This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Currie, Freathy, Gordon, Jefferson, Kelly, Mathews, McKerricher, Miller, Ralston, Ross Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/UW.2ADE/1678 Message Board Post: Dispatch Democrat Ukiah, Mendocino Co., CA Frdiay, October 7, 1921 (Mendocino Beacon ) Church Anniversary. The fiftieth anniversary of the founding the Caspar Baptist Church by the late Rev. J. S. Ross aroused unusual interest and the service brought many from neighboring towns, personal friends of the good man whose memory is so revered by the people of this coast for his good works. Of the pioneer settlers there were present Alexander Jefferson and Edward Freathy who settled at Caspar in the sixties, and one charter member of the church, Mrs. Duncan McKerricher, now of Fort Bragg. The sons and daughters of the late Rev. Ross and their families were present. Mrs. Elizabeth Ross Miller gave a history of the settlement of the town and the founding of the early church which proved most interesting. There were but four Baptists on the coast at the time of the founding of the church--Mrs. Alexander Gordon of Caspar, Mrs. Duncan McKerricher of Cleone. and Mrs. W. H. Kelly of Mendocino. The church was organized with the following charter members: John Mathews, Sarah Mathews, Elena Mathews, James Currie, Mrs. James Currie, Francis Kelly, Mrs. Francis Kelly, Robert Ralston, Annie Gordon Ralston, Alexander Gordon, Christina Gordon, Jessie McKerricher, John Simpson Ross, Jane Ralston Ross. Rev. Ross not only founded the church at Caspar but he was instrumental in organizing churches at Westport, Kibesillah, Fort Bragg and at this place at one time or another he preached at nearly every hamlet on the coast and he was the best known and best loved pastor that ever came to the county. Mendocino County Indexes http://www.pacificsites.net/~pcarna Mendocino County Tombstone Photos http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mendocem/