Religion was available to the africans or mulattos's in the West Indies, until the Moravians came there. The first mission was in St. Thomas, New Herrnhutt, named after Herrnhutt, Bavaria, where the sect had their revival of popularity. A minor noble, Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, a Lutheran clergy,in 1731 met at Danish King Christian VI's court a slave from St.Thomas, Anthony Ulrich, who told him of the conditions in the VI, but he told him to preach to the slaves, one had to become a slave. In 1732 Leonard Dober and a few of the single Brethren, went to St. Thomas, bought property and began a quasi-plantation/school/church for the slaves. As you can see from the post, they kept meticulous records, ie. the tribe or birth place of the slaves. Those documents are in either Germany or Bethlehem, Pa, and not microfilmed. It was several years before the other religions began to allow blacks to become members. most of the original black families are Moravian. Where the cross over comes in, is with marriage. Ann "Sharing the information." _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail