As a young pastor, I knew Austin well, and helped him some. I was very concerned about his record keeping (my brother says I was worse than that!) Yes, Austin was pastor at Stony Creek, and he made notes on all these pieces of information. Thats what they were - a pile of pieces of paper, with informations penciled on each - he had piles of them stacked on the table where he was working - and he could go down through them, and tell me where each came from. He usually knew exactly what he was looking for next -could jump from pile to pile. I questioned him (by telephone - some years later) about the statement in his book, on Elder Jacob Miller, at Stony Creek, and his statement was so typical - he had gotten back to New Windsor MD, after one of his "hunting" trips to Brothers Valley - in going through his notes, he realized what he had written down about Elder Jacob Miller. He said that he turned around and drove all the way back to Stony Creek, to check (and that is a long distance from New Windsor!!!). The material was on the inside back cover of the church clerk's book (c1820). When he got there, the book was missing. They searched everywhere for it - and it never was found. He even gave me a signed copy of his book - and I (like you) noted that he did little on identifying his sources. He was a minister, he had a real interest in keeping the history that he had learned (and he liked history), but he was not a trained historian. I don't think he really knew what footnotes were for (and Rolland Flory was similar - except he was a school principal, who preached some). The 1920 History of Southern Ohio - does not footnote, and gives considerable informations. My own research on the Petry family - had so much information that had come from family letters (we had 600 letters from grandparents -in just 3 townships in Darke and Preble Cos OH) - that we didn't even try to give the sources (and there were many instances that one letter disagreed with another - and I would hunt other sources, till I could find a probable correct solution). We didn't write our books then, like it is almost demanded that we write now - even 30 years ago. Merle C Rummel > > Austin Cooper in "Two Centuries of Brothersvalley; Church of the Brethren, > 1672-1762." Westminster, MD: Times, Inc., 1962, page 167 wrote Henry's wife > was Elizabeth Stoner, daughter of Elder John Stoner of the Pipe Creek Church, > Frederick Co, MD, citing a marriage in the "Pleasant View Records." > > Where are these records Austin refers too? To my knowledge no one has been > able to find them. I believe Austin was a pastor at that congregation, so I > assumed he had seen them. >