USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > Centennial of Court Street Baptist Church of the city of Portsmouth, Virginia > Part 2
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Of him Semple says : " He was a man of high family and rich connections, and served as an offi- cer (major) in the American Army during the Revolutionary War. He was universally es- teemed as an officer of the most unwavering cour- age. He was a man of strong mind, and in all likelihood would have made a figure in the mili- tary line if he had not become a Baptist. This, by lessening his military ardour, and well as ren- dering him somewhat unpopular in the army, probably prevented that distinction to which he might have been otherwise raised."
Six members with a military pastor was a small beginning, but they had truth and right on their side and, like Marion's men, could sing :
" Our band is few but true and tried, Our leader frank and bold; And sinners all will tremble When Armistead's name is told."
In the spring of the next year, May, 1790, the Church was admitted into the Kehukee Associa- tion, and at the October meeting of the Associa-
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tion it was decided to divide that body; this Church with twenty others withdrew, and in May, 1791, met in this city and formed what is known as the Portsmouth Association. It was an important meeting, and this Church must have been some- what prominent to have been selected as the place in which to form the new association.
During this year, 1791, the Church had some trouble with a preacher from Europe named Frost. Burkitt says, " At first he seemed to be approved of ; but soon began to deny the faith of the Church, and preach the doctrines of free-will. This man caused great uneasiness in the Church. The brethren appointed a Committee to wait upon and try to gain him over to embrace the principles of the Church ; but he remained incorrigible. The Church appointed another committee to go and try to silence him, but could not prevail." At a meeting on the following Wednesday night, at which he had determined to preach, a memorable scene occurred, at which " the Lord interfered in behalf of his distressed Church. For when Frost went to preach, and took his text, which was ' He shall thoroughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garner,' and coming to the words, 'purge his floor,' his tongue failed, he cried, 'let us pray,' but sank on his knees and spoke not
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another word. He was dead in less than three hours."
At a Conference meeting held June 9, 1792, " Elder Armistead requested the Church to look out another pastor, as he was much indisposed in body and not able to serve them as he ought or wished to do." No successor, however, seems to have been secured, at least for some time.
Elder Armistead soon afterwards resigned the care of the Church, and in 1794 removed to King and Queen County, and entered into mercantile life, preaching whenever an opportunity afforded. He always cherished high notions of honor and resentment, which were formed in the army, and took great delight in settling personal difficulties between others, often volunteering his services. These sentiments were unfavorable to his spiritu- ality and, with some other matters, led to his ex- clusion from the Baptist Church in 1803. He was, however, restored to fellowship again in 1809, and soon after died. He was fourth cousin to brother Moss W. Armistead, who was for a long time a prominent member of this Church; their great-great grandfathers being brothers .*
The minutes of the Portsmouth Association for the year 1794 * show that 13 baptisms had taken place the year previous, and that the membership of the Church was 113. This is the first record of membership known to us.
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Left without a pastor, and having been disturbed by the preaching of Frost, the Church fell into a cold and inactive condition. No Conference meet- ings were held, and some of the members did backslide. In October, 1796, an effort was made to revive the Church. Neighboring Churches sent their pastors to sit in an advisory council. There was a large element of colored members in the church who claimed a vote in the Conference meetings, and the Church was advised by the Council to recognize them as a wing of the Church, and one Jacob Bishop was placed over them as pastor. He was a good man and highly esteemed as a preacher. He had purchased his own free- dom and that of his wife and eldest son. At first the management of his pastorate gave great sat- isfaction, but soon the colored members became dissatisfied, fearing lest their having a separate pastor would be dishonorable to God, and prove disastrous to themselves. Accordingly they pre- ferred to be subordinate to the white brethren and be considered as formerly simply members of the one Church, which was cheerfully agreed to by the white members.
Not long after this the Church found an under- shepherd in Rev. Thomas Etheridge, of whom we can learn nothing save that he served the Church
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but a short while. He was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Grigg, an Englishman, who had been on a mission to Africa under the auspices of the English Baptists, and on his return settled here. His pas- torate, like that of Etheridge, was very brief, having married and removed to North Carolina.
