USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > Annals of Henrico parish > Part 12
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should be built on the hill called Indian Town at Richmond, or at Thomas Williamson's plantation on the Brook Road, and is carried by a majority of voices for the former.
"It is thereupon ordered that the Church, formerly agreed to be built by Richard Randolph, Gent., on the south side of Bacon's Branch, be built on Indian Town at Richmond, after the same manner as in the said former agreement, was men- tioned."
"At a Vestry held at Richmond Town, on Tuesday, the 8th day of December, 1772, for laying the Parish levy : Present-The Rev. Miles Selden, Richard Randolph, Samuel Duval, Jos. Lewis, Rich'd Adams, Daniel Price, George Cox and Turner Southall, Vestrymen.
"It is the opinion of the Vestry that an addition of forty feet in length and the same width as the present Church at Richmond, be built to it, at the north side, with gallery on both sides, and one end, with proper windows above and below; and ordered that the Church W'dns lett to the lowest bidder the said addition."
These entries mark the erection and enlargement of the venerable building, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of whose existence we this day celebrate.
Let us turn the clock of time back one hundred and fifty years, and contemplate for a few moments our surroundings.
Frederick the second, afterwards known as Frederick the Great, had just mounted the throne of Prussia, and without provocation had made an attack upon Austria, which proved to be the signal for a general European war, lasting seven years, and known as the war of the "Austrian succession," as it involved the right of Maria Theresa to the throne of Austria. The weak and prodigal Louis XV. was king of France, and the corruptions of the nobility and priests, to- gether with their oppressions of the peasantry, were fast kindling the sulphurious flames which burst forth in the terrible revolution of the last of the century. His nephew, Philip of Anjou, was king of Spain, and thus the two king- doms were linked together by Bourbon rulers, a fact destined to be of great importance in the history of Europe. Peter the Great was in his grave, and his daughter, Elizabeth, ruled
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over the people he had elevated to a position among the great kingdoms of this world.
George II. was in the midst of his long reign in England, and was taking sides with his nephew, Frederick of Prussia. The strife raging in Europe had extended to America, where the English were at war with the Spanish and French. Thus all the world, so far as Virginia was brought in contact with it, was at war.
The political firmanent of England was undergoing im- portant changes. The corrupting influence of the celebrated Sir Robert Walpole was on the decline, and Wm. Pitt was rising in prominence, and already acknowledged to be the greatest of British orators, was soon to prove himself to be the greatest of English ministers.
Dissent from the established Church was growing apace, the first steps towards religious liberty having been taken in the act of Parliament of 1689, granting religious toleration. John Wesley and George Whitfield were stirring the religious world to its depths, and founding what is now one of the strongest of religious denominations.
In nothing was Virginia more dependent on England than in literature. Pope and Swift had finished their life work, and were rapidly hastening to their graves. Samuel John- son was growing in reputation, but still struggling with pov- erty. Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Thomson, Ramsey, Addison and Steele had won commanding positions in Eng- lish literature, and delighted the Virginians, no less than the residents of England, with the charming productions of their pens.
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Hogarth was giving to the world those inimitable draw- ings, satirizing vice, which have immortalized him.
Du Fay had, by his experiments, lately brought into notice the study of electricity, soon to be taken up and greatly enlarged by Benjamin Franklin, and destined to grow in importance, till now mankind utilizes the subtle fluid in the generation of heat, light and locomotion.
Kepler and Newton had not been long in their graves, the first having with almost incredible labor and patience dis- covered the laws which regulate the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the second having added the great discoveries con-
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tained in the (Principia), the two having extorted from nature her dearest secrets, and laid the foundation for the wonderful knowledge we have of astronomy and natural philosophy.
John Locke had performed the same office for moral phi- losophy in his memorable essay on the human understanding, and Bishop Butler had erected an imperishable bulwark to Christianity in his immortal "Analogy."
At home we find ourselves in the midst of a most interest- ing period. William Gooch was Governor of Virginia, which contained about 300,000 inhabitants, of which about 125,000 were slaves. He had just agreed that the Scotch-Irish might settle the valley and enjoy religious liberty; under which agreement a bold stream of that hardy race soon poured down the valley and overflowed the Alleghanies, not only protect- ing the Eastern settlements from the savage foe, but in a few years controlling the political destinies of the colony.
