USA > Virginia > Culpeper County > Culpeper County > Genealogical and historical notes on Culpeper County, Virginia > Part 18
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Believing that such a movement will best subserve the interests of the en- tire community, we ask you to take immediate action, and, as NOMINAL CLAIM- ANTS of the property, unite with us in preserving the building, and at the same time retaining your right, without an outlay, to its partial occupancy.
Respectfully submitted, GEO. H. SPOONER,
W. H. BarTs, R. W. MCDONALD,
Preacher in charge of Woodville Circuit,
Virginia Conference.
Committee from Oak Shade Church.
'This letter occasioned a careful review of the history of "Little Fork" church from 1750 to 1892, and a thorough investigation of the laws passed hy the Virginia Legislature for the control of the old Colonial Churches of the State. This work was entrusted to Capt. G. G. Thompson, who performed it faithfully and well, showing conclusively that the church was not a "Free Church." and had never been a "Free Church." His historical sketch of the church, and his learned presentation of the legal aspects of the question, were ordered to be spread upon the minute book of the vestry.
The whole matter as to the right of ownership of the property known as "Little Fork Church" was finally settled by the following agreement. "Where- as, Little Fork Church, in St. Mark's Parish, Culpeper County. has been. since its erection in 1774-1775. an Episcopal Church, continuously to the present time in the possession, use and control of the minister and vestry of St. Mark's Parish, and the possession, use and control of this said church has been re- cognized as lawful, and has been secured to them by the laws of Virginia; and. Whereas; The Methodist congregation, living in the vicinity of this said Church, through their minister in charge. the Rev. Geo. H. Spooner, as a committee representing his congregation, have applied to the minister and vestry of St. Stephen's Church, St. Mark's Parish, to grant them their permission and con- sent to use the said Church on the fourth Sunday in each month of the year. and upon any other Sunday which will not conflict with the appointments of the minister of St. Stephen's Church, and on such week days in the year as their interest may require for religious worship: and the minister and vestry of St. Stephens' Church, St. Mark's Parish. in a spirit of Christian duty and brotherly love, being willing to grant such permission and consent, thereby in- creasing the opportunities and privileges for religious worship of all the good people living in the vicinity of said Church; Therefore, this agreement made this 21st day of March, 1892, between Thos. S. Alcocke and G. G. Thompson, wardens of St. Stephens' Church, and as such. a committee acting for and representing the minister and vestry of said Church, and the Rev. Geo. H. Spooner, minister in charge, and as such, a committee acting for and repre- senting the Methodist congregation living in the vicinity of the said Little Fork Church, Witnesseth : That the permission and consent of the minister and vestry of St. Stephens' Church is hereby granted to the said Rev. Geo. H. Spooner and his Metho list congregation to use the said Little Fork Churen for their religious services on the fourth Sunday of each month of the year, or mpon any other Sunday of each month of the year which will not conflict wit !! the appointments of the minister of St. Stephen's Church, and npon such week days during the year as treir religious interest may require. Provided the days appointed for such week day services shall not be on, or conflict with the religions services that may be appointed by the minister of St. Stephen's Church; and provided further that the permission and consent hereby grant- ed for the use of said Little Fork Church may be withdrawn and revoked whensoever, in the opinion of the minister and vestry of St. Stephen's Church, there may be reason or cause for so doing.
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In testimony of the acceptance of the terms and conditions of this agree- ment, witness the following signatures.
THOMAS S. ALCOCKE, G. G. THOMPSON,
Wardens of St. Stephens' Church and Committee of the vestry of said Church.
GEO. H. SPOONER,
Minister in charge and Committee repre- senting Methodist Congregation of Little Fork Churchi.
The following improvements on the property of the parish, during the years 1892-1894, are recorded in the minutes of the vestry : Little Fork Church repaired and put in a condition for use as a place for public worship; a new communion rail placed in St. Stephen's Church-the gift of Mrs. Thos. S. Alcocke; the rectory painted and repaired; the school room put in thorough repair, interior and exterior, and furnished for use as a lecture room-the work of the Young Ladies' Guild.
