C.B. Lampley was the doctor listed for this time period. Lampley was born in 1830 in Richmond County, NC. His family relocated to Alabama by 1850. He married Thurza Rudolph of Lowndes County. They had two children. In the 1860 census he enslaved four people, a 35 year old mulatto woman, a 30 year old black man, a fifteen year old mulatto girl and a 14 year old black male. They lived in two dwellings. He joined the Confederate Army where he became a surgeon. He was lamed and later resigned due to diabetes and general debility. During 1854 and 1855 he visited the Turner plantation to treat the enslaved – pulling teeth, lancing abscesses, bleeding and dosing with medication.

Click on images to enlarge for easier reading.

Joe Turner in the 1852 Estate File of Wiley Turner – Lowndes County, Alabama

May 30, 2016African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Lowndes County, TurnerKristin

Wiley_Turners_plantation — The rebuilt plantation house of Wiley Turner. You can see more photos and information here. No photos of the slave quarters survive. In 1860 there were 15 slave dwellings for 75 enslaved people. Five members of the Wiley Turner family lived in the big house.

Recently I decided to find the plantation where my 2X great grandparents, Joe and Emma Turner were enslaved. I started by looking at white Turners in Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama where my family lived in 1870. I found Wiley Turner and his brother Thomas Turner. Both died in 1851. Wiley’s estate file contained several lists of those enslaved on his plantation. I found a Joe. I believe this is my Joe because there was only one Joe Turner in the area, because he is the right age and because he was described as “white”, and my great great grandfather Joe Turner was very light skinned.

Of the four lists, this first one is the most complete in that it includes names, ages and monetary worth. I will be writing more about the Turner plantation and those who were once enslaved on it, as I continue to try and piece together the lives of Joe and Emma Turner and others in their community.

Inventory; and Appraisement of the Est. of Wiley Turner, Deceased. February 1852. Those in maroon were set aside for his widow, Francis Turner. They do not appear in future inventories.


     Sex     Name             Aged      Worth
1.   Boy     Andrew            20     $850.00
2.   Girl    Fanny             20      750.00
3.   Boy     Lewis (Tyus)      24      750.00
4.   Girl    Amy               29      550.00
5.   Boy     Mordicai          20      875.00
6.   Girl    Leah              20      650.00
7.   Boy     Billy (Tyus)      22      850.00
8.   Girl    Martha            20      700.00
9.   Boy     Toney             25      600.00
10.  Woman   Ellen & child     40      400.00
11.  Girl    Abby              14      550.00
12.  Girl    Little Margaret   13      500.00
13.  Boy     Alfred            22      700.00
14. Woman Maria & child Ranson 30      500.00
15.  Girl     Little Jane       9      250.00
16.  Girl     Louisa            4      250.00
17.  Girl     Adella            2      175.00
18.  Man      Doctor           55      240.00
19.  Woman    Mary             50      175.00
20.  Girl     Eliza            14      600.00
21.  Girl     Minerva          12      450.00
22.  Girl     Amanda           10      350.00
23.  Man      Lewis            18      750.00
24.  Woman    Lucy             30      400.00
25.  Man      Adam             22      500.00
26. Girl Mary Ellen & boy Edward 18    800.00
27.  Man      Jack             30      350.00
28.  Woman    Big Margaret     25      650.00
29.  Boy      Jesse (Tyus)     20      900.00
30.  Woman    Elizabeth        23      650.00
31.  Man      William          50      400.00
32.  Woman    Rachell          50      200.00
33.  Boy      Little Charle     8      450.00