A band of 400 Virginians, commanded by the Governor, had just returned from the disastrous expedition against the city of Carthagena, where the discord between Admiral Vernon, commanding the English fleet, and Gen. Wentworth, commanding the attacking army, resulted in the sacrifice of so many brave men, and the failure of the expedition. The Virginians had nothing to console them but the fact that they, with Lawrence Washington as a leader, had displayed the greatest bravery in holding their position under a destructive fire of several hours. The expedition would have been gladly relegated to oblivion by the Virginians had not Captain Washington named his home on the Potomac after the Admiral and afterwards made it the home of the father of his country.
The Spaniards, taking the offensive, had marched from Florida upon the settlers in Georgia, and been repulsed by Gen. Oglethorpe, the head of that colony, then but lately planted.
Virginia had advanced rapidly in the development of her agricultural and mineral resources during the government of Governor Gooch, and of his distinguished predecessor, Gen- eral Alexander Spotswood, and her tobacco had already become the source of great wealth, and was destined to be her
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mainstay in the troublous times which were to follow. It had at this time come to the aid of specie as a medium of exchange in the business of the colony. In 1736 the first newspaper was published in Virginia at Williamsburg. It
was a weekly issue and called "The Virginia Gazette."
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weekly post carried it northward, and a monthly post carried it southward.
Looking more immediately to our surroundings on this spot, we find that the "Hill called Indian Town," as it is described by the Vestry, was so called because of an Indian settlement, which doubtless was found by Capt. Newport, John Smith and their companions, when they first explored the river to the falls, within a few days after landing at Jamestown in 1607. This settlement remained for years, and was broken up probably by one of the exterminating attacks of the whites, which gave the name of Bloody Run to the little stream which runs near by. Here on the north side of the river lay the quarter plantation of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., at which the murder of his servant and overseer occurred, which caused that accomplished but impulsive man to make war on the murderous Indians against the order of the Gov- ernor, and gave rise to the celebrated Bacon's Rebellion of 1676.
After the death of Bacon the Legislature in 1679 granted this in a large tract on both sides of the river, extending five miles in length and three and a half miles in width, to Capt. William Byrd, on condition that he settle on it not less than 250 tytheables, who were to be ever ready for military ser- vice against the Indians.
In the year 1682, the fear of the Indians having ceased, the military force was disbanded and a trading post was established, and afterwards a tobacco warehouse was erected and called "Shockoes." In 1733 Col. Wm. Byrd, the son of Capt. Wm. Byrd, having inherited the lands at the falls of the James, determined to lay off a city at Shockoes, to be called Richmond. Major Mayo agreed to lay out the lots. In 1737 Col. Byrd advertised for settlers for the new town, and in May, 1742, the General Assembly incorporated it, and gave it the privilege of holding two fairs a year for four years.
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Col. Wm. Byrd, to whose generosity the Parish was in- debted for a site for the Church, was the most remarkable Virginian of his day. He was a man of vast fortune, lived at Westover in a style of hospitable splendor before unknown in the colony, had collected the largest private library in America, which included a copy of the records of the London Company which settled Virginia, and was the most learned man in the colony. His writings display not only great learning, but true wit, and sometimes biting sarcasm and ridicule. His journal as commissioner to run the dividing line with North Carolina has become celebrated. He did not survive the completion of the Church more than three years, and lies buried in the garden at Westover under a marble monument which bears the following inscription and epitome of his life :
"Here lieth the Honorable William Byrd, Esq. Being born to one of the amplest fortunes in this country, he was sent early to England for his education, where, under the care and direction of Sir Robert Southwell, and ever favored with his particular instructions, he made a happy proficiency in polite and various learning. By the means of the same noble friend he was introduced to the acquaintance of many of the first persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth or high station, and particularly contracted a most intimate and bosom friendship with the learned and illustrious Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. He was called to the bar in the mid- dle Temple; Studied for some time in the Low Countries, visited the Court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and Ornament of his Country, he was made Receiver General of his Majesty's revenues here; was thrice appointed public agent to the Court and Ministry of England; and being thirty-seven years a member, at last became President of the Council of this Colony. To all this were added a great elegancy of taste and life, the well bred gentleman and polite companion, the splendid economist and prudent father of a family; withal the constant enemy of all exorbitant power, and hearty friend to the liberties of his country."
