USA > Virginia > Culpeper County > Culpeper County > A history of St. Mark's Parish, Culpeper County, Virginia, with notes of old churches and old families, and illustrations of the manners and customs of the olden time > Part 4
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This is the old brick church in the Little Fork which has stood for one hundred years, the mute memorial of other times and other men. The walls of this centennial church once resounded with the voices of sires, some of whose sons now pass by on the other side, or look coldly at the shrine where their fathers worshipped, and speak lightly of the anthems they sung in days of auld lang syne.
And rudely sighs the wandering wind, Where oft, in years gone by, Prayer rose from many hearts to Him, The Highest of the High. The tramp of many a busy foot That sought thy aisles is o'er, And many a weary heart around Is stilled forever more.
Oh! could we call the many back Who've gathered here in vain, Who careless roved where we do now, Who'll never meet again, How would our souls be stirred To meet the earuest gaze Of the lovely and the beautiful,- The light of other days.
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
The church wardens are ordered to let the following buildings on the glebe-land, viz .:- A kitchen thirty- two by sixteen feet, with an inside brick chimney with two fire-places, covered with good shingles and boarded with feather-edged plank. A quarter twenty by sixteen feet, covered with long shingles, and boarded with good oak-boards, and an inside wooden chimney. Also, a dairy and meat-house twelve feet square, each to be done in the best manner ; a stable twenty feet square, of sawed logs, covered with long shingles ; also, seven hundred feet of sawed paling, five feet long, with sawed rails three square. The . wardens are also ordered to let the building of a gallery in the Lower Church. John Green and James Pendleton are ordered to agree with Peter Bowman for two other acres of his land, for the use of the church.
1774. Benjamin Roberts and John Green are appointed church wardens for the ensuing year.
1775. The vestry met to lay the parish levy, but the inspecting law ceasing, they are in doubt what method will be pursued through this colony for levying and collecting the same, and concluded to await the opinion of the General Convention.
1776. The vestry met and proceeded to lay the levy. Robert Gaines was made the clerk of the Lower Church, in place of John Hume. It is ordered that Peter Bowman be paid two pounds for one and a half acres of land for the use of the brick church, and that Edmund Vass be paid five pounds for two plans for the brick church. The collector is ordered to pay Samuel Clayton three pounds seven shillings and sixpence for laying off the brick church lot, and Mr. Ball and James Pendleton are made church-
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ST. MARK'S PARISII.
wardens for the ensuing year. Richard Yancey is chosen vestryman in the place of John Green, in Continental service. (This is the only allusion to the Revolutionary War in the vestry-book. The vestry seem to have limited themselves rigidly to their duties, and never to have invaded the political sphere, although several of them were officers of the army, and all sympathized with the American cause. Culpeper county was conspicuous for the services of her sons in the old Revolution, having contributed eight companies of eighty-four men each to the army. Those companies were raised by the follow- ing captains, viz. : John Green, John Thornton, George Slaughter, Gabriel Long, Gabriel Jones, John Gillison, Captain McClanahan (a Baptist preacher), and Abraham Buford. In the notes and illustrations at the end of this volume will be found some inter- esting details upon this point. We return to the acts of the vestry.)
1777. Ordered, that the church wardens advertise the vacancy of this parish and the renting of the glebe. As Mr. Jones had not resigned, this looks like a broad hint that his resignation would be accepted.
1778. The General Assembly having suspended the salaries of clergymen, the vestry met to fix on some method of paying the salaries of the officers of the church, and recommended subscriptions for that purpose. The recommendation is signed by French Strother, James Slaughter, William Gray, Robert Green, Robert Yancey, Benjamin Roberts, Cad. Slaughter and James Pendleton. Burkett Daven- port is made vestryman in place of Wm. Williams, deceased.
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
1780. February 21st, the Rev. Edward Jones this day came into the vestry and resigned the charge of this parish. In March the vestry met at Captain Bradley's, and ordered that the Sheriff collect of each tithe in the parish five pounds tobacco, or in money at the rate of twenty-five per hundred. Robert Pollard and Lawrence Slaughter are appointed vestrymen to fill the vacancies. In the ensuing April the vestry met at the glebe, and agreed to receive the Rev. James Stevenson as minister of their parish, according to law, and Thomas Stanton was made lay-reader at the Little Fork Church, in the room of Philip Pendleton, resigned. The vestry met again in December of this year, and ordered certain payments to be made to John Jameson, clerk of the county, Henry Field, Reuben Long, Robert Latham, William Terrill, and Michael Sloane, for the benefit of the poor of the parish. Lawrence Slaughter and Robert Pollard churchwardens for the ensuing year.
