USA > Virginia > Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church > Part 26
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
272
As in the case of Elizabeth River Parish, the earliest church was situated on the northern shores of the parish, which were the first to be settled. It was doubtless, at first, a wooden church, but in 1723 a brick church had been built. This brick church lay within about a mile of the Chesapeake, on the west side of Lynnhaven river, and just where that river ran into a long estuary, which extended east and west, con- necting Linkhorn Bay, Broad Bay, Lynnhaven River, and at that time emptying into the Chesapeake at Little Creek, the dividing line be- tween Lynnhaven and Elizabeth River Parishes. This topography has been strangely altered by a circumstance which will be mentioned later.
In 1723 the Reverend James Tennant was minister of the parish, Mr. Maxmillian Boush was church warden and Colonel Edward Mosley, Capt. John Mosley, Capt. Henry Chapman, Charles Sayer, Mr. William Elgood and Capt. Francis Land were vestrymen. Charles Sayer was clerk of the vestry, Mr. James Nimmo was clerk of the church and of one chapel, there being at that time two chapels in the parish besides the church. The roof of this brick church was found in 1724 to be too rotten to be repaired, which, considering the quality of shingles used in those days, indicates a very considerable age. A new roof was ordered to be put on, and the roof was ordered to be tarred, a practice still sometimes resorted to in old Princess Anne. It does not produce a thing of beauty, but comes near lasting forever.
At the same time Captain Hillary Mosley was given leave to gratify himself by the erection, at his own cost, of a pew for his family over the chancel door, taking up as little room as possible. These. family gallery pews were a highly esteemed feature of our Colonial churches.
The Reverend James Tennant continued minister until 1726, but after November, 1726, when his salary of 16,000 pounds of tobacco was recorded in the year's accounts, nothing more was heard of him; per- haps he had died. On November 2d, 1726, Mr. Nicholas Jones, minister, was employed temporarily to preach at the Brick church, and at each of the chapels once every month, and for each sermon he preached he was to receive 400 pounds of tobacco in cask, to be levied for him in the next parish levy, which might be something like a year later. One of the embarrassing difficulties which Colonial parsons had to contend with, was pay long deferred. This paucity of sermons was to be supplemented by Mr. James Nimmo reading every Sunday in the Brick church, and John Dawley reading in the Eastern Shore chapel, Mr. Peacock reading in the Upper chapel, sometimes called Pungo or Machi- pungo. This continued through the years 1727-'28.
273
In 1728, while trying to secure a minister, the vestry had a curious difficulty with the Reverend Thomas Baly, "who contrary to the desire of this vestry insisted on being our minister." The vestry sent Mr. James Nimmo as their representative to the Governor to secure his assistance in this awkward case, and as might be expected, the Rev- erend Thomas Baly was removed.
In 1729 the Reverend John Marsden was employed on the same terms that Mr. Jones had been, and on November 14, 1729, the Reverend Henry Barlow was regularly employed as minister of the parish at a salary of 16,000 pounds of tobacco in cask.
There were in the parish at this time, a church and two chapels, that is, the old Brick church on the bay shore, an old wooden chapel, standing where the Eastern Shore chapel now stands, about three miles from the sea, which old chapel was replaced by a new frame building not long afterwards, and the Pungo chapel, already referred to, about four miles southeast of Princess Anne courthouse. There were also two reading places, one on Knot's Island, in the southeast part of the parish, and one in the Black Water District. The old Brick church on the bay shore was found insufficient and badly 10- cated. It was given up as a church in March, 1736, and turned into a schoolhouse. How long it was used as a schoolhouse is not known, but it came to the following curious end: some of the parishioners were engaged in the fishing business, and had their fishing shores on the bay shore north of the estuary running east and west, on the southern shore of which the church was situated. This made it neces- sary for them to cross this estuary, or else follow it westward several miles and so reach the bay shore, and then come back to the fishing points, opposite their homes. To avoid this detour they determined to cut a short and narrow waterway from a point opposite where the Lynnhaven river ran into the estuary, out to the Chesapeake. It was a considerable undertaking, but they accomplished it with conse- quences far greater than any one at first imagined. The winter storms from the northeast opened the new inlet more and more until it be- came a broad, deep current; the sands encroached upon the old outlet and practically filled it up; but most serious of all the waters of the new inlet cut closer and closer to the church grounds until most of the graveyard was submerged, and the tombs and bones of many of the dead found their last resting place in the bottom of Lynnhaven river, at a point still called Church Point.
