USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > Annals of Henrico parish > Part 10
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Butler, Thos. F., elected May 6, 1844-1851.
Raleigh, Hugh, elected May 13, 1846-1852.
Talliaferro, Dr. Hay D., elected May 13, 1846-1851.
Carrington, Jos. M., elected April 26, 1848-1857.
Baldwin, Oliver P., elected May 21, 1851-1854. Served also as Warden.
Yarbrough, Wm. J., elected October 25, 1852-1879. Alfriend, Thos. M., elected October 25, 1852-1855.
Enders, Jr., John, elected May 8, 1854-1866.
Van Lew, Jno. Newton, elected May 8, 1854-1863. Stokes, Allen Y., elected May 8, 1854-1869. Served also as Warden and Treasurer.
Randolph, D. Copland, elected May 8, 1855-1859. Served also as Warden and Register.
Taylor, Thos., elected May 8, 1855-1859.
Yerby, Lemuel, elected March 13, 1857-1867. Served also as Warden.
Knox, Dr. John, elected May 5, 1858-1870. Served also as Warden and Register.
Smith, Jas. B., elected May 5, 1858-1863.
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Greaner, Capt. Jno. H., at intervals, elected May 14, 1859-1878. Served also as Warden and Treasurer.
Johnson, Andrew, elected May 14, 1859-1867.
Brown, Gen. Alex., elected September 14, 1861-1864. Served also as Register and Warden.
Wilkins, R. A., elected October 4, 1861-1863.
Viles, Jno., at intervals, elected April 6, 1863-1887. Pullor, J. M., elected April 6, 1863-1886. Cammon, Chas., elected April 6, 1863-1886. Taylor, Chas., elected April 6, 1863-1886. Fontaine, J. R., elected May, 1866-1886.
Potts, Thos., elected May, 1866-1873.
Johnson, Chas., elected May, 1866-1869.
Ellett, Andrew E., elected May, 1866-1869.
Glenn, Jno. F., elected May, 1866-1874. Served also as Warden and Register.
Baldwin, Geo. T., elected April 22, 1867-1870.
McMinn, David A., elected April 22, 1867-1880.
Carrington, P. R., elected April 22, 1867-1872. Served also as Warden and Assistant Treasurer.
Whitehead, Col. Jno. D., elected March 29, 1869-1876. Bossieux, Louis J., elected March 29, 1869-1878. Served also as Treasurer.
· Bossieux, Cyrus, elected April 18, 1870. (Still serving as Vestryman and Warden. )
Bell, Geo., elected April 18, 1870-1879.
Perry, A. H., elected April 12, 1873-1875.
Shields, Jas. W., elected April 6, 1874-1895. Served also as Senior Warden.
Minor, G. G., elected April 14, 1873. (Still serving as Vestryman. )
Saunders, E. A., elected March 29, 1875-1893. Estes, Jas. M., elected March 29, 1875-1886. Newton, Virginius, elected April 17, 1876-1877. Southern, H. F. W., elected April 17, 1876-1886. Harrison, Dr. J. P., elected April 17, 1876-1878. Stokes, W. G., elected April 2, 1877-1885.
Palmer, W. Ben, elected April 2, 1877-1882. Nolting, Jr., A. W., elected April 29, 1878-1880.
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Mayer, Jno. F., elected April 14, 1879. (Still serving as Warden and Treasurer. )
Hughes, S. B., elected April 14, 1879-1884.
Curtis, Jno. A., elected March 30, 1880-1894.
Whitlock, Sr., J. E., elected March 30, 1880-1882. Brown, Richard L., elected April 16, 1881-1893.
Crump, Dr. L. C., elected April 10, 1882-1899. Fitzwilson, Chas. E., elected April 10, 1882-1884.
Roane, J. R., elected April 14, 1884-1894.
Macon, Thos. S., elected April 26, 1886-1892.
Taylor, Geo. K., elected October 8, 1886-1892. also as Register.
Served
Currie, Geo. L., elected October 11, 1886. Still serving. Howard, Benj. F., elected April 7, 1890. Still serving. Estes, Jas. T., elected April 18, 1892-1895. Served also as Register.
Moore, J. S., elected March 26, 1894. Still serving.
Craigie, F. J., elected March 26, 1894. Still serving and Lay Reader.
