USA > Missouri > History of the Blue River Baptist Association of Missouri > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
"A home to all the good assigned, A home where weary pilgrims rest ; They've gone before, we are left behind, But following in their footsteps fast. The years will come, the years will go, And one by one we'll follow on, But other ranks of men we know, Will fill our places when we're gone.
"In conclusion, we would suggest that in future one page of our minutes be set apart as a memorium page, on which the name and age of each deceased brother and sis- ter be entered, and that the churches in their letters give their names.
MARTIN RICE. · T. L. POWELL. B. F. HARDING."
118
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
An interesting report of the organization of the Wo- man's Missionary Society was received and put upon the minutes of the Association, and in the coming years those who may come after us will read and see in what a work their mothers were engaged in, in the year 1885 :
To the Blue River Association : First thanking you for your kindness in giving us a share of the time allotted to the Association, in which we might bring our depart- ment of the Master's work before you, and feeling that we would be co-workers with you, we ask a space in your minutes for this our report.
Immediately upon adjournment of your session, Tues- day, P. M., the sisters were called together by Mrs. Rogers, chairman of the temporary organization effected last year. The following churches were represented : Westport, Independence, First, Calvary, Olive Street, Kansas City, Union, Greenwood, Belton, Peculiar, Harrisonville, Pleasant Hill, Lone Jack, Index and Lee's Summit. A permanent organization was effected by the election of the following officers : President, Mrs. I. Banvard, Inde- pendence ; Vice President, Mrs. J. B. Wornall, Westport; Secretary, Mrs. E. F. Rogers, Kansas City ; Treasurer, Mrs. W. T. Campbell, Kansas City.
The committee appointed last year to draft constitu- tion and prepare a programme for a meeting, reported, and their report was adopted.
The Constitution makes the name of the Society: "The Woman's Missionary Society of Blue River Baptist Asso- ciation," and its object to increase the interest of the sisters in the bounds of this Association in missionary work, both home and foreign.
After accepting the offer which had been made by the brethren, of Wednesday evening, for our meeting, the Society adjourned, subject to the call of the President.
119
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
The weather on the evening so kindly offered us was so unpropitious it was impossible to hold the meeting at that time. We were again proffered a portion of Thursday ,evening, which we thankfully accepted, when our Presi- dent, in a few well chosen, beautiful sentences stated the object of our organization, and a number of reports from the local societies were read. These reports were exceed- ingly interesting, and presented the work much better organized and the interest greater than we had dared to hope for. But we trust and pray that we may be able to bring up to our next Association still better and more en- couraging reports.
MRS. E. F. ROGERS, Secretary. 1886.
The last meeting of the Association, up to the date of this writing, was with the church at Harrisonville, on the 28th, 29th, and 30th days of September, 1886, it being the fourth time that the Association had convened with that church. Forty-four years before this it had held its session there, with the Rev. John Farmer, Moderator, and it was then and there that his son, Jeremiah, our late Moderator, preached his first introductory sermon before the opening session of the body in which he so long labored, and over which in his late years he so long presided. Some of the old men and women who were present then remember that meeting and its incidents, especially the preaching on Sunday and Sunday night by A. P. Wil- liams, John and Jeremiah Farmer, when eight persons professed to have found pardon, and five of the eight were added to the church. But these three eloquent and faith- ful preachers and all the other ministering brethren there present, and in fact all then belonging to the Association, have been called home by Death, save and except one: worthy laborer, B. M. Adams, now of Colorado; and few,
120
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
very few, of the forty-three members then belonging to the Harrisonville or Hopewell Church were living to wel- come the Association at its last convening with that church.
One aged sister, Rhoda Hammontree, one of the origi- nal members in the constitution, and we believe the only one left, now of Pleasant Ridge Church, sent to the meet- ing a patchwork quilt of her own making, with the request that it be presented to the minister of longest standing in the Association; which, by a committee appointed for the purpose, was awarded to J. J. Robinson, who, in a few earnest and impressive words, accepted the quilt, and asked leave to donate it to the mother of Miss Emma Young, our missionary in China.
