I finally got a chance to look at the records and wow -- are they amazing! Heartfelt thanks to those who worked on this project. My 4G-grandfather was Charles Harper, who apparently joined the church in 1833 and is listed as preacher or moderator from then until at least February 1834, when the scanned notes end. I understand that the remaining notes may be too fragile to scan, but I was wondering if those who have the notes could tell me how much longer Charles Harper remained moderator. My Harpers came to Illinois around 1829; prior to that Charles Harper preached at the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church in Spencer County, Indiana. Those records also survive (or at least a transcript) and are online at the Spencer County site. Abe Lincoln's father attended this church at that time. Charles Harper is said to have performed the marriage ceremony of Abe's sister, Sarah Lincoln, to Aaron Grigsby. Valorie Anlage > If you are interested in the Lake Fork Predestinarian Baptists I have > added > information to the page AND a pdf of the first 19 pages of the > original > records. As you can see by the pages, the record is extremely > fragile. > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/lakeforkbaptists.htm > > Cheryl Rothwell Valorie Anlage Laurel, Maryland Genealogist Researching HARPER, KERWOOD, CORMICAN -- including possible connections to Abe Lincoln and Choctaw Indians ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC

I can't promise anything. They are not in my possession or control. No one has the records in a drawer where they can just go to them and read them. It's an involved process. The records of the church the Lake Fork group came from also survive -- or did 40 years ago. It's amazing to me that such records were even kept since many other churches either didn't keep them or didn't preserve them. Many of those people are my ancestors but I also have ancestors who were Methodist ministers in the area in 1830. There are almost no records of them and none of the congregations. Valorie, the successor to this group is the Primitive Baptists. You might want to check http://www.carthage.lib.il.us/community/churches/primbap/pbl.html I know he has a full copy of these records although it is not listed. He also has a transcript of the church records of the church in Ohio from whence they came and he may well have information on the Indiana church. Cheryl Rothwell