Biography

Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly identified as a white woman throughout her life and as such she represents her family’s passage to whiteness. Her father Nelson Holder Ritchie was of mixed racial descent, the son of a black enslaved woman likely named Jane from Cumberland and Harnett County, North Carolina and a white man, likely Wiley Holder, also from North Carolina. Olive’s mother, Annie Cowan Russell, was white. Olive was thus the descendant of at least two generations of mixed-racial ancestry. [1]

In all surviving public records, Olive’s racial identity is listed as white. This includes an 1885 Kansas state census, the 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 U.S. censuses, and her death certificate. [2] In contrast, Olive’s father was variously listed in public records as black, colored, mulatto, white, and Indian. Notwithstanding such a complex heritage, Olive experienced no barriers to full participation in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and even received temple rituals.

Olive and her siblings, although children of a mixed-race father, passed as white. Collectively the Ritchie children illustrate the impossibility of policing racial boundaries. In the twenty-first century, seventy-two descendants of the Ritchie family have performed DNA tests which document their African ancestry and demonstrate that they are genetically related to seventy-three descendants of a black enslaved couple from North Carolina. [3] Olive thus lived at the pivot point between her racially mixed ancestors and her white descendants.

Olive was born in 1881 in Great Bend, Kansas, where her father was a prominent business owner and her mother helped to run the family hotel. Olive grew up helping her mother clean rooms in the hotel and thereby played a role in the family business. [4] In 1891, when Olive was ten years old, LDS missionaries William C. Mann and Willard Richard Johnson made the Ritchie hotel their home base as they proselytized in the region. In the process Johnson and Mann cultivated a relationship with the Ritchie family. [5]

Johnson, in fact, became friends with young Olive who reminded him of his own daughter, Catherine Usslear Johnson, who was at home in Holden, Utah. In May 1891, Johnson wrote to his daughter about Olive: “Sister Ritchie has a little girl name[d] Olive who is 10 years old. I think she would be pleased to get a letter from you; if you don’t like to write to her, if you have a flower or two of your own mak[e] [which] you don’t want, send them to me and I wil[l] give them to her; but don’t put your self to any extry trouble to do this.” [6] The following month, Catherine sent a letter to Olive via her dad, with flowers included. Johnson called it “a nice little letter” and praised his daughter for sending it. [7]

The missionaries continued to build trust with the Ritchie family and on September 15, 1891, Elder Mann recorded that he and Johnson baptized Olive and her brother James Alvie in a creek at St. John, Kansas. Mann and Johnson then confirmed Olive and James Alvie members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After the baptisms those who had gathered for the event “got some nice melons and tomatoes” and enjoyed them together. [8]

Just over one year later, the Ritchie family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. On 17 November 1892, Olive’s mother, father, and brother, James Alive, went to Beck’s Hot Spring north of Salt Lake City and William C. Mann baptized them. It was a rebaptism for James Alvie and possibly Olive too, although no record has yet been found to verify that fact even though Olive’s sister Bessie later recalled that Olive was involved. [9]

When Olive was seventeen years old, she met and married Henry William Cleverly. It was a rapid romance. The young couple wed just four months after meeting. The bishop of the Salt Lake 23^rd Ward, George K. Jones, married them on 21 December 1898. [10] Following their wedding Olive moved to the South Bountiful Ward with Henry. [11] Just six months later, on 15 June 1899, Henry and Olive had their love for each other sealed for eternity in the Salt Lake Temple with no racial barriers against Olive’s participation. [12]

In contrast, ten years later when Olive’s father Nelson Holder Ritchie applied for temple admission, his bishop, John M. Whitaker, denied his request because Whitaker said that Nelson “had negro blood in him.” Nelson and his wife, Annie, protested Whitaker’s decision and pointed to Olive’s sealing as evidence of the inconsistency in the racial policy. Whitaker, nonetheless, refused to budge. [13]

Olive and Henry raised a large family and lived for the rest of their lives in Bountiful and Woods Cross at the south end of Davis County. Olive gave birth to thirteen children, including two sets of twin boys. There were seven boys and six girls born to the family, twelve of whom Olive raised (one child was still born). [14]

