I am a botanist and doing a small article on Mordecai Hyams for the NC Botanical Garden newsletter. I am curious to know how Mr. Hyams became a Presbyterian... Another of our botanists, Rev. Charles E. Raynal, was a Presbyterian minister in Statesville, NC and knew Charles Hyams, Mordecai's son. Was it through friendship and botany with Rev. Raynal that Mordecai converted?