274
Bishop Meade reports a communication to the above effect, and the present writer heard it repeated and substantiated about 1879, by the venerable Mr. Solomon Keeling, whose family had owned land for generations on Lynnhaven river, and who said that some of his an- cestors had assisted in cutting the ditch which is now represented by the deep, strong mouth of Lynnhaven river. The Bishop's informant added as a finishing touch, that "in 1819 Commodore Decatur and an- other eminent person still living (i. e., when the Bishop wrote) were bathing there, and in the middle of the river were enabled, by feeling with their toes, to decipher the names of those they (the tombstones) had covered before the waters of the bay had carried away the church- yard."
In 1736, when the old church was turned into a schoolhouse, a new church, larger and more centrally located, was built on one acre of ground at the Ferry Farm. This came later to be known as the Dona- tion church, from its being near a donation of land given by a subse- quent rector, of whom we shall hear. It was ordered to be sixty-five feet long, thirty feet wide on the inside, the walls to be fifteen feet high and three bricks thick from the ground to the water table, and two bricks thick above the water table to the top. This church was received by the vestry from Peter Malbone, the builder, on June 25, 1736. In the same year the glebe house was repaired and added to. The liew church was evidently a matter of pride in the parish, and the wardens had to take extra care to get the congregations properly located and settled in the church. Therefore it was ordered by the vestry, July 10, 1736, that "For preserving order and decency, peace and harmony in the new church 'tis resolved and the vestry do hereby assign and appoint the two opposite great pews for the Magistrates and their wives; the next adjoining pew on the north side of ye Church for the family of the Thoroughgoods as their privilege in considera- tion of the gift of our glebe by that family; the third great pew on ye north side for ye Vestrymen and their wives; and ye pew on ye north side of yc Communion table is consigned to the family and name of the Walkes as a benefit formerly granted them in consideration of gifts and services made and done by Col. Tho. Walke dec'd, and Col. Antho. Walke, Sen'r; the next great pew on the south side for the elder women of good repute and magistrates' daughters; the other great pew on ye same side for such women as ye church wardens with the approbation of the Vestry shall think fit to place there,"
"Resolved, That Mr. Patrick Hackett is a fit person to sit up in the
275
gallery to keep everybody in order, and if the boys or any other person will be not restrained but do any indecency, he is hereby required to report the same to the church wardens, who are desired to take proper measures to punish such disorderly person: Likewise Mr. Francis Mosely is appointed to look out of doors and if any person or persons are sitting and talking or committing any indecency during divine ser- vice he is hereby empowered to commit them to the care of the con- stable, and inform the church wardens thereof, to be dealt with as the law requires-Char. Sayer, Cl. Vestry."
But it was easier for the vestry to pass these resolutions than to get them accepted and complied with. Some of the congregation seem to have resented the manner in which they were disposed of, and Mr. Hackett in the gallery, Mr. Walke the church warden, and Mr. Mosely, who was "appointed to look out of doors," found their offices no sine- cures when they undertook to arrange and settle the congregation; and at their next meeting on October 16th the vestry had to resolve further that "Whereas several of the inhabitants of this parish has not thought fit to accept off, and others to keep to the seats the church wardens have assigned to and placed them in the new church lately built to the great disturbance and disorder of ye congregation; to prevent which disorder in ye said church for the future, we, the vestry of ye said church, have met at ye parish church, and after due consideration have assigned and Registered the adjacent persons and familys according to their several stations, ye most proper seats or pews; do hereby publish and declare that who or whatsoever person or persons shall assume to themselves a power or take the liberty to place themselves or others in any other seats or pews in ye said church, shall be esteemed a dis- orderly person, and may expect to be dealt with according to law: and we do further impower and appoint ye church wardens for the future to place all persons in the church of ye said parish. Teste, Char. Sayer, Cl. Vestry."