1781. Robert Coleman made collector, and or- dered to collect of 1957 tithes seven pounds of tobacco each, for the clothing, feeding, and providing medical attention for the poor distributed among the farmers.
1782. Ordered, that the churchwardens inform the poor claimants of this parish three months before meeting that they attend the vestry (if able) and let their situation be known.
1783. Bowles Armstead appointed vestryman in the room of Benjamin Roberts, deceased.
1784. Resolved, That the churchwardens provide the goods for the poor on the best terms they can and report the result. James Jett is appointed clerk of the vestry, and Samuel Clayton and Robert Yancy church wardens.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.
This is the last meeting of the vestry recorded in the old register, which began in 1730. This gap in the record of the parish can only be filled with a general outline of its history, which must be gath- ered from many scattered sources. Rev. James Stevenson probably continued to be the minister of St. Mark's Parish until he exchanged places with Mr. Woodville, the former going to Fredericksburg and the latter coming to Culpeper.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH IN VIRGINIA.
1785. The Episcopal Church in Virginia had its first legislative council. For 175 years it had been in bondage to the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain. For political reasons it was not allowed to have a Bishop, nor to make a law for its own government, or for the discipline of its ministers and members. One of its first acts after becoming free, was to meet in convention and frame a constitution and code of discipline. Mr. Stevenson, with James Pendleton, lay deputy, represented St. Mark's in the Convention of 1785. One of the first acts of the Church, when free, was to divide the State into districts, the ministers in each district forming a " Presbytery." To supply, in some measure, the place of a Bishop, a clergyman was appointed to visit each district and to preside in its presbytery. Mr. Stevenson was made visitor of the district com- posed of the parishes of St. Mark's, St. George's, Bromfield, and Berkley. In 1786 St. Mark's was represented only by Robert Slaughter, lay delegate. Mr. Stevenson was the minister of Berkley Parish,
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
Spotsylvania, in the interval between 1768, when he was licensed for Virginia, and 1780, when he took charge of St. Mark's Parish. Col. Taylor, of Orange, in his diary of 1787, says :- " I went to James Taylor's to the marriage of Thomas Barbour and Jane Taylor by the Rev. James Stevenson," and in 1788 he says :- " Thomas Barbour's son was bap- tized and named James Taylor."
In January, 1794, he was elected by the unanimous vote of the people assembled at the market-house in Fredericksburg. It was during his charge of St. George's that those two institutions which have done so much good, the male and female charity schools, were instituted.
In 1799 Mr. Stevenson preached the annual sermon in behalf of these schools, whose pupils were required to go to church and be catechised by the minister, for which the teachers were bound to prepare them. In 1802 he preached an appropriate discourse on the anniversary of St. John the Evan- gelist, before the Masons of Fredericksburg. Soon afterwards he was confined by a protracted illness in Culpeper, from which he never sufficiently recovered to resume his ministry. The following correspon- dence will explain the occasion of his resignation :
FREDERICKSBURG, July 25th, 1805.
DEAR SIR :
In conformity to a resolution of the trustees of your church, at a meeting on the 24th inst., we beg leave to express the just sense entertained of your past services, and the sincere regret that your indisposition has so long deprived us of their continuance. It has been intimated that you had expressed yourself doubtful of your health's enabling you to perform those clerical duties, so justly appreciated; though from motives of personal consideration, the trustees feel a repug-
TFF
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REV. JAMES STEVENSON.
nance in the discharge of this duty, yet the welfare of this church requiring every attention that can promote it, and well knowing your unremitting zeal for its interest, we flatter our- selves that you will excuse the request we now make, of being informed of your intention of continuing in the office of your present appointment.
With sentiments of affectionate regard, we are, very respect- fully, dear sir, your obedient servants,
WILLIAM TAYLOR, JAMES BROWN, Church Wardens.
[Answer.]
CULPEPER, July 29th, 1805.
GENTLEMEN :
Your letter of the 25th current came to hand yesterday ; and I am requested by my husband to make his acknowledgments for the sentiments therein contained, both in regard to bis past services and health. As to the latter, he has but little hope of its heing established so far as to enable him to perform the duties of a parish ; but he begs you will believe, that the zeal he has hitherto manifested towards your church is still alive, and to hear of its welfare will ever be grateful to him. He therefore recommends it to the trustees to provide a min- ister as soon as they can, and that he may be one every way suitable is his sincere wish.
