L – Lowndes County Birth

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

________________

Alonza Turner was born on Thursday, April 14, 1910 in Lowndes County, Alabama. He was the 5th child of 35 year old farmer Alonza Turner and his wife 28 year old Galvester. The family included four other children: Nellie (7), Howard (5), Eddie (4), and Willie M. (2). Galvester had birthed five children and all five were alive. According to the 1910 Census, both parents were literate. The two oldest children had attended school. They rented their land.

Page from the 1910 census with Alonza Turner and his relatives marked in red.

On the same page there are three other households of Turners. Near the top of the page baby Alonza’s grandfather lived with his second wife, Luella, and their four children. Luella was literate, Joe was not. Their two oldest children were in school. Luella had birthed five children and all were alive. The oldest was born before she married Joe and was living with her parents. They owned their farm.

Baby Alonza’s uncle Joe and his wife Emma lived next door with their their four year old granddaughter. Joe was literate. Emma was not. Emma had birthed one child and she was alive and living down the road. They rented their farm.

Next is Alonza’s family. Below them lived Joe and Emma’s daughter, Fanny and her baby daughter. Fanny was literate and owned her house. She has birthed two children and both were alive. The older one was counted up with her parents.

Alonza Turner, the father, was the brother of my great grandfather Howard Turner. I do not have any photographs of this branch of the family.

On the Church Steps, May 17, 1936

This is a bonus post and not a part of the A to Z

Eleven years ago in 2014, I published this photograph of my grandmother on the steps of her church with some friends. I decided to look on newspaper.com and see if anything was going on at Church that Sunday. There was! It was the 17th Anniversary of Plymouth Congregational Church.

Granmother Fannie Turner Graham on far right with friends.

Written on the back of the photograph by my grandmother Fannie:

“Mrs. C. L. Thompson, Miss Watt, Mrs. Martha Lee (Died July 1937), F. Graham. Taken as we talked on our Church steps 5/17/36 by Jim Dunbar”

______________

**The Detroit Tribune** Sat, May 16, 1936 · Page 3

PLYMOUTH CHURCH TO CELEBRATE 17TH ANNIVERSARY

REV. WHITE TO DELIVER SERMON

Plymouth Congregational Church, at Garfield and Beaubien, will celebrate its seventeenth anniversary,! Sunday, May 17 and during; the week following.

The minister, Rev. Horace White, will deliver the anniversary sermon, Sunday, May 17. Special music will be rendered by the choir.

Other features of the week’s program will include an address on “The Social Message of the Church,” by Rev. A. C. Williams, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, Tuesday, May 19. His Senior Choir will provide the music. Wednesday, May 20, at 7 p. m. the church’s annual birthday dinner will be held, and after the dinner, Dr. Harold M. Kingsley, of Chicago, will speak. Friday, May 22, will be observed as “Frolic Night.’’ The young people of the church will furnish the program. All members and friends of the church are invited to join Plymouth in celebrating the seventeenth anniversary of its work in Detroit.

Another photo from the same day. My Aunt Mary Virginia is circled in the back row. She was 16.

In 1936 the Grahams lived on THEODORE Street on the east side of Detroit. My grandfather Mershell worked at Ford’s Rouge plant in the Electrical Stacks. He was 49 years old. He was one of the founders of Plymouth Church.

My grandmother Fannie was 47 years old. She didn’t work outside of the home. They kept chickens, had a large garden and several fruit trees. My grandfather rode the streetcar to work and they drove “Lizzie” to church. They had bought their first car, “Lizzie” two years earlier and kept it until the late 1950s.

My aunt Mary Virginia was 16 and my mother Doris was 13. Both were students at Eastern High School on East Grand Blvd and within walking distance of their house.

"Mary Vee, Fannie and Doris" — Mary Virginia, Fannie and Doris Graham. 1936. Lizzie in background

This photograph was taken the previous Sunday , Mother’s Day.

From Montgomery to Detroit – Plymouth Congregational Church – 1919
P – PLYMOUTH Congregational Church – 1928

K – Knickerbockers for Easter

Henry, Albert Jr. (my father) Albert Sr, Gladys

*Detroit Free Press* April 18, 1924 page 15

Going to church — Cleage family going to church.

Were there Easter baskets back in the 1920s? Yes there were. You could get fillers or buy a ready made basket. I remember my Grandmother Pearl Cleage gave us ready made Easter Baskets in the 1950s .

