USA > Virginia > Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church > Part 29
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The church, though very old, was not the earliest known as Yeo- comico church.
This statement is made by the Rev. G. W. Beale, of Hague, Va., a gentleman well versed in its history. The earliest vestrymen of the parish were Nicholas Jurnew, John Powell and Richard Holden, who were chosen August 22, 1655. Mr. Beale gives a long list of names of heads of families who were immigrants to Westmoreland and wor- shipped at Yeocomico, between the years 1655 and 1706, among whom are the following:
Col. Isaac Allerton, Dr. John Gerrard, Captain John Newton, Samuel Rust, Col. George Eskridge, William Payne, William Wigginton, Sam- uel Bonum, Richard Lee, Daniel McCarthy, Presley Cox, Daniel Tibbs; and of later date, Dr. James Steptoe, Rev. David Currie, Gawin Corbin, George Lee, Robert Carter and Nicholas Minor.
The old Parker home, "Springfield," was near the church, and here, no doubt, worshipped General Alexander Parker, a soldier of the Revolution, who also fought with "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the
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Indian wars. In the churchyard is the grave of Daniel McCarthy, who represented the county in the Assembly of Burgesses in 1715, and was Speaker of the House. The Southern Churchman, in 1888, pub- lished the following:
"Close to the base of the right and east gable is the rocky founda- tion of a vault, in size 15x18 feet; it is now a grassy mound with several cedar trees growing upon it. Near the center of this mound is a gray stone tablet, much defaced by time, and it was only after repeated efforts that I have finally succeeded in making out the in scription, which is as follows: 'Here lyeth the body of Daniel McCarty, who departed this life the fourth of - 1724, in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was endowed with many virtues and good qualifica- tions, but the actions proceeding from them bespeak their praise. Here also lyeth the body of Thaddeus McCarty, youngest son to Daniel McCarthy, Esq., who died the 7 of February, 1731, in the 19 year of his age.
"Near this place likewise is the body of Penelope, wife to Daniel McCarty, second son of Daniel McCarty, Esq., and daughter to Christine Higgens, Gent, who departed this life the 26 of March, 1732, in the 19 year of her age, with one child."
In more modern times the list of honored names among the worship- pers at Yeocomico are great, many being those of descendants of the good and true of other years.
Special mention is to be made of Mr. John E. Crabbe, of the last generation, who, after a successful career as a member of a Baltimore firm, returned to Cople Parish. His son, Mr. Walter Randolph Crabbe, has been for many years registrar of the parish.
Mr. James Arnest, Dr. Watt H. Tyler, father of the Diocesan Arch- deacon, Col. Robert H. Mayo, Mr. E. C. Griffith, and others, figured prominently in the later history and growth of the old church.
In reference to the rectors and vestries of Yeocomico, the early re- cords have not been preserved, and it is impossible to give an accu- rate list of the successive clergymen who had charge. From Bishop Meade it is learned that the first minister of whom there is record was the Rev. Charles Rose-1754-'58. It is stated unauthoritatively that the Rev. Mr. Bricken preceded Mr. Rose. The Rev. Thomas Smith was minister 1773-'76. He was probably preceded by the Rev. Augus- tine Smith. In 1779, the name of the Rev. James Elliot appears, and the next minister of whom there is record was the Rev. Washington Nel- son in 1835. In 1842, he was succeeded by the Rev. William N. Ward,
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and he, in 1849, by the Rev. Theodore N. Rumney, afterwards rector of St. Peter's church, Germantown, Philadelphia. The Rev. Edward McGuire succeeded Mr. Rumney in 1850, and in 1852 and 1854, the rec- tors were, successively, the Rev. William McGuire, the Rev. T. Grayson Dashiell. During the Civil War, the Rev. Charles J. Rodefer was in charge of the parish.
Within the present generation, the following clergymen have officiated in the order named: Rev. John J. Lloyd, Rev. Pendleton Brooke, Rev. Robert A. Castleman, Rev. David F. Ward, Rev. Austin B. Chinn, Rev. Albert Rhett Walker, Rev. Frank Ridout and Rev. Charles H. Gross.
Besides the vestrymen elected in 1655, mentioned by Mr. Beale, there is record of an election held in 1755, when the following were chosen: John Bushrod, Daniel Tebbs, Richard Lee, Benedict Middle- ton, George Lee, John Newton, Willowby Newton, Robert Middleton, Samuel Oldham, Robert Carter, Fleet Cox, and James Steptoe.