34.  Girl       Susan          18      700.00
35.  Girl       Eliza          34      400.00
36.  Girl       Harriett        5      225.00
37.  Man        Sam            35      400.00
38.  Woman      Lyddy          30      400.00
39.  Boy        Henry (May)    19      900.00
40.  Woman      Ellen Brown    25      500.00
41.  Man        Robbin         25      800.00
42.  Woman Cherry & child Louisa 36    400.00
43.  Boy        Prince          5      350.00
44.  Woman    Rachell (Patten) 28      700.00
45.  Boy        Robert         11      500.00
46.  Boy        Frank           6      300.00
47.  Woman      Maria Ann      16      700.00
48.  Man     Charles (Rugely)  23      850.00
49.  Woman Rose & child Gabril 28      650.00
50.  Boy        Washington     14      700.00
51.  Man        John           24      800.00
52.  Woman      Nelly          49      200.00
53.  Boy        Abram          16      900.00
54.  Man        Big Jesse      26      450.00
55.  Girl       Jane           18      700.00
56.  Girl       Hager          23      500.00
57.  Girl  Abegail & child Ema 23      400.00
58.  Woman      Old Rachell    60      100.00
59.  Man        Frederick      23      850.00
60.  Woman Clara & child Alford 35     500.00
61.  Girl       Sylvia         12      500.00
62.  Girl       Lucy           12      450.00
63.  Girl       Alice           8      350.00
64.  Boy        Freeman         6      350.00
65.  Boy        Harrison        6      350.00
66.  Girl       Julia Ann       3      200.00
67.  Boy        Henry (Turner) 18      875.00

68.  Man        Old Jim       45      400.00
69.  Woman      Menty         45      300.00
70.  Boy        Daniel         3      200.00
71.  Man        Ben           33      800.00
72.  Woman      Mary McQuee   28      500.00
73.  Boy        Harry         12      550.00
74.  Woman      Hannah        55      200.00
75.  Boy        George        13      600.00
76. Woman Betsey & child Caroline 23  800.00
77.  Girl       Phillis        8      375.00
78.  Girl       Peggy          3      225.00
79.  Man        Achilles      43      650.00
80.  Woman      Mariah Mosely 35      450.00
81.  Girl       Elvira        14      650.00
82.  Boy        Jim Swagert   18      800.00
83.  Man        Wilson        28      850.00
84.  Woman      Yellow Jinny  45      400.00
85.  Man        Martin        26    1,100.00
86.  Woman      Letty         21      300.00
87.  Man        Hardy         56      250.00
88.  Boy        Nelson        15      750.00
89.  Boy        Lloyd         17      700.00
91.  Boy        Austin        16      800.00
92.  Boy        Long George   19      350.00
93.  Boy        Isaac         10      350.00
94.  Boy        Joe (white)   15      650.00
95.  Boy        Jim Patton    14      700.00
96.  Woman      Milly         55      150.00
97.  Man        Edmond        38      600.00
98.  Man        Tom           40      600.00
99.  Boy        Ned           11      475.00
100. Girl       Emeline        9      350.00
101. Man        Yellow John   24      875.00

102. Woman Yellow Milly       30      800.00
103. Boy Anthony infant(included with Milly)
104. Boy   Little William     10      450.00
105. Boy   Carter              6      350.00
106. Boy   Braxton             4      250.00
107. Woman Alcey              40      200.00
108. Old Man Turner           65        1.00
109. Boy    Frank (blind)     18        1.00

Joe and Emma Turner were the parents of Howard Turner who was my grandmother Fannie Mae Turner Graham’s father. You can see other posts about my Turner’s below.

Joe Turner – Land, Mules and Courts

Emma and Joe Turner of Lowndes County Alabama

There were at one time 4 flourishing schools in this county

Happy 6th Blogaversary to me!

May 25, 2016blogaversaryKristin

While checking my facebook memories this morning, I discovered that yesterday was my 6th anniversary of my blog Finding Eliza. I’ve published 890 posts during those six years. I’ve been found by long lost cousins, found wills that took my family back another generation and confirmed the plantations where they were enslaved. I’ve followed myself through the streets of my life, followed my Graham grandparents from Montgomery to Detroit, investigated the Cleages of Athens, TN and more. I’ve learned so much during that time and can only hope I learn as much in the next six years.

A Remington Noiseless Poem

May 15, 2016sepia saturdayKristin

1185552_10152158205953626_515585218_n — I wrote this poem for the 2013 August Postcard Poetry Challenge and just was reminded of it while reading Crazy as a Cool Fox’s Sepia Saturday post about typewriters.