Blankenship, W. S., elected April, 1895. Still serving. Reed, W. C., elected April, 1895-1898.
Allen, Jas. H., elected April 6, 1896. Still serving.
Shine, R. Edgar, elected April 6, 1896. Still serving and Register.
Armstrong, J. N., elected April 3, 1899. Still serving. Mussen, Thos., elected June 6, 1899. Still serving.
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THE FAMOUS Revolution Speech of Patrick Henry,
DELIVERED BEFORE THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION IN ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, 1775.
"Mr. President," said he, "it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this," he asked, "the part of wise men, engaged in a great and ardous struggle for liberty ? Were we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes see not, and having ears hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation ? For his part, what- ever anguish of spirit it might cost, he was willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and provide for it."
"He had," he said, "but one lamp by which his feet were guided; and that was the lamp of experience. He knew of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And in judg- ing by the past, he wished to know what there had been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen had been pleased to solace themselves and the house? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received ? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation ? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love ? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation, the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission ? Can gentle-
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men assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies ? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them ? Shall we try argument ? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject ? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable ; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication ? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have suppli- cated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional vio- lence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded ; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending-if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to aban- don until the glorious object of our contest shall be ob- tained-we must fight ! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us !"
"They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, "that we are weak-unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger ? Will it be next week or the next year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house ? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction ? Shall we ac- quire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until
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our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a coun- try as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no re- treat but in submission and slavery ! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable-and let it come !! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! !
"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand here idle ? What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take; but as for me," cried he, with both his arms extended aloft, his brow knit, every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, and his voice swelled to its boldest note of exclamation, "Give me liberty, or give me death !"
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RT. REV. A. M. RANDOLPHI, D. D., LL. D.,
Assistant Bishop of Virginia 1883-1892, when he became Bishop of Southern Virginia.
ADDRESS Delivered by Rt. Rev. A. M. Randolph,
AT OLD ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, JUNE 10, 1891, 150TH ANNIVER- SARY.
I must rely upon your love for this old Church and your reverence for its associations, for your interest and kind at- tention as I discharge the grateful duty which my valued friend, your rector, has assigned to me. It has often oc- curred to me in the last few years, that a sense of the value of our history and reverence for our past is growing in this, our new land and in this age, which we are in the habit of designating as above all others a material, mechanical and practical age. The organization of societies for preserving memorials of the past, the revival of interest in the historical societies of the different States, the reverence for the old churches and the efforts to rescue them, where it is practica- ble and in some cases when it is impracticable and useless, the renewed interest in our colleges in historical studies- all these are symptoms of a revival of the historic spirit and an assertion of the historic instinct which has always been one of the strongest elements in our Anglo-Saxon character and civilization. That historic instinct has been the charac- teristic of all the progressive nations of the earth-the races that have been without it have fallen further and further behind in the march of civilization; they have gravitated pro- gressively toward the animal life of living from day to day; each day forgetting yesterday and oblivious of to-morrow, learning nothing, sowing no seed and gathering no harvest. How can we comprehend the present but through the past ? Where are the roots of our laws, our institutions, our habits and customs but in the past ? In studying the history of our forefathers and of our land we are studying ourselves. We are finding out how we came to be what we are; we are
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tracing back to their sources the streams of our liberties, our laws and our institutions. In following the fortunes of our fathers we are finding out the influences that formed our minds and educated our infancy and molded our nation- ality. That is true of our general, or as some would call it, our secular history. But there is really no such thing as secular history ; all true history is the record of the educa- tion of nations and races under the teachings of Providence and the movements of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of men. But the highest kind of history is the history of Christianity-the Church, and when I say the church I mean the aggregate of all the forms of the churches that hold the essentials of Christianity. This Church in its spir- itual work, in its intellectual work, in its influence upon individuals and upon masses, this constitutes the unity of modern history. The Church of Christ lies behind every- thing as a moving, modifying, conditioning force. Ever since it began its work in the world, on the side of good and blessing, it has been the soul of all true civilization; it has been the inspiration of all true liberty ; it has been the guide and the light upon the pathway of all true knowledge. Upon the side of evil it has suffered its divine energies to be abased in the vile fetters of Priest-craft, in the blood paroxysms of fanaticism. All human passions have taken hold upon it, sheltered themselves behind it, justified themselves by its name. Its gospel of peace has been perverted and turned into a sword that has separated father and son, husband and wife, nations and people one from another, so it has penetrated in everything, modifying and conditioning the evil, and fur- nishing the motive forces of the good.
