USA > Virginia > Colonial churches; a series of sketches of churches in the original colony of Virginia, with pictures of each church > Part 8
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Order'd That Mr. Richard Heartswel be received Minister of this Parish dureing the approbation of the Vestry he haveing agreed to accept thereof on these terms."
"At a Vestry held at the Brick Church on Wells's Hill May 27th 1740.
Present. Colo Robert Bolling, Capt Wm Stark, Mr. Theo. Feild, Capt. Charles Fisher, Majr Wm. Poythress, Mr. Theok Bland, Capt Peter Jones.
Mr. Richard Heartswel haveing in company with Several of the Vestry yesterday Evening declared that he did not understand the order of Vestry that day made for receiving him as Minister of this Parish on the Terms therein mentioned altho entered in his pres- ence & with his approbation & now insisting on Twenty Pounds p Ann in lieu of a Glebe which he with some warmth, said he thought he merrited; & without such Allowance would not stay, thereupon the Church wardens conviend this Vestry who upon the representa- tion of the matter by several of their own Members, Orders that the said Richard Heartswel be discharged as Minister of this Paris.1 on the Terms by him & the Vestry agreed to on the 26th Instant or on any other whatsoever.
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John Woobank Clk Vestry"
In this connection the following extract from a letter of the Rev. James Blair, Commissary, at Williamsburg, to the Bishop of London, dated May 29, 1740, will be of interest: "There is a clergyman, one Mr. Richard Hartwol came into this country from Liverpool about a year ago, only in Deacon's orders. He was ordained by Joseph, Bishop of Rochester, Sept. 21, 1735. He brought no letters of
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recommendation, and came very unprovided of books or any- thing else. The Governor befriending him, he preached in several churches, & has a taking way of delivery, but no parish seems desirous to have him for a minister chiefly because he is not capable of administering the sacrament of the Lord's supper, which they are very pressing for, especially on their death-beds. The Governor has very lately recommended him to some gentlemen of that parish which was Mr. Robertson's, and he is gone thither, but as I hear, meets with great opposition. I want your Lordship's directions about him for I am somewhat diffident of his character in England, by reason of his coming away so suddenly and abruptly, and that he has been so long since he was Deacon without receiving Priest's orders, and seems averse to repairing to England for compleat orders." (Perry's "Papers Re- lating to the History of the Church in Virginia 1650-1776" pp. 362-3.)
That is the last word that history has to say of the Rev. Richard . Heartswel in connection with Bristol Parish. The Vestry finally secured the services of the Rev. Robert Fergusson, who remained minister of the parish until his death in 1749.
In the year 1742 Bristol Parish was divided (Hening > "Stat- utes at Large," Vol. V., p. 212). At the time of the division there were 1,668 tithables in the parish. With the formation of the new parish (Bath) Bristol parish lost 897 tithables and two out of the four churches. The Brick Church and the chapel on Jones Hole Creek remained to Bristol. Sapponey and Hatcher's Run Chapels went to Bath parish. Out of this division and the expenses' in- cident thereto arose a dispute between the two parishes which lasted until 1745.
In March, 1750, Rev. Eleazer Robertson was appointed minister of the parish "for Twelve Months on Tryal" as the Vestry Book expresses it. Evidently his "Tryal" proved satisfactory to all par- ties, for at the Vestry meeting in March, 1751, he was regularly re- ceived as minister of the parish.
Either the eloquence of Mr. Robertson's discourses or the natu- ral growth of the parish-there were now 1081 tythables-was responsible for the following order of the Vestry made June 22nd, 1752: "That an Addition be made on the South Side the Brick Church, Thirty feet by Twenty five in the Clear and fifteen feet
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from the Spring of the Arch to the Floor which is to be the same height with the present Church three Bricks thick to the Water Table and two and a half thick to the plate, the Roofe to be Framed as the present Roofe, the Isle Six Feet wide laid with white Bristol Stone. Two windows of the Same dimentions as the present on Each Side of the Addition, and Glazed with Sash Glass, the Floor to be laid with Inch and Quarter heart plank, the pews to be Framed as those now in the Church, the Roofe to be first Covered with plank and Shingled on that with Good Cypress heart Shingles, a Cornish the Same as the present, Square Ceiling, a Door in the South End of the Addition, the present South Door to be shut up, and another Window and a pew Added in its place. The whole to be done Strong, and workmanlike in the Best plain manner, to be finished by the First day of July 1754. Also the Church to 'be walled in with a Brick Wall of one and a half Brick thick Five Foot from the highest part of the Ground to the Top of the Copeing, Length from East to West One hundred and Sixty Feet, from North to South One hundred and Forty Feet in the Clear, One Gate at the West End and One on the South Side the Church and the Church War- dens are to give publick Notice when it is to be Let." In November of the same year the Vestry ordered "that the Addition to the Church be built on the North side thereof. This day being the day Advertized in the Virginia Gazette for Letting the Addition to the Church, and Walling it in, Collo Richard Bland being the Lowest Bidder agrees to do it for four hundred pounds Current money." Originally the church had been a simple rectangular building, sixty feet by twenty-five facing east and west. The addition above re- ferred to made a radical change in its appearance. Its form was now that .of a squat T shaped cross. From the completion of this addition-it was not finished until the year 1764-until the aban- donment of the building the Brick Church remained practically unaltered.