Next to Col. Wm. Byrd, the Rev. Wm. Stith, the Rector of
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the Parish, was the most accomplished man in the Colony. He was at this time living at Varina, and preparing his ad- mirable history of Virginia; for the materials of which he was confessedly greatly indebted to Col. Byrd. His culture and piety caused him to be transferred from his Parish to the Presidency of William and Mary College in 1752, which position he held till his death, in 1755.
Richard Randolph, who undertook the building of the church, was also a man of mark. He lived at Curls, and had erected the church there, which was taken as a model for the original of this building. He was the son of Wm. Randolph, of Turkey Island, and he married Jane Bolling, the great-great-grand-daughter of Pocahontas. He was a member of the House of Burgesses from Henrico, Treasurer of the Colony, and the grandfather of the celebrated John Randolph of Roanoke. He died in 1748 while on a visit to England.
Concerning the other Vestrymen who were present when the building of the church was determined on, we know but little. James and Bowler Cocke were successively clerks of Henrico county. John Povall and Robert Mosby were kin to if not the ancestors of the talented Valentine family of our city, to which belongs the distinguished sculptor. Thomas Williamson, whose plantation on the Brook Road competed for the site of the church, and John and James Williamson, of the Vestry, were of the family whence is descended Miss Amanda Williamson, now the widow of John Stuart, de- ceased, whose beautiful home, Brook Hill, was doubtless, a part of Thomas Williamson's plantation.
In the course of years this became the principal church in the Parish, and after being designated successively as the "Upper Church," the "Church at Richmond," "Henrico Church," the "Church on Richmond Hill," finally, about the year 1829, was named "St. John's."
Since its erection some of the most important events in human history have taken place. Civil and religious liberty have advanced beyond all previous experience, not alone in America, but throughout christendom. The thirteen feeble colonies, with some two and a half millions of inhabitants, have shaken off their connection with England, and have
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constituted themselves into a grand republic, which has grown till it now stretches from the lakes to the Rio Grande, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has sixty-five mil- lions of inhabitants. Science has advanced in every depart- ment along the path pointed out by Sir Francis Bacon, until the human race may be said to live in a different world from that of our forefathers of a hundred and fifty years ago. Steam and electricity have made neighbors of the most dis- tant nations, and the very destructiveness of the new imple- ments of war has become the guarantee of peace. Chris- tianity has advanced in the forefront of the world's progress, and now has a lodgment in every quarter of the globe.
Could this old building speak, what a tale it would tell; not only of happenings of the outside world, but of those in and around itself !
Doubtless of all the secular events which it has witnessed, the first it would speak of, as being the most important, would be the famous Convention which met within its walls on the 20th of March, 1775, and with which its name will be forever associated.
Let us look for a moment at the stirring events which brought that celebrated body of men together.
By the peace of Paris in 1763, England was left in pos- session of the whole North American Continent east of the Mississippi river, except the portion bordering on the Gulf of Mexico known as the Floridas. The wars she had been so long engaged in, had exhausted her treasury, and she sought to force her American Colonies, against all precedent, to con- tribute to her relief by a tax known as the Stamp Act, im- posed by Parliament, a body in which the Colonies were not represented. This tax the Virginia House of Burgesses, in May, 1765, denounced as unconstitutional, null and void, and their resolutions aroused the Continent to the violent resistance of its enforcement. Finding it impossible to col- lect the tax, Parliament repealed the act, but in doing so reasserted its right to tax the Colonies. Later it attempted to collect a revenue by a duty on tea, and the effort met with opposition throughout America, and with such violence at Boston that the King, in order to make an example of the town, occupied it with British soldiers and closed the port.
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At the same time the Colonial Government of Massachusetts was changed and her liberties were restricted.
