Cleek, Peter

Passed: 1857-10-01

Age: 77

Source:

Death Notice: 1909-11-01

Obituary Date:

Information: HONORED IN HONORING-  INTERESTING REMARKS OF COL. JOHN H. RILEY PREPARED FOR THE OCCASION OF THE PLACING OF A MARKER AT THE GRAVES OF PETER AND ELIZABETH CLEEK IN THE HARPOLD CEMETERY ABOVE RIPLEY IN NOVEMBER 1909.   FRIENDS AND KINSFOLK:  Having placed this plain granite block, that should remain for countless ages, as a token of love for our maternal grand-parents and mark the place where their bodies were returned to mother earth, it seems appropriate that something may be said of their lives and the time in which they lived, and that some reminiscences and suggestions may be indulged.      It is conceded that the duty devolved on us, or on others, of substantially marking this sacred sport ere fifty years had passed, but if the failure is called neglect it can safely be asserted that it was not intentional nor from any want of love in the heart of any one interested.  The vice of ""putting off 'til tomorrow what ought to be done today"" tells the story, or a large part of it.  While it is true that some of us have for a long time intended to do what is now accomplished we found, with deep regret, that the dear old Bible that those good people loved and read so much, and in which the names and the dates now carved on this block were recorded, was so worn and faded by use and time that the desired and forgotten dates could not be obtained until they were diligently searched for and recently found in another State.  This should admonish us to faithfully record and carefully preserve family records.      Our grandparents were born and married in Bath county, Virginia.  Grandfather's first wife was Jennie Corbet.  This union was blessed with five children.  They were George, John, Mary, who married Lewis Acre, Jane, who married John Hammock, and Barbary, who married Delaney Hammock.  His second marriage was with Elizabeth McGuffin.  Their children were Robert, Adam, Nancy, who married Benjamin Baker, and Elizabeth, our dear mother.      In the early thirties he came to Mill creek with a large family.  His deed dated in May, 1834, conveyed 100 acres of land, which, together with a later purchase, covered most of what is now known as the ""Walters farm"".  It was on this farm, while grandfather owned it, that some of us here today, and others of our generation, and in a log cabin that stood below the large cliff, were born.      Grandfather was for years so much afflicted with asthma that he could only sleep in a sitting posture.  For this reason he sold the Mill creek farm in 1848 and moved southeast about 15 miles to what our Uncle George was pleased to call ""The broad plains of New Kentuck"".  There he purchased 168 acres of land.  The altitude being much higher there than at his Mill creek home his hopes of recovery were in large measure realized.  On his new farm he erected and operated a horse mill, the machinery of which was run by horse power only.  For this enterprise, he was considered a public benefactor, for the mill was a necessity and was patronized from far and near.  Some persons would have made money with it, but it was said of him that he would toll a grist and then feed his customer and give his guest's horses as much grain as he had taken for the grinding.  He told this story.  Mr. H., who resided a long way off and started to mill so early that he arrived in time to accept an invitation to breakfast with the miller's family.  Grandfather said:  ""Mr. H. would you like a wash before you eat breakfast?"" The reply was: ""No, no, Mr. Cleek, I'll touch nothing but what's my own.""      The one thing above all others that characterized those people, whose memory we revere, which cannot be too strongly emphasized, was their stalwart moral character.  They were loyal, active and consistent christians, neither loud nor obtrusive, but their every-day lives were sermons pointing to right living and acting.  Theirs was the ministers' home, and the cabin in Kentuck, as well as the more prententious home on Mill Creek was frequently open for public preaching and prayer service.  The cabin in Kentuck was so modest in its proportions that the roof was so near the earth that it was impracticable to have a door high enough to enable a tall man to enter without stooping.  A minister who wore a tall silk hat that was either crushed or knocked off when he first crossed the threshold exclaimed: ""Brother Cleek, why don't you have your door higher?"" The reply was: ""I leave it so purposely to teach people good manners; they should make a bow when they enter a house"".      Well do I remember that humble home and the generous hospitality dispensed there.  My first visit, that took me more than two miles from home, was to Kentuck, and it is doubtful whether any Prince was ever treated better or made happier than I was in that dear old home, or, for that matter, in the several homes of our four uncles living on adjoining farms.  Here was a land of plenty--milk and honey, maple sugar and syrup, sweet chestnuts, othe toothsome nuts, fruits and vegetables of the best and in abundance; these, with venison and other wild meats, made the living all that a boy could wish; but the best of all was the loving caresses, advice and good cheer from those good people.       Our ancestors lived the simple life of the backwoodsman and the pioneer.  Flax that was not harvested with anything like our modern machinery, but pulled from the ground with human hands, and wool were the articles from which most of their clothing was made, and the music of the spinning-wheel and the rapid motion of the shuttle of the hand loom were familiar to all of their time.  The skins of wild animals were frequently made into trousers, footwear and caps for men and boys.  A good picture of grandfather in his hunting shirt made of homespun goods, with a large cape and ornamented with plenty of fringe, and standing in moccasions of his own manufacture, as I have seen him, would be highly prized.      A writer on the greatness of simplicity says of the man of the simple life:  ""He cares not for the anatomy of religion; he has it in his soul.  His simple faith he lives--in thought and word and act, day by day; like the lark he lives nearest the ground; like the lark he soars highest toward heaven.""      Grandfather's early environment was such that the bad habit of swearing was firmly fixed.  The hold that the force of habit acquires was well illustrated in his case.  Long years after his reformation and determination to break away from all evil practices, I recall that more than once, on slight provocation, he would use language not found in any Sunday school lesson, and in the same breath, after he had realized what he had said, he cried out reverently, ""God forgive me for saying such a word.""      It would be a pleasure to write many pages of the beautiful life of our good grandmother, but for this time I will only say that her loyalty and love for husband, children, step-children and those of our generation was unquestioned and unsurpassed.  Her heart was large and warm and tender as that of a child.  She enjoyed the respect and confidence of all that knew her and the love of all that were near her.  She suffered much physical pain with calmness and resignation.  I adopt the language of another:  ""She had the most delicate sense of propriety of conduct, but in nothing uncharitable, nothing bitter.  Her price was indeed above rubies"".        We honor ourselves in reviving the memory and in marking the last resting place of those worthy and very dear people, and none of us can do better than to emulate their example   (Peter Cleek died at age 77 in Oct. 1857 and Elizabeth Cleek died in 1859 age 80)