1926 painting created in Harrison Township by Cleveland returns to JC

Carl Weeks (1927 – 1995), who was born in Missouri and died in Florida, seemingly had no connection with Jewell County, Kansas.  However, he owned a painting created in Jewell County by a Jewell County artist. The painting, “Mother” by Serena Cleveland was created in Harrison Township, Jewell County. It is dated Feb.10,1926.

Weeks was born Oct. 26, 1927, in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. He is found in Jackson County or Clay County, Missouri, for most of his life. His military service is basically the only thing that took him out of the area, until his retirement.  

Weeks enlisted in the Army in Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 1, 1946. He served during the WWII and Korean War time periods. According to his military service records, before his Army service he was a doorman.

Other military records indicate he was in the ordnance department and had asked for deployment in the Hawaiian department. He achieved the rank of corporal during the Korean Conflict.

After his service, Carl Raymond Weeks and Willie Faye Stone were married in Searcy County, Arkansas, on Jan. 16, 1950. Willie, who for most of her life was called “Faye,” was married to Carl for 38 years. They had two daughters, Paula and Reta. Faye died on April 25, 1987.

During his marriage, Weeks was a self-employed truck driver. The family lived north of Kansas City, on the Missouri side. Actually, Weeks spent nearly all his life in that area.

As the story goes, sometime during his marriage to Faye, Weeks found the painting “Mother” in the attic of a house where they lived. The painting, done in multiple tones and hues of brown, depicts the artist’s mother, Tabeta Morrison Rosseland Cleveland at her spinning wheel. Important historically are the several comments printed on the front and back of the painting.

Painting Tabeta carding wool was very apropos as she was well-known for her spinning and weaving. When she was about seven years old, her mother died. The family was still in Norway and it was at that time she learned to card, spin and weave wool. A comment on the painting states “Lost Art Spinning.”

Tabeta, the wife of K. O. Cleveland, is depicted inside their dugout. The couple, with their two oldest children, arrived in Harrison Township in 1871. They had immigrated from Norway but stopped for a time in Iowa. The dugout home was where the homesteading family of four began their lives in Kansas. Three more children, including the artist, were born in the dugout. The dugout was located in Harrison Township, Section 34, the W 1⁄2 of the NE 1⁄4 and the E 1⁄2 of the NW 1⁄4.

The family, eventually numbering seven, lived for up to 17 years in the dugout before a frame home was complete.  The frame home was thought to be started in 1885, but the painting indicates they lived in the dugout until 1888. However, there is a photo of the family in front of the home which is dated “1886.” 

The painting also shows pieces of furniture the family owned. The notes on the front and back of the painting describe the furnishings in the home. “Early Day Relics mostly homemade, Inside Dugout in Jewell Co. Kan 1871-1888.” Another states “Tabeta and son, Oscar, made all the furniture with only hammer square saw in 1878.”  Finally, “The tall oak bed made in 1888 by Tabeta’s brother.”  (This brother would have been Martin Morrison.)  Note: All the quotes from the painting are included here as punctuated on the painting.

The artist, Martha Serena Cleveland, was born in the dugout in 1873. For most of her life, she was known as Serena. A brother, Thomas, was born in 1874 and the final member of the family, Clara, was born in 1878. The two oldest children, Oscar (1867) and Anna (1870), were born in Norway and Iowa, respectively.

None of the children married. The three youngest, outlived their other family members by some years. “Reclusive” and “stuck to themselves” or “didn’t see them much” were reoccurring comments about the Cleveland family.

Serena was a bit different. She took “Normal Classes” and taught school in nearby country schools. (Olive Hill District 86, Monarch District 122 and in Oak Creek District 107.)  Later in life, she served on the Olive Hill School Board. Ironically, her father, K.O. Cleveland, was the first clerk of the Olive Hill School when it was formed in 1884, and she the last clerk when it disbanded in 1946.

She attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas during the 1903-1904 school year. Cleveland also attended and taught at the Danish Folk Art College in Elk Horn, Iowa. Active in politics, she ran for state representative in 1922. Quite unusual for a woman of that time. She also ran for state representative in 1946. She lost in 1922 and withdrew in favor of Wint Smith in 1946.

It is not known how many paintings Cleveland completed. There is a large oil landscape painting and two ink sketches of 1890’s lady’s fashions in the Jewell County Historical Society Museum. The Burr Oak Museum has an oil painting of a harvest scene. The Kingsville Sale Barn in Kingsville, Missouri, has a scene of the Cleveland Farm which is titled “Winter 1905.”

Those works, plus “An Early Snow” (dated April 1948) and “Mother” which are in the possession of this writer, are the only known paintings. But an item in the Aug. 18, 1949, issue of The Superior Express states “One of the largest crowds we have ever seen at a sale was at the Cleveland sale last Tuesday afternoon. A lot of the paintings of the late Serena Cleveland were sold.” Where those works are, is not known. Sadly, many may be lost.

Serena Cleveland died on March 21, 1949, and was buried in the small Cleveland Family Cemetery on her family’s homestead. 

As for Carl Weeks, he moved to Florida sometime around 1990. He took the painting with him.

In Florida, Carl Weeks married Shirley “June” Ratzliff on Oct. 25, 1991. They had been married just a few years before he died on March 6, 1995. He has memorials in cemeteries in both Missouri and Florida.

After Carl’s death, the painting belonged to June. Upon, or before, her death in 2012, the painting went to her daughter, Wanda Long. Long eventually gave the painting to her long-time friend, Tammy Rush-Nott.

Rush-Nott was “curious” and wanted to know more about the painting and the artist. She did some research. From the information on the painting, she knew the artist, Serena Cleveland lived in Jewell County, Kansas. So, she contacted the Jewell County Historical Society. There she learned a bit more about the artist. She also sent a photograph of the painting to then curator, Jane Pahls.

When this writer wrote an article about the Cleveland Family, Pahls shared the photo of the painting. She also shared an email address and contact was made with the owner of the painting. After a time, Rush-Nott decided the painting should come back to Jewell County. The painting traveled to Missouri to Florida but has now come home. This writer is now the happy owner of the nearly 100-year-old painting “Mother.” But where are the many other paintings done by Serena Cleveland?  Both her sisters, Anne and Clare also painted. Where are those? In attics or basements? If the locations of any paintings are known, this writer would be pleased to know. Feel free to contact Kerma Crouse, 620-272-7160, if you have information about the Cleveland family or paintings by Anne, Clare or Serena Cleveland.