At an election immediately following the Revolution, the following vestry was chosen: Vincent Marmaduke, Jeremiah G. Bailey, John A. Washington, Samuel Rust, John Crabb, Richard Lee, George Garner, George Turberville, Patrick Sanford, John Rochester, and Samuel Tem- pleman.
The exercises commemorative of the 200th anniversary, were deeply interesting. They began on Sunday, July 15, 1906, and were in charge of the Bishop of the Diocese. The congregation was large, people coming from far and near to attest their regard for the old church, surrounded with so many associations sacred to them all.
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ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, ACCOMAC COUNTY, VA.
THE PARISHES IN ACCOMAC COUNTY, VA.
COMPILED IN PART FROM BISHOP MEADE'S "OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS AND FAMILIES IN VIRGINIA."
HE whole of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was called Accow- make, then changed to Northampton, then divided into North- ampton and Accomac. Soon after this, in the year 1762, the county of Accomac was divided into two parishes by a line running from the bay to the sea, the upper being called Accomac Parish, and the other St. George's. The dividing line runs about three miles north of Drummondtown.
From a record in the clerk's office in Northampton there is reason to believe that the church at Pongoteague was built before the division of the Eastern Shore into two counties, and was the first erected in Ac- comac. The next was that which stood a few miles from Drummond- town, and was, until the year 1819, called the New Church. At that time the name of St. James' was given to it. It was subsequently re- moved to Drummondtown, and now forms the church at that place. In the year 1724 there were three churches in the upper parish (Accomac), about ten miles distant from each other. The first minister of whom we read in the parish was the Rev. William Black, who, in the year 1709-10, wrote to the Bishop of London that he had taken charge of it, that there had been no minister there before for fifteen years. In the year 1724 he is still the minister, and in answer to certain questions by the Bishop of London, writes that he preaches at these churches, has two hundred communicants, four or five hundred families under his charge, instructs the negroes at their masters' houses, has baptized two hundred of them, catechizes the children on Sunday from March to September, has no Communion service or anything decent in his church, receives a salary of forty pounds per annum (that being the value of his tobacco), rents his glebe for twenty shillings per annum, has a school in his parish, endowed by one Mr. Sanford, of London, and which is still in existence.
How long the pious labors of Mr. Black continued after the year 1724 is not known. In the year 1755 we find, from an old list of the clergy of Virginia, that the Rev. Arthur Emmerson, afterwards well known in other parishes, was the minister. In the year 1774 the Rev. William
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Vere is set down in the Virginia Almanac as the minister of Accomac Parish. He was doubtless the last minister of this parish. In the year 1785, when the first Convention after the Revolution met in Richmond, there was no clerical delegate from either of the parishes of Acc mac. Mr. Jabez Pittis was the lay delegate from Accomac Parish, and Mr. Levin Joynes and Tully Wise from St. George's.
The churches in Accomac were a brick one, at "Assawaman," on the seaside; a wooden one, on the Middle or Wallop's Road, about five miles from the southern line of the parish, and another of wood, at Poco- moke, near the Maryland line, called the New Church. None of them now remain. About thirty years past, says Bishop Meade, the over- seers of the poor took possession of the Communion plate, and sold the same to a silversmith, who intended to melt it, but being advised that it was doubtful whether they had any authority to sell the plate under the law directing the sale of glebe lands, and there being a tradition that the plate was a private donation, the sale was rescinded.
As to the ministers of St. George's Parish, in Accomac, our records before the Revolution fail us altogether. It is probable that some of the ministers of Hungars Parish rendered service here for some time after the division of the Eastern Shore into the counties of Northamp- ton and Accomac, especially Mr. Teackle. The Teackle records say that the Rev. Thomas Teackle preached there for over forty years, and family tradition states that he was the first rector of St. George's. He died in 1696. This would date the church somewhere about 1656. In Northampton county records Mr. Teackle is frequently mentioned as "Minister of ye Upper Parish." He was born in 1624, in Gloucester- shire, England, and his father was slain in the army of Charles I. His son, fleeing from the persecutions of the Cromwellites, first went to the Bermudas, and thence came to Northampton at the instigation of his cousin, Colonel Obedience Robins. St. George's is considered, in the Teackle records, to be the fourth church in Virginia in point of age.