In this condition of affairs the Colonies became alarmed for their rights and a General Congress was called, at the instance of Virginia, which met at Philadelphia in Septem- ber in 1774 to consult as to the best steps to be taken to obtain the repeal of the oppressive acts of the British Govern- ment, under which their liberties were so sorely threatened. That celebrated body, upon which Lord Chatham and other English statesmen passed the highest encomiums, formu- lated a statement of the rights claimed by the Colonies ; and among other able papers addressed communications to the people of Great Britain, to Parliament, and to the King, urg- ing the repeal of the obnoxious acts. As an earnest of their determination to stand by those rights, they fixed on certain days for the stopping of all imports and exports in case their appeal was not heeded. It was the general expectation of the people and of their leaders that these measures would result in the repeal of the acts and the relief of Massachu- setts. But there were one or two among the leaders who had properly estimated the stubbornness of the King and the sub- serviency of Parliament on the one hand, and the inflexible determination of the Americans on the other, and saw that war would be the inevitable consequence.
A few months after the adjournment of the Congress the Virginia Convention convened to hear the report of its pro- ceedings, and to deliberate on the political situation. It met in Richmond and in this church. The bitter hostility of Governor Dunmore to the patriotic cause made it unsafe to meet in Williamsburg, the capital of the Colony, and the importance and sacredness of the cause which brought the body together made it appropriate that they should deliber- ate in the sanctuary of God, to whom they humbly looked for guidance upon the sea of troubles on which they were launched. This the pious patriotism of the Vestry recog- nized, and offered to the Convention this, doubtless the larg- est building in the town. The interest in its deliberation was intense throughout the Colony, and many came from far and near to witness its action. The list of the members who answered to their names on assembling was as follows:
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The Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq., a delegate for the city of Williamsburg.
Isaac Smith, Esq., for Accomac county.
Thomas Jefferson and John Walker, Esqrs., for Albemarle.
John Tabb and John Winn, Esqrs., for Amelia.
William Cabell, Jr., and Joseph Cabell, Esqrs., for Am- herst.
Thomas Lewis, Samuel McDowell and John Harvie, Esqrs., for Augusta.
John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esqrs., for Bedford.
Andrew Lewis and John Bowyers, Esqrs., for Botetourt.
Frederick Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esqrs., for Bruns- wick.
John Nicholas and Anthony Winston, Esqrs., for Buck- ingham.
Robert Rutherford and Adam Stephen, Esqrs., for Berke- ley.
Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esqrs., for Caro- line.
Benjamin Harrison and William Acrill, Esqrs., for Charles City.
Paul Carrington and Isaac Reed, Esqrs., for Charlotte.
Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esqrs., for Cul- peper.
William Fleming and John Mayo, Esqrs, for Dinwiddie. Johnathan Clarke, Esq., and Peter Muhlenburg, Clerk, for Dunmore.
Henry King and Worlich Wetswood, Esqrs., for Elizabeth City.
James Edmundson and Meriwether Smith, Esqrs., for Essex.
George Washington and Charles Broadwater, Esqrs., for Fairfax.
Thomas Marshall and James Scott, Esqrs., for Fauquier.
Isaac Zane, Esq., and Charles Minn Thurston, Clerk, for Frederick.
William Christian, Esq., for Fincastle.
Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esqrs., for Glouces- ter.
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John Woodson and Thomas Mann Randolph, Esqrs., for Goochland.
Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esqrs., for Hali- fax.
James Mercer, Esq., for Hampshire.
Patrick Henry, Jr., and John Syme, Esqrs., for Hanover.
Richard Adams and Samuel Duval, Esqrs., for Henrico.
Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, Esqrs., for James City.
John S. Wills and Josiah Parker, Esqrs., for Isle of Wight.
Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esqrs., for King George.
George Brook and George Lyn, Esqrs., for King and Queen.
Carter Braxton and William Ayelett, Esqrs., for King William.
James Selden and Charles Carter, Esqrs., for Lancaster.
Thomas Peyton and Josiah Clapham, Esqrs., for Loudon.
Thomas Johnson and Thomas Walker, Esqrs, for Louisa.
Richard Claiborne and David Garland, Esqrs., for Lunen- burg.
