Any theory as to why a Brethren would marry a non-Brethren? Tobias Miller was son of Jacob Miller. Seems like it would have created a bit of a squabble that he married a Henderson girl whose father had slaves? Proximity - But another - the Brethren of the earlier times (including Elder Jacob Miller) were Pietists. They accepted faith in Jesus as the primary/often only consideration. It was called "open meetings" - it was really only AFTER the American Revolution, under the influence of the Anabaptist Mennonites, that the Annual Meeting and the Elder's Body went to "closed meetings" ("you had to be a Brethren"). The Pietists seem to be very evangelical, reaching out to all their neighbors for religious services, and the early Brethren were this, and the Brethren on the frontier were this. Worship services were held in their home, and they invited everyone around to come - even when they were NOT preachers - and the church grew -all these non-german families are suddenly "Brethren".. The Blackwater Chapel was just below the home of Elder Jacob Miller, in Franklin County VA - and Samuel Henderson lived very close. All the community seemed to have been part of that congregation (at least, several of the local families that married into the Miller family did) - and I really suspect that Elder Jacob preached there. It is not now a Brethren Church (at least, I don't remember seeing anything like that when I drove past there -some years ago), I don't think it was technically a "Brethren" Church back then. One strong Pietist tradition was Eternal Restoration (Universalism) - and Tobias Miller (son of Elder Jacob) moved to LaPorte IN in 1833, as a Universalist Preacher. The early LaPorte County History says that he was the first Universalist Preacher in the county. Pietism is what Elder William R Smith was censured for at Raccoon Creek (church taken from his care in c1830 -by elders from Virginia [northern valley of virginia] - which was an area of the Annual Meeting -Anabaptist tradition) - he still held to the Pietist traditions, which he received in the teaching of Elder Jacob Miller, he held "open meetings". Janie, I cover a lot about this in my papers at: <www.cob-net.org/docs/brethrenlife.htm> - Frontier Brethren, Brethren Pietism Merle C Rummel