The first minister on any of our lists was the Rev. John Lyon, from Rhode Island, who was in the parish in the year 1774, and continued there during and some time after the war. Being more of the English- man than the American in his feelings, his time was very uncomfort- able during the Revolutionary struggle; but, being married into a re- spectable family, his principles were tolerated and his person protected. While as a faithful historian, we shall truthfully admit whatever of Toryism there was among the clergy of Virginia, we shall as faithfully
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maintain that there was a large share of noble patriotism in the clergy of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson declares this most emphatically. No ele- ment was more often invoked in the earlier history of Virginia than the influence of ministers of the gospel in producing a feeling of re- sistance to the oppressions of England, and no class from whom the Henrys, Jeffersons and patriot politicians of that day received greater aid in opening the eyes of the people and preparing them for severance from Great Britain. Mr. Jefferson himself acknowledges this in his works (Vol. I., pp. 5-6).
In the year 1786 the Rev. Theopolus Nugent was present in the Con- vention as the rector of St. George's Parish, Accomac. But nothing more is known of him. The following is a list of the clergymen from the time of Mr. Nugent to the present day: The Revs. Cave Jones, Ayrs, Reese, Gardiner, Eastburn, Smith, Chase, Goldsmith, Carpenter, Adams, Bartlett, Winchester, Jonathan Smith, William G. Jones and Zimmer.
The Rev. Cave Jones was a native of Virginia, probably a descendant of one of the three of that name who ministered to the early Church of Virginia. He was a man of talents and eloquence, which, after some years, attracted attention beyond the bounds of our State, and led to a call to Trinity church, New York. He was so popular in that situation as to become a formidable rival to Dr. Hobart, afterwards Bishop of New York.
Another name in the above list is that of Rev. Mr. Eastburn, worthy of more than passing notice. James Wallis Eastburn, a brother of Bishop Eastburn, of Massachusetts, M. A. of Columbia College, of New York, was a native of that State, and from every account we have of him, must have been one of the most interesting and talented young men of our country. He was ordained by Bishop Hobart in October, 1818; commenced his ministry in Accomac county almost immediately, and after a short but truly glorious ministry of about eight months, returned, broken in health, and expired in December, 1819, on his way to the West Indies. He had only reached the age of twenty-two, but was mature in mind and a "burning light" in the Church of God. The hymn-137-beginning, "Oh, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord," was composed by him at eighteen years of age.
Some years since, the Rev. Ambler Weed, of Richmond, undertook the revival of the Church in the lower part of St. George's Parish, and by great diligence caused a new church by the name of St. Michael's to be erected near Belle Haven. In this and in old Pongoteague church
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he officiated for some years with great diligence and self-denial and with some success.
Old Pongoteague, the first house of prayer erected in Accomac, and probably not much less than two hundred years old (1857), still stands a remarkable monument of former days, among some old trees, perhaps as ancient as itself. It was a brick building in the form of a cross, with a bow window in one arm of the cross and the vestry-room in the other. The floor was of brick and the pews had high backs. The pul- pit was circular, with a flight of steps leading to it. The brick floor having become uneven, a plank floor was laid over. it, and the pew backs were lowered. The Parish Register was lost, but the old Bible and Prayer Book, together with the old Communion service, have been preserved. The goblet and paten, it is believed, were the gift of Queen Anne, and bear this inscription: "Ye Parish of Accomack."
In 1861 the church was used as a stable by the Federal troops, and at the end of the war the building was a complete wreck. Thus it re- mained untenanted for a number of years, until the Church people of the neighborhood determined to restore it as a place of worship. After many sacrifices and trials and much hard work, they succeeded in re- building the time-honored and sacred edifice. The arms of the cross, being cracked and unsafe, were taken down, the main part of the cross being rebuilt with the old bricks, and services were resumed after an interval of twenty-five years. The first rector of the restored church was the Rev. Mr. S. H. Wellman. Since then the rectors have been as follows: The Revs. John Anderson, F. M. Burch, John McNabb, Henry L. Derby, Cary Gamble, John S. Meredith and W. Cosby Bell. Among its rectors, too, was the Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, who served at its altar in 1819, and was afterwards first Bishop of Kentucky and Presiding Bishop of the Church in the United States.
I am sorry to be unable to give a list of the ancient vestrymen of Accomac. The only document of which I have heard from which to de- rive such list and other particulars perished during the last year. Would that all the friends, members and ministers of the Church of Virginia, and any others who have any care for her past history, would but inquire for such documents, and search for them among the ne- glected papers of old family mansions and clerks' offices! How much might still be rescued from destruction and oblivion which is worthy of preservation in some permanent form!