The introductory sermon at this last assembling of the messengers at Harrisonville was preached by the Rev. A. C. Rafferty. Perhaps we should say the Rev. Doctor Rafferty, as within the last year he has been created a D. D., a distinction and an honor well merited, and one which he wears with great modesty and distinguished ability.
J. B. Wornall was again chosen to preside ; F. M. Fur- gason, Clerk, and E. F. Rogers, Treasurer. Letters from thirty-five churches showed a membership of 3, 431. One new church, Mill Creek, received and added to the number, with a membership of twenty-seven.
But as a copy of the printed minutes of this last ses- sion of the body will be attached to and made a part of this history, we think it not necessary to detail the pro- ceedings of the meeting, being content in closing up this history to give a few reminiscences of the earlier years, and to make a comparison of the dead and by gone past. with the active and living present.
In looking over the published proceedings of the Asso- ciation in later years, and comparing them with those of
121
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
forty and fifty years ago, we are impressed with the change in the customs which we see between ourselves and our fathers and grandfathers of that day, and we are led to ask ourselves the question, whether Baptists are the same now that they were fifty years ago.
Though Baptists have been Baptists, the same in faith, the same in doctrine, and in their religious tenets for cen- turies past, and are the same in these respects yet, we must admit that customs and practices change, and that we have more formality and more following after the fash- ions and practices of others than formerly ; at least in this part of Missouri. One custom of the olden time not now in use was, at each session of the Association, to appoint some brother to write a circular letter to the churches composing the body. A letter of advice, or on some mat- ter of church polity, or church history, or some point of doctrine, which, if approved, was published with the min- utes. Another custom was to appoint a number of yearly meetings with the churches and assign the preachers to attend them, which custom has long ago been abandoned. It would seem also that the brethren, both lay and min- isterial, were more punctual and self-sacrificing than now in attending those meetings at a distance, and also in at- tending their own stated monthly services, which were often held in some brother's private dwelling. But I may be told that the Baptists of that day were deficient in lib. erality, and that their moneyed contributions were small and somewhat niggardly compared with that of our mem- bership to-day, and that the plain Christian duty of aid- ing and financially supporting their pastors was too much neglected. It would, indeed, seem so, if we judge from the records found in the annual minutes of the Association.
When the Association first met with the Harrisonville Church, in 1842, we find in the minutes of that meeting,
122
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
which contain but four pages of ordinary size, the follow- ing :
4th. Appointed a committee of finance to settle with the Treasurer, and to receive the contributions of the churches. This committee composed of Urial Murray and W. P. Redford. They report $9.25 in the hands of the Treasurer, and $16.42} contributions, making in all $25.622 ; and this is all the allusion we find in the min- utes leading to the conclusion that there was such a thing as dollars and cents in the world, except that James W. Waddell was appointed Treasurer and authorized to re- ceive from the former Treasurer the amount in his hands, and this same $25.62}, small as it was, we find was larger than the contribution was the year before.
Now compare this with what we find in the minutes of the last session held at the same place forty-four years after:
FINANCIAL SUMMARY.
Contributions for church expenses. $15,713 00
Contributions for city missions. 589 23
Contributions for Blue River missions. 499 01.
Contributions for State missions.
901 83
Contri utions for American missions
147 57
Contributions for foreign missions.
509 75
Contributions for ministerial education.
411 07
Contributions for American Publishing Society.
7 23
Contributions for minutes. 69 53
Contributions for other objects 8,444 52
Total $26,283 53
More than one thousand dollars for every single dollar that we find contributed in 1842.
True it is that the churches then were not in the habit of reporting church expenses and pastor's salary to the Association, for church expenses were small, and so was
123
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
the pastor's salary. The most of the churches worshiped in private houses, in school houses, or the humble log houses of worship, built by the voluntary labor and con- tributions of the membership and the community in which they lived ; and as to missionary contributions, it was before the day of missions, and our pastors for the most part, did not allow the word salary in their vocabulary, but supported themselves and their families mainly by manual labor on the farm, or in the workshop, and did not think it incumbent upon them to preach a sermon at least once a year upon the subject of ministerial support ; and were they living now they might, with some degree of honest pride, point to the record of their labors, and the success with which those labors were crowned; and they might challenge the churches of to-day to show as large a per cent. of increase as the records show in the years prior to 1850.
