Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church, Part 27

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 27


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


The large majority of the House which passed this action were vestrymen of the Church. And in the Episcopal Convention which met in Richmond in May, 1785, appeared the names of many dis- tinguished patriots of the Revolution, the Convention being presided over in its first meeting by Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.


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Returning to Lynnhaven Parish: although the connection between the Church and the State was now almost wholly broken, the vestry are still found charged by the County Court with the important duty of processioning the lands in the precincts of the county, and many entries in their records indicate their active interest in the affairs of the Church in this year, 1785.


Among other steps, they ordered account to be made of the mem- bers of the Episcopal Church in the parish above the age of sixteen, with a view to providing, through subscriptions, a due financial sup- port of the parish.


In closing the connection between the Church and the State, the vestry ordered their wardens to make a statement of their accounts to the overseers of the poor, which was done in 1786; and the tran- sition period is noted in the form in which the vestrymen signed their next act qualifying as vestrymen, which was as follows:


"At a meeting held at Kempsville the 27 December, 1787, we, the underwritten, having been fairly elected vestrymen and trustees ac- cording to an act of assembly, as well as an ordinance of the Conven- tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held in Richmond on the 16 day of May, 1787, do agree to be for ever conformable to the doc- trine, discipline and worship of the said Episcopal Church, and to use all rational and just means in our power to advance the true interest thereof." Then follow the names of the vestrymen.


On December 27, 1787, the Reverend J. Simpson "agreed to resign his office of Lynnhaven Parish on the sixth day of May, 1788, when an election of minister shall be held."


Mr. Simpson, being an inducted minister, could not be forced to resign without due process; he therefore "agreed to resign," and in doing so, he said that three years of experience had proven to him that the emoluments of the said parish were not adequate to the trouble. It appears, however, that one of the gentlemen of the parish, Mr. Anthony Walke, was looking forward to the ministry and to being called to the parish, which may well have influenced the action of Mr. Simpson. Accordingly, on the 29th of March, 1788, Mr. Anthony Walke was formally recommended to the Right Reverend William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, to receive orders, and on July the 3d, 1788, Mr. Walke, having been in the meantime ordained (the record does not say whether he was ordained both deacon and priest, but only that he had returned to the parish and desired to be inducted), was inducted minister of the parish.


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Four years later, while Mr. Walke was still minister of the parish, the following interesting declaration was made by one John McClennan, a Romanist, who desired to enter the Episcopal Church.


DECLARATION OF JOHN M'CLENNAN, FROM IRELAND.


"I John McClennan having been educated in the Principles of the Roman Church and having been convinced that, since the Rise of the Pope's temporal Power, the members of the said Church have been cruelly imposed upon by their Priests, who vainly pretended that they could grant Absolution for Sin, and Dispensations for Sums of money, thus usurping an Authority over the Consciences of Men, and who have supported the Doctrine of the real Presence at the Administration of the Eucharist, do now solemnly abjure the Supremacy of the Pope, and hereby renounce all the superstitions of the Church of Rome and declare that I will be a member of the reformed Church, holding the Faith of a Protestant from this Day, being the 22 of July 1792."


"This is to certify that the above Declaration was publickly, made by John McClennan at the Altar, in the Eastern Shore Chapel, of the Parish of Lynnhaven and County of Princess Anne, on Sunday the 22d of July Anno Domini 1792.


ANTHONY WALKE, Minr."


On October 10th, 1800, the Reverend Anthony Walke resigned the parish, and on the 1st November the Reverend Cornelius Calvert was inducted as minister of this parish.


Until July, 1797, the vestry held unquestioned right to the Dickson donation. In that year the question to their right was raised, possi- bly by the dissenting element in the county, who were pressing in many directions to obtain possession of Church property, or it may be by some heirs, relatives of Mr. Dickson. In December, 1800, the vestry took council of John Wickham, Esq., the distinguished lawyer of Rich- mond, who advised them that, in his opinion, the vestry could, with perfect safety to themselves and with propriety, continue the direc- tion of the charity as hitherto, and no person had any right to dis- turb in this duty.


That if they were obstructed in the management of the property a court of chancery might interfere and appoint other trustees, and that, in view of the testator's will, he thought that the vestry would be reappointed.


Lastly, he declared that the heirs of Mr. Dickson could certainly not


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support a claim to the land whether under the management of the vestry or not.


