USA > Virginia > Culpeper County > Culpeper County > Genealogical and historical notes on Culpeper County, Virginia > Part 3
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All nations, whether learned or ignorant, whether civil or barbarous, have agreed to this. as a dictate of natural reason, to express their reverence for the Deity and their affection for religion, by bestowing extraordinary privileges of honour upon such as administer in holy things, and by providing liberally for their maintenance. And that ye honour due to the holy function flows from ve law of nature appears from hence, yt in the earliest times the civil and sacred authority were united in ye same person. Thus Melchisedech was King and Priest of Salem, and among ve Egyptians ye priesthood was joined with ve crown. The Greeks acccounted the priesthood with equal dignity with kingship, which is taken notice of by Aristotle in several places of his Politicks. Among the Latins we have a testimony from Virgil yt at ye same time Æneas was both Priest and King. Nay. Moses, who was Prince of Israel before Aaron was consecrated, officiated as Priest in ye solemn sacrifice by which ye cove- nant with Israel was confirmed. And ye primitive Christians always expressed a mighty value and esteem for their clergy, as plainly appears, from ecclesi- astical history. And even in our days, as bad as ve world is. those of ye clergy who lived up to ye dignity of their profession are generally reverenced and esteemed bv all religious and well-disposed men. Froin all which it evidently anpears yf. in all ages and nations of ye world, whether Jews, Heathens or Christians, great honour and dignity have always been conferred upon the clergy. And therefore, dear Madam, from hence you may infer how absurd and ridiculous those gentlemen's notions are who would fain persuade you yt marrying with ye clergy ye would derogate from ye honour and dignity of your family, whereas, in strict reasoning, the contrary thereof would appear. and v' it would very much tend to support the honour and dignity of it. Of this I hope you will be better convinced when you consider the titles of hon- our and respect that are given to those who are invested with ye ministerial
functions, as are amply displayed in ye Scriptures. Those invested with that character are called the ministers of Christ, ye stewards of the mysteries of God. to whom they have committed the word of reconciliation-ye glory of Christ, ambassadors of Christ in Christ's stead, co-workers with him, Angels of the churches. And then it is moreover declared that whosoever despiseth them despiseth not man, but God. All which titles shew that upon many accounts they stand called, appropriated to God himself. And therefore if a
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gentleman of this sacred and honorable character should be married to a lady though of ye greatest extraction and most excellent personal quality (which I am sensible you are endowed with), it can be no disgrace to her nor her fami- ly, nor draw ye censures of ye world upon them, for such an action. And, therefore, dear Madain, your argument being refuted, you can no longer con- sistently refuse to consunnnate my happiness.
JOHN THOMPSON.
May, 1742.
A reconciliation was effected between Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Spotts- wood's family some years afterwards, by the kind offices of that remarkable man, Rev. R. Rose, who was one of Governor Spottswood's executors, and had much to do with his estate, and with his widow and children after Governor Spotswood's death, which happened in 1740, at Annapolis, on his way to com- mand the army against Carthagena. Mr. Rose, in his journal speaks of hav- ing visited Mr. Thompson in Culpeper, as he seems to have done every other man of note in the colony. Mr. Rose's journal, a great desideratum to anti- quaries, and which was supposed to have been lost, was seen by Bishop Meade in the possession of Mr. Henry Carter of Caroline, and is now in possession of Mr. Brock, of Richmond."
[*Since writing the above I have been permitted by the kindness of Mr. Brock to make the following extract from Mr. Rose's journal: ]
"1746. Feb. 18, I set out for Germanna, called at Capt. Taliaferro's, lodged at New Post.
"19th, went in the rain towards Germanna; met Mrs. Spottswood Dand- ridge and Isaac Campbell, who waited for us at the Bridge quarter; got to Ger- manna at night. 20th, spent in settling sundry accounts. 21st, went at night to Major Finlason's. 22d, went to church, heard Mr. Thompson preach on the words, "Your life is hid with Christ in God:" went to the Glebe. 23d, settled I hope all differences in the family, and laid a plan for preventing any. 24th, camne early to Germanna, where found Col. B. Moore and his lady; settled Mr. Thompson's account with some others. 26th, went from New Post to see Mr. Benger's plantation."
