First before I lose the URL - this may be of interest _http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/_ (http://www.mal.net/EarlyPresbyterians/) This is in partial response to the following, submitted by Suzanne. She wrote: The following was located in Fauquier County Va Minute Book 1768-1784: p. 286 Indentures of Lease and Release between Josiah Holtzclaw & Susannah his wife of the one part and Richard Chichester John Hathaway John Wright Jr James Brient and Peter Kamper Sen Trustees for the Presbyterian Society of the other part acknowledged by the said Josiah and Susanna (she being first privily examined as the Law directs) to be their act and deed and with the receit on the said Release endorsed which was also acknowledged by the said Josiah ordered to be recorded. The above is typed exactly as it appears in the Minute Book including spelling, punctuation, or lack thereof. Question:? To which Presbyterian Society or Church does this entry refer? This minute book is also found on microfilm #31614 from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and is available for loan to a Family History Center. Thanks-- Suzanne Collins Matson Response: I have questions to ask: Although I have a lot of John K. Gott's works on early Fauquier Co., as well as a recently published book by Joan W. Peters about tax lists from the Fauquier County Court Clerk's :Loose Papers [this is only one of the subtitle], I have not read either the court minutes nor any abstracts of the Fauquier Co. court minutes. SO-- my question is: Can you provide a DATE for this entry? It must have been before the Revolution as I see from a tithable list for 1778 [William Pickett's Tithable list] there is a Peter Kemper junr, but I don't see in the index a Peter Kemper, Sr. (I looked under the other two spellings of the surname Kamper--there are four listed) and Camper (none listed under that spelling). No wonder my Texas-born great-grandmother nee Amanda Jane Kemper (later Mrs. David F. Williams) of Victoria Texas wrote to a cousin: I am a Presbyterian but grandmother [her maternal grandmother Miller nee Grace from Kentucky] is a Methodist. Many of the descendants of A.J. [as she signed her checks and letters] are Presbyterian to this date. Interesting. The Hornbook of Virginia History lists under Some Historic Places of Worship a good many Presbyterian churches. One of the early ones was Providence Presbyterian Church in Louisa Co. which was completed about 1747. *It is one of the few colonial frame churches still standing.* [p. 213]. The Hornbook, on page 205, gives this information: *Many of the churches are Episcopalian because the Church of England was the established church of the Virginia colony. At times the only denomination tolerated by civil authorities, the Anglican Church was supported throughout the colonial period by public taxation, and its church buildings were erected and maintained at public expense. Fewer churches of other colonial denominations, subject to legal disabilities and dependent solely on their own members for financial support, have survived. In 1786 [after the end of the Revolution] the General assembly formally disestablished the Church of England in Virginia.* (Editors Emily J. Salmon and Edward D. CL. Campbell, Jr. The Hornbook of Virginia History [Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1994, fourth edition) A google.com search for *act of toleration in virginia* turned up a google book entitled. Page 42 concerns Virginia. I believe I saw on the LVA website some petitions by citizens of Virginia concerning this Act. But that was some time ago. Time is bad on my memory. Church and State in American History: Key Documents, Decisions, and Commentary from the Past Three Centuries By John Frederick Wilson, Donald L. Drakeman Contributor John Frederick Wilson Published by Westview Press, 2003 ISBN 0813365589, 9780813365589 438 pages E.W.Wallace a descendant of John Kemper the immigrant and some of his descendants who went to Garrard Co., KY and thence everywhere!!! **************One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)