USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 16
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As I am writing of the old churches and ministers of Virginia, leaving it to some one else, at a future day, with ampler materials than I possess for my work, to speak of more modern ones, a few words will suffice for the new parishes and churches in Richmond. Of the sad calamity which led to the erection of the Monumental Church, every modern history of Virginia and sketch of Rich- mond is full, and I shall not dwell upon it. Bishop Moore was called to be its first minister, and still lives in the hearts of all who knew him. The Revs. Mr. Croes, Nichols, Thomas Jackson, and Norwood, were successively his assistants. The latter suc- ceeded to the rectorship at the Bishop's death. A larger church being needed, St. Paul's was built under the auspices of Mr. Nor- wood and some active laymen. The Rev. Mr. Woodbridge, who had long laboured in the church vacated by the death of the Rev. Mr. Lee, took possession of the Monumental, when St. Paul's was completed and entered by Mr. Norwood and his congregation.
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Years before this, St. James's Church had been built and Dr. Empie called to be its pastor. After faithfully labouring many years, and being únable to labour more, he resigned the charge of it to the Rev. Mr. Cummings, at whose resignation the Rev. Mr. Peterkin succeeded. At the resignation of St. Paul's by Mr. Nor- wood, on account of ill health, the Rev. Alexander Jones was chosen, and continued some years. The Rev. Mr. Minegerode is the present pastor. Since Mr. Woodbridge's removal to the Monu- mental Church, Trinity Church has been mostly supplied by mis- sionary services. During the last spring, while under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Webb, the building was consumed with fire. It deserves to be mentioned that a missionary chapel was erected in the western part of the city, some years since, through the zealous labours of the Rev. Dr. Bolton, though, from various unfavourable circumstances, it failed of its object and has been disposed of. Should I have failed to make mention of the missionary labours of the Rev. Mr. Duval, in Richmond, the memories and the hearts of all its citizens would have supplied the deficiency, even if the ex- cellent memoir of him by the Rev. Mr. Walker had not perpetuated the remembrance of one of the most devoted Christians and phi- lanthropists of Virginia.
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ARTICLE XI.
Williamsburg, Bruton Parish .- No. 1.
THIS parish was carved out of the counties of James City and Charles River. The latter county was, in 1642, changed into York county. The parish of Bruton, in the year 1723, was reported to the Bishop of London as ten miles square. At one time a parish called Marston was within these bounds, being the upper part, toward New Kent; but that was soon dissolved and added to Bruton. Of the early history of Williamsburg, or the Middle Plantation, we know but little. That there was a church there in 1665 is certain from an entry in the vestry-book of Mid- dlesex parish, in that year, which directs a church to be built in thai parish, after the model of that at Williamsburg,-probably a wooden one. How long that at Williamsburg had been in existence before this time is not known. The vestry-book of Bruton parish commenced in 1674, and continues until 1769,-a few years before the Revolution. The first minister was the Rev. Rowland Jones, who continued from 1674 to his death, in 1688. Besides vestry- men and churchwardens, there were, after the English custom and canons, two officers, called sidesmen or questmen, who were espe- cially appointed to present unworthy persons to those in authority, for civil and ecclesiastical discipline. I have not met with these in any other parish. It appears that there were at this time, and had been, no doubt, for a considerable period, two other churches in this parish, an upper and lower, both of which needed repair; and the vestry resolved, in the year 1678, not to repair either of them, but to build a new brick church at Williamsburg, to answer for all. Free donations were solicited before a levy was resorted to. A list of some of the donors is recorded. At the head is John Page (first of the name) for £20, and the ground for the church and graveyard ; Thomas Ludwell, £20; Philip Ludwell, £10; Colonel Thorp, £10; and many others, £5,-among them the minister, Mr. Jones. A pew was put in the chancel for the minister, and Mr. John Page and Edward Jennings were allowed
.F. GRABAU.DEL
WILLIAMSBURG CHURCH, BRUTON PARISH.
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to put up pews for their families within the same .* The church being finished, the Rev. Mr. Jones was requested to dedicate it.
