Olive Ellen (Ritchie) Cleverly (1881 - 1945)

Born 21 Mar 1881 in Great Bend, Barton, Kansas, United States

Descendants

Died 28 Mar 1945 at age 64 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States

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Biography

Olive (Ritchie) Cleverly is a part of US Black heritage.

Olive was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Olive Ellen Ritchie was born on 21 March 1881, in Great Bend, Barton, Kansas, to parents Nelson Holder Ritchie and Annie Cowan Russell. ^[1]

Olive identified as a White woman all her life. Her father was mixed race, but appears differently on each different census record. Towards the end of his life, her father Nelson identified as half White half Cherokee. However, extensive DNA testing by the family has identified Nelson's White father, Wiley Ritchie and the grandparents of his mostly Black enslaved mother, likely a Jane McNeill. ^[2]Olive's mother was also White, and therefore Olive comes from two racially mixed generations and some of her siblings also identified as White.

Later generations never knew of their mixed roots until DNA testing was done, ^[2] and almost all were able to obtain the full membership available to only White LDS members before 1978. The Ritchie's are an example of the difficulty of policing racial boundaries such as Brigham Young's "One-drop" policy.

Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used Nelson Ritchie's hotel in Great Bend, Kansas as a base of operations and gradually befriended the Ritchie family. As Nelson's business success wained the family moved to the Salt Lake Valley and we're baptized by 1892.^[3]

Olive married Henry William Cleverly on 21 December 1898, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah,^[4]

They were the parents of 7 sons and 6 daughters. All but one survived into adulthood. Olive and Henry were able to marry in the LDS Temple without difficulty though Olive's father was repeatedly refused this same privilege. ^[5]

She lived in South Bountiful Election Precinct, Davis, Utah, United States in 1940 ^[6]Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly in entry for Henry William Cleverly, 1940.and Woods Cross, Davis, Utah, United States in 1945 as she neared the end of her life.

She died on 28 March 1945, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, at the age of 64, ^[7]and was buried in Bountiful Memorial Park, Bountiful, Davis, Utah, United ^[1]

Research Notes

I have done the profiles of a number of Black Mormons and come to some interesting thoughts about it. I'm angry that for so many years I was reasonably comfortable with the institutionional racism that existed in my lifetime. Brigham Young's One-drop policy did not end until 1978. I find myself wondering if the policy ended because the church no longer had the means to police a racial policy. As I have studied these Black lives, more and more I found myself complicit in White privilege. I knew very few Black people growing up, or so I thought. The truth is far more interesting. There was a population of Black Mormons that were here in Utah with the Saints since the Vanguard company arrived in 1847. Some even arrived as slaves. There was a population of Black Mormons until well after the turn of the century. I wondered where they went. But this week I studied families like mine, that go back generations in the LDS Church, families I grew up with in my neighborhood. The Porcaro family lived on the street behind my house. Recent DNA research by Deena Porcaro Hill, a girl I climbed trees with, has proven her family are the descendants of enslaved Black ancestors that joined the LDS Church in the nineteenth century. They passed as White within a couple generations. I have found elusive evidence in my own family suggesting a multi-racial background. I think that many of the prominent Black families that committed to the Church are still here. Generations of multi cultural marriage suggests they could be everywhere you look. They just look more like me. Bartholomew-2652 07:13, 12 February 2023 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Cleverly&GSfn=Olive+&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=55411020&df=all& : 14 June 2022), Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly, ; Burial, Bountiful, Davis, Utah, United States of America, Bountiful Memorial Park; citing record ID 55411020, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Deena Porcaro Hill, “ The Surmise of the life of Nelson Holder Ritchie, ” 08 June 2016, revised August 2018.
3. ↑ Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1885 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: KS1885_8; Line: 1 https://search.ancestry.com/collections/1088/records/234701
4. ↑ "United States Western States Marriage Index", database, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZFY-M3D : 19 October 2018), Henry W. Cleverley and Ollie Ritchie, 1898.
5. ↑ "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960", database, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:C25Q-4PW2 : 9 February 2023), Olive E Ritchie Cleverly in entry for William Henry Cleverly, 1920.
6. ↑ "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960", database, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8CZL-58W2 : 2 February 2023),
7. ↑ Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964", database with images, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZL3-2Y3 : 11 September 2015), Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly, 1945.

• 1900 Census "United States Census, 1900" database with images, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMRV-7P4 : 24 November 2021), Olive E. Cleverley in entry for William H. Cleverley, 1900.
• 1910 Census "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5XS-R4N : accessed 12 February 2023), Olive E Cleverly in household of Henry W Cleverly, South Bountiful, Davis, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 41, sheet 12B, family 88, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1603; FHL microfilm 1,375,616.
• 1920 Census "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8PF-H6P : accessed 12 February 2023), Olive R Cleverly in household of William H Cleverly, Davis, Utah, United States; citing , sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll ; FHL microfilm
• 1925 LDS Census "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960", database, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:C25Q-45N2 : 9 February 2023), Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly in entry for William Henry Cleverly, 1925.
• 1930 Census "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH6H-4QC : accessed 12 February 2023), Olive Cleverley in household of Henry Cleverley, South Bountiful, Davis, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 14, sheet 6A, line 6, family 110, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2415; FHL microfilm 2,342,149.
• 1930 LDS Census "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960", database, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:C25Q-4R2M : 9 February 2023), Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly in entry for William Henry Cleverly, 1930.
• 1935 LDS Census "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960", database, FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:C2P2-DYN2 : 9 February 2023), Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly in entry for Henry William Cleverly, 1935.
• 1940 Census 1940 - Olive Cleverly in household of Henry W Cleverly, "United States Census, 1940" https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT4M-PCS