USA > Virginia > Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church > Part 17
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In 1777 the county lines were all changed to run across the Neck instead of with the rivers. The parish lines between King George and Westmoreland were adjusted to conform to the county lines, but this was not done between King George and Stafford. Brunswick Parish is supposed to be in King George, because Lamb's Creek, the only church in the parish for many years, is in that county. As a fact, at least five-sixths of the parish was in Stafford.
This arrangement has continued to the present day, though the hand of time almost obliterated parish lines, and the trials which the Church has gone through have made it impossible, in late years, to have more than one minister to both parishes, wherever they might be situated.
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The Rev. John Moncure was succeeded in the rectorship by the Rev. Clement Brooke, and in 1785, when the American Church was or- ganized, the Rev. Robert Buchan was rector of Overwharton, and the Rev. Thomas Thornton of Brunswick Parish. These were thus the last clergymen serving under the Mother Church.
The following entry in the records in the clerk's office at Stafford Court-house relates to this period:
"At a vestrey held for the Parish of Overwharton, at the Glebe of the same, 20th of August, 1785-Robert Buchan, minister; Thomas Mountjoy, John R. Peyton, Church Wardens; John Mountjoy, Wm. Gerrard, Moses Phillips, Elijah Threlkheld, George Burroughs and James Withers, Vestreymen.
"Pursuant to an Act of Assembly, we the minister and Vestrey of Overwharton Parish, proceed to value the real and personal estate of said parish, do find: 235 acres of land, worth £15 per annum; 100 ditto for the poor house; chalice and plate of Aquia Church, £5; ditto, at Potomac Church, £6."
The lay delegates at the Convention in 1785 were Mr. Charles Carter, representing Overwharton, and Mr. William Fitzhugh, Bruns- wick Parish. £ In 1786 Mr. Fitzhugh again represented Brunswick Parish.
In consequence of absence of records and decline of the Church in the years succeeding the Revolution, there are but fitful glimpses of parish history until within comparatively late years.
In 1819 the Rev. Thomas Allen had charge of the work at Aquia and Dumfries, the seats of the old parishes of Overwharton and Dettingen. The next minister of whom there is record is the Rev. Mr. Prestman, and after him the Rev. Mr. Johnson. Both of these clergymen labored as missionaries for the revival of the work.
The old church survived these troublous days, but was almost a ruin in 1837. Bishop Meade thus graphically describes it as he beheld it when on his regular visitation in later years: "It was a melancholy sight to behold the vacant space around the house, which, in other days, had been filled with horses and carriages and footmen, now overgrown with trees and bushes, the limbs of the green cedars not only casting their shadows, but resting their arms on the dingy walls and thrusting them through the broken windows, thus giving an air of pensiveness and gloom to the whole scene. The very path- way up the commanding eminence on which the church stands was
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filled with young trees, while the arms of the older ones so embraced each other over it that it was difficult to ascend."
The darkest hour, however, is before the dawn, as the Bishop's next entry proves, though a number of years intervened between this and the succeeding visit, the latter being in 1856:
"Had I been suddenly dropped down upon it, I should not have recognized the place and building. The trees, brushwood and rubbish had been cleared away.
"The light of heaven had been let in upon the once gloomy sanc- tuary. At the expense of eighteen hundred dollars (almost all of it contributed by the descendants of Mr. Moncure), the house had been repaired within, without and above. The dingy walls were painted white, and looked new and fresh, and to me it appeared one of the best and most imposing temples in our land. The congregation was a good one. The descendants of Mr. Moncure, still bearing his name, formed a large portion."
These improvements were made when the Rev. Henry Wall was rector of the parish. He was succeeded in 1858 by the Rev. George L. Mackenheimer.
