Jo Mendi

September 3, 2014poetry & literature, sepia saturdayEdward McCallKristin

I found this poem in my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s large scrapbook. She just pasted stuff in there without much rhyme or reason. Edward McCall, who was a poet and publisher, was her first cousin. Her mother Jennie and his mother Mary were sisters, both Eliza’s daughters. I remember seeing Jo Mendi ride around the ring at the Detroit Zoo in the 1950s on one of our annual Graham family Zoo trips.

Jo Mendi 1950 http://www.zoochat.com/562/jo-mendi-ii-detroit-zoo-chimpanzee-204753/ — Jo Mendi 1950

The note in my grandmother’s scrapbook says he died in 1934, but the photo I found on the webb says it was taken in 1950. It turns out there were 4 of them and you can click here for their stories The True Story of Jo Mendi. And here for a Chimp Trainer’s Daughter telling about the brutal side of training chimps.

You can read more about McCall in these posts:

James Edward McCall, Poet and Publisher.

Poems by James E. McCall

She Was Owned Before the War…

Belle Isle Conservatory 1925

August 28, 2014Detroit, Grahams, sepia saturday#Mershell GrahamKristin

My grandfather Mershell Graham holding little Mershell and my aunt Mary V. They are sitting outside of the Conservatory on Detroit’s island park, Belle Isle. The photo is dated 1925. Usually my mother and her sister had their hair cut short but in this and a few other pictures they have braids.

On Belle Isle. My grandmother Fannie, Mary V, my mother Doris, Mershell – who looks like he has his arm bandaged. This photo is dated 1926.

A photo of the Belle Isle Conservatory taken by Maya, Mershell Grahams 2X great granddaughter. — A photo of the Belle Isle Conservatory taken by Maya, Mershell Grahams 2X great granddaughter August 2014.

More about Belle Isle – 2 posts and some info.

My grandmother Fannie’s Fan

August 22, 2014sepia saturday#Fannie Turner GrahamKristin

Only the skeleton remains. It used to be covered with gossamer thin white material with little sparkling threads, like the fan below. All rotted away now.

fan1895 — The fan once looked similar to this one. Click photo to see another fan.

Fannie Turner before marriage - 1909. — Fannie Turner before marriage – 1909.

I wonder if she carried the fan when she was married.

Mug Shot – James Edward Williams 1972

August 6, 2014sepia saturdayKristin

Today’s mugshot is of James Edward Williams, my husband. He was arrested for driving without a license on the Wayne State University campus in March of 1972. This mugshot was included in his ‘red file’ which included local police files and FBI information from the 1970s. He was arrested for driving without a license often because he either lost it or forgot it. He didn’t spend time in jail but was released either with no bail or very low bail. After we left Detroit, it never happened again.

For more Sepia Saturday CLICK! — For more Sepia Saturday mugshots CLICK!

Award For Excellence in Spanish

July 31, 2014The Book of MeKristin

spanish award — Award for Excellence in Spanish.

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school. It was with the 3rd year that the total number of students in the class fell to 2. We sat in the back of the 2nd year class and worked on our assignments. We missed a lot by not being in a 3rd and 4th year class geared to learning to speak and understand the language. Both of us, I can’t remember his name, received awards in our senior year at the awards program in the auditorium.

I supplemented class work with listening to Radio Habana Cuba on the ancient short wave radio and the Mexican music program once a week. I also bought magazines and records, but I never had anybody to actually talk with or listen to. Once my Aunt Barbara suggested that I work at one of the grocery stores in Southwest Detroit that my uncles printed flyers for because I could practice my Spanish on the customers. My mother nixed that plan.

Intermediate book. 3rd year? There was a great grammar book with samples and examples and explanations but I can no longer find it.

alexander_velasco — My Spanish teacher Señor Velasco.

I remember that he shared a letter from his sister once. She was a teaching nun in the Dominican Republic. I don’t remember anything about the letter.

honor society 1a — The Northwestern High School Honor Society. I am in the center.

When I got to college I studied a year of Classical Arabic my freshman year. I also took a year of French. Finally, during my sophomore year, I decided to finish my language requirement of 2 years with Spanish. I tested out of the first 1.5 years and needed 1 quarter more to complete. I should have taken more after that until I was fluent, but I did not.

Signs From On High – Wayne State University

July 22, 2014Cleages, sepia saturday#Detroit, #Wayne StateKristin

Here is a photograph including 3 signs from the early 1940s and a rough sketch of the same area that I did in 1968. Both were taken from upper floors on Wayne State University buildings looking on Cass Ave. I did the sketch from an upper floor of State Hall. I believe that the photo was taken from Old Main, (the only tall building facing that direction on campus at the time), by my uncle Henry Cleage while he was a student at Wayne.

After looking on Google maps, I no longer think this was taken from Old Main, looking down Cass. I wonder where it was taken from because that is definitely the Macabee building.

cityscape2 — Photograph taken from Old Main in the early 1940s

The Macabees building on the upper left corner use to hold the Detroit Board of Education. My husband and I went and picketed there the first day we met, in support of the Northern high school student boycott in the spring of 1966. You can read more about that in I Met My Husband in the Library.

cityscape - sketch complete — Very rough sketch from about 1968.

