USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > The vestry book of Henrico Parish, Virginia, 1730-'73 : comprising a history of the erection of, and other interesting facts connected with the venerable St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02390 3542
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/vestrybookofhenr05henr
THE
VESTRY BOOK
OF
HENRICO PARISH, VIRGINIA,
1730 -- '73,
COMPRISING A HISTORY OF THE ERECTION OF, AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE VENERABLE
FURT WAYNE & ALLEN COL IND.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH,
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA,
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION,
BY
R. A. BROCK,
Member of the Virginia Historical Society, and Corresponding Member of the Numis- matic Society of Penn .; the Archeological and Numismatic Society of New York, and the Numismatic Society of Boston.
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.
RICHMOND, VA. 1874.
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.
PREFACE.
The preparation of the following pages for the press has been most pleasurable to me, being in grateful accord with tastes and aims deeply cherished and increasingly absorbing. The task, however, was a novel one, and has been attended with the disadvantage of having been performed in those hours of release from exacting daily pursuits which are usually devoted by others to amusement or repose. The re- sult is offered with much diffidence, as I do not claim any qualities requisite to such labors, other than those of earnest- ness and assiduity. I am painfully conscious of my defi- ciencies and can only expect that those who are disposed to be critical, will find much to condemn in this unpreten- sious tribute to the history of my native State. To such, the language employed may be objectionable, the arrange- ment unskillful, and the details frequently of local triviality, and perchance fully freighted with inaccuracies. For the first two faults, apologetic explanations have been offered ; to the third objection, I am constrained to urge that to the histo- rian, I feel that any detail which may serve to enhance the vividness of a local narrative, and to aid as a link connect- ing the past with the present, will not be idle, and surely some concession might be allowed to the proverbial reveren- tial craving of a people resident-for the traditions . proper of their own locality. To the last complaint, it can only be sorrowfully admitted, that in matters of minute historical narration or in gencalogical data, entire accuracy can neither be attained nor expected-the more especially when materials have to be drawn principally from tradition, unpublished memoranda and ephemeral publications. Only those whose labors require a resort to such sources can realize the per- plexities incident thereon -- among which may be cited-the reconciling of variances in different accounts, the drawing of deductions from mere illusions or scantily detailed events, and
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PREFACE.
the identification of individuals designated by family name only. To the truly earnest student of history all contribu- tions to its truth or accuracy by the correction of error or- the addition of facts are ever gratefully welcome. The. fragments of genealogy embodied in the appended untes, are .. I regret, very deficient in requisite essentials. They are: offered in their present crude and unsatisfactory state, prin -- cipally with the hope that they may serve as stimulating; nuclei for the use of those who, from consanguinity, it might be hoped would be interested in them. The inestimable- value of genealogy is every day becoming more fully recoge nixed by the careful historian, for the precision in individu- ality, era and location of event, to which it enables him ; now is he less appreciative of the assistance to be derived from the contemporancous journals and narratives of private indi> viduals and local bodies, for they offer features to him which the dignified historian has ignored, arraying, as they do, be- fore our mind's eye, in vivid reality, the people of a period as they were in every aim and requirement of life, enabling oftimes an instantaneous deduction of incentive or cause; which the stately pages of history from their generality might have baffled. Might it not be here pertinent to enquire if history would not be a more valuable and satisfactory guide if its pages were made to include an account (disposed according to the taste of the historian) of its actors in their daily pursuits, with their results, their dress and their social customs !
In conclusion, I desire to avail myself of this opportunity to testify my grateful appreciation of the many favors, the valuable advice and the hearty sympathy which, in the proses cution of my tastes during a series of years, that I have. been the recipient of from my constant friend, Thomas H. Wynne, Esq., at whos: suggestion, indeed, the prese it effort was undertaken, and at whose cost it is now being printed. I know of no one to whom my fellow-citizens of the Old Do- minion owe more than to him for his life-long devoted efforts in the preservation of record and relic elucidating her history and archeology, nor can his claim in the cause of her mate: rial interests be deemed a slight one,
R. A. B.
·
INTRODUCTION.