Dark days came again to the old church in the troublous years of the Civil War, out of which it emerged dilapidated and well-nigh ruined. It had been a camping place for soldiers, and the desecra- tion of the sacred precincts was lamentable. Again was its existence threatened; the plastering fell or hung loosely to the walls, the pillars to the gallery began to give way, the doors were open and desolation reigned. When the storm passed, however, the remnant of the Church people put forth their efforts to reclaim it. The de- scendants of the good and holy men of long ago, at a distance, com- bined their efforts with those of Church people in the county, and again, after the lapse of years, the old church renewed its youth. Among these friends of the Church were the Scotts and Robinsons, the former contributing to the immediate needs of the building, and the latter, in the person of Mr. Moncure Robinson, who, by an endowment, looked to its future condition. To this latter gentleman, now gone to his reward, and his nephews, Messrs. Philip and Barton Haxall, his administrators in the matter, and who are also descendants of the old rector, the church owes much.
The faithful efforts of those who lived near and worshipped in the old church were equally great and effective in the work of restoration,
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and what is best of all, the revival of that which it represented. These consisted largely of the descendants of the old rector and his faithful supporters in long ago, and their influence has thus been perpetuated to the glory of God.
After the war the Rev. J. M. Meredith became rector of the parish. He found a communicant list of eight, which, by his faithful efforts, and the grace of God, was in a brief time increased to fifty or more. He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert S. Barrett.
Among those who labored most earnestly and effectively for the restoration of the old church in later years were Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam E. Moncure and Mr. and Mrs. George V. Moncure.
These sleep in the family graveyard at Somerset, near "Clermont." Others now living are: Mr. R. C. L. Moncure, Mr. Hugh Adie, the fam- ilies of Mr. Withers Waller and Mr. Travers Moncure, James Ashby and Henry Moncure.
The Rev. Mr. Barrett was succeeded by the Rev. George H. Apple- ton, and he by the Rev. George M. Funsten. Under the rectorship of the latter, a new and commodious rectory was built. It was sub- sequently destroyed by fire, but has been rebuilt after an improved plan.
The other rectors in succession are: Rev. T. Carter Page, the Rev. J. H. Birkhead, the Rev. J. Howard Gibbons and the present faithful and beloved rector, the Rev. E. B. Burwell.
The old church is in better condition than it has been for years. Its beautiful and imposing appearance at once impresses the beholder and quickens the admiration for the church architecture of Colonial days.
The communicant list approximates one hundred. Sunday-schools and other parish activities are doing much good, and the bright old days seem returning, freighted with the blessing of the God of our fathers. The venerable and now venerated building thus abides in her strength, supported by her children. Having come safely through the wars, and having endured the storms of time, she stands in majesty, typical of the Word, which has so often been proclaimed from the old pulpit, promising strength to the cause of righteousness.
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, KING GEORGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA.
BY MISS NANNIE BYRD TURNER.
I N King George county, a few miles from the Potomac River and ten from the Rappahannock, stands old St. Paul's church, one of the most venerable and interesting of the Colonial churches of Virginia. Regarding its exact age there is doubt, as the written statements concerning it vary, and there seems as yet no way of de- termining which is right. We find the parish records, however, run- ning back as far as the year 1716, with references to still earlier records, and furnishing a sort of context to the history of the present building.
This building was erected somewhere about the middle of the eighteenth century, and is, consequently, now over a hundred and fifty years old. It was built for the ministration of the Rev. William Stuart, son of the first rector of the parish, the Rev. David Stuart. The latter, a direct descendant of the royal house of Stuart, came to this country from Scotland in 1715, and was soon after given charge of St. Paul's Parish, though the church building at that time was some miles distant from its present site. The two Stuarts, father and son, for nearly eighty years fed the flock of Christ in the same field; though it was not until the Rev. William Stuart took charge, about 1750, that the St. Paul's of to-day-the brick building now standing- was erected. This saintly man left a name that shines almost with a halo in the records that follow him. His goodness and eloquence and lovable personality appear to have strengthened and beautified the spirit of the parish, and led it into great religious prosperity. His letter of resignation, when physical frailty at last compelled him to give up the work, is touching in its mingled solicitude and sub- mission :
"To the Vestry of St. Paul's Parish:
Gentlemen,-I have been curate of this parish upward of forty years. My own conscience bears me witness, and I trust my parish- ioners (though many of them have fallen asleep) will also witness,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, KING GEORGE COUNTY, VA.