With much respect and esteem, I am, gentlemen, yours, &c., FRANCES STEVENSON.
Mr. Stevenson married Miss Littlepage, a lady of fine intelligence and culture. The Hon. Andrew Stevenson, who was Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives and Minister to England, and the late Carter Stevenson, were his sons. The Hon. J. White Stevenson, late Governor, and present Senator in Congress from Kentucky, is his grandson. Mr. Stevenson survived his resignation of St. George's several years, and departed this life June, 1809. The following brief item from the Virginia Argus
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
furnishes the only intelligence we have of the event : "Died on Friday in Culpeper, after a tedious illness, the Rev. James Stevenson, a gentleman much and deservedly esteemed by an extensive acquaintance."
Since the foregoing pages were written we have received from Dr. Payne, of Tennessee, some valuable illustrations of the lives of his grandfather Woodville and his great-grandfather Stevenson. Of the latter he says he was an invalid in his last days, having been stricken by paralysis, and was the guest of Mr. Woodville at St. Mark's glebe. Your father, he adds, Capt. P. Slaughter, was one of his vestrymen, and gave me many interesting incidents of his private life. His last family residence was Hopewell, near Fredericksburg, where the Hopewell nursery now is. His library was bought for a mere trifle by a gentleman of Fauquier, who designed returning it to the family, but died before fulfilling his purpose. The following is a copy of his letters of ordination (now before us), engrossed on parchment:
Beit known unto all men by these presents, that we, Richard, by Divine permission, Bishop of London, holding by the assistance of Almighty God a special ordination on Thurs- day, 29th of September, in the year of our Lord 1768, being the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, in the chapel of our Palace in Fulham in Middlesex, did admit our beloved in Christ, James Stevenson, (of whose virtuous and pious life and conversation, and competent knowledge and learning iu the Holy Scriptures, we were well assured) into the Holy Order of Priests, according to the manner and form prescribed and used by the Church of England; and him, the said James Stevenson, did then and there rightly and canonically ordain a Priest. He having first in our presence and in the form of law taken the oaths appointed by law to be taken for and in- stead of the oath of supremacy, and he likewise having freely and voluntarily subscribed to the 39 articles of religion, and to the three articles, contained in the 36th canon.
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REV. JOHN WOODVILLE.
In testimony whereof, we have caused our Episcopal seal to be hereuuto affixed. Dated the day and the year above written, and in the fifth year of our translation.
MARK HOLMAN,
LONDON.
Dep. Reg.
On the mitred seal appended is inscribed the seal of Richard Terrick, Bishop of London, 1764.
Among the documents sent by Dr. Payne is an original Thanksgiving sermon preached by Mr. Stevenson at Mattapony Church, Berkley Parish, Spotsylvania, on Thursday, 13th of November, 1777, on the occasion of the surrender of Burgoyne's army. In outward form the sermon is a curious relic of by- gone days. It is about four inches long and six inches wide. It consists of nineteen pages, with only nine lines on each page. In point of sentiment and literary execution it is excellent, and gives us a pleasing illustration of the picty and patriotism 'of one of our old colonial ministers.
REV. JOHN WOODVILLE.
In the progress of our narrative we have reached in Mr. Woodville a link between the two centuries, overlapping several generations. There are those now living who remember his antique face and form. Patriarebs who were once his pupils still linger on the horizon. Many survive upon whose brows he poured the waters of holy baptism ; some whom he' visited in sickness, and to whom he administered the holy communion ; and there are hundreds for whose fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers,' he performed all these offices, consigning them at last to the tomb in the burning words of our grand old
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
burial-service. His official advisers, those venerable vestrymen, Robert Slaughter, of "The Grange "; Peter Hansbrough, of " Coal Hill "; Champ Carter, of " Farley "; Jobn Jameson, Clerk of the County ; William Broadus ; Samuel Slaughter, of " Western View "; John Thom, of " Berry Hill "; Isaac and Wal- ter Winston, of Auburn, with whom he took counsel and walked to the house of God in company, are all gone. The parish register, in which were recorded his official acts, and which, like the old register we have been following, would have been such a fruitful source of information for the illustration of the history of the parish and county, cannot be found. We are therefore limited to the few facts scattered through the extant journals, and the memories of living men, for materials to construct a meagre skeleton of his administration.
