See also my website, https://anniebee4history.wixsite.com and my other blog, AnnieWritesAbout!
Happy, and Hopeful, 2021 to you all!!
Marty and I spent New Year's Day on the final leg of a cross-country trek in a van we had loaned to Marty's colleague Brian, who had borrowed it to transport equipment from California to his home in Savannah, Georgia. We flew to Savannah on Christmas Day, visited briefly with Brian and his wife, then headed west.
Savannah is a very charming town, and it was fun to go on a few walks in the historic district. Of course, we had to visit the childhood home of the great author, Flannery O'Connor!
A number of Marty's ancestors, from his paternal grandmother's Cheek family, are buried in Georgia, just outside of Augusta, so we stopped at two cemeteries on our way out west. From my research, I know that the surname Cheek (originally spelled Cheke) is from England, predominantly the Essex and Hampshire regions and the Isle of Wight. It appears that Marty's line of Cheeks came to America from Essex in the late 1600s and settled first in Rappahannock, Virginia. Following the Revolution, the Cheeks were living in South Carolina and then moved to Georgia soon afterwards.
The above photo is from the cemetery at Carroll's United Methodist Church in Carnesville GA. I am intrigued that the grave markers for Marty's Revolutionary War ancestor, William Cheek, and his family are fairly new. Will attempt to find out who had these stones placed.
[Above and Below: Historic markers for Carroll's United Methodist Church.]
In the photo above, Marty is standing in the old section of Laurel Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Cornelia GA. In the foreground on the right are the tombstones of his great-great grandparents, Preston and Martha Cheek.
On our way to visit my sister Denise and brother-in-law Frank in Arkansas, we spent a night in Tupelo MS and explored Elvis Presley Birthplace Park, where we took photos in front of Elvis's boyhood home and the Assembly of God church where he first became interested in music.
After an overnight at the home of Denise and Frank, just west of Little Rock, we picked up I-40 and headed back toward California. We had a Plan-B route in mind in case we ran into a snow storm, but the only snow we saw was a bit on the ground in Flagstaff AZ and on the distant Sierra mountains as we got closer to home.
While it was my turn to drive, Marty took a bunch of photos of southwestern scenery. This one, taken near the AZ-CA border, is my favorite.
Interstate 40 ends in Barstow CA, where my father and youngest sister Jessica live, so we were able to spend an hour or so checking in with Dad on New Year's Day, before heading the rest of the way home. Dad is still feisty at 87 and seems to have done well during the pandemic. He has a few close friends, and Jessica, to keep an eye on him.
As stated in my previous post, we have been very fortunate during all the pandemic madness. Marty's stagecraft union has had very little work to offer, but Marty has managed to stay a bit over-employed designing video-editing workstations for Netflix.
My genealogy work has been hampered by lack of access to libraries and physical archives, so I have spent a lot more time practicing piano, writing music, reading, knitting, crocheting, cooking, and housework. Besides the gift of having Marty around, I have been able to sing frequently with our church choir for live-streamed services and a few funerals, so I haven't felt lonely.
As much as we have tried to make lemonade out of this viral lemon, it cannot be over soon enough. I'm sure you all agree!
Stay safe and spread kindness!
Annie
"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other--not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." -- Nelson Mandela