October. 1894, Rev. S. P. Watters resigned the rectorship of St. Mark's Par- ish, and accepted a parish in Florida. At present he is rector of St. Matthew's Church, Hillsboro, Diocese of North Carolina. In 1894, he reports tor St. Mark's Parish 98 communicants, and 36 Sunday school teachers and scholars.
1893-1897. April 1895 : Rev. E. L. Goodwin took charge of the parish. Dur- ing the following year St. Mark's Chapel was built at Rixeyville, and conse- crated by Bishop Newton August 23, 1896. St. Andrew's Chapel, Inlet, was built in the spring of 1897, chiefly by the efforts of St. Mark's Chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. In 1897 the lines between St. Mark's and Rid- ley Parishes were altered, and were fixed by the action of the Council as fol- lows : Beginning at the corner of Slaughter Parish, on the Orange and Cul- peper road, thence by the said road to Fairview school house, thence by the old Buck Run road to its intersection with the old Fredericksburg road, about two miles south of the C. H., thence by the old Fredericksburg road to the cross-roads near the western base of Mt. Pony, and thence by an air line to the railroad crossing at Inlet station, thence northerly by a new country road to its intersection with the Chesnut Fork and Brandy road, thence by an air line to the bridge on the Warrenton road, over Muddy Run, thence with Muddy Run to the Hazel River, to the Rappahannock River.
October, 1897 : Rev. E. L. Goodwin resigned the rectorship of the parish, and accepted the position as assistant to the rector of Grace Church, Charles- ton, South Carolina. On the death of the rector in the summer of 1898, he succeeded to the rectorship, which position he still holds. In 1897 he reported for St. Mark's Parish 153 communicants, and 146 Sunday school teachers and scholars.
1898-1900. January 1, 1898: Rev. F. G. Ribble, the present rector, assumed charge of the parish. In the summer of 1898, a new pipe organ was placed in the church by the Ladies' Aid Society, and the exterior of the church was painted by the Young Ladies Guild. In 1899, the rectory was repaired, and the lecture room painted. 1900: Present status of St. Mark's Parish : Com- municants 160; Sunday school teachers and scholars 120.
Vestrymen of St. Marks's Parish since 1877 : S. S. Bradford, Thos. S. Al. cocke, Jas. W. Green, J. L. Burrows. G. G. Thompson, J. M. Leavel, J. W. Crawford, R. D. Keerl, Geo. Freeman, E. R. Shue. J. B. Stanard, J. W. Mor- ton, R. C. Vass, Samuel Chilton, N. B. Meade, J. F. Rixey, L. P. Nelson, P. L. Jameson, S. Russell Smith, Eppa Rixey, Alfred Taliaferro, W. Porter Nelson, T. Carter Page, Travers Daniel, Earl English, C. B. Chilton, J. W. Smith, R. D. Luttrell, W. A. Ashby, R. B. Macoy, E. J. Brand, B. C. Macoy, and C. J. Rixey, Jr.
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CALVARY CHURCH REBUILT.
On page 29 of St. Mark's Parish, in the next to the last paragraph, Dr. Slaughter speaks of the destruction of Calvary church, at the foot of Slaugh- ter's Mountain. This church has been rebuilt through the kindness of friends at home and abroad; it was consecrated June 13, 1894, and named "All Saints," in memory of those who fell on the battlefield of Cedar Mountain, and who have "fought the good fight of faith in the daily walks of life."-Pub.
REV. A. H. LAMON.
Rev. A. H. Lamon (see page 25) was a Virginian. Married a Miss Rapley at Alexandria, Va. Moved to Evansville, Indiana. From there removed to Baton Rouge, La., and died in that city of yellow fever in 1852. His children were: Jno. H., Archibald. Sarah and Charlie Lamon. Elizabeth, his youngest child, was the daughter of his last wife, who was a Miss Toron. Rev. Fred- erick Du Monties Devall, of Palatka, Fla., James Wilmer Devall, cadet at West Point, Charles Kenneth Thomson, of Harrisburg, Pa., are his grandsons. Mrs. Samuel Hewett, of Washington, D. C., is a niece. Jno. G. Lamon, of Culpeper, is a nephew.