Surely no portion of the early history of Virginia can more attractively appeal to the thoughtful of her sons than that relating to Henrico Parish, enriched as it is with incidenta the most important and deeply interesting. It comprised within its limits the second settlement made in the Colony, the town of Henricopolis, (afterwards contracted to Henrico) which was founded by Sir Thomas Dale, at the head of one hundred and fifty settlers, in the early part of the month of September, 1611. It received its name in honor of Prince Henry, the oldest son of James the First, and was built upon that peninsula on James River, which is formed by an ex- traordinary curve in its course resembling that of a horse- shoe -- the river, after a sweep of seven miles, returning to a point within one hundred and twenty yards from that of its « deviation .* The name of the bend, Dutch Gap, by the events of the late war, attained a historic notoriety: a navigable canal across its narrowest breadth, the digging of which for mili- -tary advantages, was commenced by the Federal General, B. F. Butter, has recently been completed. The first rector of Henrico parish was the Rev. Alexander Whitaker, who ac- companied Sir Thomas Dale to the Colony in 1611. He was :a truly pious man, and his zealous efforts in the cause of re-
* Camphell's Vo., P. 125.
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INTRODUCTION.
ligion among the Indians, promised the most fruitful results_ They were unfortunately terminated by his accidental deatlz by drowning, in 1617. Two events occurred in the year 1614 .. which were of the deepest import to the welfare of the Colo- nists : the baptism and marriage of the gentle Pocahontas .. It is a matter of controversy whether they occurred at Hen- rico or Jamestown, but it is conceded that the officiating" clergyman was Mr. Whittaker. * To the town and parish of Henrico also belong the honor of the first active movement, on a large scale, in the cause of education in the Colony, for though King James had some years before this, through the Archbishop of Canterbury, called upon the Bishops and Clergy of England to take up collections for the founding of a University in Virginia ; yet it was not until the year 1619 that the Virginia Company having their attention called to the subject, caused to be circulated a subscription to defray the expenses of founding a college to be located at the town. of Henrico. An appropriation of fifteen thousand acres of land, lying on both sides of the river, was made, and during this and the following year, one hundred laborers were im- ported to cultivate them ; eighty young women were also sent over as wives for the men. The products of the land were to be devoted to the support of the College. During the years 1619-20-21, some £1,300 sterling and books to- wards a library, were subscribed. Preparations for carrying into effect this most enlightened measure, were being super- intended by Mr. George Thorpe, (a kinsman of Sir Thomas Dale) when it was abruptly terminated by the lamenta- ble massacre of the Colonists, by the Indians, on the 22d of March, 1622. Mr. Whittaker administered at both Henricop-
.
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INTRODUCTION.
· olis and Bermuda Hundreds. He was succeeded, as rector, by his assistant, the Rev. William Wickham, and he, in turn, by the Rev. Mr. Stockam ; then we have no definite account of a minister until the year 1685, when the Rev. Jas. Blair settled in the parish ; he remained its rector until 1794, when he became President of William and Mary College, and Commissary of Virginia .* He appears to have been succeeded by the Rev. George Robinson,t who was in charge in 1695. The next account we have of the parish is of date 1724, and is contained in an answer to the circular of the Bishop of London, but unfortunately the original manuscript was mutilated, by the cutting away of the name of the min- ister subscribed, The minister had been in the parish four- teen years. The bounds of the parish were eighteen by twenty-five miles ; it contained two churches and one chapel. There were eleven hundred tithables, slaves sixteen years old, and four hundred families. The attendance at church sometimes numbered from one to two hundred. There was no public school. There were only about twenty communi- cants at a time when sacrament was administered .:
The Vestry Book, the original of our text, continues more definitley the history of Henrico Parish. Commencing with the minutes for the year 1730, the record is continuous to the year-1773, inclusive. A meeting of the Vestry appears to have been held at the Court House of Henrico County, July 8th, 1771; the two additional meetings, the minutes of which are recorded, must have been held at the same place.
-
* Campbell's Va., P. 304. 7 Bishop Meade, I ; FP. 79, 136-7.
# Perry's Virginia Church Papers, p. 35.
1
F
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INTRODUCTION.