We have no data upon which now to rely for information until the year 1799, when "Rev. Davis Biggs moved near to Portsmouth, and be- came pastor of the Churches in these towns."
He seems to have been a man of more than ordinary abilities, for we find that under his min- istry the Church took on new life, and Burkitt says, "The brethren have been very attentive to Conferences [which seems to have been the index to Christian activity in those days] and have been careful to maintain a good discipline."
As evidence of the zeal which Elder Biggs in- fused into the Church, the Church for the first time seems to have made an effort to build a house of worship, and on October Ioth of this year, 1799, the lot on which the Church now stands was pur- chased. Davis Biggs, the pastor, John Foster, Geo. Barrett and James Easten, as Trustees for the Church, bought of John Quarles one-half of Hanover Square, fronting on Court Street II3 feet, and running back 90 feet on Queen Street.
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The price paid was £32 IOS. This deed is well preserved in a neat and clear handwriting in the Clerk's Office of Norfolk County, Deed Book No. 38, p. 37, and has only very recently been brought to light.
How interesting it would be to know where the little band had been worshipping up to this time ! * It is quite reasonable to suppose that the impetus given by the purchase of the lot did not wane until a meeting-house was erected there.
There are a few members still living who re- member the house of worship which fronted on Queen Street, which stood until the present brick house was built. It was a very plain wooden building, provided with galleries and a pulpit entered by a stairway. This in all probability was the first house of worship erected and had been standing about forty years, when it gave way for the brick Church. There must have been great rejoicing when the new Church was entered, and a bright day there seemed to be, but soon the place of the Church was disturbed, for, says Bur- kitt. " In 1802 there came from Europe and
* Many of the meetings were held in a private house which stood on the southeast corner of Dinwiddie and County Streets, where brother Crafts lived. Other meetings were held at the pastor's home on County Street, in an old house which stood on Trugien property, between Court and Dinwiddie Streets.
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took up here a man named Ralph Mather, who called himself a Christian minister. He preached once for the Methodists in their meeting-house in Portsmouth and expected to preach a second time, but some other preacher was introduced in his stead, which very much displeased him. He then came to the Baptists, with a very smooth tongue, and got in favor with many of them and began to rail at the Methodists from the pulpit and from the press. He was soon discovered to be of the Swedenborg profession. Elder Biggs wrote to him that he must acknowledge his error and make public recantation, and if not he must not expect any more to preach in the Baptist Meeting-house." He became very bitter, and failing in Portsmouth, he applied to the brethren in Norfolk for their meeting-house, but was told that the " Church members on either side of the water were one body." He then attempted to draw away a party with him to form a new Church. The plan did not succeed, "his zeal for preaching quickly abated, and he turned into speculation and soon died."
These troubles, led to an awakening of the spirit- ual condition of the Church. The brethren drew nearer to God and very soon, 1802, an extensive work of grace was enjoyed by the Church, which 3
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resulted in the addition of some eighty to the membership, which was perhaps the most exten- sive revival the Church had experienced in its history.
About this time, 1804, the brethren in Norfolk withdrew by mutual consent and became a sepa- rate Church. It was composed mostly of colored members, and John Mitchell became their pastor. Mitchell soon got into trouble, and in 1817 the best element of this Church withdrew and consti- tuted the Cumberland Street or present First Baptist Church of Norfolk.
This division of the membership left in the Portsmouth Church seventy-two members, with which to begin work for themselves. They were for the most part earnest and consecrated men and women, and as an evidence of it had the Portsmouth Association to meet with them the following year, 1805. Fifteen years prior to this the Association had been organized in this Church, and many were the congratulations on renewing old acquaintances. The Association had grown to 500 in membership, and Semple, the Baptist Historian, was present among the visiting brethren, as was also A. M. Poindexter. James Wright was the preacher of the Introductory sermon and John Bowers was the Moderator. The meeting
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was held in May and lasted three days. Elder Biggs continued his pastorate until 1808, having baptized over 100 into the fellowship of the Church, and leaving it with a membership of seventy-one.
We know nothing of his subsequent life, but may reasonably presume that he died in a good old age with the comfort that he had been a true and faithful minister of the Gospel.