NOTES ON DR. SLAUGHTER'S ST. MARK'S PARISH. [By Dr. Andrew Glassell Grinnan, of Madison.]
The account of the route of the Horseshoe Expedition of Gov. Spotswood is in some respects erroneous. The expedition crossed from Orange county into what is now Madison, at the old German Ford, across the Rapidan, about half a mile above its junction with the Robertson river. It is still called the German Ford. , The Germans used this ford when they moved from Germanna to the head waters of the Robertson. It is at the lower end of the tract of land, bought by Dr. A. G. Grinnan in 1859, from Mr. Charles Bankhead; traces of the old road could be seen then. The expedition evidently passed by the present Woodbury Forest house. From this point is a clear view of the Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge, which the expedition ascended. The route was on the north side of the Rapidan river, to the Forks, turned west into Greene county, crossed Turkey Ridge, along the side of Saddle Back Mountain, to Summit of Swift Run Gap.
St. Mark's, page 57-Conway Family-Francis Conway, of Port Conway, opposite Port Royal, Va., m. Rebecca, daughter of Elizabeth Gaines (not Grymes), and Col. John Catlett, Jr. She was daughter of Col. Daniel Gaines, of Essex. After Francis Conway's death, she m. John Moore, of Caroline. She had six Conway children, one of whom was Nelly Conway, the mother of President Madison. She had two Moore children, one of whom, Jane Moore, m. Erasmus Taylor, of Orange.
St. Mark's, p. 74-The Taylor Family-This is a very large family, and can- not be noted at length for lack of space. The 1st settler, James Taylor, of Carlisle, Eng., did not settle* on Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Land office records show that he lived on the Mattaponi River, in the lower part of what is now Caroline county. He was succeeded in the ownership of this place by . his oldest son in 1799, Col. James Taylor, who m. Martha Thompson (see Bev- erley's Hist. of Va.) Col. James Taylor, of the Horseshoe Expedition, entered large bodies of land-about 15,000 acres-in what is now Orange, about the year 1720-22. He removed to Orange and lived and died there. His widow long survived him. Dr. Charles Taylor was not a son of James (2) Taylor; he was his grandson, son of the well known Col. George Taylor, of Orange, who lived about two miles east of Orange C. H., which house is still standing. Here also lived Col. Frank Taylor, the diarist; he was another son of Col. George Taylor.
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He never married, and died in 1799. His will, on record, shows that he left most of his property to his nephews, who lived in Kentucky. The diary is in possession of DI. Andrew G. Grinnan. He was Lt .- Colonel of the Convention Guards, who had charge of the Burgoyne prisoners near Charlottesville.
St. Mark's, p. 75-Winston Family-Anthony Winston in. Alice Taylor, dau. of James (3) Taylor, of Orange, who was son of Col. James (2) Taylor and Martha Thompson. The account of Alice and her supposed husband in Camp- bell's History of Va. is erroneous.
St. Mark's, p. 60-Children of Helen Buchan Glassell and Daniel Grinnan, of Fredericksburg: Robert Alexander, b. 1817. d. 1884; Eliza Richards, b. 1819, d. 1846; Cornelia, b. 1821, d. 1864; Helen Mary, b. 1923; Daniel, b. 1825, d. 1826; Daniel Glassell, b. 1827; Daniella M., b. 1830, d. 1888.
