Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Richmond, Va., Southern churchman co.
Number of Pages: 404


USA > Virginia > Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church > Part 15


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30


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yet it answered the purposes for which it was erected and in which the Colonists rejoiced to hold their services for many years. The Rev. William Mease was the worthy rector from 1610 to 1620, when he was almost immediately succeeded by other like-minded godly men in the rectorship.


We hear very little about either village or church until 1619, except that Mr. John Rolfe states that in 1616 it was a place of twenty inhabitants, who seemed to be more industrious than those who re- mained at Jamestown, and were as a consequence reaping more of the fruits of their labors. In the year 1619, when William Tucker and William Capps represented it in the House of Burgesses, they were commissioned to sue that body for a change of name. Says an old chronicler of that event: "The year in the House of Burgesses when Jamestown was twelve years old, I guess, some people in pious frame of mind, took a spite at Kecoughtan name, and said a name so heathen should not be for a people so pious as we, and suggesting some other names, they made their grudges to old King James, and so the king a new found, for this fine section and all around." We quite indorse the sentiment immediately following in this statement and could well wish that the pious scruples of our excellent first citizens might have been shown in some less objectionable way; "but," says the record, with a fine touch of humor, "I will leave it to any man, was not musical Kecoughtan, if not pious, as pretty as the name Elizabeth City ?"


This is interesting at least from the circumstance that it may fur- nish a clue for the substitution of so many common-place English names for the more beautiful designations employed by the savages. James, for instance, as a name for the mighty stream which runs through the country close at hand, is dear to us all from the asso- ciations of these old days, when the English settled upon its banks, and the stirring events of later fuller years; but these associations would not have been the less dear had the earlier name Powhatan been retained, while doubtless the present generation would have known more of those doughty warriors whom the English replaced. These ancient names will, in all probability, be brought to light in the revival of historic interest now arisen concerning this section. Will it be altogether too Quixotic for us to hope that some of them at least will be restored to their original places and the meaningless names now in use banished? The name Kecoughtan does not appear


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regularly in legal documents from this time, but the common people used it constantly in their speech and writings. The new name, Eliza- beth City, was called after the daughter of King James I.


At that time the whole number of settlements was included in four great corporations, of which Elizabeth City was one. This corpora- tion was co-extensive with the parish. Among the early ministers was one Jonas Stockton, who enjoyed the distinction of being, says President Tyler, of William and Mary College, "the earliest exponent of the idea that the only good Indian is a dead Indian." Stockton had warned the settlers of the impending massacre of 1622, and it was possibly while suffering from the panic of the times that he ad- vanced the famous idea, for otherwise, from all accounts, he was a godly and humane man


At this time, 1623, there lived within the bounds of the parish the first English couple married in Virginia, John Layden and Anna, his wife, with their children, Virginia, Alice and Kathlene. It is also to be noted that Virginia Layden was the first English child born in America after Virginia Dare, born on Roanoke Island, Raleigh's Colony, whose history ends with her birth. In 1624 another child was born to these parents. Layden is listed as a carpenter, and his wife, Anne Buras, as a ladies' maid.


The corporation of Elizabeth City developed into Elizabeth City county in 1634, when, for the convenience of the inhabitants of Vir- ginia, the whole country was divided into eight counties. The county of Elizabeth City, however, is now much smaller than it was at that time, since it has lost large portions of its area to Norfolk, Nansemond and Warwick counties, respectively. It is interesting to note when Harvey became Governor, on January 18, 1636-7, he read his new com- mission in the church at Elizabeth City.


The town of Hampton, where the present St. John's church is lo- cated, was founded by an act of the Legislature in 1680, though that act was suspended and re-enacted in 1691 and again in 1705, whence the legal existence of Hampton is dated. What became of the old church in the meanwhile is problematical, since a writer in 1716, while recording that it was a place of some hundred houses, said that it was without a church. Services were held at the court-house with more or less frequency, first in the old, then in the new. This might lead us to believe that the old church of Kecoughtan had dis- appeared. That was probably the case at the time. The settlement


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had changed, had been removed to the opposite side of the river, and the old building, being disused, as was natural, went to decay. There was a church, though, at Pembroke farm, about one mile west of the present site of St. John's, where are the tombs of some of the older inhabitants; among them "the tombs in black marble of Admiral Neville, erected in 1697; of Thomas Curle, 1700; of Peter Hayman, 1700, and of the Rev. Andrew Thompson, 1719." This church was new in the year 1667, while the old church on the site of ancient Kecoughtan was still standing. It was built of wood, the brick foun- dation of which was thoroughly identified under the leadership of the Rev. John C. McCabe in 1856.