Hudson’s Department Store – Detroit Free Press Wednesday, April 02, 1924

One hundred years ago, it was Easter Sunday and my father and his family were ready for church. They were members of St. John’s Presbyterian church, in Detroit, Michigan. My grandparents Albert and Pearl Cleage were founding members. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about my Cleage family 100 years ago. You can read it at THE CLEAGES 100 YEARS AGO – 1925.

J – Jones Tabernacle hosts Music Festival

MUSIC FESTIVAL FRIDAY.

Miss Pearl Reed One of Singers at Jones Tabernacle.

Among the special attractions of Easter week will be the music festival to be given next Friday evening at Jones Tabernacle, under the auspices of the Witherspoon Memorial United Presbyterian church. A carefully selected program has been arranged in which the best available talent will take part.

In addition to Miss Pearl Reed, popular soloist, Miss Osie Watkins, of Richmond, has been engaged to sing. Other features will be vocal solos by Aldridge M. Lewis and Mrs. Sallie Robinson. There will be Instrumental solos by Alfred Taylor and Philip Tasch, and readings by Miss Harriet Mitchell, of Knoxville, Tenn.; G. W. Cable, Aldridge and Alfred Taylor. The Twentieth Century Club of Jones tabernacle, will serve refreshments at the close of the program.
The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana • Sat, Apr 10, 1909 Page 12

_______________

Pearl Reed was my paternal grandmother. In 1909 she lived with her mother and older brother George. She and my grandfather were “keeping company’ and married the following year.

You can see a better copy of the photo above at this earlier post: F- Forgive this writing

You can read more about my grandmother’s life at this post: Grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage and also find more links about her life.

I – Ice Cream Served?

L>R – Robert Pope, Jennie Allen Turner, Alice Turner, Daisy Turner. Back – Beulah Allen Pope. 1921 on a trip to Detroit.

***The Emancipator***, Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 10, 1920 Page 2

MASTER WILLIAM PRICE ENTERTAINS.

Master Willie Price delightfully entertained at a party in honor of Master Harold Scott of Talladega, Ala. Delicious refreshments were served. Among those present were: Hazel Shipman, Annie Marie and Lonnie Miller, Theo. Alexander. Hazel Miller, Louise and Elizabeth Lewis, Agertha Lee Cook, Rebecca Wiley, Lelsie Hooks, James Lewis, Myrtle, Rosebud and Leon White, Margaret Johnson, Alice Turner, Ruth Harris, Agnes Tondee and Homer Hamilton.

_______________

If delicious refreshments were served at a children’s birthday party, I think cake and ice cream would be among them. If they didn’t make it themselves, perhaps they bought it from Kratzer Ice Cream Co., that advertised in the same edition of The Emancipator.

***The Emancipator***, Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 10, 1920 Page 3

_______________

Alice Turner, who was a guest at the birthday party was my maternal grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s little sister. She was my great aunt. I knew her.

H – Home Entertainment at the Tulane’s

For this year’s A to Z Challenge I am posting an event involving someone in my family tree for that date. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

Willie Lee Allen Tulane and husband Victor Tulane on their porch. Montgomery, Alabama..

The Emancipator Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 13, 1918 Page 3

KINGS DAUGHTERS CLUB ENTERTAINS

The Kings Daughters, one of the working clubs of the Old Ship Church, very pleasantly entertained Messrs. Allen Carleton, Oscar Saffold, Prof. Finley and the church choir, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. V. H. Tulane, 10 S. Ripley St., Tuesday evening, April 9th. A fine musical program was rendered, the numbers including vocal and instrumental selections by those present, and, besides, a variety of choice selections by the Victrola, after which enjoyable refreshments were served.

______________

Miss F. M. Turner, manager, was my maternal grandmother. She was the Tulane’s niece.

In 1918 Victor and Willie Lee Tulane and their daughter Naomi lived in a comfortable apartment over Tulane Groceries. In addition to the grocery store, Victor Tulane also was very active in the life of the community. He was on the Board of Trustees of Tuskeegee Institute and cashier of the local Penny Bank.

They lost two young daughters early in their marriage and Willie Lee was overly protective of the surviving daughter, Naomi. Naomi was a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1918. They were active members of the Old Ship A. M. E. Church.