St. Mark's, p. 85-Slaughter Family-The first Robert Slaughter of Cul- peper in. Mary Smith, daughter of Augustine Smith, of Culpeper, an early land surveyor, who lived on the Rappahannock river. His will is on record in the first. Vol. of Will records of Orange county. Augustine Smith was, of the Horseshoe Expedition of Gov. Spotswood, as was also another surveyor, Col. James Taylor. Augustine Smith was the son of Col. Lawrence Smith, of Gloucester county, and York Town. Col. Smith for years was commandant of the fort at Falinouth, Va. The House of Burgesses also gave him civil juris- diction over a section around the fort, an unusual mark of confidence, and donated to him a tract of land on the Rappahannock, three and a half miles wide by five miles long. He was once defeated in battle by Bacon, his troops deserting him. Altogether he was one of the most distinguished Virginians of his day. He laid out York Town.
In Sc. Mark's, page 46. it is stated that the tradition is that the organ in the Lutheran church in Madison county was paid for by subscriptions taken up in Germany and Sweden. This may be erroneous, for several years ago, an article appeared in a Northern newspaper, probably in the New York Evening Post, giving an account of Jolin Thornburg, a German, who lived at Listy, Pennsylvania, who built an organ for the Lutheran Church of Madison in 1760. for $300.00. which he delivered to the agent of the Madison church in Philadelphia, who hauled it to Madison, Va., in a wagon. He also built one for the Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem, N. C.
ADDENDA TO PENDLETON GENEALOGY.
[To precede the last two paragraphs on page 100.]
MARTHA SHACKELFORD6, (Lucys (Tutt), Elizabeth4, Nathaniel3, Henry", Philip1.) un. Richard Spotswood; issue : 1. Lucy?, died in 1869; 2. Sally Bland", m. William Randolph Smith, and resides in Richmond, Va .; 3. Col. Muscoe L. Spotswood", a lawyer of Richmond, Va. Richard Spotswood was a great, great grand-son of Governor Spotswood, being the son of John Spotswood and Mary Goode, the grand-son of John Spotswood and Sally Rowsie, the great-grand son of John Spotswood (son of Governor Alexander Spotswood) and Miss Dandridge.
BENJAMIN HOWARD SHACKELFORD6 (Lucy5 (Tutt), Elizabeth4, Nathaniel3, Henry2, Philip1.) m. Rebecca Green; issue : 1. Jones Green7, m. Belle Kirk, having Howard Green8; 2. John Howard7; 3. George Scott7, In. Virginia Minor Randolph, having Virginius Randolph8, Nanny Holladay8, George Scott8, and Margaret Wilson8; 4. Lucy?, m. C. C. Walker, having Rebeccas, Reuben Lind- say8 and C. C. Jr8; 5. Anne Berry?, m. Prof. R. B. Smithey, Randolph-Macon College; 6. Muscoe Livingston?, of Freemont, Ohio, m. Delia Taylor.
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FROM AMERICAN ARCHIVES BY PETER FORCE. [4th Series, Vol. 1, page 522.]
At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the County of Culpeper, in Virginia, assembled, on due notice, at the Court House of the said county, on Thursday, the 7th of July, 1774, to consider of the most effect- ual methods to preserve the rights and liberties of America, the following reso- lutions were adopted.
HENRY PENDLETON, ESQ., MODERATOR.
Resolved : That we will, whenever we are called upon for that, purpose maintain and defend his Majesty's right and title to the Crown of Great Brit- ain, and all other of his Dominions thereunto belonging, to whose royal per- son and Government we profess all due obedience and fidelity.
Resolved : That the right to impose taxes or duties, to be paid by the in- habitants of this country, for any purpose whatsoever, is peculiar and essen- tial to the General Assembly, in whom the Legislative authority is vested.
Resolved : That every attempt to impose taxes or duties by any other authority, is an arbitrary exercise of power, and an infringement of the con- stitutional and just rights and liberties of the colony, and that we will, at all times, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, oppose any act imposing taxes or duties, unless we are legally represented; and the Act of the British Parlia- ment, imposing a duty on tea to be paid by the inhabitants of the colonies upon importation, is evidently designed to fix on the Americans those chains, forged for them by a corrupt minister.