It may be of interest to state that the site of this church, together with a plot of ground adjoining and surrounding it of about nine acres in extent, is now owned by Elizabeth City Parish. This may have been part of a glebe, though there are at present no available records in evidence of this statement. It is the intention of the present vestry to hold this property for a burial ground for the parish, and to use it for that purpose when the present St. John's Cemetery has no more available plots for interment. The records in the county clerk's office show that in 1667 a certain Mr. Nicholas Baker was buried in the new church at Kichotan, according to the terms of his will, while a Mr. Robert Brough was buried in the old church at Kichotan. This not only shows a curious revival or retention of the Indian name, long discontinued as an official title, but also that there were two churches in the parish at that date. What became of the old church must, we suppose, be forever a mystery. Bishop Meade, it seems, knew nothing of it. While he identifies the new church at Pembroke with the present old St. John's church, it is need- less to say that he is mistaken, as records now at hand abundantly show. Whether this was in ruins in the year 1706, when it is said of Hampton "that it had no church," we do not know. At any rate, it was at a distance too remote for the inhabitants of the then thriving borough to attend. So there speedily arose a desire for a new church more conveniently located. Unfortunately, there was some difference of opinion with reference to the location, and the matter being referred to the governor, it was decided by him that the church should be built within the precincts of the town of Hampton. It is of record that at a "Court held Jan. 17, 1727-Present James Walker, Joshua Curle, James Wallace, Wilson Cary, justices; Mr. Jacob Walker


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and Mr. John Loury were appointed to lay off an acre and a half of ground at the upper end of Queen street for the building of a church thereon." This land joined the lot of one Proswells, and is the same lot upon which the present church building stands. The minister and church wardens of the parish, together with the aforesaid court, entered into a contract with a Mr. Henry Cary to furnish him with wood from the school grounds "at the rate of sixpence per load to burn bricks for the church." The bricks were to be English bricks; that is to say, of the shape and character of those made in England. Hence we suppose arose the fiction long indulged in that the church and other early colonial buildings were built of bricks brought from England. Until a few years ago there was a large hole in the church- yard, wherein it is said the bricks were made and burned.


The parish henceforth increased gradually in strength and numbers until the war of the Revolution, when the church met with such ir- reverent use as befell many of our buildings during that sad time. But after a short interval the services were renewed, and the sound of the church-going bell was heard in the place, with few intermissions, until the war of 1812. The bell just mentioned was purchased for the church from funds received from the sale of lands given by Mr. Alexander Kennedy, in 1760, the parish having entered into the con- ditions made by Mr. Kennedy that the vestry and church wardens should build a suitable belfry after his decease. This belfry was struck by lightning during the period of the Revolution and the royal coat of arms was hurled to the ground. Happily, only the tower was damaged, but we can imagine the patriots shaking themselves with glee over what many gathered to be an act of divine approval of their cause. But the tower was again struck by lightning in 1844. Was that, too, significant of later events? When Hampton was sacked and plundered in 1812 by the British under Admiral Cockburn, the church was desecrated and turned into a barrack. Great indignity was offered to the inhabitants by the troops, while the most un- speakable crimes were wrought in the streets. Says Dr. McCabe: "The Church of God was not spared during the saturnalia of lust and violence. His temple was profaned and desecrated. It became a refuge for the owls and the bats, while cattle roamed in the yard, which was used as a slaughter ground for the butcher and the arena for pugilistic contests. Thereafter a strange lethargy seems to have settled upon the people. The church was gradually permitted to go


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to decay, until, in 1824, there was nothing left of it but the bare walls and a leaking roof. A most pathetic recital of the ruinous con- dition of the building is given in a letter to Bishop Meade (see his Old Churches, etc., Vol. 1, p. 226) by one who saw this Zion in the time of her humiliation. There were few loyal souls remaining who longed and prayed for the restoration of the church which they were to see again rise and become a blessing to the community. In 1824 Bishop Moore gave them the inspiration of his presence, and held a service in the ruins, whereupon the work of restoration immediately began, and was prosecuted vigorously to its completion. The happy result occurred in 1827, when by action of the vestry the church was named St. John's. Bishop Moore consecrated the building in · 1830.