Evidently the parish was in a ferment, and the vestry was exerting its utmost authority. But with what results we are not told. But now one visiting the spot sees the walls of the old Donation church standing in their plaintive dilapidation in the lonely woods, with the big trees growing up within its walls, where the coveted "great pews" used to be, and the disputants of former days lie about it in unmarked graves. Let us hope that in another world their spirits are at peace.
The accounts kept by these old vestries of their many and various duties are most interesting, and often they were beautifully kept. The
276
salary of the rector was generally 16,000 pounds of tobacco. In Lynn- haven, Mr. Ezra Brook, clerk of the church, received 1,000 pounds for his services; Mr. William Keeling, clerk of the Eastern Shore chapel, also 1,000 pounds; and Mr. Andrew Peacock, clerk of the Upper chapel, a like 1,000 pounds.
The care of the poor was especially the vestry's charge. They seem not to have been kept in a poorhouse but scattered in households here and there in the parish, the householder receiving from 250 to 600 pounds of tobacco a year, according to the age and condition of the child or person. Every four years the parish had to be processioned' under the direction of the vestry. For this purpose it was divided into precincts, Princess Anne being divided into ten. The precinct repre- sented a neighborhood. The processioners at the time appointed went around the metes and bounds of every farm in the precinct, and set- tled all disputes about boundaries upon the spot. This having been twice done in any case by the processioners without an appeal being taken from their decision, gave a title from which there was no fur -. ther appeal.
The doctor of the parish frequently appears in the church accounts, and in Princess Anne he not infrequently brought in bills for sali- vating some poor patient, which cost the parish 1,000 pounds of to- bacco, and perhaps cost the patient his teeth.
The tobacco with which these various expenses were defrayed was raised by a yearly levy laid by the vestry upon the "tithables" in the parish; a "tithable" being a person from whom tithes or levies might be collected. At this period in Virginia, the tithables consisted of all male servants (white servants being intended), all negro servants, male or female, above the age of sixteen, and all Indian servants, maie or female, above the age of sixteen. The levy varied according to the requirements of the year. Sometimes it was as much as 50 pounds of tobacco from each tithable, sometimes much less.
In 1739 a new chapel was ordered to be built to take the place of the old Pungo chapel. It was to be of brick, but it does not appear to have been done; at least, it is not recorded as having been received.
The Reverend Henry Barlow, who became minister in October, 1729, continued in charge of the parish until some time in 1747-eighteen years. During his ministry many improvements were made; the Donation church was built and various additions were made to the. glebe house and property.
In 1748 Mr. Barlow was succeeded by the Reverend Robert Dickson,
277
who first appeared as minister of the parish in July of that year. He continued in charge until 1776, nearly twenty-eight years. During Mr. Dickson's ministry, in 1754, the present Eastern Shore chapel was built, the third church to be built at that spot. The second wooden chapel was still standing when the present brick chapel was built in 1754. In the order for its construction it is described as 35 feet long, 25 feet wide in the clear, with a convenient large gallery at the west end; the walls to be 18 feet high, with three windows on each side, two at the east end, and one in the gallery. "The Com- munion to be railed and ballusttred"; the walls to be two bricks and a half thick from the foundation to the water table, and two bricks thick upward; the windows to be of good crown glass, eight by ten inches, six lights by three beside the arch. The middle aisle to be five feet wide, with four wainscot pews, with two on the north and two on the south side thereof. The whole church to be completely painted, where it is requisite, a sky color. It was to be covered with heart cypress shingles.
In October, 1753, Mr. Joseph Mitchell, of Norfolk, contracted to build the chapel and undertook to finish it by Christmas, 1754, for 324 pounds, 10 shillings sterling. It was actually finished and received by the vestry March 12, 1755.
In 1772, 23,000 pounds of tobacco were raised for the purpose of building Pungo Chapel.
