I am 64 years old, married the love of my life 'Miss Rande' in March 2004, and am a lifetime resident of Lincolnton, county of Lincoln, NC. Both paternal and maternal lineages are primarily from Lincoln, Catawba, or Caldwell counties in NC for a number of generations.
Sept. 2008 I accepted the privilege of serving as Chairman for a History-Centennial committee for Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church. Research on former members and serving pastors from 1910 to 1970 was initiated as the committee and church family began preparations for a special 2-hr. 100 year celebration program on Homecoming Day, Sept. 12, 2010. It was shocking to discover our church had no recorded history prior to 1934 (other than names of pastors, and mostly archive statistical data of the South Fork Bap. Assoc.), and very little from '34 to '55. Since 2010 I have continued as church historian, determined to fill in some of our 45-year 'blank slate' of missing history. The Internet, and our local library's research room, make that a greater possibility than ever before! Since 2013 our church learned: we were established in 1910 as Lincolnton (not Lincoln) Avenue Baptist; that our church name changed around 1930; that one of our 16 charter members was listed twice (maiden name plus married name) which meant we only had 15 charter members. Then in Aug. 2016, after 116 years, we discovered our first pastor's name had been misspelled, located a rich genealogy of his family, and 'met' him through family history and photos for the very first time. It doesn't get much better than that! :)

I am 64 years old, married the love of my life 'Miss Rande' in March 2004, and am a lifetime resident of Lincolnton, county of Lincoln, NC. Both paternal and maternal lineages are primarily from Lincoln, Catawba, or Caldwell counties in NC for a number of generations.
Sept. 2008 I accepted the privilege of serving as Chairman for a History-Centennial committee for Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church. Research on former members and serving pastors from 1910 to 1970 was initiated as the committee and church family began preparations for a special 2-hr. 100 year celebration program on Homecoming Day, Sept. 12, 2010. It was shocking to discover our church had no recorded history prior to 1934 (other than names of pastors, and mostly archive statistical data of the South Fork Bap. Assoc.), and very little from '34 to '55. Since 2010 I have continued as church historian, determined to fill in some of our 45-year 'blank slate' of missing history. The Internet, and our local library's research room, make that a greater possibility than ever before! Since 2013 our church learned: we were established in 1910 as Lincolnton (not Lincoln) Avenue Baptist; that our church name changed around 1930; that one of our 16 charter members was listed twice (maiden name plus married name) which meant we only had 15 charter members. Then in Aug. 2016, after 116 years, we discovered our first pastor's name had been misspelled, located a rich genealogy of his family, and 'met' him through family history and photos for the very first time. It doesn't get much better than that! :)