The Vestry Book, we have good reason to conclude, was left among the records of the Court for safe keeping; the troub- lous revolutionary period succeeding. its place of deposit was most likely overlooked, and soon the very existence of the book forgotten. It remained unnoticed among the Court records until within a year or two past, when its character was accidentally discovered by Peyton Rhodes Carrington, Esq., of this City, who promptly took steps to have it restored to appropriate custody. It is now in the possession of the Ves- try of the venerable St. John's Church, who most obligingly allowed the editor the privilege of transcribing its contents; which he has faithfully endeavored. The volume is a folio, measuring eight inches in width by twelve inches in length, with a binding twice covered with vellum, now much discol- ored. The record contained, comprises one hundred and ninety-one manuscript pages, which, with the exception of a few time-faded spots and margins, are still entirely legible. There are a few additional blank leaves, and palpably some are missing from that portion of the book devoted to a regis- try of the births and deaths in the parisb. The water-mark of the paper is that of the reign of George IT. There are no means of determining who was the Rector of Henrico Parish from the time of the incumbeney of the Rev. George Rob- inson, to that of the opening of the Vestry Book, in 1730, with the Rev. James Keith as Minister. His connection with the Parish was severed March 2d. 1733. We now find that the Rev. Zachariah Brook and the Rev David Mossom offi- ciate at intervals until sometime in 1735. In September of that year, the Rev. Anthony Gavin, who appears to have alrealy ministered to the Parish, accepts a call to the rector-
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INTRODUCTION.
ship-there is no record of the surrender of his charge ; * but on July 18th, 1786, the Rev. Win. Stith having produced letters of recommendation from Geo. Gooch and Commissary Blair. and having that day administered divine service to the satis- faction of the Vestry, was thereupon elected rector. Hle re- signed December 3d. 1751, to take effect October 1st, 1752, having been elected President of William and Mary College, and being called at the same time to the 'rectorship of St .. Anne's Church, his incumbency of these positions commencing with the latter date. The Rev. Roscow Cole is next called, but appears not to have accepted. The Rev. Joseph Bewsher or Berewshert --- (it being so variously spelled in the original) was unanimously elected June 22, 1752, to succeed Mr. Stith ; but he appears to have resigned before entering upon charge, for we find the Rev. Miles Selden to have been elected August 25th, 1752. He continued in charge the remainder of the period covered by the ofil Vestry Book, and from published lists of Parish Rectors, was still reported as the Rector of Henrico Parish in 1776. It is highly probable that the di- vine service was but seldom performed in the churches of Ilemico Parish, if they were not closed during the years com- prising the period of the Revolutionary War and immediately following it, since the church establishment then fell into en- tire neglect.
The further history of the parish may now be limited to its most interesting memorial, the venerable St. John's Church, which if not admitted to be the cradle of liberty in Virginia,
* The Rev. Anthony Gavin addressed a letter to the Bishop of London, from St. James' Parish, Goochland, August 5th, 1738,-Perry's Va. Papers, p. 360.
+ This was most likely Jonathan Boucher, since there occurs no such name as that of the text in the published list of the Episcopal Clergy of this date.
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INTRODUCTION.
1
is surely entitled to the claim of having been its fostering temple-for within its hallowed walls, met on the 20th of March, 1775, the second patriot convention of Virginia, and and here it was that Patrick Henry with an eloquence born of unfettered nature's own sublime simplicity, sounded the tocsin of freedom, in that famed soul-stirring effort, concluding with the immortal words " Give me liberty, or give me death "* Here, again, it met on the 17th of July following; and here, also, in 1788, met that sage body of statesmen who ratified the Federal Constitution. The church situated in the eastern part of the city, upon Richmond Hill (so named from its resemblance to Richmond Hill on the Thames, ) the most beautiful of all from which Richmond derives its designation of the "City of the Seven Hills," is a plain wooden structure of irregular form, approaching that of the letter "T, with a sharply ridged roof ; it is surmounted on the north side by a belfry and spire con- taining a bell the most melodious in sound of any in the city, and is embosomed in a beautiful grove of varied growth. t The yard, occupying an entire square, is elevated several feet above the streets, and is well enclosed with a brick wall of ample heighth ; it is ridged with the little hiflocks, and
* The chancel was formerly in the southeast corner of the original church build- ing, and the orator is said to have o coupled a position near it whilst delivering his memorable speech. The original pulpit, which is said to have been brought from England, is still in use. The sounding board overhead was inlaid in the form of a s'ar, with woods of different colors but is at present painted white.
i The original Church was built with the ends almost duly north and south, and it occupies nearly that position with regard to the corners of the church-yard, be- ing situated a little within the limits of the lower half of its area. There was a door with two small windows above lighting the gallery in the western end, a large window and a smaller one above in the eastern end, and probably six windows on either side ; with the addition on the south, of a door, these six circular top vin- dows remain-the lights or window panes of which measure only six by eight inches.