The Rev. Eleazer Robertson left Bristol parish in 1753. It was during the incumbency of his successor Rev Thomas Wilkinson, that the matter of a poor-house for the three parishes of Bristol, Mar- tins Brandon, and Bath began to be agitated. The first action in regard to this business was taken at a Vestry meeting held No- vember 27th, 1755. It culminated in December of the year fol- lowing in the appointment of a committee, consisting of Messrs.
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Stephen Dewey, Alexander Bolling, Theoderick Bland, and William Eaton, to "meet the persons appointed by the Vestry's of Brandon & Bath Parishes to agree in settleing the Terms of the Poors House." The result of the conference held by the representatives of the three parishes was embodied in the following report taken from the record of the minutes of the vestry meeting held at the Brick Church February 23rd, 1757:
"At a meeting of the members appointed by the Respective Parishes of Bristol, Martins brandon and Bath as a Committee to Consider of the best and most proper method for Building a Poors House at the Joint Expence of the said Parishes-
It is the opinion of this Committee that a Convenient House ought to be Rented for Entertaining the poor of the said Parishes, if to be had. But if not, that then Land ought to be bought & Con- venient Houses to be built for the joint use of the said Parishes in proportion to the number of Tithables in each of the said Parishes. This Committee having taken under their most serious Considera- tion the unhappy and indeed miserable Circumstances of the many poor Orphans and other poor Children, Inhabitants of the said Parishes whose parents are utterly unable to give them any Edu- cation and being desirous to render the said House as Beneficial as possable & that such poor Children should be brought up in a Re- ligious, Virtuous & Industrious Course of Life so as to become useful members of the Community, Have Resolved earnestly to rec- ommend it to their Respective Vestries that they should join in a petition to the General Assembly to procure an Act to enable the said Parishes to erect a FREE SCHOOL for Educating the poor Children of the said Parishes in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic at the joint Expence of the said Parishes, and Uniting the same to the said Poorshouse Under such Rules, Orders and Directions as shall be most just and proper for perfecting so useful and Chari- table a Work, And in Order to facilitate the obtaining such Act to propose that the said Vestries should unite in opening Subscriptions that the Rich & Opulent & all other well disposed people may have an opportunity of Contributing towards so pious a design out of that STORE which the FATHER of Bounties hath bestowed on them.
It is the opinion of this Committee that Four of the Members of each of the said Vestries ought to be appointed as a Committee to Petition the General Assembly in the name and on behalf of the
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said Vestries in Order to obtain such Act as aforesaid And also to put the said resolutions into Execution.
It is the opinion of this Committee that these Resolutions be Communicated to the respective Vestries as soon as possable for approbation or Descent.
Signed According to the Directions of the Committee By
Jany 19th, 1757. RICHARD BLAND."
In spite of this very excellent report nothing seems to have come of the Poor-house plan. At the Vestry meeting held November 15th, 1757, it was ordered "That the Churchwardens at the most Conve- nient place put up the poor of this Parish to the lowest Bidder."
If the Vestry of Bristol Parish proved incompetent to influence leg- islation in the matter of providing for the poor, they showed a very commendable and fairly successful zeal in the suppression of vice. The credit side of the parish's yearly balance sheet exhibits frequent entries like the following:
"By Richd Harrison & Rd Harrison Junr and Peter Aldridge for profane swearing 5/Each 15.
"By mary Jones fine for a bastard child pd by Nat Rains. £2:10,
"By a fine from Tho. Whitmour for Profaning the Sabbath Day. 5.
