About The Author

In 1879, John B. Cheek, the Author’s great-great-grandfather, moved from Newton County, Mississippi, to settle in Conway County, Arkansas, with a wife, several children, two dogs, and $27 in cash. They made the journey in an ox-drawn, tar-pole wagon that John B. built for the purpose.* John B. was a widely talented man: he farmed his land, worked iron on an anvil, made shoes from leather, and joined his own furniture. That kind of self-sufficiency, while common then, doesn’t exist anymore.

The author of Bragg For Hire moved north from the land of John B. to settle in Western Massachusetts to find a wife and children. The two dogs came later. He made the journey in a gas-drawn U-Haul truck he rented for the purpose. Some might call him a country lawyer, and the chickens outside his office window suggest that’s an accurate assessment. He hopes John B. would be gratified to be remembered and honored in the use of his name.

* If you want to know what a tar-pole wagon was–and I know you do–you may read about them at http://sturkiefamily.com/Html/tarpolewagon2.html.