The next few years are rather barren of known incidents. The following small items from the parish register serve to fill the gap. (1741) Goodrich Lightfoot came into the vestry, took the oath of allegiance, signed the test, and subscribed to be conformed to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, in the place of Thomas Stanton, deceased. (1742) Ordered, that notice be given in church and chapel that a vestry will meet first Monday in March, to place a church convenient to the inhabitants of the upper part of the parish, and that workmen come and agree for building the same. At a vestry held in Tenant's old field, a contract was made with J. Kincaid to build a church fifty-eight by twenty-four feet. Benjamin Roberts is chosen vestry- man in place of Captain William Triplett, removed. Robert Slaughter places a dial at the church door. (1743) Vestry contracted with J. Eve for an addi- tion to Little Fork Church. (1744) "Ordered, that the Rev. J. Thompson erect, fabricate, and build (sic) divers additions to the Glebe house." William Peyton is directed to view the church three times. (1745) Captain Abraham Field chosen vestryman, in place of F. Kirtley, removed, and Philip Clayton in place of John Catlett, deceased. (1746) B. Roberts and Coleman Brown are lay readers at the two churches, James Pendleton at the chapel, and Thomas Dillard at the Little Fork (1747) Robert Slaughter vestryman, in place of Major Finla- son, deceased. Dr. James Gibbs is paid "for doing his best to cure the widow George." (1748) At this date Orange was divided, and the county of Culpep- er (comprising what is now Madison, Rappahannock and Culpeper) was formed. It was named after one of the proprietors of the Northern Neck, Lord Culpep- er, from whom it descended to Lord Fairfax, who married his daughter. The original county of Culpeper covered all the "debatable land" between the
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Crown of England and Lord Fairfax east of the Blue Ridge, and was for a long time the subject of a very curious controversy, a synopsis of which will be found in the next chapter.
CULPEPER COUNTY.
1748. Culpeper county begins its career on historical ground. Its terri- tory originally embracing what is now Culpeper, Madison and Rappahannock, was the subject of a protracted controversy, involving the title to several mil- lion acres of land. The entire tract of land "within the heads of the rivers Tappahannock, alias Rappahannock, and Quirough, or Potomac, the courses of those rivers, and the Bay of Chesapayoak, &c.," was granted at different times, by Kings Charles I. and II., to Lord Hopton, the Earl of St. Albans, and others, and subsequently by King James to Lord Culpeper, who had pur- chased the rights of the other parties. Lord Fairfax, who married the daugh- ter of Lord Culpeper, became the proprietor of this princely domain, common- ly known as the Northern Neck. In 1705 Governor Nott, of Virginia, in the name of the King, granted 1920 acres of land to Henry Beverly, in the forks of the North and South branches of the Rappahannock River. Robert Carter, com- monly known as King Carter, who was Fairfax's agent, objected to the grant, as being within the limits of Lord Fairfax's grant. The question then arose whether the South (the Rapidan) or the North branch of the Rappahannock was the chief stream. The Rapidan, named after the English Queen, contest- ed the supremacy of the Indian Rappahannock. The Governor and Council of Virginia appointed commissioners to meet those of Fairfax, and survey the said rivers. The joint commission reported in 1706 that the streams seemed to be of equal magnitude. In 1733 Lord Fairfax complained to the King that patents had been granted, in the name of the Crown, in the disputed territo- ry. Mr. Carter himself, the agent of Fairfax, had taken grants from the Crown, to two tracts within the forks of the Rappahannock River. The King in council, ordered the Governor of Virginia to appoint another commission. On the part of the Crown he appointed William Byrd, of Westover, John Rob- inson, of Piscataway, Essex county, and John Grymes, of Brandon, Middlesex county, Virginia. The commissioners of Fairfax were Charles Carter, Willian Berkley and William Fairfax. Omitting the survey of the Potomac, as out- side of our subject, we confine ourselves to the survey of the Rapidan. Mr. Graeme, with Mr. Hume as assistant, was commissioned on the part of the Crown, and Mr. Thomas on the part of Lord Fairfax, "to survey and measure the South Branch of the Rappahannock (the Rapidan,) from the fork to the head spring, and return an exact map of the same, and describe all the runs and creeks that run into it." Colonel Byrd says :- "While we stayed at Fred- ericksburg we lodged at Colonel Henry Willis's, but kept a magnificent table at the ordinary, and entertained all gentlemen who came to visit us, which were many. We then went to the fork of the river, and found the North branch to be wider by three poles and nine links, though it was objected by my Lord's Conunissioners that the South was made narrower by an island that runs along the south shore. We carried a surloin of beef from Colonel Carter's, and picked it as clean as a pack of wolves would those of a wounded deer. The same gentleman furnished us with strong beer, but forgot to bring a vessel to drink it from. However, we supplied that want with the shell of a poor terrapin, which we destroyed, as Henry VIII. did Cardinal Wolsey, for the sake of his house. We then proceeded to Germantown, where Governor Spotswood received us very courteously, and lest we should have forgotten the battles of Marlborough, he fought them all over again, for the nine-and-