At this time not only had the right of the church to the Dickson donation been questioned, but in July, 1801, it was found that certain dissenters were seeking to force an entry into and take possession of one of the churches.


The Reverend George Holston was put in charge of the free school in 1803, and in August of the same year he was inducted minister of the parish.


As late as April, 1813, the vestry and trustees of the parish were still in lawful possession of the Dickson Free School property, but had become involved in a troublesome suit with some of Mr. Dickson's relatives in Scotland.


After this date there is a gap in the record of the vestry covering eight years and six months-the next record is of a general meeting of the members of the parish in November, 1821. The parish had suffered much, both by neglect and otherwise, in this interval. At this meeting Mr. Thurmer Hoggard was chairman, a vestry was elected, and the Reverend Mr. Prout was called to be minister of the parish, at a salary of $500, and soon afterwards took charge.


In March, 1822, the vestry ordered the Donation church and the Eastern Shore chapel to be put in repair, which was done at once, at a cost of $386.


In 1824 delegates were elected to the Episcopal Council, and also Pungo chapel was ordered to be repaired. Mr. Prout left the parish in 1824, and the Reverend Mark L. Chevers was employed to give some services.


In 1825 the church was again destitute of services, and the Reverend John H. Wingfield was employed, and after him the following min- isters served the parish on and after the dates given with their names:


The Reverend David M. Fackler, 1838; Rev. B. F. Miller, occasional services, 1841; Rev. John G. Hull, 1842; Rev. Henry C. Lay, 1846; Rev. Edmund Withers, 1847; Rev. Lewis Walke, 1848; Rev. Robert Gatewood, 1865; Rev. A. A. McDonough, 1873; Rev. E. A. Penick, 1877; Rev. C. B. Bryan, 1878; Rev. C. J. McCollough, 1881; Rev. Richard Anderson, 1883; Rev. W. R. Savage, 1884; A. W. Anson, 1891.


In 1895 the eastern half of the parish, containing the Eastern Shore chapel, was set off as a separate parish. The following ministers continued to serve one or both of the parishes: Rev. W. R. Savage,


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1895; Rev. W. F. Morrison, 1896; Rev. Henry L. Lancaster, 1898; Rev. J. E. Wales, 1898; Rev. Frank Stringfellow, 1906.


After the final declension of the old Donation church, which suffered much from the isolation of its position, that congregation built a church called Emmanuel church, about 1850, in Kempsville.


Of recent years many members of the Episcopal Church have removed from the county to live in Norfolk. On the other hand, quite a settle- ment of Church people have gathered at Virginia Beach, where a con- venient chapel has been erected. Through the efforts of the Reverend Mr. Savage, a chapel was built for the benefit of the life-saving crew on the shore at and below Virginia Beach, and thus, while weakened at some points, the Church has been strengthened in others, and still has an abiding hold upon the hearts of the people of Princess Anne county. Certainly no one building in the county is so gen- erally revered as is the old Eastern Shore chapel, and it is pleasant to hear from its present minister, the Reverend Mr. Wales, that the church is in an encouraging and growing condition. The western end of the county has suffered more on account of its nearness to Norfolk, but it is blessed in a faithful company of workers and in the devoted service of one who, while not a clergyman, has for years done a minister's work in all things that were within his power, Mr. R. J. Alfriend, of Norfolk.


These parishes still retain their beautiful communion vessels. Those which formerly belonged to the old Donation and the churches which preceded it now belong to Emmanuel church, Kempsville. The cup is marked with the date letter for 1705, the paten, which was the gift of Maximilian Boush, and bears his arms, has the date letter for 1711, and the flagon, the date letter for 1716. These pieces, with the old Vestry Book, dating from 1723, have long been in the keeping of the Hoggard family at Poplar Hall, on Broad Creek. The Communion vessels of the Eastern Shore chapel, consisting of a hand- some cup, paten and flagon, all bear the date letter of 1759.


HUNGARS CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA.


BY M. C. HOWARD.


T HE history of the Eastern Shore of Virginia begins with Cap- tain John Smith's visit of exploration, recorded by himself. He says:


"Leaving the Phoenix at Cape Henry, wee crossed the bay to the Eastern Shore, and fell in with the isles called Smith's Isles. First people encountered were two grim, stout savages, upon Cape Charles, with long poles, javelings headed with bone, who boldly de- manded who and what we were. After many circumstances, they seemed kind, and directed us to Accomack, the habitation of their Werowance, where we were kindly treated. This Rex was the come- liest, proper, civill salvage we encountered. His country is pleasant, fertile clay soyle; some small creeks, good harbours for barques, not ships. They spoke the language of Powhatan."


