Mary, Thank you for your quick reply. I will be interested to know what you learn about Bethel Church. I wrote to the Presbyterian Historical Society about 15 years ago to get some early session minutes of the Washington (Pine Ridge) Presbyterian Church in Adams Co. (oldest Presby. Church in Miss. according to the above-mentioned book). The Society was most helpful. The minutes had been published in the book Presbyterian Church of the Old Southwest by Walter Brownlow Posey, but only the 1807 list of communicants was included in the published copy. The Washington Presbyterian Church was the next one down the Trace from Bethel Church near Union in the early 1800s. I checked the lists of communicants but did not find the Duck surname. The lists I have cover the period from 1807 to 1814. If you are looking at churches associated with your early family, you may have already found the following information. In Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. X, is an article about "Presbyterianism in Miss." by Haman. It includes an account of the travels of three Presbyterian missionaries looking for congregates in the lower Trace area and gives a little history of some of the Presby. families in the "Uniontown" area (Montgomery, Swayze, Coleman, Griffing, Callender, Douglas, Hughes, and Bolls). "The three missionaries collected the families into a congregation and formed the nucleus for a future church. These families, thus collected, united and built a log house of worship on land belonging to Alexander Callender and called it first 'Callender's Meeting House,' and later 'Bethel.' It was located near the fork of Cole's Creek, in sight of the road leading from Port Gibson to Natchez." (Miss. Hist. Soc., Vol. X, p. 210) Thank you, also, for taking the time to look up the Nevels information you included in your reply. I am always glad to get any scrap of information on our Nevels anywhere in MS or elsewhere. Warren Shelton Nevels was a descendant of Martin Nevels. By the 1790s, Martin was in the area that later became Jefferson Co. and married Polly Roberts. James Nevels, who came to the area in the late 1790s, was probably his brother and my ancestor (father of Wm. Nevels of Holmes Co., MS). Unfortunately, I can't find his marriage record in Jefferson Co. or anywhere else in early Mississippi records, and some of the records burned in Holmes Co., where my Nevels migrated in the 1830s. I am telling you more than you probably want to know about our family, but what I find interesting is that Presbyterians in Jefferson Co. were the Nevels' close neighbors (Coleman, Davis, Callendar). I keep hoping the Nevels will show up in the church records so I can get an idea of who James Nevels' wife was and perhaps find my gg-gf William Nevels, b. 1808, in the baptism records. After looking at my Presbyterian file today, I am wondering now why I don't have more on Bethel since my group was living in the area of that church. Thank you for all you sent and for forwarding my message to Callendar researchers. Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: maryp To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 10:08 AM Subject: [MSJEFFER-L] Nevel, Callender, Coleman