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fortieth time. There we took the depositions of Taliaferro, Thornton, and Russell, as follows :- John Taliaferro, gentleman, aged forty-nine years, being summoned, saith :- "About the year 1707 he came to live where he now lives. above Snow Creek, nine miles below the falls, and there were then but three settlements above his house, on the south side of the river. He had been ac- quainted with the fork of the river above twenty-four years, and that one of the forks was called South River until Governor Spottswood, about twenty years ago, named the south branch Rapidan, and it has ever since been so cal - ed." Francis Thornton, of Caroline, gentleman,aged fifty-three years and up. wards, being sworn, declared :- "About thirty years ago he came to dwell where he now lives, on the lower side of Snow Creek, and there were but two settle- ments above his house, the uppermost of which was about four miles below the Falls. He had been acquainted with the forks of the river about twenty- seven years, and that one was called the Sonth and the other the North Branch." William Russel, aged fifty-six years, being sworn saith :- "He has known the Great Fork of the Rappahannock River thirty-five years as a hun- tor, and one of the branches was always called South River until he heard Governor Spotswood name South River Rapidan, and the other river has been called Rappahannock; that the uppermost settlement thirty years ago was Montjoy's tobacco house, now Colonel Carter's quarter, on the north side of the river; that he saw some posts of the house on Mott's land, three or four miles above the Falls, which was said to have been burned by the Indians near thirty years ago."
On the 3d of August. 1736, the King's Commissioners met at Williamsburg. Major Mayo attended with an elegant map, delineating clearly the branches of the Rappahannock up to their sources, and with copies of their field-notes. The commissioners of the King male their report. Lord Fairfax took the report of his commissioners to England with him, and got the matter referred to the- Lords of Trade, to report all the facts and their opinion to the Lords of the Committee of Council. All the reports and papers were laid before the lat- ter. The question was argued by able counsel; and without going into fur- ther details, let it suffice to say, that it was finally decided in favor of Lord Fairfax: making that branch of the Rapidan, called the Conway, the head- stream of the Rappahannock River, and the southern boundary of the North- ern Neck; and thus adding the original county of Culpeper to the princely plan- tation of Lord Fairfax. The Rapidan, named after an English Queen, prevail- ed over the Indian Rappahannock. Queen Ann's name and reign are perpetu- ated in Rapidan, North and South Anna, Fluvanna, Rivanna, Germanna, &c. Authorities differ as to the orthography of the name of the river in question. Many spell it Rapid Ann; and yet in the proceedings of the commissioners for settling the boundaries of the Northern Neck, and throughout Henning's Stat . ntes at large, it always has the form Rapiddan or Rapidan. The decision re- ferred to was ratified by the formal assent of the General Assembly, and by the authority of the highest judicial tribunals.
1749. - William Green is chosen vestryman in the place of Capt. Robert Green, deceased. The county of Culpeper was now honored by the presence and services of George Washington in the humble office of County Surveyor. The marriage of his brother Lawrence with Miss Fairfax made him known to the proprietor of the Northern Neck, who gave him the appointment of Sur- veyor. In 1748 he was employed in the valley of the Sheunndoah. His com- pensation was a doubloon ($7.20) a day. In the following year he was made a public surveyor by the President of William and Mary College; and in the County Court of Culpeper we find the following record:
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July 20th, 1749. "George Washington, gentleman, prodneed a commis- sion from the President of William and Mary College, appointing him Survey- or of this county, which was received; and thereupon took the usual oaths to his Majesty's person and government; and took and subscribed the abjuration oath and test, and then took the oath of surveyor, according to law."
Washington was now in his seventeenth year, and continued in office three years. As no one had the sagacity to see the undeveloped germs of greatness which lay hid in this unfledged youth, his daily life passed without special oh. servation. Had it been otherwise, we should in all probability have found, in our old parish register, the record that he was the surveyor who laid off our glebes and sites of churches, and ran some of our parish lines.
1750. A "chapel of ease" was ordered at the Little Fork, and the vestry agreed to meet at or near the old muster-field at the forks of the road, to choose the site, and contract with Thomas Brown to undertake it.
