The Allegheny Frontier: West Virginia Beginnings 1730-1830, by Otis K Rice. The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 1970.
pg 269-270:
"...Other German immigrants joined the Church of the Brethren, whose first
congregation in West Virginia was established in Petersburg by Valentine and
Martin Powers." (no date)(MacMaster says by 1772)
History of Grant & Hardy Co., by E.L. Judy, Charleston Printing Co 1951.
pg 38:
"Rev William N Scott: b 1789 d near Petersburg Jan 1857. Ordained Minister
of the Gospel....Presbyterian churches of Petersburg & Moorefield ...Old
Fields erected a memorial to him"
pg 40-41:
Early ministers of South Branch Valley some before 1800, many between
1800-1900
Jeremiah W Cullum--Methodist
Samuel Allenbaugh-United Brethren
Jacob Markwood-United Brethren
W. D. Barger-United Brethren
The History of Hardy Co 1786-1986, by Richard K MacMaster, c 1986, The Hardy Co Public Library.
pg 101:
"Methodist circuit riders...one of the local preachers from
Rockingham Circuit, Ferdinand Lair ...made regular visits to Methodist
congregations in Hardy Co. His name is found frequently on the Hardy Co
marriage register between 1796 and 1818."
pg 198-199:
"Celestine Whitmore originally a Roman Catholic was not only the first
Brethren convert but the first Brethren pastor in Hardy Co." (Also as
Selestine Whitmore, Elder)