Two New Year's Road-Trippers and a Van.

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.]

This second historic marker at Carroll's Church has piqued my interest, because it names as one of the church's founders a person named L D Prickett. As reported in a blog post from 2017, Context in Historic Sites and Old Books--Frontier Life Along the Monongahela River, I am a descendant of Captain Jacob Prickett of Virginia, so I must research L D Prickett's identity to see if he is connected to my line of Pricketts!

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

Context in Historic Sites and Old Books--Frontier Life Along the Monongahela River

(You are also invited to visit my other blog, AnnieWritesAbout!)

Previously, fair reader, you were introduced my paternal grandfather, Clarence Pryne, known as C.P. This web log will have much to report about him and his ancestry because, thankfully, his Huguenot and Quaker roots in the early American colonies run very deeply, and there is a great deal of material from which to draw their histories (although never enough to satisfy genealogical curiosity, of course!).

In particular, our family is blessed to have portions of our heritage preserved not only in/on records and tombstones, but plaques, parks, and other historical sites. Of these, one of the most enlightening and exciting is Prickett's Fort State Park in West Virginia. For a run-down on my recent visit to Prickett's Fort, along with some information about its history, check out the post for December 22, 2016 in my other web log, AnnieWritesAbout, at this link.

The descendants of several of the pioneer families who lived in the area around Prickett's Fort eventually settled in southern Ohio, the natal home of Grandpa C.P., and their surnames make a strong showing on our family tree. Most notably, these include the Dunn family that had come to Virginia from Delaware, the Pindell and Mills families from Maryland, and the Springer and Prickett families from New Jersey.

The historian, as well as the genealogist, in me is always tickled when I find old, dusty, crackling books about the lives of people in a specific region about which I am researching. If I can score a free PDF copy of such a book, so much the better! The following is just one wonderful paragraph from a recent discovery, that has led me to an expanded understanding and respect for the challenges faced by our ancestors on the western frontier of Virginia:

"On landing in their new home the first duty was to erect a cabin for shelter, and then to select a suitable spot to cultivate for use when the stores carried with them were exhausted. The cabin was built of round logs, the interstices were chunked and daubed with common clay, or catan clay, which was a mixture of clay and grass, or straw. The chimney was on the outside and made of split logs at the bottom or fireplace, so called, and the top was of smaller split sticks, the whole being well daubed with clay mortar. The fireplace was lined with stone and mortar so as to prevent it catching fire. The floor, where there was any, was made of split logs hewn in shape to closely fit together. One window furnished the light, and one door hung on wooden hinges, with a latch and string, the mode of entrance. The latter drawn in was the lock to prevent entrance. The latchstring hanging out was always a token of welcome to the cabin. The furniture was for the most part rude and made impromptu; the chairs and tables were homemade. The grand old chest, brought from the east, was ample for clothing. The cupboard ware was pewter, and the bed and bedding were brought with them. There was no bedstead save that made by the few tools on hand from split timber. Immigration generally took place in the spring of the year, so that the first crop to be raised was corn and flax, the former to provide food for man and beast and the latter for clothing. The cabin was always located near a spring from which could be obtained water for the household and stock. The early settlers differed very much in the choice of location, some preferring the high and others the low lands. Along the creeks sites for sawmills were the choice of those who had a genius for water machinery, although the original mills were the wind mill and the tramp mill." (Van Voorhis A.M., M.D., John S. Old and New Monongahela. Pittsburgh, PA: Nicholson, Printer and Binder, 1898, pp 7-8.)

Annie

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." -- Benjamin Franklin