I have summarized briefly material from Kent Ladd Steckmesser's book, The Westward Movement: A Short History which could be pertinent to Pyron religious changes. The state of Kentucky has an interesting history. Without going into the story of Daniel Boone's important role in the early settlement of the region and passing over the selfish interest of the Trannsylvania Company's intent to control land speculation in the land, we see a checkered histoy in the early development of the state. When rumblings began of possible war with the Crown, the leaders in Kentucky feared that an all out war would leave the settlements vulnerable to Indian attacks. So, finally in 1775 and again in 1776 petitions were sent to Virginia to allow Kentucky to become incorporated in the Old Dominion state. Then following the Revolutionary War, a strong movement was begun to separate from Virginia. There were several statehood conventions prior to the agreement in 1792 for Kentucky to form a separate statehood. The Kentucky people though separated geographically from the Tidewate Virginia Anglicans, probably had some social and religious affect on a number of Virginians. Records show that Virginia had a strong Anglican Church where laws had been passed early on that non Anglican immigrants could not hold land in the Colony.With the expansion of the western settlements, the people who poured into Kentucky were predominately Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian, the latter due to the influx of Scots-Irish immigrants. With the influence John Wesley had on Colonial denominationalism, first in Georgia where he began his work prior to 1840, the work expanded to the emphasis in revival known as the Great American Awakening. This movement could have directly affected the Pyron family who here- to- fore had been associated with the Anglican Church in Virginia. In his book, The Social Sources of Denominationism,by H.Richard Niebuhr, he posits a theory, stated simply, Christian church affiliations can be defined as having been predisposed and developed by social and ecnomic environments. Any religion, he said, based on the need and the cultural expressin of the people will reflect the environment from which it sprang. Whether we agree with Niebuhr it appears from our history that denominationalism had its most important expansion during the period in history when many people were trying to find their place in this country,a place to live and rear their families. The Pyrons who moved out of Virginia to North Carolina, for whatever reason, may have been influenced by the rigorous laws in Virginia or from the renewed interest in religious issues and the new found belief that a man's faith can set him free. MBush