Besides the challenges of rearing such a large family, Olive was involved in a variety of church and civic activities. She served as president of the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association, as a counselor in the Primary presidency, and as a teacher and work director in the Relief Society in her LDS congregations. She immersed herself in family history research and preformed proxy temple ordinances for her deceased ancestors. She cared for her mother-in-law as well as took meals to the sick and elderly in her community. [15] She hosted acquaintances in her home as well as visited friends in her neighborhood. [16] As her daughter Mary Louisa put it, “Olive was a true Latter-day Saint.” [17]

Olive took nursing classes from Dr. Ellis Reynolds Shipps and, although she did not earn a nursing degree, she became known for her skills in caring for the sick. Her daughter Mary Louisa recalled, “Olive was the one everyone came to when they had a sickness and trouble; she was the best nurse anyone could have.” [18]

Olive also took an active role in the North Canyon Camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP). The Davis County Clipper frequently mentioned Olive in connection with local DUP activities. In May 1938, for example, Olive was elected First Vice Captain of the chapter and in January 1940 Olive hosted the camp meeting and the Clipper noted that “A special program has been prepared and all are cordially invited to attend.” In May 1940, Olive was elected chaplain of the North Canyon Camp and continued to enjoy her involvement with the DUP. [19]

Olive passed away in 1945, just one week following her sixty-third birthday. Her children had thrown her a party and as Mary Louisa recalled, she “looked very good. We took pictures and just sat and visited instead of playing games as usual. That was March twenty-first and by March twenty-eighth she was dead.” She was buried in the Bountiful, Utah cemetery. At the time of her passing she had “eleven living sons and daughters, thirty-six living grand-children, and three great-grand children.” [20]

By W. Paul Reeve

Primary Sources

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members, 1892-1941. Salt Lake City 23^rd Ward. Microfilm 26712. Family History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection. South Bountiful Ward. CR 375 8, box 6507, folder 1, image 112-113. Church History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection. Sugar House Ward. CR 375 8, box 6743, folder 1, image 469. Church History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Temple Sealing Record. Salt Lake Temple. Living Sealing—Previously Married. Henry William Cleverly to Olive Ellen Ritchie. 15 June 1899. Microfilm 186213. Family History Library. Special Collections. Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Cleverly.” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914-1935. CR 4 311. Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“D. U. P. Camps Meet.” Salt Lake Telegram. 18 January 1940, 22.

Johnson, Willard Richard. Mission journal. May 16, 1890 to April 15, 1892. Transcript in possession of Jeffery O. Johnson. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Johnson, Willard Richard. Mission letters. In possession of Jeffery O. Johnson. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kansas State. 1885 Census. Barton County, Ellinwood.

Mann, William C. Mission journal. MS 26229. Church History Department. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Mother of Big Family to Celebrate 87^th Birthday.” Davis County Clipper. 10 March 1944, 8.

“North Canyon Camp DUP Elect Officers.” Davis County Clipper. 17 May 1940, 1.

United States. 1900 Census. Utah, Davis County, South Precinct.

United States. 1910 Census. Utah, Davis County, South Precinct.

United States. 1920 Census. Utah, Davis County, South Bountiful.

United States. 1930 Census. Utah, Davis County, South Bountiful.

United States. 1940 Census. Utah, Davis County, South Bountiful.

Utah. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Certificate of Death. Registrar’s No. 626. Olive Ellen Ritchie Cleverly. Utah State Archives. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Utah. Marriage Certificate. Henry W. Cleverly to Olive Ritchie. 21 December 1898. As posted on FamilySearch.org.

Whitaker, John Mills. Memorandum from the daily journal of John M. Whitaker . (December 1906 to March 1912). Typescript of transcripts from John M. Whitaker journal. J. Willard Marriott Library. University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 22 November 1929, 1.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 7 November 1930, 15.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 16 November 1934, 1.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 17 April 1936, 5.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 27 May 1938, 4.

“Woods Cross.” Davis County Clipper. 12 January 1940, 4.

Secondary Sources

Cleverly, Olive Ellen Ritchie. FindaAGrave.com.

Day, Mary Louisa Cleverly. “History of Olive Ellen Ritchie, written by her daughter Mary Louise.” As posted on FamilySearch.org.

Hill, Deena Porcaro. “ The Surmise of the life of Nelson Holder Ritchie .” 08 June 2016, revised August 2018.

Rogers, Bessie Ritchie. “ History of Bessie Ritchie Rogers .” (accessed 9 January 2019).

Documents

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