For two years the Church remained without a pastor, during which the membership somewhat diminished. In 810 Elder Thomas Bunting was chosen pastor. He served two or three years, baptized some ten or fifteen persons, and at his re- signation left the membership numbering sixty-six. Of Elder Bunting we have been unable to learn anything additional.
After undergoing another pastorless experience for a year or more, the Church secured the ser- vices of Elder Smith Sherwood.
He was born in Princess Anne County and was baptized into the fellowship of the London Bridge Church. Of him, Dr. T. G. Jones, in an obituary notice, says: " Possessed of a strong natural intellect, and by hard study, he attained to respectable 'scholarship, deep acquaintance with the Scriptures, and to considerable eminence as a
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preacher." Of his latter days Hume says : " Dur- ing the month of June, 1839, while on a tour of preaching, he was taken sick. Attempting to reach home, he only succeeded in reaching Ports- mouth, and after an illness of twelve days, died, July 7, 1839, aged sixty years."
His descendants are still in the Church, thirteen of them now on the Church roll.
He was pastor of the Church for three years, baptized seventeen persons, and at the time of his resignation the Church membership was seventy- two.
The next in order of pastors was Stephen Woolford, another name lost in history. He served between 1819 and '20, and added four by baptism; but for reasons unknown the aggregate of membership fell off from seventy-two to fifty- four-a loss of twenty-eight.
It was not until 1821 that the Church again se- cured a pastor. At this time Elder David M. Woodson, a young man, native of Cumberland County, Va., who had been a year as State Mis- sionary in North Carolina, was elected pastor. The Church was in a feeble spiritual state, and the assuming of the pastoral care by a young man of limited experience was a very solemn respon- sibility and an arduous undertaking. But Wood-
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son was strong and vigorous, had enjoyed the advantages of theological training at Philadelphia and above all had the grace of God in his heart.
He had not long entered upon his work before God blessed his labors, and a great revival broke out resulting in the baptism of fifty persons. In a few years more a similar work of grace fol- lowed, and seventy-one others were baptized. Among those thus added are names that have ever since been among the most consecrated of the members of the Church; among them we may mention Catharine, James and Lemuel Williams, Frances Brooks, Martha Jarvis, Geo. Barrett, Rebecca Borum, Sarah Nash, Maria Godwin, Ann Higginbotham, Elizabeth Daughtrey, James Atkinson and many others, names still borne by a large number of the present members of the Church.
This great increase in the membership neces- sitated an enlargement of the meeting-house by the addition of a wing in the rear, making the general shape of the building that of a T, and we read in the records that a. belfry was erected supplied with a bell, so that the Church, if opposed to now, then possessed this appendage.
In May, 1824, the Church had the honor of
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again entertaining the Portsmouth Association. The number of Churches had increased five, and the constituency had almost doubled itself, being 2540. Carr Bowers was the Moderator and Elder Smith Sherwood preached the Introductory sermon. The meeting was a very enthusiastic one, and many distinguished preachers were present, J. B. Jeter, Abner Clopton, A. M: Poin- dexter, and Wm. Hill Jordan, for whom no house was large enough to accommodate the crowds who flocked to hear him.
It was at this meeting that the Virginia Ports- mouth Missionary Society agreed to disband, and the Association decided to co-operate with the General Association, which had been formed the year before.
Elder Woodson served the Church until Sep- tember 18, 1832, a period of eleven years, dur- ing which time he had baptized 167, and the mem- bership was increased from fifty-four to 234, an evidence both of the Divine favor and the uncom- mon ability of the pastor During his last year, the terrible scourge of cholera prevailed and took off some very valuable members.
It would seem, however, that Elder Woodson did not devote all his time to this Church, for he was, during his pastorate here, also pastor of
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Shoulder's Hill Church for three times, probably preaching there once a month of afternoons.
In an obituary notice of him we learn that " he was much esteemed in the community, and by his brethren generally, as an able and useful minister of the Gospel." After giving up the care of the Church in Portsmouth, he became a missionary in the Lower District of the Portsmouth Association, subsequently pastor of Shoulder's Hill and Suf- folk Churches. For several years previous to his death he had suffered with a cancerous affection on his forehead, which required him nearly alto- gether to give up his preaching. The progress of this affection and the operations he underwent on account of it undermined his once vigorous and powerful constitution. He died in Nanse- mond County, Va., July 21, 1839, in the forty- third year of his age.
