To Russell D Merryman and others, Indeed, I came across several Lorenzo Dow namesakes. Here's a piece on the original Lorenzo Dow: Lorenzo Dow was reported to be able to raise the devil with his fire and brimstone preaching. He flourished in the 1805-1811 period in middle Tennessee and along the Natchez Trace. He kept a detailed journal of his travels and preaching and published a book, History of a Cosmopolite, which went into many editions. "We had a cry and shout, and it was a weeping, tender time," he wrote of one of his meetings. Some other times of "cry and shout" almost resulted in riot. Once, preaching on "Judgment Day," he put a little Negro boy in the top of a pine tree. There, at the cue from Dow, he was to blow loudly on a horn. When Dow had worked his listeners to the proper fervor and spoke of Gabriel trumpeting the world's end, the little black boy dutifully let loose a resounding blast. Panic ensued. Then, when the hoax was discovered, the indignant started to mob the preacher. Dow was equal to the occasion. "And now, Brethren," he shouted over the tumult, "if a little Negro boy blowing on! a tin horn can make you feel so, how will you feel when the last day really comes?" (see The Devil's Backbone, the Story of the Natchez Trace, by Jonathan Daniels, p.147-55). I am thrilled by the progress I've been able to make in my quest. Of course, I attribute this to the Internet and to the generous folks who have made their investigations available to novices like myself. Just last weekend, we talked to a man who has 5 first cousins living within 100 miles of himself and neither knew the other existed. In my own family, just a week ago, I found family pages for my cousin's great-grandparents and 800 of his relatives about whom he knew next to nothing. With amazement and gratitude, John Weiser (and Cathie Riddle-Weiser)