The long and uninterrupted ministry of the Reverend Thomas Dick- son or Dixon, as his name was sometimes spelled, came to an end some time between the 25th of February and the 26th of November, 1776. The Register of the parish was then lodged with Mr. Edward Mosley, clerk of the Brick church (afterwards called Donation), that he might register all the births of the parish until further orders. The will of Mr. Dickson was admitted to record February 14, 1777. By it he made provision for the support of his widow, and then left his land and slaves in trust to the vestry for the purpose of establishing a free school for the education of orphan boys.
The vestry undertook to carry out the will, and after several at- tempts to secure a teacher, on December 8, 1780, they employed Mr. George Stephenson to keep the Dickson Free School, giving him the use of the plantation on easy conditions; among them that he should teach six poor children assigned him, and seventeen children on his own account, who would pay for their schooling.
The Church was now in troublous and revolutionary times, and
278
Lynnhaven suffered accordingly. The Reverend Mr. Dickson had died in the great year 1776, when the full force of the spirit of the Revo- lution was abroad in the land, and nothing felt that force more dis- astrously than the Church. Not that the Church was opposed to the Revolution, for the Revolution was begun, sustained and consummated by the most prominent Churchmen in Virginia. In Princess Anne county, as in all the other counties, the vestrymen and officers of the church are found upon the county committees, who guided and sus- tained the Revolution throughout the country. Fourteen of the twenty- five names of that committee in Princess Anne in 1774-'75 are found among the vestry and officers of the church.
But not only was the whole country distracted and absorbed by the disturbances of the Revolution, but the men who were its avowed pro- moters, felt that there was much growing out of the connection be- tween the Church and the State, which must needs be modified by the Revolution which they were advocating. It was at this period also that the Church was violently attacked by the Dissenters in Virginia, who were Revolutionists, not only as concerned civil questions, but still more violently in their hatred and opposition to the Church. They very naturally took advantage of the disturbances incident to the Rev- olution and of the difficulties growing out of the connection between the Church and the State, which difficulties the leaders of the Revolu- tion, who were themselves Churchmen, were contending with and seeking to solve in the way which would involve least disturbance and loss to the religious interests of the country.
The Dissenters, however, were not at all concerned to avoid dis- turbance, but rather courted it; not to prevent any loss that might. befall the Church, but did all in their power to destroy it; and by agi- tation and opposition in the parishes, as well as by appeals with which they flooded the Convention of the patriots, the large majority of whom were Churchmen, they hampered and weakened the influence of the Church in all directions, little regarding the invaluable work that the Church had done for the moral and religious civilization of the land, under unspeakable difficulties, from the very foundations of the country.
The weak point in the Church system in Virginia from the first, con- sisted in the fact that, while it was an Episcopal Church, it was at once without, a Bishop and dependent upon an uncertain and scant supply of clergy. Naturally it fell into the hands of the vestries, and the records of the work of the vestries show what in the circumstances
279
must be regarded as admirable faithfulness and efficiency on the part of these laymen. Especially do the records show devotion to the Church of their fathers, and a genuine effort to advance the moral and spiritual welfare of the country; but they worked as laymen, and their work was rarely balanced or sustained by sufficient clerical force. Their duties were manifold, covering the work of a number of sala- ried officials in our present county system, and this work they did without other compensation than the honor and satisfaction of serv- ing the community. But the most marked characteristic of a Virginia vestry was the jealousy with which these men regarded their rights and liberties. They resented, and generally successfully, everything that they regarded as an encroachment upon their rights, whether made by the local parson, whom they generally managed to keep quite at their mercy, or by the Bishop's commissary, or by the Governor, or even if it was a decision fortified by the Attorney-General of the Eng- lish Crown.
This spirit of independence which they had cultivated for many a year, was now bringing fruit in the Revolution; and they were more absorbed in the question of civil liberty than in any other. It is not surprising, therefore, that the set of men in Virginia, who composed, at once, the vestries in their several parishes, and who were also the magistrates, justices, burgesses, and from whom the Council Board of the Commonwealth was taken, were found in those days of political upheaval to be somewhat neglectful of what they regarded as the minor matters of the parish. Thus it was that for two full years after 1780 there was no vestry meeting in Princess Anne. This was complained of to the General Assembly, and in May, 1783, an act was passed dis- solving the vestry of Lynnhaven, and ordering the election of another vestry. The sheriff acted as directed by the Assembly, and on Novem- ber 7, 1783, made return of the new vestry, which consisted of twelve men, all but two or three of them vestrymen of the past, so that the affairs of the parish were still committed by the freeholders to the old hands.