Edmund Berkeley, Esq., for Middlesex.
Robert Burton and Bennett Goode, Esqrs., for Mecklen- burg.
Lemuel Riddick and Willis Riddick, Esqrs., for Nanse- mond.
Burwell Bassett and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esqrs., for New Kent.
Thomas Newtown and James Holt, Esqrs., for Norfolk county.
John Burton, Esq., for Northampton.
Rodham Kenner and Thomas Jones, Esqrs., for Northum- berland.
Thomas Barbour and James Taylor, Esqrs., for Orange.
Peter Perkins and Benjamin Lankford, Esqrs., for Pitt- sylvania.
Robert Lawson and John Nash, Esqrs., for Prince Edward.
Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esqrs., for Prince George.
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William Robinson and Christopher Wright, Esqrs., for Princess Ann.
Henry Lee and Thomas Blackburn, Esqrs., for Prince William.
Robert Wormley Carter and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Esqrs., for Richmond.
Edwin Gray and Henry Taylor, Esqrs., for Southampton.
George Stubblefield and Mann Page, Jr., Esqrs., for Spot- sylvania.
John Alexander and Charles Carter, Esqrs., for Stafford. Allen Cocke and Nicholas Faulcomn, Esqrs., for Surry.
David Mason and Henry Lee, Esqrs., for Sussex.
William Langhorn, Esq., for Warwick.
Richard Henry Lee and Richard Lee, Esqrs., for West- moreland.
Dudley Diggs and Thomas Nelson, Jr., Esqrs., for York. Champion Travis, Esq., for Jamestown.
Joseph Hutchings, Esq., for Norfolkburrough.
These were all well tried patriots, who did not hesitate to risk their lives in attending what was denounced by the Roy- alists as a revolutionary body. As the Governor had fre- quently dissolved the House of Burgesses during the con- troversy with England, when they uttered sentiments not in accordance with his own, the patriots had fallen on the plan of holding conventions, which were not under his authority, and consequently were held by him to be treasonable.
No Virginian can read this roll without a feeling of pride ; for in all the annals of history no State has been able to col- lect in one deliberative body so many men of pure lives, of unselfish patriotism, and of the highest order of genius. The race and the civilization which could produce such a body of men at one period may well be held up to the admira- tion of the world.
The members came together in ignorance of the effect of the papers of Congress in England; indeed, their latest in- formation was contained in a letter of 14th December, 1774, relating the gracious reception by the King of the address to him; and adding that, "The buzz at court is, that all the
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acts will be repealed, except the admiralty and declaratory," which had not been considered very grievous.
The Convention organized bv electing the venerable Peyton Randolph president, who had just presided over the Conti- mental Congress. He was escorted to a chair placed where the eastern door of the building is at present.
The Rev. Miles Selden, the rector of this church, was then requested to act as chaplain to the Convention. The body next recorded their hearty approval of the proceedings of Congress, and their thanks to the Virginia delegation for the faithful discharge of the very important trust imposed on them. On the third day a petition and memorial of the Assembly of the Island of Jamaica, addressed to the King, was laid before the Convention and read. It ably defended American rights, but indicated Toryism in tracing all colonial rights to the King, and denied that the Colonists ever would attempt forcible resistance to Great Britain, dwelling at the same time on their weak condition. Upon the reading of this paper a member offered a resolution of thanks to the Assembly of Jamaica, adding: "That the Assembly be assured that it is the most ardent wish of this Colony (and we are pursuaded of the whole Colonists of North America) to see a speedy return to those halcyon days when we lived a free and happy people."
Neither the address nor the resolution of thanks suited Mr. Henry, who had not hesitated to declare on the floor of the Continental Congress his conviction that war was inevita- ble, and who was painfully impressed with the importance of immediate preparation for it. He at once arose and offered the following resolution, to which a suitable preamble was prefixed :
"Resolved, That this Colony be immediately put into a state of defence, and that
be a committee to prepare a plan for embodying, arming, and disciplining such a number of men as may be sufficient for that purpose."
This resolution was opposed by Richard Bland, Benj. Harrison of Berkley, and Edmund Pendleton, who had been
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