The Church remained without a pastor this time but six months, when, on the 29th of January, 1833, Elder Thomas Hume, Sr., was elected, en- tering formally upon his work March 17th follow- ing, the very day that marked the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. He was formally in- stalled on the first Sunday in May-Elders John Kerr, of Richmond, John Goodall, of Hampton, and R. B. C. Howell, of Norfolk, taking part in
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the services. Elder Hume continued as pastor until September 8, 1854, a period of twenty-one and a half years.
Of the brilliancy, success and far-reaching influ- ence of this pastorate we can scarcely say too much.
The son of a Presbyterian minister, himself possessed of a superior education, obtained at the Baptist Seminary, now Richmond College, Elder Hume entered upon his work with advan- tage. He had preached for a short while in Chesterfield County, from which he was called here. It was a high compliment, and while in the minds of some there were misgivings as to the success of one so young, he did not fail to meet, but exceeded the most sanguine expectations. His ministry was a success from the start. Large and enthusiastic congregations attended on his preaching, and in two years the question of build- ing a larger and more pretentious house of wor- ship was agitated.
His success excited the envy of some of his cotemporaries in the other Churches, and he was led into a public correspondence through the newspapers on the question of baptism. They twitted him as being the "beardless youth," but he came out victorious, and a couplet was fre- quently quoted :
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" While one was at home studying out his Greek Hume took the converts down in the creek."
Elder Hume possessed, among his other quali- fications, a fine business capacity, which left its influence upon every department of Church work. He reduced everything to system, and the Church records bear many marks of it. He was the first pastor to keep a complete and accurate list of members.
Being identified with many of the denomina- tional enterprises, he lifted the Church into a state of sympathy with the same, and under his influ- ence began that regular and systematic benevo- lence towards the missionary work of the denom- ination which it has ever since maintained. One of the oldest members of the Church recently.said to the writer that "Court Street Church never knew anything about the work of the denomina- tion until Hume became its pastor."
As already remarked, the spacious and beauti- ful house of worship now owned by the Church, and which has been so much admired by visitors, was built during his pastorate at a cost of $16,000.
It was first discussed in Church conference March 6, 1835, though not begun until June, 1838. The plan was drawn by William Forbes, a member of the Church, and the contractors
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were Williamn Forbes and William Brooks. The basement was occupied in the summer of 1839, and the main audience-room was formally dedi- cated and occupied in the summer of 1842, the dedicatory sermon being preached by E. L. Magoon, of Richmond. There was, however, one service in the main room before it was fin- ished, which it is. pleasant to record. It was the marriage of Miss Rebecca Schoolfield to Colonel D. G. Potts, and to do this a temporary floor had to be laid on the joists.
During Elder Hume's pastorate, May, 1847, the Portsmouth Association met for the fourth time with this Church. Forty churches and more than eight thousand members now composed the body. James C. Jordan was in the chair and Elder Hume was the clerk, a position he filled for thirty years. There were sixty-seven dele- gates present, and the leading topic of discussion was Foreign Missions, and the spacious room was packed with people on Saturday night to hear addresses from J. B. Jeter and C. B. Jen- net. The influence of this meeting was long felt both on the Church and community.
Seeing that the city was rapidly growing, and that the Baptists must soon colonize, Elder Hume induced the Church to purchase the lot in New-
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town in October, 1851, on which the Fount Street Church subsequently built a house of worship and organized a new Church.
During this pastorate several young men were sent out by the Church into the ministry, conspic- uous among whom are Dr. Williams, of Baltimore, who is with us to-day, and Rev. James G. Coun- cill, an influential pastor.
Under Elder Hume's ministry more than 800 were added to the Church by baptism, and over $3000 were given to various benevolent objects. There were five great revivals conducted, varying in results of additions from 35 to 116.
In the language of your present pastor, "We do not think we overstate the case when we say that the Baptists of this city owe more to Thomas Hume for their great success and high position than to any one man, living or dead. His smooth and tender eloquence won many of them to the Saviour; he buried them in baptism ; he married their children and buried their dead. But those who loved him and admired him were not con- fined to his own Church Among the people of all religions and no religion he was esteemed and venerated."
