Concerning Methodist ministers in Illiinois. I contacted the Methodist Archieves...I believe that was Bloominton. They checked their card file for the name I needed (Pearce T. Rhodes) and copied whatever info they had on the guy. The last info indicated he transferred to Kansas in 1870 and they suggested that Kansas Archieves might have more info. Try as I might...I never found the right phone number. The number Illinois gave me to contact Kansas was incorrect. So, I made a trip to Kansas to the location I found the guy in 1870 census listings and to another town where his adopted daughter had evidently lived according to a return address on a guardianship file we found in Illinois. At the latter location, a very kind Meth minister took it upon himself to contact their archieves and have whatever info there was sent to me. That file was very large. The minister was interested in any former Meth. pastor of the area who might have served their church. They had a listing of all ministers of the church, but all other records were lost in several fires. Our guy wasn't on the list...but that didn't mean he wasn't a member or part of the church in some capacity. He was known for being a circuit minister in Illinois and asked for the transfer to Kansas. He started quite a few colleges , often from his own money, though he raised funds also. I intend to contact the Emporia minister and thank him for his help and pass along copies of the info to him for their files. Since I have found that pastor Rhodes lived in the town of Emporia just a block or two from the church...it's very likely that his family attended the church itself. My sad note is that there is not one mention of his adopted daughter in all the records. She was the orphaned sister of my husband's great grandfather. I had hoped to learn more about her. We were fortunate to find her marriage record in Emporia (she married under the name Rhodes instead of Tupker) and thus learned she at least 3 children (1880 census) but can find no more about her for now....no probate records or burial records. Anyway...if you don't find a lot from the archieves in one state...don't give up...check the archieves of the states where they came from and where they transferred to. Each state doesn't keep a complete file...just the info on what the person did in their own state...and with possible a little info on where they were born or where they first ~heard the call~`. Julie Bissell Tupker

Hi Julie, A belated thank you for your letter is in order. Sorry. I just found it. I forgot to hit the little expand cross on my e-mail. I swear, more cells are strangling in my brain every hour. I'll keep trying on this ME minister lead. I've been pretty lucky so far. I managed to get a book Benjamin T. Sewell wrote around 1854 called Sorrow's Circuit in Philadelphia. He mentions having worked before that time with very desperate people on "the canals" and I'm trying to learn what or where he was talking about. It's one of the few clues to his past that I got from the book although I learned a lot about the work he was doing at the time. Wow! And we think there are some awful conditions in the inner cities now. Thanks again. Dottie Dorothy Nanninga Sewell dsewell@alaska.net Eagle River, Alaska Ostfriesland Ancestors http://www.alaska.net/~dsewell