In getting back to Samuel Bolton we discover that all of his children were married by ministers of the New Light church. I believe that Merle can comment on this far better than I but it is my understanding that this is a Universalist church of English extraction. I also offer new found insight into William Rose Smith who was a devotee of Elder Miller while in Virginia but will let the readers of this writing discover this on their own. In a nut shell we can now state with a certain accuracy that the Virginia Conference of 1811 demonstrates an earlier ramification of the same problems that would come to haunt the Far Western Brethren and which has now become a portion of the history of the German Baptist church as a whole. I believe we can state that Elder Miller was heavily influenced by Elder Martin and his religious views. Elder Miller seems, possibly, to also have a portion of the views of Ephrata through the teachings of Elder Martin. Elder Miller is likely that Jacob Miller mentioned as being baptised in the Conestoga church listings which also lists his unnamed wife. The unknown parents of the five Miller brothers would, logically, be one of the other Millers listed in the same set of early records. Elder Miller has as students Samuel Bolton and William Rose Smith, both Englishers, who would figure into the early history of the church in Indiana and Ohio. Samuel Bolton in the Miami Valley and Elder Smith in Virginia and Indiana. One was removed from the church and the other forgotten, either intentionally or by error. Elder Miller, because of his Universalist and / or Pietist views differed in opinion from the Annual Meeting Brethren in the guise of Elders Ulrich and Gripe thus resulting in the dividing of the early churches in the Miami Valley of Ohio via the Virginia Conference of Ohio. I apologize for the length of this email to my fellow members. I also apologize for the poor writing skills. While this is a subject dear to my heart the vocabulary of the writer is not quite up to the task. In part this is because a portion of the material comes from documentation and a portion from logic. There is a lot that is documented but there is not a shred of documentation on the underpinnings of the reasons of the Virginia Conference of 1811. Only the actions afterward taken. That being said if one was to read between the lines in the 1920 Southern District of Ohio and compare it with those churches of Southern Indiana that went either Disciples or Christian Church you will see a similarity of surnames that is truly astounding. It is not common knowledge but a near relative of Joseph Hochstetler (the boy preacher), of whom Friend Merle has related interesting information, was Christian Hochstetler. Christian moved from Shelby county, Kentucky into Montgomery county, Ohio (likely in the northern portion) where he died in 1814. A good sized portion of his family later moved into the Southern Indiana region of which Merle has told us. Wayne Webb

Bravo! Thank you so much for shedding light on this. Blessings, Janet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Webb" <SpiWebb@aol.com> To: "Brethren Mailing List" <brethren@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 10:41 AM Subject: [BRE] Frontier Brethren / Universalism / Pietism / Elders Miller &Martin (part 3 of 3) > In getting back to Samuel Bolton we discover that all of his children > were married by ministers of the New Light church. I believe that Merle > can comment on this far better than I but it is my understanding that this > is a Universalist church of English extraction. I also offer new found > insight into William Rose Smith who was a devotee of Elder Miller while in > Virginia but will let the readers of this writing discover this on their > own. > > > > In a nut shell we can now state with a certain accuracy that the > Virginia Conference of 1811 demonstrates an earlier ramification of the > same problems that would come to haunt the Far Western Brethren and which > has now become a portion of the history of the German Baptist church as a > whole. I believe we can state that Elder Miller was heavily influenced by > Elder Martin and his religious views. Elder Miller seems, possibly, to > also have a portion of the views of Ephrata through the teachings of Elder > Martin. Elder Miller is likely that Jacob Miller mentioned as being > baptised in the Conestoga church listings which also lists his unnamed > wife. The unknown parents of the five Miller brothers would, logically, > be one of the other Millers listed in the same set of early records. > > > > Elder Miller has as students Samuel Bolton and William Rose Smith, > both Englishers, who would figure into the early history of the church in > Indiana and Ohio. Samuel Bolton in the Miami Valley and Elder Smith in > Virginia and Indiana. One was removed from the church and the other > forgotten, either intentionally or by error. Elder Miller, because of his > Universalist and / or Pietist views differed in opinion from the Annual > Meeting Brethren in the guise of Elders Ulrich and Gripe thus resulting in > the dividing of the early churches in the Miami Valley of Ohio via the > Virginia Conference of Ohio. > > > > I apologize for the length of this email to my fellow members. I also > apologize for the poor writing skills. While this is a subject dear to my > heart the vocabulary of the writer is not quite up to the task. In part > this is because a portion of the material comes from documentation and a > portion from logic. There is a lot that is documented but there is not a > shred of documentation on the underpinnings of the reasons of the Virginia > Conference of 1811. Only the actions afterward taken. > > > > That being said if one was to read between the lines in the 1920 > Southern District of Ohio and compare it with those churches of Southern > Indiana that went either Disciples or Christian Church you will see a > similarity of surnames that is truly astounding. It is not common > knowledge but a near relative of Joseph Hochstetler (the boy preacher), of > whom Friend Merle has related interesting information, was Christian > Hochstetler. Christian moved from Shelby county, Kentucky into Montgomery > county, Ohio (likely in the northern portion) where he died in 1814. A > good sized portion of his family later moved into the Southern Indiana > region of which Merle has told us. > > > > Wayne Webb > > ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN > ------------------------ > Support Our Sponsoring Agency > The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) > For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com > ------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message