Resolved : That the late cruel and unjust Aets of Parliament, to be exe- cuted by force upon our sister colony of the Massachusetts Bay, and the town of Boston, is a convincing proof of the unjust and corrupt influence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, and a fixed determination to deprive the colonies of their constitutional and just rights and liberties.
Resolved: That the town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause of the American colonies.
Resolved: That'an association between all the American colonies not to import from Great Britian, or buy any goods, or commodities whatsoever, except negroes, clothes, salt, saltpetre, powder, lead, nails, and paper, ought to be entered into and by no means dissolved, until the rights and liberties of the colonies are restored to them, and the tyrannical Acts of Parliament against Boston are repealed.
Resolved: That it is our opinion, that no friend to the rights and liberties of America ought to purchase any goods whatsoever, which shall be imported from Great Britain, after a general association shall be agreed on, except such as are before excepted.
Resolved: 'That every kind of luxury, dissipation and extravagance, ought to be banished from amongst us.
Resolved: That the raising of sheep, hemp, flax and cotton, ought to be encouraged; likewise, all kinds of manufactures by subscriptions or any other proper means.
Resolved: That the importing of slaves and convict servants is injurious to this colony, as it obstructs the population of it with freemen and useful manufacturers, and that we will not buy any suc'i slave or convict servant, hereafter to be imported.
Resolved: That every county in this colony ought to appoint deputies to meet upon the first day of August, in the city of Williamsburg, then and there to consult upon the most proper means for carrying these or any other resolu- tions, which shall be judged more expedient for obtaining peace and tranquil- ity in America, into execution.
Resolved: That Henry Pendleton and Henry Field, Jr., Esquires are ap- pointed upon the part of the freeholders and inhabitants of this county to meet and consult with such deputies as shall be appointed by the other coun- ties.
Resolved: That the clerk transmit these resolves to the press, and request the printer to publish them without delay. By order of the meeting.
JOHN JAMESON, Clerk.
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PART SECOND.
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CULPEPER COUNTY HISTORY.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Culpeper, named in honor of Thomas Lord Culpeper, governor of Virginia 1680-1683 (for sketch of whom see Hardesty's Encyclopaedia of Biography), was formed in 1748 from Orange county (Orange was taken from Spotsylvania, which county had been cut off from Essex). Its territory, embracing originally what is now Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock counties, was the subject of a protracted controversy, involving the title to several million acres of land. The entire territory "within the bends of the rivers Tappahannock, alias Rap- pahannock, and Quiriough, or Potomac, the courses of those rivers, and the Bay of Chesapayork, &c.," was granted at different times, by King Charles I. and II., to Lord Hopton, the Earl of St. Albans, and others, and subsequently by King James to Lord Culpeper, who had purchased the rights of the other grantees. Thomas, fifth Lord Fairfax, who married Catharine, daughter of Lord Culpeper, became the proprietor of this princely domain, commonly known as the Northern Neck. From him, it descended to his son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, and comprised the counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland, Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madison, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hamp- shire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson and Frederick. In 1705 Edward Nott, gov- ernor of Virginia, in the name of the king, granted 1,920 acres of land to Henry Beverley, in the forks of the north and south branches of the Rappahannock. Robert Carter, commonly known from his large landed possessions as "King" Carter, who was the agent of Fairfax, objected to the grant as being within the limits of the Northern Neck grant. The question then arose whether the south (the Rapid Anne) or the north branch of the Rappahannock was the chief stream. To settle the controversy, Thomas Fairfax, the sixth Lord, and Baron Cameron, petitioned the king in 1783, to order a commission to ascer- tain the bounds of his patent. In consequence, commissioners were appointed severally in behalf of the crown and of Lord Fairfax These were William Byrd of "Westover"; John Robinson of "Piscataway," Essex county, and John Grymes of "Brandon," Middlesex county, on behalf of the crown; and William Beverly, William Fairfax and Charles Carter, on behalf of Fairfax. They made their report on December 14, 1736, to the council for plantation affairs, which body, on the 6th day of April, 1745, confirmed the report, which was in turn confirmed by the king, who ordered the appointment of commissioners, to run and mark the dividing line. This was done in 1746. The decision was in favor of Lord Fairfax, and made that branch of the Rapid Anne called the Conway, the head-stream of the Rappahannock river, and the southern boundary of the Northern Neck; and thus confirming to Lord Culpeper the original county of Culpeper. The original journal of the expedition kept by Major Thomas Lew- is, is now in the possession of his descendant, Hon. John F. Lewis, ex-lieut. governor of Virginia. The conflicting rights of the Northern Neck patent, with those claimed by Joist Hite and others, have been the cause of innumer-
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able law suits, which crowded the records of the State courts to a period ad- vanced into the 19th century. There was an attempt made by the State of Maryland as late as 1832 to extend her boundary by an infraction of the Fair- fax line, as above, established in 1746.