The largest of this group is still known as "Smith's Island." It formed a very insignificant part of the patrimony of Mrs. Robert E. Lee, inherited through many generations from her ancestor, John Custis, of Arlington, Northampton county, Va. From this first Ameri- can home of the Custis family, the famous Arlington, Mrs. Lee's home until the outbreak of the Confederate War, received its name.


The home of the "Rex," whom John Smith visited (in 1608), was on what is called "Old Plantation" Creek, which name commemorates the fact that the oldest "settlement" on the Eastern Shore was made on this beautiful tidal inlet, probably on the farm at the head of the creek, also called "Old Plantation." No trace of this first settlement can now be found, and I have met with no reference to it prior to the account given by John Rolfe, who, having returned to England, taking with him his wife, Pocahontas, was desired by the Virginia Company in London to furnish them with information concerning the Virginia Colony. He tells them of six "plantacons," one of them at "Dale's Gift," on the Eastern Shore, where Lieutenant Craddock,


HUNGARS CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, VA.


tion


"WILL hin-


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with about sixteen men, had been established for the purpose of mak- ing salt, of which all the settlements were in need .*


A few years later, in 1620, a second settlement was made on the farm now called "Town Fields," which lies between Cherrystonet and King's Creeks, divided by the latter from the very new town of "Cape Charles City," about fourteen miles from the real Cape Charles. The English called this second "towne" Accomack-probably in compliment to the "Laughing King of Accomack" (John Smith's "Rex") -- which name was applied not only to the town and to the royal residence, but by the Indians to the whole peninsula. The new town seems to have absorbed the earlier one at Old Plantation, which is heard of no more. Perhaps the Colonists found it more convenient and comfortable to have the "King's Creek" between them and their Indian neighbors.


As usual in the early Virginia settlements, the building of a church was one of the first duties to be performed. In the same year (1629) one was built "neare the ffishinge poynte." Its exact location cannot be identified, for all "poyntes" in that highly favored land may be made "ffishing poyntes." It was perhaps at the point made by the junction of the two creeks. That it was called "the Ffishinge Poynte" seems to indicate that, at that time, the few inhabitants, for mutual protection, did all their fishing in one place. The church was "of insignificant dimensions," constructed of rough logs, connected loosely with wattle, the whole enclosed with 'Pallysadoes' for protection against 'ye Indian tribes, an ever present menace to peace and safety.'" I believe, however, there is no record or tradition to indicate that the tribes on the Eastern Shore ever invaded the "peace and safety" of the English, possibly because of their prudent measures of self- protection; but the massacres on the Western side of the Chesapeake, and more especially the "Great Massacre" of 1622, made men cautious, and this seems to have turned the tide of immigration to the other shore, where climate and soil were good, food supplies unusually abundant, and where the Indians were kind and friendly.


*This Report, dated 1615 or 1616, is in one of the early volumes of the Va. Hist. Mag., or the Va. Hist. Register; an ante-bellum number. I read it some years ago, and have neither "Magazine" nor "Register" to refer to.


tOriginally Cheriton; the unmeaning Cherrystone being a corruption.


#Bishop Meade, Vol. I, p. 85, says: "Such was the effect, both in Vir- ginia and England, that a commission was sent over to the Gov., Sir George Yardley, to seek for a settlement on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for those who remained. That plan, however, was never put into execution, though steps were taken towards it."


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The first rector of this first church-which, though unnamed, should never be forgotten-was the Rev. Francis Bolton. A manuscript record in the Congressional Library gives this statement concerning his salary: "It is ordered by the Governor and Council that Mr. Bolton shall receive for his salary this year, throughout all the plantations on the Eastern Shore, ten pounds of tobacco and one bushel of corn for every planter and trader above the age of sixteen, alive at the crop." A clergyman coming to Virginia could not have been in- fluenced by any prospect of emolument; but, paltry as these items seem, a bushel of corn and ten pounds of tobacco was probably a larger contribution in proportion to income than we can always show in these days. In 1630 Thomas Warnet (?), "principal merchant and devout Churchman," bequeaths to Mr. Bolton the following useful articles: "A firkin of butter, a bushel of salt, six pounds of candles, a pound of pepper, a pound of ginger, two bushels of meal, a rundlet of ink, six quires of letter paper, and a pair of silk stockings."