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that until age and infirmities disabled me, I always, so far as my infirmities would allow, faithfully discharged my duties as a minister of the Gospel. It has given me many hours of anxious concern that the services of the Church should be so long discontinued on my ac- count. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. I therefore entreat the favor of you to provide me a successor as soon as you can, that divine service may be discontinued no longer; and at the end of the year the glebe shall be given up to him by your affectionate servant, WILLIAM STUART."
But with his passing, old St. Paul's fell on evil days. For some reason, his successor was never ordained to the priesthood, and here we discern what was, perhaps, the first shadow of the darkness that followed. A few years after he died we find the grand building in ruins, and, as a vestryman of a later day wrote sadly, "The life of the church almost gone out." Only the walls remained, of such won- derful masonry as to defy all ravages-and these were desecrated. The history of this period must be taken either as a record of un- precedented poverty among the people, or else as a sharp commentary on the coldness and laxity of the time-perhaps both. The chronicler states that there was occasionally lay reading in the ruins; and this was all, except for "association meetings" at intervals. For the rest, beasts of the field roamed through the church, or what was left of it; soldiers camped there, and the decaying contents furnished plunder for the "ruthless of the land." Bishop Meade's account of his visita- tion in 1812 is a vivid pen picture of the desolation that had come upon the once prosperous church. He says:
"St. Paul's was then in ruins. The roof was ready to fall, and not a. window, door, pew or timber remained below. Nevertheless, notice was given that we would preach there. A rude, temporary pulpit or stand was raised in one angle of the cross, and from that we per- formed service and addressed the people. On the night before the meeting a heavy rain had fallen, and the water was in small pools here and there where the floor once was, so that it was difficult to find a dry spot on which the attendants might stand." *
Truly, things had come to a woeful pass for old St. Paul's. We can almost see now the forlorn congregation huddled in one side of the building, exposed to all the winds of heaven, with pools of water under- foot and a precarious roof overhead. I fancy the old Bishop's face was sad enough as he ascended his "rude temporary pulpit." He must
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have felt like crying out with the distressed prophet of Israel, "Being desolate, it mourneth unto me."
A few years later we find the Legislature turning the ruins oyer to the citizens of the county, with permission to convert them into a sort of academy. This decree was indirectly the means of restoring to some extent the place of worship, for thereafter, for a while at least, the building was used conjointly as a church and an institution of learning. Probably the back part, the upper half of the "cross," served for the school, while in the remaining three-quarters services were resumed. This arrangement does not seem to have prospered, though, for after a time the seminary was neglected and the house "became inconvenient for purposes of worship." It was as though the spirit of the church could not brook this sharing with the world, as it were, precincts that had hitherto been trod by worshippers only.
Sometime after this the cloud begins to show a silver lining, for the neighbors petitioned the Legislature to give the building back to its rightful owners and its original purposes. This request was complied with, and three-quarters of the edifice was forthwith set aside to be used wholly as a church, while the one-fourth in the rear, separated from the rest by thick walls, was made the abode of the rector.
In 1816 the parish had been reorganized by a newly-made vestry and between 1822 and 1850 we find various ministers taking the oversight of the flock: The Rev. Joseph Clapham; the Rev. Edward Peet, to whom belongs the honor of having done most toward bring- ing the church back to its ancient prestige; the Rev. Mr. Goldsmith, and others. We fancy that even in the forsaken years, even during its time of utter destitution and desolation, there were some who loved the old church still, and cared to linger within its walls. It is said that an old colored woman who had spent her life near the place- having belonged to a family of the congregation-used to go regularly every Sunday and sit among the ruins. On being questioned, she answered that it did her more good to sit there and "think over the old prayers" than it would to go a-praying in any of the newer churches of other denominations.
After the restoration there may have been times of discouragement, of decreasing prosperity and dark outlooks for a while-no doubt they came; and there was the blow of the Civil War and its attendant demoralization; but the tide had turned, the old church-the physical
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part-stood firm, and the spiritual part went on from strength to strength. Sunday after Sunday the people gathered in their reclaimed temple to join in the prayers and praises of the service. There was never any lapse into the old dread state; and the years dealt kindly, on the whole, with that which had been recovered by the grace of God from such a Slough of Despond.
