Providence Baptist Church

 Cousin Dwight and I have been working on genealogy together for many years now.  We are double related through the Longs and the Grahams.

Several years ago cousin Richard Gannon and I photographed and transcribed many pages from the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Jefferson County Missouri.  Although we found many relatives and ancestors we did not find William Graham, Margaret Graham, Thomas Long and Susannah Baker who were early settlers of Jefferson County.  Because of the number of descendants who attended that church  and the Ware Baptist, we thought maybe they were early members and the records had been lost.

Dwight decided to look further down the Big River into Washington County Mo which was settled early because of the abundance of lead and other minerals important in the  early 1800s.  Providence Church interested Dwight because other Long family members attended that church when first coming to Missouri.  Possibly even our 4th grreat grandmother Elizabeth Mitchell Long ("old Grandmother Long" in the document below)  who had livedwith her son Samuel, our Thomas's brother.

Marg. Ann Grahaam is very faded and at the bottom

While looking at the records, Dwight found a "Margaret Ann Graham" and a "Susan Long" along with the Bakers.   We'd known from the McCarrell family Bible that Margaret's middle name was "Ann" but this was confirmation that we had the right woman.

Susan Long Wallace, daughter of Milton Long
granddaughter of Susannah Baker and Thomas Long

It had never occurred to me that Susannah's name might have been shortened to "Susan" and yet, she had three granddaughters named "Susan".  One born 1850 was the daughter of son Samuel, one born in 1848 was the daughter of her daughter Sarah Elizabeth and one born in 1858 was the daughter of Milton Long.

Many years ago, I tried to find Susannah Baker Long's family.  I was pretty sure she was a daughter of Elijah Baker, sister of Orson and Milton Baker because she named one of her children "Milton" which was a name that had never been in the Long family.  But, members of the famuly told me she was NOT from their family.  This might have been during my early days of research when I believed others knew better than I did.  She might have thought I was asking if she was the daughter of Milton.  Dwight found pretty convincing evidence whe was inded the daughter of Elijah Baker since their names were group together:  

Baker Brick Wall

In Genealogy, a "brick wall" is a line that you've searched and searched and the documents just aren't there or you can't find them.  DNA has helped with some of my brick walls.  Although the documentation may still be lacking, I know several lines through "leaps of faith".

One of those brick walls was my 3 great grandmother Susannah Baker who married Thomas Long in Kentucky 14 Dec. 1816. That was the only documentation I had for her.  I thought maybe she was related to Milton Baker in Jefferson Co. Mo (where they lived) and who attended church with my relatives:  Bethlehem Baptist Church. My g-g grandfather was even named Milton Long, but I couldn't find her in documentation or on anyone's family tree.  

So, I decided to look at the 1810 census in Warren Co. KY where the Longs were living.  The census that far back only has the head of the household named with a tally of how many lived with him (by age and gender).  Knowing how my family generally married people in the neighborhood that they went to church with, I was looking for a Baker living nearby who was Baptist.  I quickly found Elijah Baker with daughters the right age. He was on the page with many of the early Jefferson County residents or people who had married into my family:  Browns, Longs, Dinwiddys, Gambels, Mitchells, Mothershead, Pinson. 

I added Elijah Baker to my family tree with lots of ?????? indicating to anyone seeing my tree, that I'm unsure of the link. Well, that lead to his father Rev. Andrew Baker and BINGO---dna matches were appearing from others who were related to Rev. Andrew Baker.  Googling him I found that he was a Baptist preacher.  https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/8652620  I felt like I was on the right track.

Robert Bolling

But it wasn't until I discovered a Bolling that I felt certain enough to put it all in writing.  For several years I'd noticed a lot of people in my DNA matches who were Bollings (my daughter's mother-in-law's maiden name).  I also knew that some Bollings descended from Pocahontas.  Well, we are not THOSE Bollings but we do share the same father with THOSE Bollings.  Robert Bolling was first married to Jane Rolfe (Pocahontas' granddaughter).  His second wife was Ann Stith with whom he had 9 more children, one of whom was Rev. Andrew Baker's mother Mary.  Click here for more information.

So here is the ??? lineage, starting with my grandfather:

Roy Long grandfather

Thomas Henry Long

Milton Long

Susannah Baker

Elijah Baker

Rev. Andrew Baker

Mary Molly Bolling

Robert Bolling 7 great grandfather

Note:  Susannah Baker and Rev. Andrew Baker are in that line.  But, I now believe her father is James and his mother is also Susannah.  Oddly Susannah (mother of Andrew) did have a child named Bolling Baker.  Was her maiden name Bolling or her mother's?  Unlikely that Robert Bolling is in this line though.