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INTRODUCTION.
thickly studded with the mouldering and moss-grown monu- ments of the dead, for more than a century past. *
Its commanding location affords a view of the surrounding country of rare and varied loveliness. Taking our stand be- neath the western eaves of the old church, and slowly turning, we have passing our vision a panoraina which at once entrances the senses. In the distance, in their wild grandeur of rocks, (a rugged rupture seemingly of nature's upheaving bosom) green islets and foaming currents, the famed falls of the James (the ancient Powhatan; give forth a sullen and con- tinuous roar, in their angry course ; Hollywood Cemetery, sublimely picturesque in its noble groves, gleaming monuments, hills and sequestered vales, threaded by silvery streamlets ; the peacefully gliding canal, with its line of boats ; the cele- brated Tredegar Iron Works, with their glowing furnaces ; and flame-belching chimnies, the desolated walls of the State Armory-a memory of that culmination of calamity, the awful visitation of the 3d of April, 1865; the imposing Gal- lego and Haxall Flouring Mills ; our fair city with its towers, steeples and prominent. central figure of the capitol, with its surrounding beauty of meandering walk, grass plot and green shades-are all gathered in a single coup d'veil. Now changing our position to the south of the Church, the noble James spreads out into nearly a mile's breadth beneath us,
* The Editor having carefully transcribed all of the epitaphs (among which are those of many of Virginia's revered sons) contained in the old church-yard, and possessing besides a copy of the Parish Registry of births, deaths and marriages, -from the time of the incumbency of the Rev. Dr. John Buchanan, he hopes at some future time to be able to present them also in durable form, as a continuation of the present volume. Tradition allins that the first baptism in the Oli Church, was that of Samuel Ege, who, if now living, would be one hundred and fifty years
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INTRODUCTION.
with its spanning bridges ; the town of Manchester, with its cotton, woollen and flouring mills, whilst lower down, along its northern margin, lie the Richmond Docks, studded with a little forest of masts and rigging ; below, on the southern side, are the nuted " Falls Plantations," whilst on either side lie broad and fertile flats, flanked by dense forests.
The building of the Church, now known as St. John's, was determined on by the Vestry of Henrico Parish, hell Decem- ber 20th, 1789, and was directed to be located upon the lands of Wm. Byrd, 'The dimensions were to be twenty-five in breadth, by sixty feet in length, with a pitch of fourteen feet- Richard Randolph contracted to build it at a cost of €317. 10 shillings current money, agreeing to complete it by the 10th of June, 1741. On the 13th day of October, 1740, a letter of Wm. Byrd, dated the 12th, professing to give two lots im the town of Richmond * as a site for the Church, it was
% These were lots 9; and 98, (each containing one-fourth of a square) in the original plan of Richmond, as laid off for Wm. Byrd by Major Wm, Mayo, in April, 1737. The Church-yard was extended to its present limits in the year 1799> by the purchase on the part of the City of Richmond, of lot Ir1, from Dr. John Adams, And of lot 112 from Col. Richard Adams, Jr., executor of Thomas B. Adams. The City Council then, by on arrangement (the only previous action was of dare August 13th, 1782, appointing a committee to superintend the regist ring of births, deaths and marriages in the town,) with the Church Vestry, caused the en- tire ground to be enclosed. The dead of every denomination were thenceforth a !- lowed to be interred within their limits, until the establishment of other cemeteries by the city- (that on Shockoe Hill was authorized June 19th, 1815;) the keeping of the enclosure in repair, to be at the expense of the corporate authorities of the city, in whom were vested the power to establish regulations for the same. By ordinance, now in force, a yearly appropriation is made towards repairs, and the expenditure of the same and the control of the church-yard is vestes in a com- mittee of three, appointed by the council. The present committee consists of Messrs. Thomas H. Wynne, President of the Councht, C. B. Lipscombe and R. A. Brock. The sexton of the old church-yard was, for many years, at the beginning of the present century, a woman, a Mrs. Charity Bowers, who was sometimes as- sisted by her song. Her successor was Joseph Myer. The duties have been per- formed for some years past successively by an Italian named Griffini (commonly called Jack) and his son Antonio.