"By Henry Delony Gaming fine. £5:
"By Cash Recd of Richd Booker A fine of Some Person Sold Oats by false measure at ye Bridge £1:"
That the vestry was disposed to class non-church going among the vices to be rooted out appears from the following credit entry in the balance-sheet for the year 1754:
"By 3 fines for not going to Church 15/"
As Thomas Whitmour's fine for Profaning the Sabbath Day was 5 shillings, it is probable that the profanation of which he was found guilty was that of absenting himself from divine service.
On November 22d, 1762, the Rev. Thomas Wilkerson resigned the parish. The same day he was succeeded by Rev. William Harrison. The first twelve years or so of Mr. Harrison's incumbency seem to have been uneventful enough; then came the troublous times of the war with England. Under date of October 19th, 1775, occurs the fol- lowing entry in the vestry book:
"Whereas, The callamitous State of the Country renders it Doubtfull
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whether a Sufficient Sum Can be Collected from the people, for pay- ment of the Parochial Debt, in Money. And by the Restrained Laid on Exports, By publick Consent, The Parishoners are Precluded of the Election which the Law Had Giveing them, in paying their Due's in Tobo or Money. It is Determined by Vestry That the Ministers Sal- ary Shall be Estimated at One Hundred And Forty four Pound's, to be Collected as Nearly as Possible in Money Unless the prohibition on Exports Should be Removed, And in that Case the People to be at Liberty to pay in Tobo at Eighteen Shillings Per Hundred, In Lieu of Money, According to there Own Choice. And it's further to be Un- derstood that the Revd Mr. Harrison shall wait for the Ballance, After the Collection is made, three Years without Interest, unless it should Please HEAVEN to Put an End before that time, To the Troubles of our Country, And then it is understood that the Encumben [t's] Sal- ary shall be Demandable in the usual and 'accustomed way.'"
Poor Mr. Harrison! One is hardly surprised at finding the follow- ing entered on the minutes of a vestry meeting held February 4, 1780: "This day the Late Recter, the Revd. Mr. Harrison, wrote in his Resig- nation of his Cure of this Parish, which is accepted."
After lying vacant four years the parish secured the services of the Rev. John Cameron. He is the last minister of the parish of which the vestry book speaks, as he was still living and serving the parish in the capacity of rector when the closing entry of the volume was written. This was on April 18, 1789. Dr. Cameron resigned his charge in 1793, and was succeeded the next year by the Rev. Andrew Syme, who served Bristol parish faithfully for forty-five years.
He was the last rector of the parish that regularly held services and preached in the Brick church, on Well's Hill. With him, then, the references in this article to the history of the parish, as such, may well end.
What remains of the history of the old church is soon told. After the Revolution the town of Blandford, which lies between Wells's Hill and the river, rapidly declined in importance as a tobacco port, while the new town of Petersburg, to the west, grew steadily. Between the years 1802 and 1808 the new St. Paul's church, Petersburg, was built. This sealed the fate of the old Brick church, on Wells's Hill, though for awhile services were still held within its walls alternately with the church in Petersburg and the outward church. Finally the services
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at the Brick church were discontinued absolutely, and the old building was left alone in its glory. Thus abandoned, it gradually fell into ruins. Writing in 1879, a short while before the Brick church under- went its first "restoration," Dr. Slaughter says, quoting in part Charles Campbell: " 'Blandford is chiefly remarkable for the melancholy charm of a moss-velveted and ivy-embroidered, ante-Revolutionary church, (whose yard is the Petersburg cemetery), at present in the most pic- turesque place of dilapidation.' And we add that it is the pride of Petersburg, and the most attractive of all her historical surroundings. The pilgrim and the stranger who tarry but a night is sure to wend his way and pay his homage at this shrine. Time, too, in its revolvings, 'brings in other revenges.' The children, and the children's children, of the scattered worshippers who were baptized at this font or knelt at this shrine, when they have finished their course on earth, are borne back in solemn procession and laid in the bosom of old Mother Church, which invests her with a charm, in the eyes and hearts of the whole community."
A few years after the above was written it was found necessary, in order to preserve the ruins from utter destruction, to have the building re-roofed. The writer thinks that he is not mistaken in saying that this work was undertaken and paid for by the city of Petersburg. How- ever much to be regretted, inasmuch as the new slate roof has given a rather incongruous air of smartness to the venerable building, these repairs done by the city were unavoidable.