Willie Lee Allen Tulane was my great grandmother Jennie Allen Turner’s sister.

This is the house that goes with the porch. It now houses the Alabama PTA. This photo is from google.

_______________

V.H. Tulane
Naomi Tulane
“Child of Victor Tulane…”
“Tulane Calls on Members of Race to be Patriotic”

G – Going Back to 1972 Black Religion Symposium

My father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. later Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman

For several years after the 1967 Detroit Riot/Rebellion, my father received many invitations to speak around the United States. His participation in the Duke University Black Religion Symposium was one such instance.

For those who want to hear more from the Black Religion Symposium, audio of the speeches is available here -> Black Religion Symposium. The date on this page is for August, but the paper above gives April as the date and I’m going with that date. My father is the first speaker after the introduction.

F – Forgive this writing

___________

While looking for some of his ancestors several years ago, 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.

Below is one of the letters in the package. It was written on April 7, 1904.

Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.

Homer Jarrett
#230 Bird St., City

2730 Kenwood Ave
City
April 7, 1904

Dear Homer;
Forgive me for not writing sooner, but don’t you know I did write but tore up the letter a few hours after. Mother is very ill now and has been since Easter eve. I am having a terrible time. I could not go to church Easter Morn and have just received an invitation to a friends at her birthday anniversary but had to send her my regrets. Pity me.
Your ~~little~~ friend

P.S. I am in an awful hurry, forgive this writing.

Your Pearl

P.S. Minnie’s address is #337 Colfax Ave. Benton Harbor Mich.

__________________

Pearl Reed about 1904 — Pearl Doris Reed 1904

Pearl Reed was my paternal grandmother. Homer was a friend of my grandmother. Minnie was my grandmother’s older sister who was married to Homer’s cousin and had moved from Indianapolis with her husband and family to Benton Harbor, Michigan.

At this time my grandmother was about 20 years old. She had graduated from high school and lived at home with her mother and her oldest brother, George. One other brother lived nearby with his family. Another brother lived in Chicago and all three of her living sisters lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan with their families. Her oldest sister died around 1900.

My grandmother would not meet my grandfather for several more years.

_____________

Read more about my grandmother’s letters in these posts:
My Grandmother’s Letters
Finding The Letters
The Letters – The People

E – Effigies Hung

Detroit Churchmen Hanged In Effigy

DETROIT (AP) – Archbishop John F. Dearden, the Rev. Albert Cleage, Milton Henry and Richard Lobenthal were found hanged in effigy Thursday in Detroit’s Kennedy Square.
The name-carded, stuffed-clothing figures were cut down quickly by police.
Archbishop Dearden heads the Detroit archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Albert Cleage and Milton Henry, are leaders among “Black Power” advocates, and Lobenthal is Michigan director of the Jewish Antidefamation League.
Police said they did not know who hanged the four in effigy, but suspected “right wingers who have created similar incidents in recent months.” They did not name the “right wingers.”
The figures were strung up on the superstructure of a new underground parking garage in the square.

_______________

Oddly enough, although I was 21, I don’t remember anything about this event. I wonder if it was not printed in the Detroit papers. I found this article in an Ann Arbor paper. Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. is my father.

Note: From November 1967 to August 1968, both daily papers, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News were on strike. That is why it didn’t appear in my search of those papers online. Also why I didn’t know about it.

____________

My friend, historian Paul Lee, put this short clip of an interview with my father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. by Chet Huntley on YouTube. It is from late 1967 or early 1968, not long after the 1967 Detroit riot.

_________________

1300 Lafaytte – Apartment for Security 1968 – A post about my father’s life during that time

D – Darling Baby Girl

__________________

Thirty four years after the birth of yesterday’s cuddly baby girl, Mary Virginia Graham Elkins gave birth to a darling baby girl. On April 4, 1954 my first cousin, Marilyn Graham Elkins was born to Frank and Mary V. (Graham) Elkins.

Marilyn was the fifth and last grandchild of Mershell and Fannie (Turner) Graham.

My mother with the rest of the cousins Barbara, Kristin, Pearl and Dee Dee. Dee Dee and Barbara are Marilyn’s older sisters.

In the back yard. — My mother with the rest of the cousins Barbara, Kristin, Pearl and Dee Dee. Dee Dee and Barbara are Marilyn’s older sisters.