It's a Freebie!!!

Ever so often.....we (Mary Cooke and I) get in a "giving" mood.

Mary - who writes as Mary Lou Cheatham called and asked me....."how do you feel about giving something away?" She caught me on a day when I was in a Benevolent Mood! I asked, "what do you have in mind?"  And she said....."let's create some interest in our book.....let's give away some Kindle downloads of Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek!"

"We really need to get people to write reviews," said Mary Lou "and .....well.....they have to read it first!"

So, it was said and so it was decided.....

We'd do a giveaway.....

People like to get "something for nothing"  ....and when that "something" is a good book,,,,,like Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek........it brings a smile to so many faces.

So, from today through Thursday (3/20 - 3/23)....download to your Kindle. Did you know you can also download a FREE Kindle app to your laptop ....or your iPad.

Download Free Book to your Kindle.....or the App on your Laptop or iPad.

We ask that you leave a review, on Amazon, after reading our book.
You don't have to write much....just "I liked it"...."I didn't like it"  ....or more if you have more to say.

We are judged by the NUMBER of reviews...so please, please, please....after you've read it....write something!!

You Were Family

Strange how the death of someone, not in our immediate family, can affect us.

Charlie wasn't in my family - not really - but in a sense, he was. He was married to a distant cousin and he was the youngest brother of an uncle. I know that seems strange. If he was my uncle's brother....why wasn't he related? Uncle James was married to Aunt Alice....my dad's sister. Charlie was a brother to Uncle James.

They were both Methodist ministers and were both the sons of a Methodist minister. 

Our Walker family was close. Aunt Alice and Uncle James were like a second set of parents to me. Their 3 kids were like brothers and sisters to me. So, Uncle James and Charlie's parents were always called "Grandpa and Granny Nick," by me. And Uncle James brothers and sisters included me, as if I was family.

Of the seven children in their family (Grandpa and Granny Nick) five had Alzheimer's! Today, Charlie, the youngest son "finished his journey" here on earth. 

I have to explain that a cousin, by marriage on another side of the house, uses this term for someone dying....and I think it's beautiful. So, I've also begun to use the term "finished his journey" to explain when someone dies. Thank you Dora Hawkins Blakeney!!

Charlie was the last person with whom my husband, Bob, played golf before Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. I hope there are golf clubs, in heaven, and they get to play another round!

Alzheimer's confuses me. We've always heard that keeping the mind active will help to prevent Alzheimer's Disease. However, some of the people who have been affected by this debilitating disease are those who have had the most active minds. Charlie was one of those people. He was a District Superintendent, in the Methodist Church. He had served at many churches and knew his Bible from front to back. Why, then, would he be affected? 

He and Dimple, who was a distant cousin, on my Walker side of the family had been married almost 60 years. They were a beautiful couple and they had a beautiful family. 

I lost a husband, so I can imagine exactly how Dimple feels, tonight. You've suddenly become conflicted. You're so thankful that your loved one is no longer suffering.....but now, you suffer because that part of you is gone. 

Alzheimer's has often been called "the long goodbye".....because suddenly that loved one looks at us with eyes of wonder. Who are you? Who am I?

Charlie (called Nick, by many) will be missed by so many people. People within his family. People to whom he ministered. People in his churches. People.

I grieve for those of us who will miss him....but most of all....I grieve for Dimple. I know how it's going to be. Her family will be there for her.....but she'll still feel alone. Because a part of her is now missing.

RIP, Charlie.....you made a difference in so many lives. You weren't family.....but you were!!

If you've not had an opportunity to read the latest book in 'The Covington Chronicles' ......co-authors Mary Lou Cheatham and Sarah Walker Gorrell encourage you to do so.

Both writers are extremely happy that awesomegang.com is featuring our book, today.

Remember, it's available on Amazon.com in either print or for download to your Kindle.
#travelersinpaintedwagonsoncohaycreek  #kindle  #awesomegang.com  #gypsies

Free Kindle Book - Giving Tuesday

"It is the early 1900’s in rural Mississippi along Cohay Creek, where people are scarce and stately virgin pine timber is plentiful. Caleb Smitherlin, a talented blacksmith, has a wife dying of cancer and a teenage son who tries every way possible to please his critical father. Caleb is torn. On the one hand, he loves Mathilda with every bone in his body, but on the other, he needs the company of another woman. The Gypsies he allows to camp on his land near Cohay Creek receive hate and distrust from the people of Taylorsburg. Walthere, the Gypsy leader, and Rosalie, his wife, become close friends of the Smitherlin family, even though Gypsies rarely mix with people outside their clan and especially not gentiles. Esmeralda, the Gypsy fortune teller, encourages Red Felty’s idea that his wife Ruby and Caleb Smitherlin are having an affair." ............. Would you like to read more about this? This is just an excerpt from "Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek".....written by Mary Lou Cheatham and Sarah Walker Gorrell. It's what we call "factual fiction" (borrowed that from another author). It can be downloaded from Amazon, for FREE, on Giving Tuesday!!  (Our Christmas Gift....to you!!) #GivingTuesday #FreeKindleBook #TravelersinPaintedWagonsonCohayCreek #Free  #Download

Cemeteries hold the key.....

