Frontier Brethren - 2010 the early Brethren in Kentucky - c1770-c1830 - a study based on the study of some 75 Baptist Brethren families (later named German Baptist Brethren) - as they moved from the Carolinas and Western Pennsylvania to Kentucky - and their descendants as they left Kentucky, moving to Illinois (Far Western Brethren) and Missouri and Iowa. The consideration was that if these were Brethren when they moved to Kentucky, and some of their descendants were Brethren when they moved away from Kentucky, they were certainly Brethren in Kentucky. The communities where they gathered almost certainly held Brethren Churches. These are identified, and a study made on the children who did not leave Kentucky. As all the Brethren Churches in Kentucky were lost following about 1830, this study explores what happened to them. An attempt was made to analyze the original Pietism as practiced by these Brethren, as it would compare to the trend toward Anabaptism portrayed in the developing Annual Meeting. Essentially, following the huge New Madrid Earthquake, and the corresponding Great Revival that spread through the area, included these "Frontier Brethren", and brought some changes to them. The "Annual Meeting Brethren" of the east, Maryland and Pennsylvania, had themselves changed during the American Revolution. They left the original Pietism, and embraced the Anabaptism of their neighbors and associates, the Mennonites and Amish. The differences between these two branches of the Brethren were enough that the Annual Meeting Brethren rejected the Frontier Brethren and put their leaders on the "Ban". Their criticisms of the Frontier Brethren practices resulted in the "ejection" of these churches. These congregations formed the "Brethren Association" and eventually became part of the formation of the Revival's Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ. As Pietists they joined the Methodist churchs. As Pietist "Eternal Restorationists" they became Universalists. As Baptists they became Primitive Baptists and General Baptists. Those remaining as Brethren moved on to the frontier in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. The book includes the expansion of these Frontier Brethren into far southern Ohio and Indiana. IT attempts to identify the families, to identify the leading individuals who may have been present in the several Brethren Churches and gives known migrations of these. It includes a genealogical appendix giving the several generations of the families studied (with family index) and includes associated studies of migration routes and specific leaders and topics. The Virginia Colony - the Four Mile Church of Union County Indiana (and adjacent Preble County Ohio area), founded 1809 - to about 1860. The book studies this First Brethren Church in Indiana - but explores the migration of the primary families as they moved from their beginnings in Pennsylvania and Maryland to Franklin County Virginia, then about 1806, and following, to Indiana Territory. It continues as the children and grandchildren moved across Indiana as various areas opened to settlement. The Four Mile Church became a "mother church" to about half of the Brethren settlements in Indiana. It concludes with the migration of two colonies to Iowa, in 1854 and 1855, and the death of two primary persons in 1860. Most of these families were the children of the Elder Jacob Miller and the kin of their spouses. The book includes a study of the founding Elder: "the first Brethren Elder in Virginia, in Ohio and in Indiana", and his children. About half of the book is the genealogy of these original families to 1860, including information on the known descendants at that time. It includes the 1833-1860 letters of the Col John Miller family to their sister in South Bend IN and the "Kanawha Trace" road followed by them from Franklin Co VA to Indiana Territory. Included is the 200th Anniversary Presentation of the "First 100 Years", including maps and pictures of sites and persons of the early church. I am also including two fictional presentations of their trips on the migration roads; The Journal of Nancy Lybrook - 1806 on the Kanawha Trace Nancy was 14 when these first families of the Four Mile Church in Union Co Indiana, made the trip by wagon from Franklin Co VA to Indiana Territory. This includes a possible reaction of this teenage girl to leaving her home in Virginia and facing the unknown future. It includes pictures of a number of the scenes and places she would have seen on the 40 day trip. It gives some typical events that would have been experienced on the trip. Nancy was a granddaughter of Elder Jacob Miller. The National Road Journal of Elizabeth Miller - 1828 on the National Road Elizabeth was 17 when the family moved from near Hanover Pennsylvania, to Preble County Ohio. Her father had died just previous to their leaving, and she was eldest of a dozen children. Her mother demanded her presence. Her boy friend was not coming. It was disaster. An attempt is made to give her known and surmised reactions and feelings, before and during the trip. It includes pictures along this earliest National Road and the home they established in Preble County Ohio. It was a 30 day trip, with the last portion being on a yet unfinished section of the road. Oh Yes, a few years later, Stephen Petry (and more Petry families) did come to Ohio - and Elizabeth did marry her boyfriend - but she was buried in the opposite corner of the Petry-Wherley Cemetery from him! Elizabeth's mother was a Petry daughter, this was a Petry family migration. Stephen was a cousin. Merle C Rummel | 