“I think getting a card that had been through a typewriter would be pretty cool.” Paul Nelson

Typing poetry straight out of my mind

to the card on this Remington noiseless

model seven is no easy task.

From a flea market to my daughter to me.

I don’t remember by mother’s underwood

being so stiff and LOUD and slow. So

slow. I typed 36 words a minute on that

one. I type 80 words on my computer. Lucky

to type 3 words a minute here. I took typing

in high school. Do not

remember 1 day in class. Typed papers for

Seydou and for newsletters and after the ’67

Detroit, typed on an electric. At the

library typed index cards on a selectric, the

ball going round and across fast and smoth.

smooth, two oos. not

like this soundless/noiseless/LOUD Remington

noiseless model seven. Let us not even consid

corrections. er.

“There were at one time 4 flourishing schools in this county.” 1868 Hayneville, AL

May 15, 2016African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Lowndes County, TurnerKristin

page 1 letter — “Aug 16, 1868 I have the honor to state that I have just assumed charge of the Bureau at this point and find that the spirit of abuse and austersism is uncontrollable. There were at one time 4 flourishing schools for the freed people in this county but the teachers were so much abused and threatened that they were compelled to close. Union men are openly assailed in the streets and there is no protection for person or property…”

page 2 letter — “… (ex)cept by shooting some of them (do)wn. A squad of them usually (are) together and if one is hurt (the) balance interferes in his behalf. I have the honor to ask that (a) squad of U.S. troop be (se)nt here. Their presence is one (tha)t is necessary to keep these (mi)sserable out-laws down. I think it is a duty this (gov(ernment owes her ex soldiers to (pr)otect them. waiting a favorable answer. (I) am ______ very truly your ob(edien)t Servant, W.H.Hunter A.S.A.C. fr(om Lowndes Co Ala

You can see all 13 sheets in the file on Family Search at this link, Alabama, Freedmen’s Bureau in Hayneville, Alabama. You can enlarge both of the images above by clicking on them.

My 2X great grandfather, Joe Turner was enumerated in the 1866 Alabama State census with his family of five living in Lowndes County, Alabama. In the 1870 census they were enumerated In Hayneville, Lowndes County. Joe was a farmer with $300 worth of personal goods. Neither he nor his wife Emma could read or write. The children were Lydia 8, Howard 7 (my great grandfather), Fannie 6, Joe 3 and Annie born in August of that year.

A-Z Reflections 2016

May 7, 2016A-Z Challenge 2016, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry ResearchKristin

This was my 4th year participating in the A to Z challenge. This year I wrote about people who were born into slavery and lived to be free. I found myself (once again) spending hours everyday researching and writing up my posts.

I also visited at least 5 new blogs, most days more. In addition when I found blogs I enjoyed, I revisited them throughout the challenge. Some of the blogs that I visited multiple times were:

I want to express my appreciation for those who work each year to make the A to Z Challenge happen by setting up and monitoring the linky lists, contributing art work for badges and banners and visiting blogs.

What will I do differently next year? I am already thinking about what I want to use for my theme next year and plan to write a few posts a month and save them for April 2017. I enjoyed writing about all the Cleages of Athens, Tennessee last year because it gave me a feeling for the community and the relationships among the families. I missed that in the families I wrote about this year. I will be picking a theme that lets me go more in depth on a town where some of my ancestors lived in Tennessee, Kentucky or Alabama.

Below are links to the posts I wrote for this challenge.

Major Lee Zeigler – Virginia & Ohio

April 30, 2016A-Z Challenge 2016, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry ResearchKristin

This is my 4th year participating in the A-Z Challenge. I am writing about people who were born into slavery and lived to be free, and their descendants. Today I will write about Major L. Zeigler . He has ties to my family as the 2nd husband of the great grandmother of the wife of my 1st cousin once removed.

Major Zeigler was born in Virginia about 1869. In the 1880 census he was 11 years old and lived in Horse Pasture, Henry County, Virginia with his 50 year old mother, Lucy Zeigler and his 13 year old sister Polly. All of them are listed as servants and none of them could read or write.