The following pages show in a tabulated form the strength, with the increase and decrease, of each one of the churches as reported by them at the successive ses- sions of the Association, and he who will carefully exam- ine this record will find much food for thought; and as it is in the natural, so in the religious world: seasons fruit- ful and unfruitful follow each other, governed by no gen- eral law, and though Paul may plant and Apollus may water, God gives the increase.
124
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
Big Sniabar.
59
73
72
62
62
63
60
56
Little Sniabar, ( Lexington,)
28
28
25
29
27
25
196
210
ix Mile
31
24
23
21
17
17
16
16
Pleasant Grove
74
91
118
132
130
130
171
186
Salem, (*New,)
53
50
38
36
31
40
27
43
44
Round Grove, (*Big Blue,).
21
19
*
Little Blue ..
15
22
28
36
40
44
46
54
20
Pleasant Garden
29
29
23
21
40
50
55
106
High Point.
30
32
43
38
44
22
22
27
30
Blackwater
24
31
25
36
25
28
18
19
26
Bethlehem
12
11
12
12
13
12
Liberty
14
16
15
17
24
42
55
Hopewell
25
30
32
37
43
43
Antioch.
16
21
18
Bethel, (*New,)
10
11
17
Mount Zion.
19
23
18
Clear Creek, (*Tebo,)
10
15
18
21
Mount Pleasant.
18
15
17
Post Oak
11
13
20
New Hope
31
43
Basin Knob or Lone Jack
Mound Prairie
West Fork
Brin Zion, ( *T bo,).
Grand River.
Mount Pleasant, ( * Tebo,)
16
Independence
Concord.
Providence.
Pottowatomie
Warrensburg
Mound Branch.
Spring Grove, ( * Tebo,)
Dover.
Blue Ridge
Warsaw, ( * Tebo,)
Pleasant Valley
Mount Olivet, ( * Tebo, ).
Hogl-s Creek, ( * Tebo,).
Norris Creek, ( *Tebo,).
Friendship.
Harmony
Walnut Grove, ( * Tebo,)
Bone Hill.
Mount Nebo
Deepwater.
Red Dirt
Mount Pisgah.
Oak Grove
Kansas City, 1st
saint's Rest.
.. .
... . ..
.....
......
......
Austin
......
. .
...
...
·
·
.
·
.
.
· .
.
.
.
. .
..
.. ...
...
57
90
Union.
17
31
47
15
27
16
Elk Fork, (New,).
11
Greenton Valley
33
Big Creek, ( now Index,).
.....
.....
..
...
125
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
186 20
192
186
210 36
178
182
280
280
350
362
310
289 53
45
51
58
52
72
73
43
55
*21
26
33
36
58
77
82
67
57
62
71
77
81
80
92
31
49
53
48
46
44
54
62
58
60
91
83
65
75
86
86
83
34
70
99
107
104
165
181
130
134
112
112
112
118
·117
125
118
130
39
42
43
40
35
59
59
66
61
64
59
82
85
128
140
131
130
34
34
40
37
39
40
99
95
101
105
56
67
63
83
85
74
74
67
51
86
82
78
82
94
120
133
164
171
225
224
155
181
157
145
173
212
114
136
120
106
107
139
155
154
161
174
188
188
192
189
156
136
125
104
15
34
53
75
66
85
67
63
58
55
.64
56
37
30
36
43
47
51
45
41
...