The second rector was the Rev. William Cotton, who officiated from 1632 to about 1645. The second church, about ten miles from the first and lower down the peninsula, was built near the place after- wards called Arlington, the home of John Custis, immigrant, of whom many anecdotes still linger in local traditions, and whose tomb, with the singular epitaph composed by himself, is still at Arlington. This church was known as the "Magothy Bay Church." Presumably, it was another log building, in no way superior to that at the "Ffishinge Poynte"; and as there seems to be no record of any rector, it may be assumed that Mr. Cotton had charge of both. Proof of its existence in 1645 is found in an early county record, which ordered that all citizens should carry "arms and fixed ammunition." .Such as were caught without these were to be "punished" by being required "to clear paths to the new church," "enclosed by a stockade."


It must have been at the "Ffishinge Poynte" church that Marie Drewe stood up and asked "forgiveness of the congregation" for some "ugly words" she had used towards Joane Butler. It is evident that Church and State in Virginia were as essentially one as in the Mother Country. The "Act" for suppression of gossip was passed September, 1634; its enforcement was left to the Church, as this extract shows. The two women had quarreled, and reviled each other in no choice language. Joane was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced.


"Upon dew examination, it is thought fitt by the board that s'yd Joane Butler shall be drawen over the King's Creek at the starne of


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a boat or canoux; also, the next Sabbath day in the tyme of devyne (divine) servis, between the first and second lesson, present herself before the minister, and say after him as followeth: 'I, Joane Butler, doe acknowledge to have called Marie Drewe h-, and hereby I con- fess I have done her manifest wronge; wherefore I desire before this congregation that the s'yd Marie Drewe will forgiv me; and also that this congregation will joyne (join) me in prayer, that God may forgive me.' "


Marie Drewe was then arrested, and received the same sentence. She retracted, asked "forgiveness" in the church and escaped the ducking.


The name of the peninsula was changed from "Accowmake" to Northampton in 1642. Various traditions give various reasons for the selection of this name. The best authenticated seems to be that. it was a compliment to the Earl of Northampton. At this date there were few settlers in the upper part, and Hungars Parish is not yet mentioned. In 1662 the peninsula was divided, the upper county resuming the original name, Accomac, the lower retaining that of Northampton.


The first formally organized vestry was in obedience to an order of the Court at James City."


"At a court holden in Accawmacke the 14th day of Sept., 1635"; [the peninsula being then called Accomack].


"At this court Mr. Wm. Cotton, minister, presented an order of the court from James Citty, for the building of a Parsonage ordered by the vestry and because there have heretofore been no formal vestry nor vestrymen appointed, we have from this present day appointed to be vestrymen those whose names are underwritten:


"Wm. Cotton minister, Capt. Thomas Graves, Mr. Obedience Robins, Mr. John Howe, Mr. Wm. Stone, Mr. Burdett, Mr. Wm. Andrews, Mr. John Wilkins, Mr. Alex. Mountjoy, Mr. Edw. Drew, Mr. Wm. Beniman, Mr. Stephen Charlton.


"And further we do order that the first meeting of the syd. vestry- men shall be upon the feast day of St. Michael the Arch-Angel, being the 29th day of September."


In accordance with that order of the court, the vestry meeting was held and record entered of the same as follows:


"A vestry heald, 29th day of Sept. 1635.


"Capt. Thomas Graves, Mr. John Howe, Mr. Edward Drew, Mr. Obe-


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dience Robins, Mr. Alex. Mountjoy, Mr. Wm. Burdett, Mr. Wm. An- drews, Mr. Wm. Stone, Mr. Wm. Beniman."


At this meeting an order was made providing for building the parsonage house.


As the parsonage here mentioned was for the use of Rev. Mr. Cotton, it must have been built in the Magothy Bay section of the county, near his two churches. It was ordered to be built of "wood"- presumably sawed lumber, not logs-forty feet wide, eighteen feet deep, and nine feet "to the valley," with a chimney at each end, and beyond the chimneys a small room on each side-"one for the minister's study and the other for a buttery."


"Mr. Cotton seems to have had considerable difficulty in collecting his tithes, despite the fact that good buildings began to be erected," and every home had its garden and orchard. Suit was brought in 1637 against Henry Charleton for non-payment of dues.