1751. Thomas Slaughter is chosen vestryman in place of Robert Slangli- ter. Jr., removed from the parish: and James Pendleton in place of Capt. Ball. deceased. Gabriel Jones is paid 200 pounds tobacco for attorney's fees, Dr. Thomas Howison 1000 pounds tobacco for medical attendance on the poor, and Wiu. Peyton 200 pounds tobacco for processioning lands.
1752. St. Mark's Parish is again divided by the Meander or Crooked Run, falling into the Robinson River. up to Col. John Spottswood's corner on that run, thence by his line, north 23 degrees east to Bloodsworth's road, then by a straight line to Crooked Run, a branch of the north fork of the Gourdvine River, where the main road called Duncan's, crosses the said run, thence by said run up to the head thereof: thence to the head of White Oak Run, thence by that run down to the North River. All below that line except so much as lies in the county of Orange, to be one distinct parish, and retain the name of St. Mark's; and all above said bounds, together with so much of St. Thomas as lies in Culpeper, which is hereby added to and made part of the same, by another distinct parish, and called Bromfield (see 6th Henning 256.) As this division threw Tennant's Church into the Parish of Bromfield, the church wardens were ordered to provide benches or seats in the court-house for the accommodation of so much of that congregation as remained in St. Mark's. This gives the date of the first church services held at Culpeper Courthouse. The churchwadens were also ordered to apply to the surveyor to run the lines between the parishes, and Henry Field and Philip Clayton were directed to attend the surveyor when running these lines. Mr. Brown was also ordered to remove the materials for the intended chapel in the Little Fork, and to erect a church, instead of a chapel, with them, on a ridge be- tween Freeman's [ This Freeman was the grandfather of Mrs. Waller Yager. His father and Major East ham came from Gloucester county, and were among the early settlers in what is now Culpeper. Mrs. Yager's father was one of the first members of Little Fork Church. His father owned a large body of land there. He died in the 96th year of his age, leaving five sons and four daught- ers. ] Mill Run and the river, in the edge of Freeman's old field-the church to be ceiled with plank instead of clapboads, and to have wainscot instead of plam pews, in the best manner. A new church was also ordered upon Co !. Spotswood's land, near the cool spring above John Leavell's, on or near Buck Run. The present writer well remembers to have seen, in his boyhood, the relies of the burying-ground of this old church, which stood in a grove upon the hill, above and across Buck Run from the dwelling where old Capt. Moore then resided, and Capt. John Strother now lives.
1758 to 1757. Some of the leaves of the vestry book have been torn out, leaving a gap in the record from 1753 to 1757. which Bishop Meade has passed
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over. I propose to fill that gap from the folio, which is entire, and with inev- itable inferences from other known facts. One of these inferences is, that there was a churchi at Mount Pony. The ground of this inference is the fact that an appropriation had been made for a church at that place in 1752; and one of Mr. Thompson's manuscript sermons (still extant) is endorsed as having been preached at Mount Poney Church some years after.
The names of the following persons appear in a record before me as having served in a; campaign against the French and Indians about this date, viz., Col. Robert Slaughter, Lieut .- Col. Wm. Russell, Capt. Wm. Brown, Capt. Jno. Strother, Lieut. John Field, Lieut. Win. Slaughter, Martin Nalle, Wm. Nalle, Charles Yancey, Wm. Lightfoot, Reuben Long, Thomas Slaughter, William Robertson, Wm. Yager, Henry Gaines, Henry Stringfellow, and Wm. Roberts. All these names have their representatives still in Culpeper, and they are re- produced as items of interest to their descendants. Robert Slaughter, Robert Coleman, Daniel Brown, Philip Rootes, Reuben Long, and Wmn. Williams, are spoken of as being neighbors. Dr. Michael Wallace presented an account to the vestry for 800 pounds of tobacco, for curing Eliza Maddox. Daniel Brown, James Spillman, and Henry Field, are credited with services rendered; and C. Hutchens is allowed 100 pounds tobacco for grubbing the churchyard at Little Fork.
