In a message dated 3/6/02 12:29:58 PM, emvee@kingwoodcable.com writes: << Here it is, Ronald, cut and pasted. It will probably wrap. I am also a KLUTZ on the computer. My daughter teaches me on a need to know basis. Mildred Descendants of Benjamin Bridges, SR>> ...........material Omitted.................... =========== Thanks very much, Mildred, as you came through loud and clear this time. Moreover, I simply love what you have done. Rather than listing one name after another down through the generations in some kind of GED COM format, you have told the story of the descendants of Benjamin Bridges in a wonderful manner. You are right, I believe that music did run in the early Bridges families, but it ran out before being handed down to me. I believe that I mentioned in an earlier posting that a violin called "Old Charleston" was brought from SC to AR when the family moved there. My Bridges families were Methodist, as was at least the Methodist preacher in your family. My gg-grandfather, John Bridges (b. 1807) - the son of William Bridges and the grandson of John Bridges, Sr - gave the land for the establishment of the New Hope Methodist Church in Clark Co, AR, about 1860. He had a desire to see that the church was set just so in relation to north and south. In order to accomplish his purposes, he set the corner stone at night in order that it could be aligned by a sighting on the North Star. The cemetery was located behind the church, which has long since disappeared, so that it now sets back in the woods perhaps a quarter of a mile. It is fenced and was well kept when I was there about 5 years ago in the quiet of an early morning. After listening to the birds sing and catching a glimpse of a deer, I though that this was not a bad place for John Bridges and many members of his family to rest. John Bridges lived until 1895, and my eldest uncle remembered him from his childhood as a very active and alert old gentleman. Like the musical talents, I am afraid that the good early "Bridges genes" had weakened by the time that they got to me. Thanks very much for the information, Mildred. We will need to do a little more work to see if we can figure out exactly how Benjamin and John Bridges, Sr, were related, but they were probably brothers, as you have supposed. I hope that it will be all right with you if I send this to the Marlboro list. My best regards, Ron Bullock