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In place of a list of vestrymen of the parish, I subjoin the following of the families which, from the earliest period to the present time, have belonged to the Episcopal Church in Accomac. It has been furnished me by a friend, with the qualification that it is imperfect, and that. there are others who might be added:
"Bowman, Cropper, Joynes, West, Satchell, Smith, Wise, Finney,. Scarbrough, Robinson, Custis, Bayly, Snead, Parker, Stratton, Bagwell,. Andrews, Arbuckle, Stokely, Poulson, Downing, Bell, Upshur, Para -- more, Teagle, Hack, Seymour, Kellam, etc."
ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, BATH-ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, EDENTON, NORTH CAROLINA.
BY THE REV. ROBERT BRENT DRANE, D. D., RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, EDENTON, N. C.
I N this article effort will be made to keep to the church buildings and their material associations.
St. Thomas' was begun in 1734; St. Paul's in 1736. Both were substantially built of brick, and the main construction of both re- mains unchanged and gives promise of endurance. In both buildings the ravages of time have wrought, and human care, reverent and re- spectful, if not always so intelligent as that of our day, has restored. Tantalizing it is that so insufficient records repay our search.
When St. Thomas' was first used does not appear, but the first oc- cupation of St. Paul's, as noted in the Minutes of the Vestry, was in 1760. Both these parishes were organized with vestries in 1701. St. Paul's is the oldest organization-the oldest corporation of continuous life in North Carolina; and its first church building, begun in 1701 and finished the next year, was the first church built in the Province. But of the now existing buildings, St. Thomas', Bath, has always been accounted the older.
The following measurements will help out our comparison, all being outside dimensions:
ST. THOMAS'S.
Nave length, 51 feet; nave width, 31 feet; nave height, sides, 14 feet; thickness of bricks, 3 by 41/2 by 9 inches; clay tiles in floor, 2 by 8 by 8 inches.
ST. PAUL'S. :
Nave length, 60 feet; nave width, 40 feet 3 inches; nave height, sides, 20 feet; dimensions of bricks, 21/2, by 4 by 81/2 inches.
St. Paul's was formerly tiled, and "intramural" burials were allowed. The floor is now of wood.
The Minutes of St. Thomas' vestry have disappeared. St. Paul's are continuous from 1701 to 1776, when there is a break of some years.
The beginning of St. Paul's first church was by voluntary subscrip- tion; so also of the building now standing.
OLI
ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, BATH, N. C.
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Until about a generation ago, St. Thomas' had a wooden belfry, standing apart from the church, in which hung a small bell, said to have been given by Queen Anne of England. Within the memory of per- sons now living the incongruous belfry was removed and the old bell was given in part payment for a new and larger bell.
In aptitude for parting with something purporting to have been given by that good "nursing mother of the Church," St. Paul's vestry has kept pace with St. Thomas'; for, about the year 1850 they gave away to Holy Trinity church, Hertford, North Carolina, the small old marble "Queen Anne font," to have a larger one, now in the church, the gift of Mr. John Thompson, a parishioner. Tradition has it that a consideration favoring the change was that the new font should be large enough for the Rubric for the Immersion of Infants. History does not record a test of that capacity. There is no mention in our Minutes of the Queen Anne font, in its coming or going.
In a long and dismal letter written to the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1713-14, St. Paul's vestry represent that they have "but one sorry church, on the North shore of the Sound; never finished, no ornaments belonging to a church, nor wherewith to buy any."
Queen Anne died August 1st, 1714. She may, ere that, have been moved to give the font and other help to these, her "poor country folks," whose letter bears date March ye 2d of the same year. The absence of all recognition of any such gift is remarkable.
In those days this settlement was called "Queen Anne's Town," but not in the vestry book. It is "Chowan Precinct," or, more particularly, the "North Shore"; and in the minutes of 1722-23, Edenton is first men- tioned. It was just then that the authorities imposed the name in memory of Charles Eden, the lately deceased royal Governor of the Province.
