Liz: The Old School Baptist Church and my ancestor the Elder James Benedict, who was the founder of the same, had a mission in life to spread the word of the gospel. Somewhere in my files, there is an article that discusses the many people who were leaving Warwick to do the work of the Lord. Some tried and failed in different locations, while others were successful. Elder James Benedict, (whose own father was also a preacher in CT.) was supposedly well respected by the Indians. He was spared during the Wyoming Massacre, and in fact, was informed the night before by Chief Joseph Brant, to leave his new church or perish. Both men were Free Masons, so this may have had something to do with their relationship. Many of the old colonials were freemasons, just as our Founding Fathers were. You may find info on the Free Mason web site about your ancestor. Elder Benedict's daughter, Jemima married into the Newberry family. Yes, they were Baptists, but religion in one time frame doesn't necessarily mean that they were always Baptists. Old School Baptists now days are almost extinct. Important founding families in the early colonial period of Warwick often came out of Duchess Co. My Newberrys all left Orange Co. beginning around 1820-1830, with the exception of the girls who married into local families. The migrations began, some say, because of the climate change and some say it was economic. Some of the Newberry brothers went back to Duchess Co. some to PA, and others to upstate N.Y. My ancestor James Newberry migrated to Ohio by way of Pennsylvania in 1819 and there he fell in with the Mormons. The Baptists honed in on Pennsylvania and moved through there first thing. Author/Historian Donna Bingham Munger has also done a wonderful series of books following land records. These detail families, townships and counties._http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Cp_27%3ADonna%20Bingha m%20Munger&field-author=Donna%20Bingham%20Munger&page=1_ (http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i:stripbooks,p_27:Donna%20Bingham%20Munger&field-author=Don na%20Bingham%20Munger&page=1) The boundary lines for N.Y. were fluid in those decades and didn't become static until later, especially on the southern and eastern reaches of the state. Some migrations were major, so check the Land Bounty Records for your ancestor. Try this web site _http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/_ (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) Land bounty rights were widely exercised during these movements. In the War of the Revolution, people were reimbursed with land bounties for property they may have lost in Connecticut or rewarded for their military service. Families of veterans were allowed to carry and apply these bounties in the northwestern territories and on the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio. My point is, leave no stone unturned. Checking more than one historian, i.e. town vs. village, will net you some gems. Often one crucial piece of evidence will turn up in an unexpected place. Another example of this turned up in my Iowa research. There were two courthouses in Lee County, IA. Both needed to be searched, and yes, both held important information. Information knows no boundaries or preferred archive. Cheers, Sue Sue, If 'my' Joseph Smith was related to the LDS one, they'd likely be cousins of some sort. My ancestor was a deacon in the Baptist church and when he moved to Elmira, he was active in the Baptist church there. In the obit for one of his daughters he was referred to as having been a "prominent citizen of Orange County". Do your books show him at all? Liz