A little local lore here. There is the matter of the mysterious New Prospect Church. First a warning - when traveling in Upper Transylvania County NEVER tell an old timer which was the first Baptist church in the county, or which was the first "Missionary arm " (split). There are about three contenders for first church and two contenders for first split. And folks have very strong opinons on these things. Actually I've been looking for a list like this. Probably the most widely accepted version is that Cathey's Creek Baptist Church was the first church. The folks at Macedonia say they were the first missionary arm (split over slavery/and the long walk - for their side, Macedonia folks was sick of the constant pro-slavery sermons). the folks at East Fork claim to be the first split. Apparently both happened about the same time. Now for the dangerous part. There are actual real live records of a New Prospect Church. Records say that New Prospect split from Cathey's Creek about 1820. about 20 or so of the 40 or so members left to form the new church which was located where Mack McCall cemetery is now. There already was a family cemetery established here by the Parker and Brown families. New Prospect church "disappeared" about 1840, though the early records at Toxaway Lakeside Baptist Church refer to the church as New Prospect. There has also been the suggestion made by Ray Von Galloway that New Prospect was originally located further up in the hills, say about Tannassee gap, and was the mother Church for all the churches which followed. Of course, Ray Von Galloway was the cause of the split between Macedonia & Mtn View Baptist Churches in Gloucester and later formed a Pentacostal Church. I have been unable to get so much as a peep out of anyone about New Prospect, and the folks up there all deny it's existance. What does any of this have to do with the list. Well, there are almost 40 members listed prior to "the formal organization of the church in 1822". Perhaps, Catheys' Creek did actually split off of New Prospect and their ego just blamed it on the other side. I noticed there are no Browns or Parkers though they were definately living in the area at the time. Just something to think about. -- Linda Hoxit Raxter lraxter@citcom.net See Indexed Western North Carolina Cemetery Surveys http://www.geocities.com/~alextreehouse related to at least half the county - at least once ; )