The Facts Unravel #4 On September 26, 1836, Rev. Jno. C. Johnson married my great-great-grandparents Jimerson (James Jr.) Liddell and Martha Ann Baldridge in Jefferson County MS. That's what the records say. But a few more facts unravel a larger story. (The place changes from Natchez District to Villa Gayoso to Cole's or Coles Creek to Spring Hill to Pickering Co., but it's all Jefferson now.) My grandmother's research showed Martha Ann connected with the Baptist Church through her mother's uncle Richard Curtis Jr., said to be the very first licensed Baptist preacher, and later the very first ordained Baptist minister, in Natchez District. I assumed Martha Ann was Baptist. I was wrong. An Internet search uncovered the history of Jno C. (John Clem) Johnson, the officiating minister. Johnson, apparently a juvenile delinquent from Kentucky, came to Jefferson and in 1805 joined Rev. Newet Vick's Spring Hill Methodist Church. "Thomas Owens and the Baldridges put the harness forthwith on young Mr. Johnson" according to Rev. John G. Jones writing in 1887, who went on to describe Johnson's compact build, superb constitution, and great physical strength and endurance. Johnson shortly married Deborah Baldridge and brought her into the church. The Methodists licensed him to preach in 1812, but raising a family delayed his full "itinerancy" or ordination until 1846. John Clem Johnson died five years later at the age of 68. His widow Deborah Spence Baldridge Johnson died in 1885 at age 97 mourned by a whole passel of descendants. So a pioneer Methodist minister married Jimerson and Martha Ann. Any more facts sitting around? The first record of James Baldridge, Martha Ann's father, is an 1802 MS Petition. (Please correct me, but I think the residents petitioned the MS Territorial Legislature for a new Jefferson Co. to replace old Pickering Co.) Probably James and Deborah are both among "the Baldridges" mentioned by Rev. Jones above, ten siblings who migrated to Jefferson about 1802, but no solid proof has turned up yet. So the Methodist minister was Martha Ann's uncle-in-law. Any more facts? Jimerson and Martha Ann named their first child, who died in infancy, John Wesley Liddell. The original John Wesley founded Methodism. That clinches it; my ancestors were Methodists. A fine Church, I'm sure, but I was raised a Baptist. Grin. Bruce D. Liddell, BDLiddell@yahoo.com Birmingham AL, 12-Sep-2003 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com