St. Paul's stands to-day, as it stood a century and a half ago, un- changed in form, unaltered in construction, with the self-same bricks in its walls that the first builders put there. The shape is cruciform, and, as of old, three parts of the cross make up the place of worship, while the fourth is a spacious vestry-room, warm and high-pitched. Three flights of stairs lead up to a gallery, which runs around three whole sides of the building, and affords of itself room for a congrega- tion. Two stories of windows; that is, windows in both gallery and lower floor, let in abundant light and air; and an entrance to each angle of the cross allows the congregation to enter by different aisles, thus making their assembling well-nigh noiseless. An old lofty pulpit, draped in deep crimson and approached by a stairway of no mean di- mensions, occupies the background of the chancel. The Communion rail makes an immense semi-circle, which accommodates a large num- ber; while the entire building would seat five hundred people.
The plate still used for the service was donated a good deal over a hundred years ago by a communicant, and bears the inscription:
"Given by Henry Fitzhugh, of Stafford county, St. Paul's Parish, Gent., for the use of your church." There is a Prayer Book, also pre- sented in 1830 by Miss Jane Parke, a descendant of the first rector; and in the old pulpit is to be found a large Bible, the gift of the well-beloved Rev. William Stuart, in 1769, and inscribed with his name and the date. This volume is a Cambridge edition, appointed by His Majesty's special command to be read in churches "cum privilegiis," with the dedication: "To our most high and mighty Prince James, by the grace of God King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, De- fender of the Faith, the translators of the Bible wish grace, mercy and peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
St. Paul's holds many precious memories and associations for the congregation of to-day. There is scarcely a member who cannot claim, "My grandfather was vestryman-or warden-or rector here"; or, at least, "My ancestors worshipped in these very walls." It was
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on the doorstep of this church that one of our Virginia Bishops was won to Christ. A thoughtless unbeliever, lingering outside at a Sunday service, he overheard the sermon being delivered within, and, like Saul of Tarsus, saw a great light. And doubtless, to many others have come, beneath that roof, during these two hundred years, illu- minations across a dark path, sudden moments of falling at the Divine feet-revelations too deep for telling.
One of the treasures of the parish is the ancient church register, now in the possession of a direct descendant of the Rev. David Stuart. Its first pages are torn out, and the earliest recorded date is 1716, while the leaves are thinned and blackened by time; but the staunch coverings have resisted the wear of two centuries, and the contents is remarkably well preserved. The small, cramped handwriting, ornate with flourishes and long s's, microscopic, faded, is still legible, and one can trace there the record of a mighty gathering in of souls. A remarkable feature is the long list of negro baptisms, hundreds on hundreds, exceeding in number the baptisms of the whites. The countless entries give the same names that are borne to day in the congregation : Ashton, Grymes, Fitzhugh, Stuart, Berry, Tayloe, Hooe, Washington, with others no longer represented. Received into the Church, united in matrimony, committed to the dust "in the hope of a glorious resurrection"-generation after generation of gentle, God- fearing folk-this the age-worn register stands for. The people touch it with reverent hands, just as they sit reverently Sunday after Sunday in the shadow of the walls that sheltered those very souls. In that building one seems indeed to be compassed about by a great cloud of witnesses.
To-day old St. Paul's is a landmark, a proud possession. I would call it more: A witness to the faith which endures, the religion that time and adversity, and destruction itself, cannot overthrow.
.
MERCHANT'S HOPE CHURCH, PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, VA,
MERCHANT'S HOPE CHURCH, MARTIN'S BRANDON PARISH, VIRGINIA.
BY N. P. DUNN, RICHMOND, VA.