The first time Major Zeigler appears in Cincinnati records is in the 1887 Cincinnati City Directory, where he was listed as a laborer. He would have been 18 years old. In 1894 he married Ella Bayes. He was 27 and she was 25. She had been married previously and brought three daughters to the union. They never had any children together.

In the 1900 census, the family lived at 4214 Eastern Avenue. The house was mortgaged. Major was a coal dealer. His wife, Ella was not working outside of the home. She had given birth to four children and three were still living. Her three daughters were using Zeigler as their surname. Fifteen year old Onie, 14 year old Maud and 11 year old Nennie were all attending school, as was Ella’s 11 year old brother who lived with them. Ella’s mother lived in the home also. There was one border, 15 year old Murphy McSwain who worked as a coal peddler. He was the only one in the house who could neither read nor write.

In 1910 Major and Ella Ziegler lived in the house at 4214 Eastern alone. They owned their house however, it was not paid off. His occupation is listed as coal teamster. Ella did not work outside of the home.

In 1920 they owned the house free of mortgage. Granddaughter Fern, 16, lived with them. She was not attending school. Major’s occupation was as a mover of household goods. He was 49. Ella was 51. Neither Ella nor Fern were employed outside of the home.

In 1930 Major Zeigler was working on his own account as a supervisor at his real estate business. They had moved out of the house on Eastern Avenue and were living in their mortage free house in Springfield. The house was valued at $10,000. Since 1920, granddaughter Fern had married, divorced and had a seven year old daughter, Elaine, who was attending school. Sixty four year old Albert Smith boarded with them. They did not own a radio.

Ella Bayes Zeigler died on November 18, 1933. She is buried in spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. She was 64 years old.

In 1940 Major Zeigler was 73 years old. He lived in a boarding house. His highest level of education completed was 2nd grade. He was working as a real estate agent. Major Lee Zeigler died at home on April 10, 1960. You can read his obituary below.

The Cincinnati Enquirer - Monday April 11 1960. Major Lee Zeigler's obituary — The Cincinnati Enquirer – Monday April 11 1960.
Major Lee Zeigler’s obituary

Y.M.C.A, Colored – Indianapolis, Indiana

April 29, 2016A-Z Challenge 2016, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry ResearchKristin

colored ymca 1 — I believe this image is from The Indianapolis Recorder, but it is in my collection without a label. I found the same drawing with a different heading in *The Indianapolis Freeman*, dated October 21, 1911.

“A cartoon drawn by Garfield T. Haywood, the colored artist, pictures the attitude of the Indianapolis colored people toward the movement for raising money for the proposed colored men’s branch building of the Y.M.C.A., and is meant to show that the colored people will do their best toward raising a fund of $15,000 among themselves. Haywood is thirty-one years old and was born at Greencastle, Ind. He was educated in Indianapolis public school No. 42, and studied for a time at Shortridge high school. Drawings have been contributed by him to the Indianapolis Recorder, the Freeman, Dignam’s Magazine, of Richmond, Ind., which has ceased publication, and other magazines. Mr. Haywood is identified with the colored Y.M.C.A.”

The Senate Street Colored Y.M.C.A. — Indianapolis, Indiana Colored YMCA. Photo from the University of Minnesota Libraries, Kautz Family YMCA Archives.

I was familiar with the campaign in Indianapolis, Indiana because my grandfather Albert B. Cleage Sr. and his brother, Henry W. Cleage, were very active in this effort. While looking for bits in the local papers about my family, I ran across many articles about the campaign. The Y.M.C.A. was segregated at the time. Click all images to enlarge.

colored ymca — The money was collected and the Senate Street YMCA was built. Article from the November 4, 1911 *Indianapolis Recorder – “A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Best Interest of the Negroes of Indiana*.”

pearlcleagesings — *My grandmother before she married. The Indianapolis Star, Friday May 8, 1908*

Madame Walker — *Madam C.J. Walker pledged $1,000 to the Y.M.C.A. fund. She made her fortune selling hair care products and was the first black woman millionaire. From the Nov. 4, 1911 Recorder.*