In response to a recent message by Brad Martin and for the benefit of others, I have posted a list of references on Rev. Obadiah Holmes. If others know of addtional references, please post them also. The Abraham Lincoln connection is established; see my final paragraph. I note that a book by Wightman is referenced in one of the books listed below. Incidentally, most references have Obadiah Holmes born in 1606 or 1606/07. The most complete description of the life and beliefs of Obadiah Holmes is provided by Edwin S. Gausted in Baptist Piety: The Last Will and Testimony of Obadiah Holmes, Arno Press, New York, 1980; Gausted, a historian of the Baptist Church, described the life and letters of Obadiah Holmes, because Holmes provides the most complete example of Baptist beliefs in seventeenth century New England. The letters (edited to modern English) of Obadiah Holmes are provided in their entirety. Of particular interest are two books: 1) The American Family of Obadiah Holmes by Col. J. T. Holmes, 1915 [available on microfilm through the LDS Family History Center, film # 1017415, and in many genealogy libraries] and 2) The Holmes Tree: History and Genealogy of a Holmes Family and Allied Families Including Bradford, Calhoun, Clay, Parkinson, Pugh, Rainwater, Storm, and Throckmorton, by Charles A. Noel [Clossom Press, Apollo, PA, 1983, 210 pp., Call No. 929.273 H734n; FHC Film Area# 6125466]. Additional surnames in The Holmes Tree include McNabb, Borden, Ashton, Dodderidge, Slonaker, and Wister. These two books describe the line of Rev. Obadiah Holmes to Jonathan Holmes to Sheriff Obadiah Holmes to Joseph Holmes to Obadiah Holmes (known as the Western Pioneer, who married Mary Clunn) and his many sons, who were instrumental in settling Ohio. Also of potentially significant interest to descendants of Obadiah Holmes is "Genealogical and Historical Letters and Memoranda as to the Holmes Family and Some of Their Friends," by J. T. Holmes, compiled 1900 to 1907, Vol. 1-4, 7, and 12; 5,230 pages. Available from FHC, Salt Lake City, Film #1697429, 1697430 part 1, 1697430 part 2, 1697431, 1697433, 1697434. "Colonel J. T. Holmes, attorney and soldier of the Union Army, was the son of Asa Holmes (1806-1891) and Mary McCoy (1813-1901), daughter of Thomas McCoy. Asa was the son of Joseph Holmes (b. 1771) and Sarah McNabb, daughter of George and Martha Shepherd McNabb. Joseph Holmes, born in Mecklenburg, Virginia (became Shepherdstown, WV), was the son of Obadiah and Mary Clunn of New Jersey. Joseph died in 1868 near Cadiz in Shortcreek Township, Harrison County, Ohio, where he settled in 1797." In addition to the above names, the surname list contains: Akens, Clunn, Pegg, Pumphrey, Thomas, Dickerson, McCoy, McNabb, and "others". Obadiah Holmes is also discussed in Ancestors and Descendants of William Browning Greene and Mary Hoxie Lewis with Allied Families by William E. Wright, Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1993, pages 246 to 249 (Los Angeles Public Library: Call No. R929.2 G799-13). William Wright gives four references: a) Deforest, Brady, pp. 227-236; b) Garman, RI Roots, Dec. 1989, pp. 85-87; c) Wightman, pp. 285-305; and d) Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents, pp. 29-30. Reference c. is The Wightman Heritage, Wade Wightman, Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1990, pp. 288-304. Other references for Obadiah HOLMES can be found in VRS to 1850 for Rehoboth and Swansea, MA; James ARNOLDs VRS of RI to 1850 (Newport Co., and Bristol Co.); The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island, by John Osborne Austin, first published 1887, republished by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 1978 (and 1989, pp. 103-104), which covers the first three generations for Obadiah Holmes, Jeremy Clarke, and John Audley); The American Genealogist, vol. 19, no. 4, "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island," by G. Moriarty, Demorest, GA, April 1943, p. 224; also: PELEG BUROUGHS'S JOURNAL (1778-1798), The Tiverton RI Years of the Humbly Bold Baptist Minister- RI Genealogical Society, 1981; and Plymouth Colony, Its History and People, 1620-1691, Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT, 1986, p. 306. Histories covering other lines of descendants from Obadiah Holmes have been found. "William James Haelsen -- Eliza Lury Green Pedigree Chart" by Eliza Lury (Green) Haelsen provides the line from Obadiah and Katherine Hyde Holmes to Haelsen and Green in 1971 [FHC Film Area # 1033984]. "Holmes Family Bible" from Newport Historical Society of Rhode Island provides information on Holmes, Tillinghast, and Dillingham [FHC Film Area # 0945224]. Also see "Holmes - Boutelle - Adams Pedigree Chart, 1606 - 1910. Genealogical Register for Male and Female Descendants of John Jacob Samuel Bachtel and the Relationship Existing Between the Said Two Families," donated by Mary L. Gillich [FHC Film Area # 1033990]. Col. J. T. Holmes, "Holmes of Monmouth County," Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, p. 303. Col. J. T. Holmes, "The English Ancestry of Rev. Obadiah Holmes," English Ancestry of New England Families, Vol. 1, First Series, pp. 76-80. The line from The Rev. Obadiah Holmes to Abraham Lincoln is also well documented (Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents, published in cooperation with the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1995, pp. 33-36, 149-150). A pamphlet entitled, "The Rev. Obadiah Holmes, Prototype for President Abraham Lincoln" (approximate title) is said to exist in the collection of the Illinois State Library.