58
46
44
40
47
64
51
51
53
54
36
39
41
56
51
48
40
40
48
64
94
64
59
59
.76
105
73
63
80
83
74
76
68
82
80
80
31
63
91
90
103
148
167
103
104
114
118
113
131
121
127
117
103
113
110
127
70
75
70
69
78
72
72
75
71
70
73
78
74
63
75
87
10
15
15
10
19
19
20
18
25
32
*
20
16
15
15
14
18
16
50
32
35
18
44
43
44
44
23
31
46
45
37
39
46
47
47
61
78
78
84
119
109
110
12
16
16
20
20
24
23
28
38
40
74
65
77
75
95
22
10
47
69
65
61
50
8
97
103
94
86
77
15
15
15
36
56
58
63
*
73
76
88
132
.123
130
43
40
44
34
35
34
13
18
22
69
51
40
34
*
..
...
...
32
32
54
61
*
*
...
..
...
.
18
19
15
13
20
42
*
9
18
24
43
29
33
40
38
30
30
28
...
8
13
14
12
..
..
38
37
57
62
56
45
45
...
...
17
20
19
15
16
14
15
....
..
14
19
84
96
94
94
......
... .
...
. .
...
...
..
...
......
......
... ...
......
. .
...
53
99!
130
137
130
51
67
74
71
48
46
47
162
170
161
149
166
·184
175
185
180
215
194
63
72
84
91
77
77
37
33
89 37
42
41
33
34
26
19
69
50
50
39
18
18
25
26
69
59
50
47
63
57
62
42
42
52
43
13
16
16
16
13
9
21
19
*
10
10
16
14
8
41
47
52
28
31
50
15
16
20
43
43
50
67
20
25
104
126
167
167
173
20
26
20
*
....
78
87
92
86
91
39
39
33
13
13
18
21
22
17
25
23
43
47
72
79
76
105
32
37
35
47
47
45
42
39
343
342
396
411
457
476
21
......
...
133
129
118
75
14
13
19
24
13
.18
19
18
...
118
126
1860
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
Lexington
476
265
291
303
378
359
302
304
353
*
Six Mile
73
24
60
71
63
108
156
150
150
185
157 . 84
157 86
85
144 86 213
116 87 206
124 73
121
123
143
199
193
Salem.
92
26
. 32
38
37
85
81
107
85
74
82
Blue Spring.
130
74
93,
112
132
122
131
123
142
146
142
192
183
218
209
234
221
299
218
233
High Point ..
130
55
61
80
134
134
140
145
*
Honey Creek.
15
21
47
48
46
43
46
40
46
*
Liberty
67
37
43
49
..
.....
.....
87
89
85
85
50
59
66
105
85
75
76
84
Harrisonville
212
89
114
133
146
43
63
40
88
109
106
116
100
91
115
108
111
98
113
113
134 114
120
89
92
Index ..
89
73
123
149
130
148
144
138
160
146
115
98
96
121
100
104
102
107
120
112
111
Lone Jack ..
194
182
87
97
102
159
162
1.28
140
148
138
125
139
129
125
129
125
177
176
168
190
197
204
173
169
157
187
207
218
200
198
195
103
801
76
103
88
74
70
47
54
58
53
53
61
61
76
Providence.
95
58
67
110
72
82
92
112
85
62
*
..
*
...
88
80
83
86
93
96
98
99
67
64
72
Oak Grove ..
92
76
66
63
63
71
59
58
100
94
106
91
Kansas City, 1st
94
66
110
164
200
216
261
325
302
312
195
211
219
237
247
325
338
315
300
...
....
..
43
51
63
63
55
24
44
46
68
60 76
69
85
68
73
74
79
80
81
73
79
81
79
Concord ..
110
99
50
102
104
100
103
184
136
130
95
105
102
120
132
129
96
92
72
78
80
73
73
66
56
53
57
Holden.
20
24
25
18
18
18
*
Lee's Summit.
20
71
99
114
154
168
163
138
131
129
145
145
143|149
144
144
152
161
183
168
Mound Pleasant
71
37
32
West Point ..
16
36
......
111
123
146
181
183
190
191
182
183
193
146
146
148
142
137
137
Pleasant Hill
217 45
86
80
65
74
64
67
64
72
65
60
65
65
67
66
80
73
33
51
52
35
35
41
58
67
67
81
110
115
113
105
120
109
101
Eno ...