Dunbar Hospital 1922 & 2014

July 21, 2014Cleages, Photographs#Albert B. Cleage Sr, #Dunbar HospitalKristin

I received some photographs from my friend Historian Paul Lee recently of Dunbar Hospital in Detroit. My paternal grandfather was one of the physicians and founders back in the 1920s. I combined the photo from July 2014 with a photograph from 1922. You can read more about Dunbar Hospital in previous posts at these links A Speech on the Graduation of the first class of nurses, Births, Deaths, Doctors and Detroit, Part 2. Click to enlarge the photograph.

I have linked this post to the Family Curator’s World Photography Day post. I participated in 2011 with a post of photographs from Springfield, Then and Now.

Youth Fellowship Modern Dance Group – 1955

July 17, 2014Detroit, sepia saturdayKristin

During the 1950s, my father’s Central Congregational Church had a very active youth program. In 1955, when these photographs of the modern dance group were taken, the church was meeting at Crossman School and all activities were taking place in the parsonage at 2254 Chicago Blvd. As always, click on images to enlarge.

Too see more Sepia Saturday posts, click!

Do the Women Who Have Babies After 33 In My Family, Live Longer?

July 10, 2014InvestigationsKristin

Women Who Have Babies After 33 Live Longer “…women who had their last child after the age of 33 doubled their chances of living to age 95 or older compared with women whose last child was born before their 30th birthday…The natural ability to have a child at an older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive system is aging slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her body,’ said Perls.”

Thia made me take a look at my family tree to see the age of mother’s at the birth of their last child and how long they lived.

Maternal side

My 2 X great grandmother Eliza Williams Allen (1839 – 1917) gave birth to her youngest child when she was 40. Eliza died 78.

Eliza’s daughters:

Mary Allen McCall (1856-1937) gave birth to her youngest at 38. Mary died at 81.

My great grandmother Jennie Virginia Allen Turner (1866 – 1954) gave birth to her youngest at 42. Jennie died at 88.

Willie Lee Allen Tulane (1873-1954) gave birth to her youngest child at 27. She died at 80.

Abbie Allen Brown (1876-1966) gave birth to her youngest child at 21. She died at 89.

Beulah Allen Pope (1879 – 1962) gave birth to her youngest child at 31. She died at 77.

My grandmother Fannie Turner Graham (1888 – 1974) gave birth to her youngest child, at 40. Fannie died at 87.

Her daughters

Mary Virginia Graham Elkins (1920-2009) gave birth to her youngest child at 34. She died at 89.

My mother, Doris Graham Cleage (1923-1982) gave birth to her youngest child at 25. She died at 59.

Paternal side

My great grandmother Anna Allen Reed (1849 – 1910) gave birth to her youngest child at 37. She died at 62.

Her daughters

Sarah Reed Busby (1870 – 1954) gave birth to her youngest child at 44. She died at 83.

Louise Reed Shoemaker (1873 – 1938) gave birth to her youngest at 31. She died at 64.

Minnie Reed Mullins (1878-1963) gave birth to her youngest child at 43. She died at 84.

*My grandmother Pearl Reed Cleage (1886-1982) gave birth to her youngest child at 39. She died at 96.

Pearl’s daughters

*Barbara Cleage Martin (1920 – still living) gave birth to her youngest at 31. She is 94.

* Gladys Cleage Evans (1922- still living) gave birth to her youngest at 37. She is 92.

Anna Cleage Shreve (1925-2013) gave birth to her youngest child at 37. She died at 88.

My great grandmother Celia Rice Cleage Sherman (1855-abt 1931) gave birth to her youngest child at 28. She died at 76.

Her daughter Josephine Cleage (1873-1956) gave birth to her youngest child at 36. She died at 82.

_________

Of the 19 women in my study, 13 had children beyond the age of 33. Two of the 12 lived beyond 90. My grandmother is the only one who lived past 94. She lived to 96. One, Gladys is 92 and still living.

4 of the women gave birth to their youngest child in their 20s.

6 of the 17 did not have children after 33. 1 of the 5 lived beyond 90, she is 94 and still living.

I guess I should do a graph using this information. Maybe tomorrow.

Hair Dryer sketch 1967

July 9, 2014Grahams, sepia saturday#Doris Graham Cleage, #hairKristin

doris1932_hair — My mother at age 9 in 1932.

I don’t remember my mother using a hair dryer except for a short period of time. In the aftermath of the Detroit Riot of 1967, many people began to wear afros. My mother had waist length wavy hair. She remembered it being very curly when she was a child and thought that when she cut it, it was going to become kinky enough to make an afro. Much to her chagrin, it did not. Until it grew out again, she would wash it, roll it up in curlers and sit under the dryer to get some curl.

Below is a sketch I made of my mother for a drawing class in 1967. At that time, my drawings added at least 20 years to family members age. It was not on purpose. Click on images to enlarge.

Finding Eliza

Family history blog