Under a succession of worthy ministers the church prospered until 1861, when it again fell on evil days. The Civil War had begun, when, on the night of August the 7th and 8th, 1861, upon the approach of the Federal forces, the inhabitants, under the command of General Magruder, set fire to their own homes, in attestation of their loyalty to the State and their confidence in the cause of the Confederacy, and to prevent it falling into the hands of their enemies. In the general confiagration the church was burned-only the walls were left standing-when again it became a refuge for the owls and the bats. Squatters, who quickly seized upon the land, built their shacks against the walls and used the interior spaces to shelter their cattle. Only a few houses in the town escaped the fire, and of these only one stands to-day, but so altered as to be unrecognizable. Services were, however, held in the parish at Old Point, when the town itself was rebuilt, in the court-house and other such other places as were avail- able. Then the lower story of Patrick Henry Hall, situated on the west side of the court-house, was secured and fitted up as a chapel. As soon as the people were able, after the rebuilding of their own homes, in their poverty, yet in their faith, they set about the restora tion of the fire-scarred church. The walls were intact, though the roof and tower were gone. In 1869, under the ministration of the Rev. Mr. McCarthy, a retired chaplain of the United States Army, who freely and generously gave his services for two years, the church was finally completed, and again the walls that had passed through so many vicissitudes rang with the songs of Zion. The church has since greatly prospered in membership and good deeds, until now it


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is one of the stronger parishes in the Diocese, itself a mother of churches and fruitful of good works.


During the rectorship of the Rev. John J. Gravatt, who came to the parish fresh from the Seminary in 1876, work was started in the neighboring town of Newport News, which has developed into the noble and vigorous church of St. Paul's, Warwick Parish, and of which the Rev. A. O. Sykes, D. D., is the present rector. Under Mr. Gravatt, also, vigorous work was prosecuted in Phœbus, although the present beautiful chapel was completed under the rectorship of his imme- diate successor. The parish greatly prospered under Mr. Gravatt's leadership; the church was renovated, while a splendid stained glass window was erected to the memory of Pocahontas, who worshipped, no doubt, in the old church at Kecoughtan, while the commodious parish house adjoining the church lot was conceived and completed and the rectory was built. Mr. Gravatt resigned in 1893 to become rector of Holy Trinity church, Richmond, Va., and was immediately succeeded by the Rev. C. Braxton Bryan, D. D., who took up the work vigorously and intelligently, and continued it with great success until 1905, when he resigned to become rector of Grace church, Peters- burg. Mr. Bryan being an archæologist of tried capacity and train- ing, became at once interested in the history of so ancient a parish Among other important ventures in this direction, he caused to be erected a window in the church to the memory of the Colonial clergy, at a place near where the pulpit formerly stood. It was during his incumbency that the present square tower was built at the southeast corner of the chancel, without injury to the original walls; an organ chamber added, in which was placed a new organ and a vested choir installed. Special work among the negroes of the town was begun by Mr. Gravatt in 1889 and renewed by Dr. Bryan in 1904, and has continued with such success ever since that a chapel will soon be commenced for those people's use.


In 1905, with the help of his capable assistant, the Rev. George F. Rogers, Church work was begun in East Newport News, and now, as the result of that endeavor, a building called Grace church is rapidly approaching completion. The Rev. Henry J. Geiger is now the worthy assistant of the parish in special charge of this work and the chapel in Phœbus. In the year 1877 a very successful and unique work was started among the Indians at the Hampton Normal School by the Rev. J. J. Gravatt, and faithfully carried on by the successive rectors


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of the parish; thus reviving in these late days the original design of the Colonists of instructing the natives in the principles of the doctrine of Christ.


Thus has the parish prospered and grown under the blessing of Providence. It has passed through three wars; fire, water and rapine have fed upon it, but it remains to-day in the renewal of its worth a strong and developing force for God and righteousness. There is in keeping of this parish and in constant use a Communion service which was made in London in 1618; its history and description by the Rev. Dr. Bryan is from an account furnished by him to the Churchman, as follows, namely:


"THE CHALICE AND PATEN.


"They have been in longer use than any other English Church vessels in America. They were given by Mrs. Mary Robinson, of London, to a church endowed by her in Smith's Hundred in Virginia, which lay in the part between the Chickahominy and the James, and was later called South Hampton Hundred. This church was endowed especially with the hope of converting the Indians, but the settlement was almost completely destroyed by them in the great massacre of 1622, when these vessels were carried by Governor Yeardley to James- town, and afterwards given to the parish of Elizabeth City. Here they have survived many changes and chances, and as if in answer to the prayer of her who gave them, they are now constantly used in the administration of the Holy Communion to the many young Indian communicants who attend St. John's from the Hampton Normal School."