The parish or precinct was too large to be served by one church building, and that "25 feet long!" Therefore chapels were built, of which there are in all six mentioned, in the Colonial period; namely: Constant's, otherwise spelled Costans and Costen's, Farlees, Sarum, Knotty Pine, Indian Town, and on the Southwest Shore. Descriptive of them may be read this order of the vestry made in 1741: "to build two chappells in Chowan parish, viz., at James Costans or theirabouts as they shall think fitt, and the other at James Braddey's or near their- abouts, and the Domentions as here mentioned vizt .: Thirty-five foot long and Twenty-two foot and a half wide, Eleven foot in the pitch be-
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tween Sill and Plate, and a Roof; workmanlike, near a squear, and to be a good fraim Gott out of Good Timber and covered with Good Sipress shingles and good Sleepers and flowers of Good plank and seated with Good plank, with three Windows suitable, with a pulpit and all things suitable."
These chapels probably hindered the building of the church at Eden- ton. Year after year the vestry was composed of men who lived re- mote from Edenton, in the upper part of the precinct. There is not in the minutes any reference to sectional feeling nor to any rural and urban rivalry; but the long unfurnished church building at Edenton and the absence of Edentonians from the vestry have seemed significant.
Surely, if Edward Moseley had remained here after 1736, when the church was begun, public spirited and energetic as he was, the digni- fied building could not have so dragged its slow length along!
The first monies for its erection, as is true also of the building of the 1701 church, came from private subscription, the names and amounts being very interesting, and the secretary or clerk being anonymous, his entry being "My own subscription 100 f"-equal to the largest, only two on the list being for so much. This information is from a separate sheet, not the Vestry Book, which is evidently a current account of receipts and expenditures for the present St. Paul's building, and its first date of a payment is "May 10th, 1736-To money for clearing lots 12 £."
The vestry on May 10, 1736, "Ordered that to contribute towards de- fraying expenses of building a church at Edenton, and other contingent charges * a tax or levy
be on each Tythable for the ensuing year."
At a General Assembly of the Province of North Carolina, held at Edenton in 1740, an act was passed whose preamble notes that several well disposed persons have voluntarily subscribed * to build and erect a church in Edenton; that some of the commissioners appoint- ed to have the work done had died, and that the vestry refused to assist therein. It provided for the prosecution of the work, and "that when the said church shall be fit to celebrate Divine Service in, all meetings of Vestries * should be held at the said church and that no other place in the said Parish."
The vestry's meeting in the church at Edenton in 1760 gives ut. that year for its completion.
Now as to public sentiment toward taxation for church building, it has been pointed out as creditable to the people of Edenton that they
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, EDENTON, N. C.
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protested against selling the pews in St. Paul's and petitioned the As- sembly to finish it by a tax upon the people, so that all, paying equally, might have equal rights in their house of worship.
There is occasional notice of the vestry's granting the rights to build a pew in a chapel.
Some reference now to the church plate, still in use:
In the minute of 1703 acknowledgment is made of the gift of Ten Pounds to the Parish from Governor Francis Nicholson, of Virginia, wherewith, it was ordered, that a chalice be purchased at Boston, to be suitably inscribed.
In 1714 Col. Edward Moseley writes Governor Nicholson that his purpose had not yet been fulfilled, and appeals to him to take steps to accomplish it.
In 1714, in the above quoted dismal letter the vestry write the S. P. G. that Governor Nicholson's gift had not "yet been expended for want of an addition according to the Intention of the Donor."
In 1727-28 it is written: "Coll. Edward Moseley made a present to the Parish of a Silver Chalice and Plate with his own name Engraven thereon," and to-day that inscription may be read, the same on both vessels:
"The Gift of Colonell Edward Mosely, for ye use of ye Church in Edenton, in the year 1725."
There is also a larger chalice of silver with this inscription:
D. D. Johannes Garzia, Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbyter."
The only reference to this priest is a minute of the payment to him of £5 in 1736. He was an itinerant evangelist for this part of the Colony, with his home at Bath. It was probably during his incum- bency of St. Thomas', Bath, that that parish acquired its glebe of three hundred acres, and its glebe house, the only one ever owned by any parish in North Carolina, as Bishop Cheshire states.
An interesting association of these old parishes is in connection with church books and public libraries. St. Paul's Vestry, March ye 2d, 1713-14, to the Soc. Prop. Gospel say: "The first Library of great value sent us by the direction of the Reverend Dr. Bray, through an unhappy Inscription on the Back of the Books or the title page, viz., Belonging to the Parish of St. Thomas', of Pamplico, in the then rising but now miserable county of Bath, falsely supposed to be the seat of Govern- ment, was lodged there and by that means rendered useless to the clergy for whose service it was chiefly intended, and in what condition we know not, but we fear the worst by reason of the late war."
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