Not so, however, the recent "restoration" of Old Blandford, through the efforts of the Ladies' Memorial Association, aided-one is tempted to say also, and abetted-by the Petersburg chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, by which this relic of the Colonial period has been converted into a Confederate memorial chapel. A monument of the early eighteenth century converted into a memorial of the events of 1861-'65-could no better way than this have been found to honor the Southern cause? It is always so, however. The past is ever being for- gotten in the interests of the present, and history shows many such glaring instances of robbing Peter to pay Paul. But the day will come when the intelligent people of Petersburg will regret having allowed this piece of utter vandalism to be perpetrated.
A visit to Blandford church recalls many memories of the historic past. Here preached in days long gone by the ministers whose names have already been given; the Robertsons-George and Eleazar-Robert
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Fergusson, Thomas Wilkerson, William Harrison, John Cameron and Andrew Syme. Occasionally, too, the walls of the old church rang with the voice of some famous divine like William Stith, the Virginia historian; Devereaux Jarratt, the stirring preacher of Bath parish, or George Whitfield, the great English evangelist. As one wanders about among the tombstones outside, stopping from time to time to decipher some half-obliterated inscription, the ancient glory of the church is brought vividly to the mind. Here worshipped with their families, in that to us dim pre-Revolutionary time, James Munford, William Poy- thress, Robert Bolling, Peter Jones, William Stark, Theophilus Field, Charles Fisher, Francis Poythress, William Hamlin, Theoderick Bland, David Walker, Thomas Short, Stephen Dewey, William Epes, George Smith, Samuel Gordon, James Murray, Hugh Miller, James Boisseau, Alexander Bolling, Anthony Walke, Thomas Williams, William Eaton, Roger Atkinson, George Nicholas, Sir William Skipwith, John Ruffin, John Bannister, Theoderick Bland, Jr., Nathaniel Raines, Nathaniel Harrison, William Call, Richard Taylor, Thomas and Joseph Jones and many others-truly an array of worthy names of which any Church might well be proud.
From the churchyard one sees about two miles off to the north the hills on the Chesterfield side of the river, from which Lafayette, in 1781, standing by his guns, must have watched the bombardment of the Brit- ish in Petersburg-that bombardment that is said to have disturbed the last hours of the English General Phillips, as he lay dying in the house on East Hill. Tradition has it that the dead general was laid to rest in the southeast corner of Blandford churchyard.
Less than a mile away to the east and south are the remnants of the earthworks held by the Confederate forces during the memorable siege of Petersburg, which lasted from the 9th of June, 1864, to the 2d of April, 1865. The fighting was at times so near the church that the building itself and the surrounding tombstones did not escape en- tirely the rain of shot and shell directed against the town and its de- fenders. To this day bullets are not infrequently found in the ceme- tery, and, indeed, close up to the old churchyard wall.
It is scarcely necessary to add, in closing, that Blandford church, so rich in associations that appeal to cultivated minds, possesses a litera- ture of its own, the natural outgrowth of the thoughts and emotions which it has itself inspired. One can do no more here than refer the reader to Dr. Slaughter's valuable "History of Bristol Parish," where the greater part of what is best in that literature may be found.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
BY REV. R. A. GOODWIN, RECTOR.
H ENRICO Parish was formed in A. D. 1611, only four years after the settlement of Jamestown. Sir Thomas Dale in that year founded Henricopolis, on the Peninsula, in James River, now insulated by Dutch Gap canal. Here he built a church before he laid the foundation of his own residence. Not long after a more handsome brick church was built. It stood near the line of the present Dutch Gap canal. The parish at first included what are now the counties of Chesterfield and Powhatan, on the south of James River, and Goochland and Henrico, on the north of the river.
Rev. Alexander Whittaker, called "the Apostle of Virginia," was the first rector of Henrico Parish. He was the son of Dr. William Whit- taker, master of St. John's College, Cambridge. Alexander Whittaker was a graduate of Cambridge. For some years he served a church in the north of England, "beloved and well supported by his people." "He had a handsome heritage from his parents." He came to Virginia under the influence of the highest missionary spirit. His friends op- posed his coming. A contemporary says of him: "He did voluntarily leave his warme nest; and to the wonder of his kindred and amaze- ment of them that knew him, undertook this hard, but, in my judg- ment, heroicall resolution to go to Virginia, and helpe to beare the name of God unto the Gentiles."
