Marsha, I am totally amazed at the amount of work that you have put into this project. How did you get a copy of the Centennial History? My copy has been used so many years that the stitching has come out of the binding--I believe all the pages are still there but many are completely loose. I thought I had lost it for several years, then found it among my son Robert's books after his death. I also have a book called Nisbet Narrations by Newton Alexander Nisbet, 439 pages, publication about 1965. And They Sought a Land by William Oates Ragsdale, a settlement in the Arkansas River Valley. Many of the same families involved. Thank you ever so much and will do whatever I can do to help anyone who has a question. Wilma King ! -----Original Message----- From: arizard-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:arizard-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Marsha Boles Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 6:22 PM To: arizard@rootsweb.com Subject: [ARIZARD] More thoughts on Prosperity http://books.google.com/books?id=JkURAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA287&sig=jbttNp8wvozPy13zG14DaQhla-w&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false Page 12 Research of Name Index for Prosperity Church has gotten very involved. I started out trying to correct name spelling or make sure the transcription would be correct due to variance in cursive penmanship. Oh my ! where this has led ! ! ! The above is an online book of only 500 pages. Some of you might find it of interest. It is laborious reading and sifting through to find names for the many initials. The initial findings include naming patterns of some of our folks probably come from these 2 books. Our ancestors held some of these men in such high esteem, they named their children for them. My own GGF, John Patrick Montgomery was named after one these ministers. Monroe Oates Montgomery is another name sake of an ARP minister. Nearly all these families hale from NC. Even if your folks came from AL, GA, KY, TN, MO, or IL - those families likely have NC ties. If your male kindred have Hemphill, Strong, Moffatt, Montgomery, Patterson in their names, suspect they are Scotts and Presbyterian. >From the inside cover of Prosperity record book it is clear the founding fathers wanted the organized religion and the church of their fathers. They sent for ordained ministers from NC. (Page 12 will give more rationale for this.) In all the minutes of formal meetings, the treasurers’ report includes funding for home and foreign missions. Erskine College in NC was (and still is) a major stepping stone for young men preparing for the ministry. I believe some of these mission funds went to help pay some of the expenses of missionary pastors and they brought with them students from Erskine College. This fulfilled their mission statement, gave the students realistic experience of what their future in the church could become and opened the possibilities of re-locating to places far from their home. It was probably like it is now too, safer not to travel alone. Erskine College is interesting in it’s own right (1837-now). The Erksine family of ministers (father and 2 sons) were Scotts bent of the reformation of the church. They were theologians and educators. No doubt they spread the belief to the subjects they mentored, to be prepared as both ministers and teachers. The Presidents of Erskine College historically are both professors and pastors of church too (that 3 jobs). Families from AL, GA, KY, TN, MO, or IL sent their sons there for college. If you have read Prosperity record and found some of your folks married into those other families, you have probably aware of the number of other allied families you are related too (like the Gleghorns and Gaults having 5 marriages within their families). These ARP ministers from Erskine College must have taken an oath to keep it in the family too. Preachers kids marry other preachers kids and widowed pastors re-marry widows of other pastors. These Scotts really held an allegiance to one another. I knew about checking church records for documentation but finding this book carries it to another level. There are 3 parts of this 500 page book. Last section gives bios of lots historic churches in the south and some in the west, but it is not all in alphabetically order. Be willing to skim around. Soo o o o . . . on one of these cold dark nights, might want to skim through the book and see what you find. Marsha ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ARIZARD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3305 - Release Date: 12/09/10