Does anyone know anything about the early Baptist movement in Dutchess and Ulster Counties? The families of several of my ancestral lines (e.g., BISHOP, COLE, HOPKINS) apparently gathered in this area from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussetts, and Westchester County NY in the 1760s and early 1770s. They then traveled together with several other families to Virginia in around 1773, where they started a new Baptist Church in St. Clair's (Sinclair) Bottom in Washington County (now Smyth County) Virginia. I am curious about why they sold their land (of which they all owned a considerable amount) and moved to Ulster or Dutchess County, and why they later left that area for what was then the frontier of southwest Virginia. Best regards, Janet Zengel Messer Micanopy, Florida