Mr. Woodville having been a teacher, with a board- ing school under his charge, could not always attend the conventions, which were held in Richmond, the horse being almost the only mode of locomotion in those days. Mr. Woodville, who married a daughter of the Rev. James Stevenson, succeeded him as minister of St. Mark's. Mr. Woodville, like Mr. Stevenson, was elected minister of St. George's Parish by a vote of the people assembled in the market-house in Fredericksburg. The vote was ninety-six for Mr. Woodville and thirty-four for Rev. Thomas Davis, whereupon Mr. Woodville was proclaimed by the senior warden, Mr. Day, to be duly elected. In the Virginia Herald of that date we find two brief notices of him. In June, 1792, he preached a well-adapted discourse before the Masons. In a poem of the day, written by a minister apologizing for levity of
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REV. JOHN WOODVILLE.
conversation with which he had been reproached, occur these lines :
"Deny him not those aids within his reach ;
But let me laugh, and modest Woodville preach."
Mr. Woodville was Professor of the Humanities in the Fredericksburg Academy when Gilbert Harrow was Professor of Mathematics. These gentlemen were required to be examined by Bishop Madison in the classics and in the sciences. It is probable that Mr. Woodville spent some years in teaching before he was chosen as minister of St. George's Parish, as I find in the diary of Colonel Frank Taylor, of Orange, under the date of 1789, the following entry : " Mr. Woodville preached to a large congregation on Sunday at Orange C. H., and he preached to a much larger one on the Sunday before at Pine Stake Church, near Raccoon Ford."
In 1791 St. Mark's was represented in Convention by David Jameson as lay delegate ; in 1796 by Mr. Woodville and Robert Slaughter; in 1797 by J. Woodville and John Jameson ; in 1805 by William Broadus ; in 1812 by J. Woodville and. Robert Slaughter ; in 1814 by William Broadus. The Con- vention appointed Robert Slaughter, Peter Hans- brough and Garland Thompson to collect funds in Culpeper for the resuscitation of the church. In 1815 J. Woodville represented St. Mark's Parish, and the Rev. William Hawley and Samuel Slaughter represented St. Stephen's Church, which is the first appearance of the latter upon the record.
And now a new era begins to dawn on the Church in Virginia. The black cloud of despair is spanned by the bow of hope. The good providence of God
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
sent. Bishop Moore to lead the "forlorn hope," and never was there a man better fitted for the special crisis. Baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, his heart was a gushing spring of emotion, which overflowed his eyes, and streaming from his eloquent tongue and trembling hands, melted his hearers to tears. He wept over the ruins of the old churches and the scattered sheep without a shepherd, like the lamentation of Jeremiah over the desolation of Zion.
In St. Mark's Parish the first fruit of this new movement was St. Stephen's Church, at Culpeper C. H., and its first heralds were the Rev. Wm. Hawley and Mr. Samuel Slaughter, all making their first appearance on the record in 1815. There is no record that I can find of the building or consecration of St. Stephen's Church. It connects itself with history at this point, but when and how it came into being has eluded all my researches in print and in the memories of living men.
Bishop Moore reported having visited Culpeper during the past year, and confirmed sixty persons. This was the first and the largest confirmation ever held in the parish. In August of this year Bishop Moore preached in four places in Culpeper, and confirmed eighteen. He also reports having ordained Mr. Hawley to the priesthood, Mr. Hawley was elected a delegate to the General Convention. He extended his labors to Orange C. H., and after a ministry of two years he was called to St. John's Church, Washington, where he spent the remainder of his days, beloved by all men. Of his ministry in Culpeper and Orange, Bishop Meade said he " preached and labored with much effect." And Rev. Mr. Earnest, in his sketch of St. Thomas,
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REV. WM. HAWLEY.
Orange, says :- When Mr. Hawley began his labors in Orange the Episcopal Church had wellnigh died out. But three or four communicants remained. Under his ministry there began to dawn a brighter day for the Church. Some of the communicants added by him still remain. During Mr. Hawley's administration Bishop Moore made his first Episcopal visit to Orange, and preached with great effect, and administered the rite of confirmation to a goodly number. It was the first confirmation ever held in St. Thomas's Parish. Among the goodly number was the aged mother of President Madison, who had never before had an opportunity of ratifying her baptismal vows. The ministry of Rev. Mr. Hawley was evidently blessed in this parish ; but having been called to a larger field, he took charge of St. John's Church, Washington, which soon became a centre of much influence. In the course of Mr. Hawley's ministry there he numbered among bis parishioners many Presidents of the United States, and other persons of the highest social and political position, before whom he went in and out for more than a quarter of a century, "an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile." He was among the originators and most earnest supporters of our Education Society, and of the measures which led to the estab- lishment of our Theological Seminary. Of the tributes to his memory by Dr. Tyng and others, one of the most loving was by the Rev. Dr. Lawrie, of the Presbyterian Church, between whom and Mr. Hawley there prevailed an intimacy like that between Bishop Johns and Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, and between the Episcopal Buchannon and the Presby- terian Blair, of Richmond. When the prayers for.