We subjoin a list of Colonial rectors and their successors from 1610 to the present time:


William Mease, 1610-1620; George Keith, 1617-1625; Mr. Cisse; Francis Bolton, 1621-1623; Mr. Fenton, 1624; Jonas Stockton, 1627; William Wilkenson, 1644; Phillip Mallory, 1661; Justinian Aylmer, 1665-1667; Jeremiah Taylor, 1667; William Harris, 1675; John Page, 1677-1687; Cope D'Oyle, 1687-1691; James Wallace, 1691-1712; Andrew Thompson, 1712-1719; James Falconer, 1720-1724; Thomas Peader, 1727; William Fyfe, 1731-1755; Thomas Warrington, 1756-1770; Wil- liam Hubbard, temporary supply, 1770; William Selden, 1771-1783; William Nixon, 1783; William Bland, 1786; Henry Skyrin, 1795; John Jones Spooner, 1796-1799; Benjamin Brown, 1806; Robert Seymour


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Symms, 1806; George Holson, 1810; Mark L. Cheevers, 1827-1843; John P. Bausman, 1843-1845; William K. Goode, 1845-1848; John C. McCabe, 1850-1856; Mr. Harlow, -; William F. M. Jacobs, 1858- 1861; John McCarthy, 1869-1871; John J. Norwood, 1871-1872; William Jarrett, 1873-1875; J. W. Keeble, 1875-1876; John J. Gravatt, 1876- 1893; C. B. Bryan, 1893-1905; Reverdy Estill, July, 1905.


Of the Colonial clergy it is but fair to state that only one of the whole number was reported for evil behavior, and I take it that this is a fair sample of the lives of all such clergy in the Colonial days. They have been, as a class, held up by partial historians for all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors, but such charges will not stand for a moment before the light of modern historical criticism. The Colonial clergy are shown to be, not monsters of vice, or seekers after worldly pleasure; they were with rare exceptions gentlemen, scholars, leaders of the people in righteousness, and living clean, upright lives them- selves. The slander has gone too long unrebuked; we have let our enemies write our histories, and we have calmly submitted to their misleading statements. The lives of our brethren of the past cry out for vindication. Such lists as this in part furnish that vindica- tion.


It is of interest to note that the oldest free school in the country still exists in this parish, without a break in its history since the year 1634. It is called the Symms-Eaton Free School, in memory of Benjamin Symms, who left an estate for its founding in 1634, and Thomas Eaton, who added to its endowment in 1634; it is now a part of the public school system of the country, while a handsome building bears the name of the original donors. It has been pointed out that the Communion service is the oldest in this country; it must also be said that the parish of Elizabeth City is the most ancient in continuous existence, while Hampton itself is the oldest English set- tlement in America, and has earned because of its struggles and vicis- situdes the soubriquet "The Gamecock Town."


The following list of known vestrymen who served the parish from 1751 to 1855 will doubtless be of interest to a large number of their de- scendants. The records of those who served before have been long since irrevocably lost:


From 1751 to 1771-Colonial Period. - Merritt Sweeny, Robert Armis- tead, John Allen, Anthony Tucker, Baldwin Shepherd, Thomas Latimer, John Westwood Armistead, John Moore, Jacob Walker, William Par-


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sons, William Wager, John Tabb, Jr., James Wallace, William Latimer, Charles Ward, Booth Armistead, George Wray, Henry King, Wilson Miles Cary, William Mallory, Joseph Seldon, Miles King, Cary Seldon.


From May, 1771 to 1784-Revolutionary Period .- Robert Armistead, William Wager, Henry King, Joseph Seldon, James Wallace, Miles King, John Tabb, Cary Selden, William Armistead, William Latimer, William Mallory, Wilson Miles Cary, Worlich Westwood, Francis Mal- lory, George Latimer, W. W. Curle, John Wray, William Armistead Bagley, Robert Bright.


From November 27, 1806, to 1810 .- Charles Jennings, Robert Armis- tead, John Cooper, James Latimer, Thomas Watts, Samuel Watts, Miles Cary, Thomas Jones, Jr., John Shepard, Thomas B. Armistead, William Lowry, Benjamin Phillips, William Armistead, Thomas Latimer, Jr., Robert Lively, John Carey.


