The Stanford Cheek Family

In a previous post on my 3^rd great grandfather John William Farthing I briefly mentioned his wife Louisa Cheek.  While researching John William and Louisa using Google, an interesting bit of information turned up from an unlikely source.  I had hoped to verify the information with copies of the original documents, but with the reduction in hours at the Georgia Archives, and a visit being unlikely this year, I’ll have to rely for a while longer on the transcription I discovered.  This is not a primary source for me, but it gave me pointers to and confirmation of connections that I found in other sources, mainly censuses and Civil War records.

First the bare outlines of the family pedigree.  Louisa Cheek was born about 1825 in Orange County, North Carolina, where on 7 July 1849 she married John William Farthing (born about 1820).  Louisa’s parents were Stanford Cheek (1796-after 1880) and Mary Polly Williams (1797-before 1880).  Stanford and Mary were married in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1819 and had four sons and one daughter that we know of.

• John W Cheek (1821-?)
  married Emeline A Currie (1822-?) in 1846 in Orange County, North Carolina
  
• Louisa Cheek (1825-before1900) – my 3^rd great grandmother
  married John William Farthing in 1849 in Orange County, North Carolina
  
• Archibald W "Archy" Cheek (1832-1862)
  never married
  
• Walter N Cheek (1835-1870)
  married Amanda J Hardman, née Blackwell (1828-?) in 1866 in Jasper County, Georgia
  
• Mallory Cheek (1840-1868)
  married Artexas C Allen (?-?) in 1862 in Jasper County, Georgia

Census images courtesy of Ancestry.com

The first census I have found documenting Stanford Cheek’s family was the 1840 census in Orange County, North Carolina, but we’ll start here with 1850, the first census to show details of the names and ages of family members residing in the household.  In District 1 of Orange County, North Carolina, the census record shows John and Louisa Farthing, and further down the same sheet, so undoubtedly living nearby, are Louisa’s parents and siblings, Stanford and Mary Cheek, with Archy, Walter and Mallory.  Oldest son John Cheek had already moved to Jasper County, Georgia, with his wife Emeline and son Marion, plus on the following sheet we see “Nancy Curry”, most likely Emeline’s mother.  Note also that John Farthing is a blacksmith, and Stanford Cheek and John Cheek are carpenters.

Census images courtesy of Ancestry.com

By 1860 the whole clan has followed John Cheek to Georgia.  Stanford, Mary, Walter and Mallory are living in Newton County, and John Farthing, John Cheek and Archy Cheek live in and around Monticello, in Jasper County.  Arch, who is now a carpenter like his father and older brother, lives in a boarding house run by Susan Fulton.  And “The War” is just a year away.  It doesn’t appear that either the Cheeks or the Farthings were slave owners, but their lives would be torn apart nonetheless.

Service record images courtesy of Fold34.com

Stanford Cheek was 65 when the War started, and John Cheek and John Farthing were both over 40, but the younger Cheeks all enlisted at the outset.  Their service records (which I found on the Fold3.com website) show that Archy, Walter and Mallory all enlisted in Company G, Georgia 4th Infantry Regiment on 25 Apr 1861, and mustered into service the next day at Augusta, under the command of Captain R. G. Cole. 

Walter served through nearly the end of the war.  He was captured at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, on 12 May 1864, and released from the prison camp at Elmira, New York, on 23 June 1865, “on taking the oath of allegiance” [to the United States].  Mallory enlisted as a drummer, was hospitalized with syphilis in October and November of 1861, and finally discharged on a certificate of disability on 12 August 1862. 

Archy was also diagnosed with syphilis and received a medical discharge 26 January 1862.  But on 10 May 1862 he re-enlisted, this time as a corporal in the 16th GA Partisan (Cavalry) Rangers Volunteers (also known later as 12th (Wright's) Cavalry (State Guards) and 13th Cavalry).  His regiment was part of the command of Morgan's Raiders.  While on extended campaign into Kentucky in July 1862 he was killed in or around Harrison County while the unit was encamped at Cynthiana, Kentucky.  In January 1863 his father Stanford filed a claim for a settlement for his deceased son.  The death claim bears out the fact that Arch never married, for his father explicitly states that he left behind no wife or children.  The claim was settled for two months’ pay plus a $50 bounty due from enlistment, plus $25 for his clothing allowance, but $2.50 was deducted for a pair of shoes he received from the army.  Interestingly (to me at least) the “acting justice of the peace” for Jasper County who witnessed several pages of Stanford’s claim was Robert C Barnes.  I don’t yet know what, if any, relationship he is to “my” Barnes family.

Service record images courtesy of Fold34.com

Next time I’ll give the details of my unexpected discovery.

That’s about it for now.

Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim