Ada Kate (Edelia) Cleggett was born in Wisconsin in June 6, 1861 (her birthdate is taken from the May 12, 1951 Appleton Post-Crescent article transcibed below.) She was the youngest daughter of William S. Cleggett, a barber and Rebecca B. Hollensworth Cleggett, a hairdresser. The family lived at 450 State (now 510 S. State St.) as early as 1880.
Members of the family are listed as mulatto on the 1860 census when they lived in Stevens Point and also on the 1870 and 1880 census schedules when they lived in Appleton. However, in both the 1900 federal census and the 1905 Wisconsin census they are black. By 1910 they were back to mulatto.
Sister Mary's entry in the Lawrence College Alumni Record, 1857-1905 states the family is of "Scotch-Irish-negro ancestry."
In 1892 the family was living at 438 State (now 528 W. Fifth St.) In 1897-1898 she was a teacher. Ada is listed in the 1906 Appleton city directory as a nurse; in the 1910 directory she is involved in "hairdressing, manicuring and mfg [manufacturing] switches" at 762 College Ave. In the 1915 directory she is a hairdresser still living at 438 State. In the 1920 census she is a white hairdresser, living as a roomer in a different home in Appleton.
She is "negro," living in The Bronx, New York in 1930, and working as a "relief worker" for the Colored Orphan Asylum.
The 1940 census lists her as an Indian (Native American) and she is living with her niece, Anna Hayson (daughter of her sister Mary) and her husband in Gay Head, Dukes County, Massachusetts. According to the death notice in the May 12, 1951 Appleton Post-Crescent, she died April 28, 1951 in Boston:
Miss Ada K. Cleggett
Miss Ada K. Cleggett, former Appleton resident who would have been 90 years old this June 6, died in Boston, Mass., April 28 after a long illness. Services and burial were in Boston.
Miss Cleggett operated a beauty shop with her sister in Appleton for many years. She was a member of All Saints Episcopal church. She moved east many years ago, and lived in Gay Head, Mass., before going to Boston.
There are no immediate survivors.