He is spoken of as the "purest of men," "truly pious," and "most zealous in missionary work, especially among the Indians, to which he had devoted himself." He and Dale were co-workers for the con- version of Pocahontas. He baptized her under the name of Rebecca. It is highly probable that he married her to John Rolfe. Rolfe owned a plantation at Henricopolis, and here they lived till she went to England. Whittaker resisted the temptation to return to England in 1616 with his devoted friend, Dale. But he wrote, exhorting others to come over and help, and saying: "Though my promise of three yeeres' service to my countrey be expired, will abide in my vocation here untill I be lawfully called hence."
He was accidentally drowned in James River in the spring of 1617.'
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The Glebe of the parish, consisting of 100 acres, on which Dale built a rectory, was situated on the south side of the river. Whittaker also served a church at Bermuda Hundred, near City Point. Some years later the Glebe was on the north side of the river, near Varina. Mr. William Wickham assisted Mr. Whittaker, and it would seem he was only in deacon's orders, for, after Whittaker's death, there was no one to administer the sacraments.
Rev. Thomas Bargrave became rector in 1619. It was during his administration that the parish of Henrico was chosen as the site of a great university; 15,000 acres of land, between Henricopolis and where Richmond now stands, was set apart as college lands by the Virginia Company. King James, through the Archbishop of Canter- bury, appealed for and obtained large subscriptions in England. Rev. Mr. Bargrave, the rector, donated his library. The Rev. Mr. Copland was appointed president, but he was still in England when the great Indian massacre of 1622 swept away Henricopolis and many other settlements.
For the next hundred years the annals of Henrico Parish are frag- mentary.
The Rev. James Blair was rector from 1685 to 1694. In 1689 he was appointed commissary of the Bishop of London. He resigned the parish to become founder and first president of William and Mary College.
Rev. George Robinson is said to have been rector in 1695. In 1724 the Bishop of London called upon the clergy of the colony for a report. "The name of the incumbent of Henrico Parish has been torn from the manuscript of his report," but there is evidence that he was Rev. Jacob Ware. He mentions that he had been in the parish fourteen years. Its bounds were 18 by 25 miles. It contained two churches and one chapel. There were 400 families.
The oldest extant record book of the vestry of the parish begins on October 28th, 1730. This book was found in 1867 among the old records of Henrico county, and was given to the vestry. When this book was begun the principal church of the Parish was Curle's church, situated a few miles below Richmond, on the north side of the river. The Rev. James Keith was rector when this vestry book begins, and continued his services till 1733.
In 1727 Goochland and Powhatan were cut off from Henrico; and Dale Parish, in Chesterfield, was established in 1735. In 1735 the
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vestry arranged with Rev. David Mossom to preach at the church every fifth Sunday, for which service he was to be allowed 400 pounds of tobacco.
Mr. Mossom was rector of St. Peter's, New Kent, for 40 years. He married General Washington; and he was the first native American to be ordained a Presbyter in the Church of England. In 1736 Rev. William Stith became rector of the parish. He was a native Vir- ginian, educated at William and Mary College and in England. While rector of this parish, he wrote his history of Virginia. It was during his ministry that St. John's church was built.
There was a difference of opinion as to where the new church should be located. It was finally decided that it be built "on Indian Town, at Richmond." The two lots given by Colonel William Byrd, "the father of Richmond," constitute half of the present St. John's burying- ground.
St. John's church was built in 1741. The original building was 60 feet long and 25 feet wide, situated due east and west. In 1772 an ad- dition was made on the south side, of 40 feet in length and 40 feet in width. The Rev. Miles Selden was rector when the Virginia Con- vention met in the church, thus enlarged, on March 20th, 1775. He was chaplain of the convention. Edmund Pendleton was the president.
(It will be recalled that "the first General Assembly, the earliest legislative body in America, sat in the church at Jamestown, on July 30th, 1619.")
Here, in a short speech, Patrick Henry "flashed the electric spark" which fired the colony to rebel against the king.
"In 1781, when Richmond had fallen into the hands of Arnold, this sacred edifice was made a barracks for his British soldiery."
The first record in the second vestry-book is of an election of twelve vestrymen, "holden on March 28th, 1785, at the court-house in the city of Richmond." Their names were: Edmund Randolph, Jaquelin Ambler, Bowler Cocke, Miles Selden, Jr., William Foushee, Hobson Owen, John Ellis, Turner Southall, Nathaniel Wilkinson, Daniel L. Hylton, Thomas Prosser, William Burton.
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