From August 19, 1826, to 1855 .- Robert Lively, Samuel Watts, Thomas Latimer, Dr. William Hope, John W. Jones, William Jennings, Giles A. Cary, Thomas Hope, John Herbert, Dr. Richard G. Banks, John F. Wray, Richard B. Servant.


VAUTER'S CHURCH, ST. ANNE'S PARISH, ESSEX COUNTY, VA.


BY P. S. HUNTER, LORETTA, VA.


F all the magnificent river views in Tidewater Virginia few excel that from the summit of Chimborazo hill, in upper Essex county. Commanding on one side long stretches of the beau- tiful Rappahannock, flowing through its fertile plains, it dis- plays, on the other, thickly-wooded uplands in ascending terraces of richly blended verdure. But the most prominent object in the fore- ground is old Vauter's church, standing in its ancient grove of oak and walnut. It is approached by the "Church Lane," considerably elevated above the fields on either side, from the accumulation of soil washing down from the hills, and is bordered by dense hedges of growth so characteristic of the country, and in spring so exquisitely fragrant with the bloom of the wild grape and the eglantine.


The church is a brick building of cruciform shape, with its three high, sharp gables supporting a shingle roof, cut close to the edges of the wall. Its high and narrow windows are guarded by heavy solid wooden shutters, and there are two entrances to the church by double doors, in the south and the west ends. The present chancel, raised one step from the stone-paved aisles, is furnished now with two modern stands or lecterns for the service and sermon, but back against the wall there still stands the old reading desk and pulpit above it. The latter is reached by a stairway from the chancel floor, and this stair- way is guarded by a hand-rail. Both pulpit and reading desk are draped in crimson hangings. The pews are the same old box stalls, with benches of uncompromising rigidity, and furnished with clanging doors, which announce the retirement of the occupants; but they have been cut down to nearly half of their former height. A vestibule partition crosses the western end of the church, forming a vestry- room, and supporting a gallery reached by steps in the vestibule. Another gallery over the southern door is the organ loft. Formerly the chancel and pulpit stood in the eastern end of the church, and pews and pulpit were so high that both minister and congregation could enjoy deep seclusion.


Bishop Meade tells us in his book-Old Churches and Families of Virginia-that when visiting these old Colonial churches he frequently


VAUTER'S CHURCH, ESSEX COUNTY, VA.


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had to hasten his arrival, to erect temporary platforms of bricks or stones in the pulpits, to enable him to see the congregation; but the sermons of those days were so long and closely written that the minister had to be more engaged in the scrutiny of the manuscript. than in the observation of the audience. In fact, from the shape of the church, the pulpit could be only visible from some points of the: building. To complete the description of this venerable building, there: is only to be added that its walls are covered by the most luxuriant. mantle of English ivy, which is with difficulty restrained from in- vading and decaying the wooden roof.


The early history of St. Anne's parish and its two churches is veiled in much obscurity, and rests more upon dim tradition than actual fact. Rappahannock county, formed from Lancaster county, about the middle of the seventeenth century, contained Littlebourne parish. Littlebourne parish, lying on both sides of the Rappahannock river, was divided into North Farnham parish, in Richmond county; South Farnham parish, in lower Essex, and St. Anne's parish, in upper Essex; as both Richmond and Essex counties were formed from Rappahan- nock county.


St. Anne's parish contained two churches. One of these churches, now destroyed and even its name lost, but of which the foundation is visible, stood near the present St. Matthew's church, about a mile above it, on the road leading to Lloyd's. When St. Matthew's church was begun in 1860, its location was selected by its members, and spe- cially recommended by Colonel Wm. Beverley, of Blandfield, because of its neighborhood to the old church which had been the regular place of worship of the Blandfield family and other Episcopal families in that vicinity. This old church fell into the possession of an owner named Sale, from which fact it was known as "Sale's Church." Legend tells us that its material was taken away, and applied to such prac- tical uses that its chancel rail was made into a chicken coop. About two miles from this old church, and on a branch of Occupacia creek, stood the rectory, called "The Glebe," later sold to the Rowzie family, and was known as Clover Field. An old colored man named Frederic Robb, and owned by the Rowzie family, delighted in narrating his reminiscences of this old church, and the assembling of its congrega- tion, conspicuous in that day by the rare possession of coaches, and by the English style of costume-knee breeches and boots worn by the gentlemen.




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