Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Dr Marion Alonzo Cheek (1853-1895), was a physician, businessman and sometime missionary in Chiang Mai, 1875-95.<br/><br/> His map, drawn for the Presbyterian Mission, indicates the Shan States in brown as 'tributary to Burmah' (although Jinghong, here identified as Cheung Hoong, was and remains a part of China) and the 'Independent Laos Tribes' corresponding approximately to the semi-independent Tai territory of Sipsongchuthai, now a part of Vietnam.<br/><br/> The northern Tai Kingdom of Lan Na, based on Chiang Mai, and the Lao Kingdom of Lan Chang, based on Luang Prabang, are coloured green and represented jointly as 'Laos', while the former Kingdom of Siam, based on Bangkok, encompasses southern Laos (including Vientiane) and a large part of northwest Cambodia, including Angkor Wat and Siem Reap.
Part of a jingle or folk song amiably mocking the American Dr Marion Alonzo Cheek and the British businessman Louis Leonowens for keeping a harem of local Chiang Mai women. The rhyme runs in part:<br/><br/> Dr Chitt and Missa Louis Sleeping with two girls Two nights for fifteen rupees Miss Luang is on the bed Miss On is waiting Hurry up and finish Doctor!<br/><br/> Dr Chitt and Missa Louis Sleeping with two girls Two nights for fifteen rupees Miss Kum asked for silver Miss Huan asked for cloth Miss Noja asked for an elephant Hurry up and finish Doctor!<br/><br/> The Tai Tham script is used for three living languages: Northern Thai (that is, Kham Mueang), Tai Lü and Khün. In addition, the Lanna script is also used for Lao Tham (or old Lao) and other dialect variants in Buddhist palm leaves and notebooks. The script is also known as Tham or Yuan script.
Born in Orange County, North Carolina, July 14, 1853, Marion Alonzo Cheek graduated in medicine from medical school before being recruited by the Presbyterian missionary Daniel McGilvary to work with the protestant mission in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, in 1874.<br/><br/> Cheek's relationship with McGilvary and the mission soon turned sour, but Cheek - who was more interested in making money and enjoying the good life - soon set himself up as a businessman in the local lumber business and established a succesful medical practice. He resigned from the Presbyterian Mission in 1886, but despite - perhaps because of - establishing a personal harem of around 20 northern Thai women - he incurred increasingly serious debts, becoming bankrupt in 1893.<br/><br/> He became ill with malaria and dysentry in 1895 and took ship for Hong Kong and treatment in June of that year, but he died of an abcess of the liver while still in Thai waters off Si Chang Island, July 4, 1895.