Modern history is a body Christianity, and its churches are the soul of that body. To-day we are to think of some of the events, and gather some lessons from the history of one old Church, as we sit within its walls; they are one hundred and fifty years old. For these long generations it has been standing upon this hill, that is older than itself by illimitable years, it has been looking down upon the river that has been flowing on to the sea just as it is to-day, ages and ages before its foundation stone was laid, but if nature is older everything else around it is younger. It has seen the birth,
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the infancy, the growth and development of Richmond for 150 years. Well, how did it come to be here? And to answer we must go back for a brief sketch of history.
On the 20th of July, 1588, the English Admiral Lord Howard went out from Plymouth, and early in the morning discovered the Spanish Armada entering the British channel. For ten years Philip, of Spain, with the Roman Catholic powers, had been gathering their resources and their strength to crush England, our mother land. The Armada had one hundred and thirty-six battle ships, the largest then known to naval architecture, beside one hundred vessels to attend them. From the other end of the channel the Duke of Parma, with another army, was to meet them; they were to drive the little British navy from the channel, land their armies upon the English coast and, gaining a foothold, pour in upon England the Catholic powers of Europe, to crush Protestantism. That was the plan. England had done her best to get ready for this death grapple with her enemies, but the odds were fearfully against her; she had 34 battle- ships, and they went out that morning, the 20th of July, 1588, to meet 136 battleships, all larger than any one of hers. The Armada moves with majesty up the Channel. The coast of England is crowded with her brave people, watching the stately ships in battle array. Are they to pass unscathed ? Are the English captains, the daring sailors who have borne the English flag around the globe, are they afraid of the mighty odds ? The Armada moves on, the English Admiral lets them pass, and gathers his vessels behind them, between them and the ocean, and bears down upon them with southwest wind. The next morning, the 21st of July, he is closing upon their rear. At daybreak the English captains call their brave crews to the deck. They join in this old Church service, the same as yours in this Church. They kneel around the Lord's table, and take the Holy Communion and sing a Psalm, and then they go down to the battle-Howard and Drake and Frobisher and Haw- kins commanding and leading to the fight, and you know the story, the most gallant episode in modern history. For seven long days and nights they hang on to the rear of the mighty navy of their enemies. Manœuvering and fighting day and
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night, England was watching from the shore. The Spanish Galleons would close around them, but they would shake them off, and speed away upon the wind, and come back and close in again. They fought in four great battles. When the second is over, Sir Francis Drake sends a message to his brave Queen Elizabeth, "Your majesty must pray for us in all the churches in England, and by the help of God we will drive them from the sea." And England was praying in all her churches, the simple, solemn prayer of the old litany that we hear in this Church every Sunday, "From our ene- mies defend us, Oh Christ," and the prayer was answered, and the proud navy was driven and broken and shattered, and England was saved. And what has that to do, you will ask, with the colonizing of this continent, with Jamestown, with Richmond, with our Protestant religion in America ? It has this to do: That gallant fight of your forefathers in the British Channel broke the Spanish and the Roman Catholic power on the sea, opened the free ocean for England's civil- ization and religion and people to plant themselves on this continent. But for that the civilization here as far as we can see would have been that of South America, or of Mexico. The Anglo-Saxon race, and the Protestant faith, and the Bible would have been kept back from America perhaps two centuries longer-that was 1588. Nineteen years after that our English forefathers landed and settled at Jamestown in 1607 and built the first Church, and the worship of the Eng- lish Litany for the first time awoke the echoes of the wilder- ness in America, and four years after that (1611) Sir Thomas Dale comes over with a goodly company of English, passes Jamestown, pushes up our river, and settles upon the Peninsula that is cut off by what is now known as Dutch Gap; calls his settlement Henricopolis, after Prince Henry, the eldest son of James the First, builds what was at that time a handsome church, and Whitaker, a clergyman of the English Church, and one of the noblest Christian men of his age, is placed over it as its pastor and rector. That Church is the mother of this, the parish is the same, and Whitaker is its first minister. He was a graduate of Cambridge Uni- versity. A contemporary thus writes about him: "He did voluntarily leave his warm nest, and to the wonder of his