1757. The vestry met at the vestry-house, and the following gentlemen were present :- Rev. Mr. Thompson, minister; Wmn. Lightfoot, Robert Green, Goodrich Lightfoot, Win. Green, Jas. Pendleton, Francis Slaughter, Robert Slaughter, Philip Clayton, Benj. Roberts and Henry Field. James Pendleton was continued as Clerk (Lay Reader) of Little Fork Church; Nat. Pendleton, Clerk of the Lower Church, Richard Young, Clerk of Buck Run Church, and Wm. Peyton, Clerk of the Vestry. The churchwardens were directed to pro- vide two new surplices and two prayer-books for the use of the parish. Col. Win. Green and Col. Wm. Russell were made church wardens for the en- suing year, and Robert Eastham vestryman, in place of Thomas Stubblefield, deceased. Divers poor and infirm persons were exempted from paying parish levy, and appropriations were made for the support of all poor and disabled people. Last Monday in November, 1757, vestry met at the new church on Buck Run. H. Field reported that he had paid the quit-rents for the glebe and church for 1755-56. Thomas Covington was paid for tarring the church, grubbing the yard. and making the horse-block at Buck Run.
1758. Dec. 1st. Robert Eastham and Robert Green churchwardens for the ensuing year. Thos. Slaughter and Anthony Garnett made vestrymen, in place of Win. Stubblefield, deceased, and Win. Lightfoot, removed out of the parish. James Pendleton, Sheriff gave bond and security as collector of par- ish levy.
1759. In February, Act of the General Assembly established the town of Fairfax, on a "high and pleasant situation in the county of Culpeper, where the courthouse now stands;" and set apart thirty acres of Robert Coleman's land, to be laid off into lots and streets by the trustees, Thomas Slaughter, Win. Green, Philip Clayton, Nat Pendleton, and Wm. Williams. This land was held by Benjamin Davis, lessee of Coleman, who was permitted to hold his houses, and have one fifth of his rent deducted. Hence the name of Davis and Coleman Streets. Nov. 26th, 1759, payments were made to William Rus- sell, R. D. Parks, J. M. Tackett, Charles Morgan, and J. Carnager, R. Wright and Joseph Newman, for providing for certain poor persons. Thomas Slaugh- ter and Anthony Garnett made churchwardens for ensuing year.
1761. Sept. 1st, an addition to Little Fork Church, 32 feet long and 22
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feet wide, was ordered. Thos. Covington, with Lewis Davis Yancey as his securi- ty,gave his bond to build it for 100 pounds. Nov. 1761, the usual annual appro- priations for the poor were made. 1500 pounds tobacco were ordered to be sold out of the depositum for cash, to pay 100 pounds to Covington for additions to Little Fork Church. Goodrich Lightfoot and Wm. Williams were chosen churchwardens for the ensuing year, and John Green collector.
1762. £ Sept. 1st, Wm. Pollard was elected clerk of the Lower Church. An order of Bromfield Parish being exhibited by Ambrose Powell and Martin Nalle, gentlemen of the vestry of said parish, to join them in the division of the two parishes, it is ordered that the same lie for the further consideration of the vestry. From this entry it would seem that although the two parishes had been separated for ten years, the parish lines had not been run. Dec. 18th, 1762,at a vestry at Little Fork Church the usual routine business was gone through, and Henry Field and Benjamin Roberts made church wardens for the ensuing year.
1763. April 8th, Wm. Ball was chosen vestryman in the room of James Pendleton, deceased, and Henry Field, Jr., in the place of Henry Field, Sr., resigned. Philip Clayton was chosen to succeed Henry Field as churchward- en.
Dec. 19th, "Wm. Ball, and Henry Field, Jr., having in the court of Culpep- er taken the oath to his Majesty, and subscribed the test, and in the vestry subscribed to be conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England as by law established, took their places as vestrymen accordingly." 'The above entry is more circumstantial than usual, but it only describes in de- tail what always took place when a new vestryman was qualified. Wm. Ball and Henry Field made churchwardens for the ensuing year. 5500 lbs. of to- bacco were set apart for repairing the Lower Church, and 3000 lbs. for paying allowances to the poor.
1764. Nov. 19th, appropriated to Thos. Covington, in full satisfaction for repairing the church, vestry-house, dial-post, stand and six benches, 700 lbs. of tobacco, he having already received 3500 lbs.
The Rev. Mr. Thompson having represented to the vestry that the glebe- land of this parish is insufficient to furnish timber, fire-wood and fences, the vestry do order that a petition be presented to the General Assembly for an act enabling the vestry to sell the glebe and purchase another in lieu thereof. Mr. Thompson having asked for leave to build a gallery in Lower Church for the use of his family, the vestry consent, provided the lower part of the gallery be above the windows and not inconvenient to any part of the church, except the back pew, in which the stairs are to be carried up. John Green and Robert Green are appointed churchwardens.
1765. Nov. 26th, the usual routine business being dispatched, the vestry adjourned to meet at Frederick Zimmerman's on the 17th December.
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