Dear friend, I will try to reply to the part of your request which seems less likely to be controversial, and go from there. I am not sure it can be said that the Baptists dominated these areas. It may be true in certain localities, but I am sure that the Methodists were very prominent even in these earliest times, and prospered as much or more as the Baptists, probably also the Presbyterians and others, also. If there are 500 people on this list (I have no idea how many there are), I would like to still have hope of 500 friends when I finish writing. I have no desire to offend anyone on here. First, regarding slavery. I have in my hand a pamphlet history of the Miami Baptist Association (org. in 1797, near Cincinnati), written in 1880. In 1804 this Ohio group of churches took up correspondence with the Philadelphia Association (org. in 1707). The same year an association called North Bend in Kentucky requested correspondence, but it was rejected. In 1810, this history says that a letter from the Emancipating Baptist Society of Kentucky was handed in by Bro. Barrow, requesting correspondence, and it was rejected. Spencer's History of the Kentucky Baptists, Vol. 1, begin. with p. 192, has six or seven pages on Elder David Barrow, of the North Bend Association. He was an emancipation preacher, but the churches in Kentucky were not ready for that, and he was actually cast out of the association. I am not sure now, whether the churches in Ohio, agreed with Elder Barrow, and therefore rejected correspondence with the North Bend Association, or what. Maybe someone else has studied these details. I also have an article on one of these churches in Ohio, which came as a body from Virginia to Fairfield Co., Ohio, to get away from slavery in the Old Dominion, and how strongly they felt about it. Some of the Primitive Baptists in Illinois were abolitionists. The Illinois Association (in the region east and southeast of St. Louis on the Illinois side of the river) divided over slavery about this same time. The Baptists which our kind friend Jon Musgrave mentioned in connection with his comments on Liberty Church arose from a division in the Illinois Association, and were called "Friends to Humanity" Baptists, or Emancipation Baptists, because they opposed slavery and did not wish to fellowship Baptists who held slaves. I am very willing to be corrected if I should mistate this in any way. I have some old church records here, of Hurricane Church in Montgomery Co., dating back to 1818, in which the clerk refers to the subject of slavery being something which they agreed to alone because it had caused them so much trouble in Kentucky. Dr. James Simeone, of Ill. Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill., has authored a book called "Democracy and Slavery" which came out just this year from the Northern Ill Univ Press. I received a copy as a gift due to my part in helping him prepare for a symposium a year or two ago, in Springfield, by supplying him with early writings in the form of Circular Letters published by Baptist associations in Illinois during this time frame. This subject [slavery] is not one I have done a lot of study on. All I am trying to do, is to refer you to what little source material I know about which might enlighten a person who is better able to put these things all together than I am. A friend to all of you, I hope, Robert Webb On Thu, 9 Nov 2000 14:39:13 EST HELTSLEY@aol.com writes: > Mr. Webb, > Please let me join the line of people swamping you with > questions since > you announced your acquisition of your church records. > In a nutshell, I am interested in how the Baptist Church and > other > fundamentalist institutions was able to dominate Kentucky and a good > portion > of Ill., the west and north extention of the Bible Belt, I believe. > My request might take more thought but please consider it. I'm > writing a > book on my family who lived in Kentucky (1799 to present) and in > Eldorado > (1840 to 1954) and to help understand them I need a better view of > the people > they lived with and the places they lived in. > I noticed the name T. Leo Dodd. He was my high school principal > in the > late 1940s. > I also am interested in the attitudes toward slavery as you > touched on. > Also, how my German ancestors who probably were not Baptists > when they > came to America or to the areas they settled in, such as Ky. and > S.Ill., > apparently succumbed to the majority Baptists. > Was it that simple, majority vs. minority? > And all the taboos still show even today. Dry counties, some > begrudgingly wet , alcohol wise, although moonshine has flourished. > A > critical view would be that the church people have cooperated with > the > moonshiners and the legal booze distillers to keep out the demon > rum. > The lack of public drinking no doubt has hurt tourism. The > great > merchandising giants like K mart and Wal-Mart have blasted out the > Blue Law > of Sundays. Etc. > In addition, to your comments, perhaps there is a book that > addresses > these issues. If you disagree with my questions please tell me why. > > Thank you and good luck. > > Ernie Heltsley/former Eldoradoan > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.