Anyone who knows me knows anything about me, or has read anything I’ve written knows that I love country roads, cemeteries, genealogy, cemeteries, family, cemeteries, travel, cemeteries……you’ve got the idea!

This past Saturday, at the Historical Society Meeting in Raleigh (if you have any interest in your family lineage and/or Smith County, we’d love to have you join us!), one of the members, who is also a distant relative, mentioned that one of my Allen ancestors (a ggg- aunt) had been confined to the Mental Hospital in Meridian and was buried in that cemetery. (My Granny Walker’s mother was an Allen.)

This ggg-aunt was born in 1829 and lived, per census records, most of her life with her parents. In the Smith County census of 1880, she was still living with my ggg-grandmother. She was approximately 50 years of age and my ggg-grandmother, a widow, was 78.

In 1882, legislation was passed establishing the East Mississippi State Insane Asylum and in 1885, the hospital opened 2 miles west of Meridian. I am assuming that ggg-grandma Allen died sometime between 1880 and 1885, hence the reason the “insane” ggg-aunt had to go to a Mental Hospital.

Again, anyone who knows me understands that this is a mystery to be unraveled. Even though there was a heat advisory, on Sunday, I just HAD to go find this grave. I coerced cousin, Pam Walker, to ride along with me. After all, I had already located the other Allen grave in the cemetery at the Ellisville State School. I have to admit, this was beginning to be a little unnerving ……all these ancestors ending up in mental facilities! (Bob had always laughed and commented that everyone in Smith County was so related, he didn’t know how we could “walk and chew gum, at the same time.”)  I miss him, terribly, but I think this was one time I was glad he wasn’t around!

The directions to the East Central Mississippi State Hospital, also known as Cedar Haven, stated that the cemetery was at the west end of 22^nd Street. Have you ever tried to find anything in Meridian? The streets start and stop. We’d be on 22^nd and it would end and we’d have to zig and zag until we found it, again. We stopped at a convenience store to ask directions, and the two female clerks spoke absolutely NO English!!

We got to the end of 22^nd street, in the absolute worst part of town and there was no cemetery. Everyone we stopped to ask, shrugged their shoulders…..they had no idea where the “old cemetery for the insane” was located. We were already hot and tired and probably looking pretty scary!

Finally, we decided to use Pam’s GPS, on her phone!! Maybe we needed to be in that hospital. We had driven around for an hour – why didn’t we think of this sooner?

We located the East Central Mississippi State Hospital on Highland Street. It’s a huge facility that seems to be in the process of growing. Are they expecting that many more people? Anyway, we got directions from a very nice young security guard …..who had no idea there was a cemetery ……but she made a phone call, got and gave excellent directions.

After following her directions, suddenly we were, again, at the end of 22^nd Street (in another block)…..and there was the cemetery with a locked gate!  The optimist cousin Pam  said, “we can crawl under.” I looked at the bottom of the locked gate….and the ground…..and wondered how badly I wanted to find this woman’s grave (on this very hot day.)

I’m not sure why the gate was locked ….unless it was thought that someone might steal a body. There was ample (well, not really ample) room between the locked gate and the post to which it was attached…..we were able to squeeze (literally) through.

We walked the cemetery, checking each tombstone. Again, as in the Ellisville State School cemetery, most stones were state issued and were small with name and dates of birth and death. Unlike Ellisville, most of these stones were set above the ground. In the older section, the stones were of concrete and only contained a number …..etched into the stone….probably the “Inmates ID” number.

I’m not sure how many acres the cemetery covered. After all the makeup on my face had melted into my eyes, and I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe, it felt like 100! (I think it was probably 5 acres.)

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the ggg-aunt, but I did take a photo of a tombstone with a familiar last name – Hosey. When I got home and began checking, I discovered that he’s my 1^st cousin twice removed (his mother was an Allen.) 

Can I say that now I’m just a little more than concerned.  All these family members in a Mental Institution. Yep, it’s probably a good thing Bob Gorrell isn’t around right now. 

Cemeteries hold the key to our past - and possibly - to our future!! 

#Cemeteries #Hosey #Allen #EastMississippiStateInsaneAsylum #Meridian