It is a source of mortification and regret, that the old church-yard has not
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INTRODUCTION.
agreed definitely to accept his offer, and to erect the church upon the hill called Indian Town, at Richmond, agreeably to the former contract with Richard Randolph. The designa- tion of the church, for a long while, appears to have been simply the " upper church, " " Church at Richmond, " "' Henrico Church, " or the " Church on Richmond Hill. " The title, St. John's, must have been decided upon by the Vestry, at a meeting held April 20th, 1829-for on the · 25th instant following, the name is first so recorded .* An
addition to the church upon the north side, twenty-five feet in width by forty fect in length, with a gallery on both sides and in one end, was decided upon by the Vestry, at a meet- ing held December 8th, 1772 + For a period succeeding the Revolutionary War, the Episcopal Church in Virginia appears to have been in a dormant condition, and the Old Church at Richmond, it is presumed, remained quite as much neglected, as her sisterhood scattered over the State.
A meeting was held March 28th, 1785, at the Court House In Richmond, agreeably to a recent Act of the Virginia As- sembly, granting the Episcopal Church certain privileges of fepure and property, as enjoyed by other religious sects, which by previous esactment had been denied to reorganize the Church on Richmond Hill, and the following Vestrymen were elected :
always rec ived from those in charge that care and attenion to which its appealing past so completely entitles it-for in one of its corners lie heaped a confused mass of tombstones, entire and fra_mentary, (among them several of prominent and cherished citizens) which we are informed, having from time to time fallen at their proper st tions, instead of being promptly reset, were removed to their present igno- ble place of deposit. Their proper positions were speedily forgotten, and now the graves of the honorable dead are unmarked and their indentification rendered an · imposibility. How could this have been allowed to oceur ?
* The present Vestry Book of the Church (commencing March 28th, 1785.) from which most of the facts in the ensuing pages have been drawn.
t This was lighted with two rows of windows on each side, each three in num- Ber, the second line being intended to light the galleries.
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INTRODUCTION.
Edmund Randolph, * Turner Southall, Jacqueline Am- bler, ¡ Nathaniel Wilkinson, Bowler Cocke, Daniel L. Hyl- ton, 1 Miles Selden, Jr., Thomas Prosser, Hobson Owens, William Foushee, !! John Ellis (son of John) and Willians Burton, of whom Edmund Randolph and Bowler Cocke were chosen Church Warders. At a meeting of the said Vestry, held at the Court House at Richmond, May 10th, 1785, the Rev. Jno. Buchanan (D. D. William and Mary College, 1794,) was chosen as Rector of Henrico Parish. He was a pious and good man, simple in his tastes and economical in his habits Inheriting a competency from his brother James, § who had been a successful merchant .of Richmond, he is reported to have claimed but little as salary from his parishoners. By resolution of the Vestry of April 27th, 1790, Ministers of other denominations were permitted to preach in the Churches of the Parish, and on the 18th day of April, 1812, special permission was given the Rev. John D. Blair, a Presbyterian, to fill the pulpit of the Church on Richmond Hill every al- ternate Sunday. The venerable author of " Richmond in By- gone days," alludes quite touchingly to the regard existing
* Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia, Attorney Gen'l U. S., &c.
i Jacqueline Ambler, member of the State Council during the Revolution, and Treasurer of the State for a series of years afterwards.
* Daniel L. Hylton was a wealthy and influentia' merchant, and a member of the Council of State.
William Foushee (born October 26th, 1749, died August 2rst, 1824,) was a prominent man in our local annals. He was a graduate of the Edinburgh Medi- cal College ; first Mayor of Richmond, being elected July 2d, 1782 ; and afterwards for many years, its Postmaster -- a daughter of his, Jsabella, married Thomas Ritchie, the founder of the " Richmond Enquirer " and the " Father of the Dem- ocratic Party ; " another married Willums Carter, of Broad-neck and North Wales ; and a third, Col. Richard E. Parker, of the ill-fated Miranda Expedition.
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