About the time of his resignation, or very soon after, the scourge of yellow fever swept over the
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city, cutting down hundreds of its inhabitants, not a few of whom were members of this Church. Elder Hume, then pastor of the Fourth Street Church, was in the city every day doing the work of a faithful pastor, going from house to house, administering comfort to the dying, burying the dead, sympathizing with the bereaved, and seek- ing employment and protection to the orphans- and God spared him from the scourge.
Born in Smithfield, Va., March 17, 1812, he died in Portsmouth, March 8, 1874, lacking only nine days of being sixty-three years of age. His mantle has fallen upon his son, Rev. Thomas Hume, Jr., D.D., the honored professor in Chapel Hill University, North Carolina.
On the 9th of March, 1855, the Church sent out her first colony. Letters of dismission were given to sixty white persons, seventeen males and forty-three females, for the purpose of organizing the Fount Street Church, and a neat house of wor- ship was built on the lot purchased by Elder Hume in 1851, which house is now being supplanted by a handsome brick one nearing completion .* Elder Hume took charge of the Church and remained as pastor for several years. The dismission of these
* The house is now complete, and is one of the most beautiful houses of worship in the State.
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members, together with the loss in membership by the yellow fever, reduced the number on the register to five hundred and ninety-three.
The next in the list of pastors was Elder S. M. Carter, who acted as a supply for a short while. The prevalence of the yellow fever and its de- moralizing effect upon the finances of the Church made it exceedingly difficult for the Church to secure a pastor. Calls were extended to several brethren, but they felt it their duty to decline. Elder Hume in the meantime very kindly filled the pulpit on Sunday afternoons, and the weekly prayer-meetings were kept up.
The suspense was finally broken, when, on August 1, 1856, Elder M. R. Watkinson, of New Jersey, assumed the care of the Church, His pastorate continued until April 23, 1861, when he went North, but his formal resignation was not made until August Ist, through a letter to the church, making his pastorate exactly five years.
Elder Watkinson entered upon the pastorate with every prospect of success and usefulness. The members rallied to his support and his preaching drew large and appreciative congrega- tions. He was specially gifted in pastoral work, especially among the poorer members of the Church, whose homes were made bright by his
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kind and devotional visits, and whose hearts were strengthened in the faith of the gospel. His labors in the pulpit were also highly blessed, add- ing to the Church 160 by baptism.
During his pastorate the Church contributed some $1200 to various benevolent objects, and a lot was bought by one of the members, brother Richard Cox, on the corner of Green and King Streets, and given to the colored members, upon which to erect a Church for themselves.
The lower part of the Church, which had, up to this time, been divided into two rooms, one of which was rented for day-school purposes, was thrown into one room and nicely fitted up for a Sunday-school and lecture-room at a cost of $2000. Besides the regular weekly prayer-meet- ing, one night in each week Elder Watkinson delivered a lecture on some Bible topic. These services were largely attended and resulted in great good to the Church
While thus moving on prosperously and having the love and confidence of the united Church and the community generally, the ever- memorable Civil War broke out. Elder Watkin- son, while the subject of secession was in every mouth, preached a sermon taking strong seces- sion grounds. It was a mooted question with
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many, and the Church was divided; as a conse- quence, the sermon created a sensation and drew forth many criticisms, for and against. Soon afterwards, April 17, 1861, Virginia seceded. Elder Watkinson's family had gone North and communication was being fast cut off. It was thought that, having expressed his sentiments in the sermon, he would cast his lot with Virginia, but it was a trying hour with him, and when the last boat left that was to end all communication between the State and the North, April 23, 1861, he stepped on board and thus bade adieu to the Church and State. There were some who com- mended while others censured him for the step he took. It might have been very different had not his family been separated from him. As it was, and as a result of the heated passions occasioned by the impending Civil War, many hard things were said and many hard feelings engendered, which time has blotted from memory and hearts have repented of harboring. It is now conceded by the most extreme ones that in Elder M. R. Watkinson this Church enjoyed the ministrations and watchful care of one of its best pastors.
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