The name of Governor Alexander Spotswood, one of the ablest executives of Colonial Virginia, is prominently associated with Culpeper county, as the largest landed proprietor of that portion of Spotsylvania county (named in his honor), which subsequently formed the county of Culpeper, and as the founder in 1714 of the town of
GERMANNA,
On a peninsular of 400 acres of land on the banks of the Rapid Anne, which was settled by about four-score Germans, whom he brought thither to conduct his iron manufactories; and the town was, until the division of Spotsylvania county, its countyseat. It is thus described by Hugh Jones, in his "Present Condition of Virginia," published in 1724:
"Beyond Colonel Spotswood's furnace, above the falls of Rappahannock river, within view of the vast mountains, he (Spotswood) has founded a town called Germanna, from some Germans sent over by Queen Anne, who are now removed up further [into what is now Madison county]. Here he has servants and workmen of most handicraft trades; and he is building a church, court house, and dwelling-house for himself, and with his servants and negroes, he has cleared plantations about it, proposing great encouragement for people to come and settle in that uninhabited part of the world, lately divided into a county.
"Beyond this is seated the colony of Germans or Palatines, with allowance of good quantity of rich lands, who thrive very well and live happily, and en- tertain generously. These are encouraged to make wine., which by the expe- rience (particularly) of the late Robert Beverly, who wrote the History of Vir- ginia, was done easily, and in large quantities in those parts; not only from the cultivation of the wild grapes, which grow plentifully and naturally in all the lands thereabouts, and in the other parts of the country; but also from the Spanish, French, Italian and German wines."
THE PRESENT LIMITS OF THE COUNTY
Comprise an average length of twenty miles, with a breadth of about eighteen iniles. It is drained by the Rappahannock and Rapid Anne rivers and their tributaries, the former river running along its northeast and the latter upon its southeast and southwest boundaries. According to the census of 1890, the population was 13,233. Number of acres of land 232,545. It is a good fruit coun- ty, including grapes, and is self-sustaining in all of its farm products. The grazing is excellent, including clover, timothy, orchard, Randall, Herds and blue grasses. The county is traversed by the great Southern Railway. The health of the county is excellent. Highland 75 per cent .; bottoms 25 per cent. About two-fifths of the county is in timber, consisting of walnut, ash, hickory, the oaks, locust, pine, cedar, chestnut, maple, etc. Minerals: Magnetic and hematic iron ores and gold, a mine of the latter being worked.
CULPEPER IN THE REVOLUTION.
Culpeper was distinguished in the Revolutionary war by the important service of her gallant Minute men, who, as the brilliant John Randolph of Roanoke said in the United States Senate, "were raised in a minute, armed in a minute, marched in a minute, fought in a minute and vanquished in a minute." Im- mediately on the breaking out of the war in 1775, Patrick Henry, then com- mander of the Virginia troops, sent to this section of the colony for assistance. Upon his summons, 150 men from Culpeper, 100 from Orange, and 100 from Fauquier, rendezvoused here, and encamped in a field the property of the late
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