55
681
1101
1151
1101
1101
₭
..
......
..
....
186
190
218
185
215
220
224
205
181
157
138
140
119|
113
111
129
133
159
171
166
West Fork.
127
Grand River.
87
82
80
99
991
87
76
60
72
67
73
Blue Ridge ..
34
561
63
80
108
105
...
21
20
22
49
49
......
57
54
47
38
39
31
Kingsville ..
15
15
26
30
37
35
31
44
*
Pleasant Valley
52
24
Greenton
35
56
....
74
72
88
80
95
New Hope.
80
..
..
..
..
.....
Pleasant Ridge
50
56
69
168
182
194
181.
171
166
155
112
120
120
103
92
92
100
119
143
145
Warrensburg
Morristown or Freeman Independence ..
21
25
17
14
26
72
.. .
..
..
.....
....
189
153
187
172
165
Union.
164
100 75
110
96
' 88|
146
168
171
194
165
91
84
99
94
128 126
129
134
161
Westport
83
Dover ..
130
144
87
15
23
Bone Hill
29
25
26
23
24
20 . 18
46
54
60
58
130
120
103
...
. .
k
...
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
....
..
63
65
*
...
...
Mound Prairie.
230
103
48
52
New Liberty
....
...
...
...
...
.
34
75
80
70
302 163
141
. 74
74
.....
108
134
107
1860
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
Elm Spring
17
21
47
50
k
Aullville
..
24
38
48
61
K
Chapel Hill
27
34
35
36
*
Waverly
60
54
61
87
89
56
45
29
34
30
39
Pleasant View
73
83
103
97
65
...
59
115
161
Aubry, ( West Line, )
48
44
16
23
35
33
38
57
70
70|
65
54
65
83
Belton ..
33
39
44
41
32
30
29
29
29
30
25
Besonia
59
64
52
82
76
68
68
62
72
79
81
86
East Lynne.
97
117
140
166
198
210
262.
306
370
300
291
Calvary.
50
30
18
18
65
44
30
30
25
25
South Fork.
57
47
30
35
......
33
44
41
40
43
46
48
48!
49
45
55
67
Strasburg.
15
17
24
26
30
31
31
27
27
27
27
Sni Mills.
34
34
36
37
31
36
36
...
....
Willow Spring.
39
60
71
61
41
46
44
42
Wadesburg.
33
44
65
62
77
84
Scandinavian.
31
50
31
41
Peculiar
30
23
26
271
271
29|
29
..
..
..
* Joined the Lafayette and Lexington Association.
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
102
100
89
100
82
*
Post Oak .
48
68
73
78
Mill creek.
Kansas City, 3d, (Olive Street )
50
35
35
Mount Pisgah, Emanuel,
..
....
..
Centre View
..
. .
Antioch.
..
....
70
127
128
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
The following reminiscences by one of the eighty older members of the Association was published some months since in the Central Baptist, and it has no doubt led or will lead to other recollections by other brethren of the olden time, which if published would be interesting, and per- haps useful history to those of younger years who may succeed the present generation. This writer, in giving the editor some account of the proceedings of the session of 1885 at Lone Jack, concluded his letter thus :
"It was my fortune, perhaps my good fortune, when a youth of nineteen, to be present at the first Baptist Asso- ciation ever held in this county -held in October, 1833, at the Salem meeting-house, five or six miles east of Independence.
"That was before our Association of Blue River had an existence, and the meeting then held was the ninth or tenth session of the Old Fishing River Association, which then embraced all the Baptist churches on the western border of the State, from Arkansas to the Iowa line. The minutes of that session of the Association are now before me, and of the twenty-five churches then represented, only six were in the territory now occupied by the thirty-three churches of Blue River, and two of that number have ceased to exist, and others have taken their places. These are some of the changes that a period of fifty-two years in the march of time has made.