The same Assembly which dissolved the vestry of Lynnhaven parish in 1783 established Kempsville, in Princess Anne county, to be a town.
In October, 1784, the General Assembly passed an act by which the minister and vestry of any parish became a corporation, or in the ab- sence of a minister the vestry became incorporate. This act was to go into effect on Monday in Easter Week, being March 28, 1785, on which day all existing vestries were declared dissolved, and new vestries
280
ordered to be elected on that Easter Monday, 1785, or else on the next fair day, in case that proved a foul day.
It may be noted that the same General Assembly of 1784 made it law- ful for an ordained minister of any Christian society whatever to cele- brate lawful marriages in Virginia, provided such minister received the license of the county so to do. And for even the Quakers and Menonites to solemnize their own marriages, either with or without a ceremony, only provided it was done publicly. This Assembly also declared certain marriages to be legal, which had been performed by laymen in the absence of any minister, or by others who had no legal right to perform marriages. So the Church parson was not nearly so essential after 1784 as he had been.
Acting in accord with this direction of the Assembly, an election for vestry to take place on Monday in Easter Week, 1785, was adver- tised. When this meeting was approaching, the vestry, which had been elected in Lynnhaven, in 1783, employed the Reverend Charles Petti- grew to be minister of the parish and teacher of the Dickson Free School, telling him of the election of a new vestry, which was to take place on the 28th of March on this same month. Mr. Pettigrew ac- cepted, but did not come in time to fulfil his engagement, and was not accepted as minister.
The new vestry, under the act of its corporation, was elected on April 14, 1785, and subscribed to be conformable to the doctrine, dis- cipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church. All of them were old vestrymen. As the property now became incorporated in their own hands, the following account of the parish was recorded and a copy ordered to be sent to the next County Court.
AN ACCOUNT OF PROPERTY BELONGING TO LYNNHAVEN PARISH, APRIL
14, 1785:
About 200 acres of land as a glebe, with an old dwelling-house and a few outhouses, all in bad order; about 50 acres of land, with an old house built for the reception of the poor and a kitchen, both want- ing repair.
Belonging to the Mother Church: A large silver tankard and a silver salver; a cup washed with gold; three pewter plates; one pulpit cloth and broadcloth covering for the Communion Table; three sets of Secker's sermons, seven volumes each; volume of Tillotson's sermons; three good Bibles and two old ditto; three Common Prayer books, large.
Belonging to the Eastern Shore Chapel: A silver tankard; a silver
281
cup and a small silver salver; three pewter plates and one pewter basin; one draper table-cloth and one napkin for the Communion Table.
Belonging to Pungo Chapel: A pewter tankard, two glass tumblers, two pewter plates, one table-cloth and two napkins for the Com- munion Table, a few old cushions at the mother church and the Eastern Shore chapel.
Revenue: Rent of glebe land in 1785, £8; rent of parish land in 1785, £7, 5.
ANTHONY WALKE, 1
JOHN ACKISS,
EDWD. HACK MOSELEY,
JAMES HENLEY,
JOHN CORNICK,
JOEL CORNICK,
FRANCIS LAND.
On May 6th, 1785, the Reverend James Simpson was inducted min- ister of the parish and appointed master of the Dickson Free School.
The Rev. Mr. Simpson and Mr. Anthony Walke were appointed delegates to the First Episcopal Convention, which met that same month in Richmond. Mr. Simpson attended, but Mr. Walke's name does not appear among the delegates in attendance.
This same year-1785-is notable because in October the General Assembly passed its great act for establishing religious freedom. After a noble preamble, that act which was drawn up by Churchmen reads as follows:
"II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or min- istry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested or bur- thened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, that the same shall in no wise deminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.