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ST. MARK'S PARISII.
the sick were read at the bedside of Mr. Buchannon, he said, with childlike simplicity, " Pray for Blair, too." There is an anecdote of Mr. Hawley among the traditions current in' Culpeper which, whether true or not, is too good to be lost. The story is that Mr. Hawley wore ruffles on his shirt-bosom, as was common among gentlemen of that day, and that some ladies asked him to have them removed, as they were thought not becoming a clergyman. To this he gracefully assented. But he wore whiskers also, and was told that these were an offence to the weak brethren. To this he is said to have replied, with a gleam of mischievous good-humor playing on his face, " Oh no ! ladies. I must keep my whiskers to save my ears."
In 1817 St. Mark's Parish was represented by the Rev. Mr. Woodville and Wm. Broadus, and St .. Stephen's Church by Samuel Slaughter and Isaac Winston. In 1818, the same lay delegates, St. Stephens is reported without a minister, notwith- standing most strenuous efforts to get one. In 1819 St. Mark's was represented by Col. John Thom, who reported twenty-five baptisms, four marriages, nine funerals, and forty-five communicants, five of whom were additions since the last convention. In 1820 the Rev. Herbert Marshall came to Culpeper and took charge of the school at Capt. Philip Slaughter's, of which John Robertson, the father of Judge Rob- ertson of Charlottesville, and the Rev. Samuel Hoge, father of Dr. Moses Hoge of Richmond, had been masters. Mr. Marshall was ordained Priest by Bishop Moore at Walker's Church in Albemarle, aud officiated very acceptably for several years as pastor of St. Stephen's Church. His name only
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REV. G. A. SMITH.
occurs in 1822 in the Journals of the convention, with Wm. M. Thompson, father of present Secretary of the Navy, as lay delegate. His wife was the sister of the present venerable presiding Bishop. His brief and promising ministry was cut short by ill-health and a premature death. He, like Mr. Hawley, officiated at Orange C. H.
Mr. Woodville continued his modest ministry as rector of St. Mark's, officiating chiefly at the Lower Church and at the Little Fork, and occasionally at Stevensburg and the Courthouse ; but St. Stephen's Church seems to have been in a state of suspended animation, until it was revived by the coming of the Rev. G. A. Smith in 1826. Mr. Smith having been in charge of Christ Church, Norfolk, and finding it too heavy a burden for his delicate health, came to rusticate and to renew his strength in this Piedmont parish. His name appears in the convention journal as representing, with Samnel Slaughter, St. Stephen's Church, and with Peter Hansbrough as delegate from St. Mark's Parish in 1827. From that time till 1830 Mr. Smith officiated alternately at St. Stephen's Church and at Orange C. H., with occa- sional ministrations at Stevensburg and elsewhere. He established a Bible class, and societies in aid of mission and other Church charities. He gave an on- ward impetus to the church, reporting an accession of nine members by confirmation in 1828; and Bishop Meade reports eleven confirmations in 1830, when Mr. Smith, from physical infirmities, resigned his charge, an event deeply deplored in the report of the lay delegate, Dr. Winston, to the next conven- tion.
Mr. Smith is one of those mysterious instances, so
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ST. MARK'S PARISH.
trying to our faith, of a man thoroughly furnished for the work of the ministry, and with an eye so single to the glory of God, and yet, for the want of organs through which to reveal the light that is in him, has passed much of his life in the shade, com- paratively unknown and unsung, while men of far feebler powers and scantier furniture, but with stronger physique and more self-assertion, have worn the mitre and wielded the sceptre of influence. But he has not lived in vain. As editor of the Episcopal Recorder and of the Southern Churchman, and master of the school at Clarens, he has made his mark and will leave his impression upon many minds. He still lives, the patriarch of our alumni, and the fitting president of their society. May Providence prolong his years, that though his voice be hushed, the graces of his daily life, like angels trumpet-tongued, may plead the cause he loved so well. In this brief tribute I have departed from a rule laid down by Bishop Meade, and which I have prescribed to myself, not to sound the praises of living men, leaving that to those who may come after them and see their end. But as the case is unique, this single exception must prove the rule ; which, by the way, Bishop Meade did not always follow himself.
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