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kindred and the amazement of them that knew him, under- take this hard but in my judgment heroical resolution, to go to Virginia and help to bear the name of God unto the Gen- tiles." Whitaker had a warm nest in his old English home ; his friend says it was a wonder and amazement that he came to this wilderness country. That illustrates another historic lesson upon the motives and the spirit of our forefathers in coming to this land. By the kindness of a literary friend I have the recently published volumes by Alexander Brown, an honored citizen of Virginia, a member of the Virginia Historical Society, a member of the American Historical Association, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of England. Its title is, "The Genesis of the United States." In my judgment it is the most valuable contribution to the history of the origin of our country that has been made dur- ing the present century, made from materials that have been hitherto either inaccessible or unknown to exist. In the last fifty years there has been great advance in the study of his- tory as a science, and it is a matter of congratulation that we have in Virginia this cultured gentleman, who has given and is giving his life to opening the fountains of history in the publication of original manuscript; so that we need no longer manufacture history out of our own brains or upon the plane of our passions or sectional prejudices, but from the only true sources of historic verities. I find in these volumes a published discourse by the Rev. William Symonds, of the English Church, delivered at White Chapel, London, deliv- ered in the presence of the Honorable and Worshipful the adventurers and planters for Virginia, the 25th of April, 1609, just two years after the settlement at Jamestown. You must think of that congregation as composed of men, some of whom had made up their minds to come to Virginia, some were doubting and hesitating, others were skeptical; the lead- ing spirits were full of high enthusiasm and religious hope in the enterprise. It was the first discourse ever published in behalf of Virginia and the infant colony. It gives you a living picture of their feelings that surprises the popular and the ignorant conception of their motives. They were not vulgar adventurers; they were not self-seeking traders. The appeal that is made to them in this sermon is upon the
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high plain of duty; encouragements to go are drawn from the promise of God, the guidings of Providence and the in- spiration of religious faith. It seems to confirm the propo- sition I announced a few moments ago, that around all great movements in modern history Christianity is an atmosphere and the Church of Christ a leading factor and motive power. The text of the discourse is Genesis 12, verses 1, 2, 3: "For the Lord said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee, and I will make thee a great na- tion, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." He expounds his text with stately rhetoric but with the solid sense of our English forefathers. He is answering the various reasons for not going. "One saith England is a sweet country ;" true indeed, and the God of Glory be blessed that whereas the country was wild as a forest and the people were naked, by the civil care of conquerors and planters it is now become a very paradise in comparison of what it was. "They shrink from the great deep, that were sure enough perils then." He tells them that Sir Humphrey Gilbert forty years before had told his officers and sailors as their little bark was tossed in the wild storm, "Be of good cheer, my friends, it is as near heaven by sea as by land." I give you these ex- tracts to show that he is moving them to courage and to hope upon grounds of religious faith. Another discourse by Cra- shaw, a distinguished clergyman of the English Church, is preached in London before the company and the emigrants to Virginia in February, 1610. Of that the historian says : "There is no nobler sermon of the period than this." That comes still nearer to us, for those who listened to it were probably the men who came with Dale and settled Henri- copolis in 1611. The text is Luke 22d chapter, 32d verse: "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." I have not the time to quote from it to any extent. Its divisions are seven discouragements from going and seven encourage- ments to go. It is full of genuine power and appeals to the loftiest motives that can move Christian men. It closes with this eloquent salutation to Virginia: "And thou, Vir- ginia, whom though mine eyes see not, my heart shall love, how hath God honoured thee! Thou hast thy name from the
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worthiest queen that ever the world had, and thou shalt now have thy form from one of the most glorious nations under the sun. But this is only a little portion of thy honor, for thy God is coming towards thee, and in the mean time sends to thee and salutes thee with best blessing Heaven hath, even His blessed Gospel! Look up, therefore, and lift up thy head, for thy redemption draweth nigh ! And He that was the God of Israel and is still the God of England will shortly, I doubt not, bring it to pass that men shall say, blessed be the Lord God of Virginia, and let all Christian people say, Amen." This sermon was printed and distributed to the company, and to all who came here to plant an old Common- wealth. Its title was, "A New Year's Gift to Virginia," and underneath the title was this stately Antiphon :
ENGLAND TO GOD, "LORD, HERE I AM, SEND ME."
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