A BOUT fourteen miles from Petersburg and half that distance from Prince George Court-house, stands Merchant's Hope church, at a point two miles inland from James River, on what is known as the Church Road. The building, of ancient brick, is sixty feet long and thirty feet wide, with walls twenty-two inches thick, and rafters of such unusual size that their weight proved a menace even to those sturdy walls which were, some fifty years ago, braced by iron rods to prevent threatened damage. On one of these rafters the number 1657 was found. It was taken to be the date of the erection of the church, and this date is now painted on the outside cornice of the building. Of the credibility of the inference antiquarians must judge. The aisles, passing from both doors and meeting at the chancel, are six feet wide and are paved with the original flag stones, practically in perfect preservation after all these years. They are eighteen inches square, and were doubtless im- ported, as others of that day are known to have been. On replacing one of these tiles which had become ioosened, it was found to bear on its under surface a crown cut in the stone as a sort of stamp or trademark. Across the end of the church, opposite the chancel, runs a gallery. Passing under this, the west door is reached, on one side of which is a small vesting room, lighted by a tiny window into the church. On the other side a stairway leads to the gallery. The ceil- ing, following a low curve, was until recently of white plaster, like the finish of the walls, but owing to the difficulty of keeping its arched surface in repair, it is now ceiled in wood. The old lines were preserved and the acoustic properties of the church are said to owe their excellence to this form of roof. The old square pews remained in use till the Civil War, and are now replaced by the modern kind, while the chancel, destroyed at the same time, has never been restored. The original rail and gate are replaced by a curved walnut rail. The necessary furnishings are the simplest. Within the memory of the- father of the present senior warden the high pulpit, with its sounding-
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board, stood midway down the church, the minister leaving the chancel and traversing half the length of the aisle to enter it. The upright beam to which the sounding board was affixed is detected beneath the plaster now. The church's jewel is an old Bible of great beauty and interest. The title pages are gone, but expert testimony affirms it to be "the New Testament of 1639, which is appended to the Old Testament of 1640." There seems no reason to doubt that it is John Westhrope's "great Bible," left to the parish in 1658.
The church yard, lying beside the little church, contains no tomb- stones, nor is there a tradition that any ever existed. In that part of the world the plantations were large and the distances great, and the custom of interment in private burying grounds to a great extent prevailed. The church yard is carefully fenced, and is still , occa- sionally used as a place of burial. No monument or tablet nor trace of such marks the church walls. No old register exists, no new one has been begun. The spot is mute as to its own history, and one who would learn the story must glean far and wide and at last bring home but a small sheaf.
The church takes its quaint and suggestive name from the old plantation on which it stood. No part of the tract retains the name to-day except God's Acre. The small farms into which it was divided long ago have well-known names of their own. A bark called Ye Merchant's Hope was plying between England and Virginia in 1634. In 1635, under West, William Barker, Mariner, Richard Quoyning (Quiney) and John Sadler, Merchants, and their associates and com- pany, received a grant of "1,250 acres of land in the county of Charles City, and extending into the woods from a seat or grant of lands called Merchant's Hope, formerly granted to the said Barker his Associates and Co." This tract, enlarged by the purchase from his heirs of Captain Powell's holdings, already historic ground by reason of his tragic end here in the Massacre of 1622, was repatented under Harvey in 1638 as "Merchant's Hope, formerly known as Powle Brook." Barker received further grants, and bought other lands in the neigh- borhood. Sadler and the company were granted some portion of Mar- tin's Brandon in 1636 and other tracts in 1649, and the holdings of these men now formed two plantations of great size, the home of a considerable colony.
In 1655 we hear for the first time of court being held at Merchant's Hope. Barker must have sold his interest in the two places, leaving
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Quiney and Sadler joint owners. Quiney, whose brother Thomas had married Judith Shakespeare in 1615-16, died in London in 1655. Sadler, who was, I believe, his father-in-law, died in 1658. Of his will we shall have occasion to speak later.
In 1711, under Spotswood, the Sadler and Quiney heirs repatented Merchant's Hope, now 2,208 acres. In the meantime that part of Charles City county lying along the south bank of James River had been made into a new county and called Prince George, no doubt in honor of Queen Anne's Danish consort. There is a deed among the Prince George county records, executed in 1720, conveying, on the part of Quiney's heirs, one-half of Merchant's Hope and Martin's Brandon to Nathaniel Harrison, who doubtless bought the other half of both plantations from the heirs of John Sadler. He thus became the sole owner of a magnificent tract, which in part remains in the Harrison family to-day.
Court was transferred from Merchant's Hope in 1726. A field two miles from the church is now known as "Court-house Jamb." We can not doubt that it is the site of the court-house. As the building fell into ruin, perhaps some upright for door or window outlasted its fellows, and so gave a name to the spot, which clings to it still.
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