"Other changes equally great occur to the mind of your correspondent. The four ordained and the six licensed preachers then living and laboring in the present bounds of our Association are all gone; all dead, and their places are filled by thirty-three ordained, and nine licensed min- isters ; and in place of the three little log meeting-houses we have about thirty good and commodious church build- ings, in which the gospel is proclaimed regularly. The
129
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
messengers from the churches at that meeting are all gone, not one alive to-day, and very few of those who were present, as I was, at that meeting, are left amongst us to speak of it now. In the large assembly at our last ses- sion, I recognized but two faces that were at the old log meeting-house at Salem, in 1833. They were boyish faces then ; one a very small boy. Now they are like me-old men with gray hairs: Alvis Powell, near Lone Jack, and James Wilson, near Greenwood.
One year later, in October, 1834, Blue River Asso- ciation was organized, with ten churches, and three hun- dred and eighty-four constituted members. Fifty-two years have passed and of the three hundred and eighty- four members not one is in Blue River now; all gone. Six of these ten churches were in the present territory, and four of the six have remained with us to the present. The other four were in the territory now occupied by the Lafayette and Johnson Association; and three of those . churches have remained and are in that Association to-day.
In looking over the old minutes of the Association, or going back in memory to those early days of our history, I see the names of brethren near and dear to me, and to all lovers of true Christianity -Slayton, Warder, White, Savage, Powell, Franklin, Ousley, Caldwell, the Farmers, and many others who have crossed over the river and en- tered the Canaan of rest beyond, that rest to which we are all hastening and some day hope to come.
."While tracing the increase and decrease of the various churches belonging to this Association, it has been suggested that a few words should be devoted to the progress of those five or six churches which originally belonged to this, and withdrew to form the Mount Zion. anti-mission body. 1
" This is foreign to the purpose I set out with. Ir-
130
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
not requested by the resolution to write the history of Mount Zion or any part of it, and if I had been, I am not competent to the task, as I have none of her records and have a personal acquaintance with but few of the churches. It is true that I was identified with one of her churches, Pleasant Garden. When the separation took place, and when it withdrew from Blue River, I, with others of the minority, remained with it for a year or more, fondly hoping that it would reconsider its action and come back, and finally left it and the dear brethren with reluctance; and that church is the only one of the number that I have had an intimate acquaintance with since, but I think I may safely say that not only that church but all the others that left Blue River to form the Mount Zion are much weaker in numbers now than then.
" Pleasant Garden still has a name to live, but its mem- bership is not one-tenth as large as it was the last year it was represented in Blue River. This, however, is no proof that they are wrong and that we are right. Perhaps I have a kind feeling toward it because it is my mother church, the one my father and mother united with when first we came to Missouri, and into which I myself was afterwards received. We think they are in error; they think the same of us. Looking on their old house of worship a few days since, such thoughts as the following suggested themselves, which may be styled a church-yard elegy, a reminiscence or whatever else you please to call it:
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE.
Yon building sheltered in the wood, With mouldering and unpainted wall, A history has, which surely should My fondest memories recall.
131
BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI.
A house of worship years ago, Of late years seldom occupied ; The worshipers in death lie low, Or else in distant lands abide.
A thousand congregations bow, And chant their hymns in temples grand ; But this old house I'm viewing now Bespeaks the first one in the land.
When for the first religious band Historians hereafter search, The first within this goodly land, Was Pleasant Garden Baptist Church.
I do not mean this shattered wall Of senseless wood decaying fast ; But living stones my thoughts recall, Who will the storms of time outlast-
The men and women of that day, Far back in eighteen thirty-two;
Some young in years, some old and gray, Were builded better than they know.
When first their songs of praise were heard, And prayer was made for help divine, No other church had then appeared, 'Tween them and south Missouri line.
If we except the Mission School For Indians placed on the Osage, This was the opening vestibule, Which led to Christian heritage.
And now the heritage obtained, Its wealth of piety disclosed, The vestibule is still retained, Although 'tis now so nearly closed.
And looking on this empty fold, There comes a thought by memory nursed ; This house, although so seeming old, Is not the one they builded first.
132
HISTORY OF THE BLUE RIVER
Ah, no! "a few miles west of this, There stood a grove on rising ground, And in an opening interstice, Their house of worship first was found.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.