"John Waltham, Randal Revel and John Ford deposed on oath that they heard Henry Charlton say that if he had had Mr. Cotton without the churchyeard, he would have kict him over the Pallysadoes, calling of him Black catted (coated) raskall. Upon the complaynt of Mr. Cotton against the said Charlton and the depositions as above ex- pressed, it is ordered that the said Charleton shall for the s'yd offence buyld a pare of stocks, and set in them three severall Sabouth days in the time of Dyvine Servis, and there ask Mr. Cotton forgiveness." The punishment was doubtless salutary and conducive to proper re- spect for clerical dignity.


There seems to have been no legal title to the ground upon which the Magothy Bay church was built prior to 1691, for in that year William Willett conveys, in consideration of 20,000 pounds of tobacco, 600 acres of land to William Baker,* reserving "one acre of land, on which church now stands," "to remaine for that use as long as the parish 'mindes' to continue the same." This land had been granted by Francis Morrison, Governor of Virginia, to Edward Douglas, and was confirmed by another patent from Governor Andros "to me, William Willett," nephew and heir to said Edward Douglas. . This deed of conveyance is a curiosity of superfluous verbiage, and much too long for quotation. It gives the boundaries with great minute- ness, mentions "a spring neare the Church or Chappell," and is dated "30 May Anno Regis X, Anno Domini, 1698."


*Book of Deeds and Wills, No. 12, page 198, Northampton Records.


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It is probable that successive churches had taken the place of the original structure (as at Jamestown and elsewhere) long before this conveyance of title. The latest built upon this site was still in use in the early years of the nineteenth century, but in 1826 it was pro- nounced unsafe, torn down and the old materials sold at auction .;


Christ church in Eastville was built about this time, and the old silver service for Holy Communion has been used in this church ever since. The pieces have an inscription showing that they were the gift of "John Custis, Esq'r, of Williamsburg," to the lower church of Hungars Parish, 1741. The plate is marked "Ex dono, Francis Nicholson, Esq'r." Date of this gift must have been 1690 to 1693.


Mr. Cotton died in 1645. He is called in the Records, "the godly son of Joane Cotton, widow, of Bunbury, Cheshire, England." Wil- liam Stone, first Protestant Governor of Maryland, was his brother-in- law. Stone resided on Hungars Creek.


Rev. John Rozier (Bishop Meade says Rogers) succeeded Mr. Cotton. An old colonist, in his will, speaks of this gentleman as "Deare and respected friend," and Dr. John Holloway bequeaths to him a folio Greek Testament.


In 1639 Nathaniel Eaton, first principal of Harvard, came in Nele's barque to Virginia, where he married "Anne Graves, daughter of Thomas Graves, a member of the Dorchester church, who emigrated to Virginia, and died of climatic influence, leaving his daughter a fair patrimony." Eaton became Rozier's assistant, but fled to England in 1646. By the Assembly's Act of 1639-40, ministers of the gospel were allowed ten pounds of tobacco per poll to pay their clerk and sexton.


In 1642 the parish was divided. All south of King's Creek was one parish, called Hungars; from King's Creek to Nassawadox was to be known as Nassawadox Parish. In this latter was built a temporary church. On December 23, 1684, Major William Spencer gave to the church wardens of Hungars Parish the land on Hungars Creek, on which "the frame of a church" now stands, and one acre of land surrounding it, being a part of Smith's Field. So we learn that this first Hungars church, like that at Magothy Bay, was built upon land for which no title was obtained, until years had gone by. This church was, perhaps, not abandoned until the "Brick Church," the present Old Hungars, was built.


Hungars Creek is one of those beautiful tidal inlets which give to


tThe foundations may still be seen near the Arlington gates.


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the Chesapeake counties of Virginia and Maryland such exquisite views of land and water, and upon which, even in those early times, charming homes began to cluster; for the earliest colonists settled along these creeks, and their descendants and successors have not been able to improve upon the sites they selected.


Hungars Creek lies between Church Neck, its northern boundary, and Hungars Neck, on the south. The church is in a grove of pines, at the head of this creek. Approaching from the south, the county road passes over a little bridge, which crosses one fork, and from which the little village of Bridgetown ("at which courts were held in early years") takes its name.


In 1691 the parishes were again made one, and from that time until the present, county and parish are the same in extent.


Old records in the Clerk's Office:


"Att a council held att James City, Apr. the 21st, 1691.




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