* The Autobiography of Governor Page, from which the following extract is taken, was written at the request of Mr. Skelton Jones, when he undertook the completion of Burk's History of Virginia :-
"I discover from the tombstones in Williamsburg churchyard," says Governor Page, "and from others in my grandfather's burying-ground at his family-seat called Rosewell :- 1st, that one of my ancestors, named John Page, was an highly- respectable character, and had long been one of the King's Council in this Colony, when he died, viz .: on the 23d January, 1691-2, aged sixty. His manuscripts, which I have seen, prove that he was learned and pious. 2d, that his son, Matthew Page, was one of the Council, and his son Mann also, whose letters to his friends, and theirs to him, exhibit him as patriotic, well educated, and truly amiable. He had his classical education at Eton School, in England. He was my father's father, who might also have been appointed to the office of Councillor; but he declined it in favour of his younger brother, John Page, who, my father said, having been brought up in the study of the law regularly, was a much more proper person for that office than he was. The John Page first above mentioned was, as we find by an old picture, a Sir John Page, a merchant of London, supposed to have been knighted, as Sir John Randolph long after was, for proposing a regula- tion of the tobacco-trade and a duty thereon, which if it was the case, I think his patriotism was premature, and perhaps misplaced : his dear, pure-minded, and American patriotic grandson, my grandfather, Mann Page, in his days checked the British merchants from claiming even freight on their goods from England, declaring that their freight on our tobacco and homeward-bound articles, added to their monopoly of our trade, ought to satisfy avarice itself. This he expressed repeatedly to his mercantile friends, and some near relations who were tobacco- merchants in London : however, he lived not long after. The fashion or practice then was for men of landed property here to dispose of their children in the fol- lowing manner :- They entailed all their lands on the eldest son, brought up the others according to their genius or disposition,-physicians, or lawyers, or mer- chants, or ministers of the Church of England,-which handsomely maintained such as were frugal and industrious. My father was frequently urged by friends, but not relations, to pay court to Sir Gregory Page, whose heir, from his coat-of-arms and many circumstances, he was supposed to be. But he despised titles sixty years ago as much as you and I do now, and would have nothing to say to the rich silly knight, who dicd, leaving his estate and title to a sillier man than himself, his sister's son, a Mr. Turner, on condition that he would take the name and title of Sir Gregory Page, which he did by act of Parliament, as I have been told or read."
It would appear from the above that Mr. Page, of Rosewell, had but little of the pride of family about him, and that his grandfather despised titles. From the vestry-book it seems that the second John Page defended the rights of vestrics against the claims of King and Governor. From the autobiography it appears that Governor Page, of Rosewell, opposed Lord Dunmore in his attempt to place John Randolph, who went to England when the war commenced, among the Visitors of the College, and succeeded in getting Mr. Nathaniel Burwell (afterward of Frederick county) chosen, Lord Dunmore's vote alone being cast for Mr. Randolph. Governor Page was an officer for Gloucester in the Revolutionary War, and was with Washington in one of his Western expeditions against the French and Indians. He was the associate and intimate friend of Mr. Jefferson at college, and his
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The vestry now caused it to be proclaimed throughout the parish, that the law against those who absented themselves from church would be enforced. It seems that, though much violated, it had not been enforced, and perhaps never was. The penalty was so many pounds of tobacco, after the laws "martial, moral, and divine" had been repealed. It was during Mr. Jones's ministry that the salary of £100, which had been paid him, was commuted for sixteen thousand-weight of tobacco, the minister consenting, as the people complained that they were not able to pay the £100. At the death of Mr. Jones, the Rev. Mr. Sclater was employed for six months, to preach every other Sabbath afternoon, and then the Rev. Mr. Eburne for the same time every other Sunday morning. It is probable that these were ministers of neighbouring parishes. At the close of Mr. Eburne's engagement they elected him for seven years, instead of inducting him for life. Lord Effingham, Lieu- tenant-Governor, then addressed them the following letter :-
" GENTLEMEN :- I understand that upon my former recommendation to you of Mr. Samuel Eburne, you have received him, and he hath con- tinued to exercise his ministerial functions in preaching and performing divine service. I have now to recommend him a second time to you, with the addition of my own experience of his ability and true qualifica- tion in all points, together with his exemplary life and conversation. And therefore, holding of him in esteem, as a person who, to God's honour and your good instruction, is fit to be received, I do desire he may be by you entertained and continued, and that you will give him such encouragement as you have formerly done to persons so qualified. " October 25th, 1688. EFFINGHAM."
follower in politics afterward, though always differing from him on religious sub- jects, endeavouring to his latest years, by correspondence, to convince him of his errors. He was a zealous friend of the Episcopal Church, and defended in the Legislature what he conceived to be her rights, against those political friends with whom he agreed on all other points. So zealous was he in her cause that some wished him to take Orders, with a view to being the Bishop of Virginia. His name may be seen on the journals of the earliest Conventions of the general Church, as well as of those of Virginia. I have a pamphlet in my possession, in which his name is in connection with those of Robert C. Nicholas and Colonel Bland, as charging one of the clergy in or about Williamsburg with false views on the subject of the Trinity and the eternity of the punishment of the damned. His theological library was well stored for that day. The early fathers in Greek and Latin, with some other valuable books, were presented to myself by one of his sons, and form a part of my library. It may not be amiss to repeat what I have said in a preface to the little volume written as a legacy by the first of this name to his posterity,-that seven of them are now ministers of the Episcopal Church, and two who were such are deceased.
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The meaning of the foregoing is plain,-viz .: that the vestry- men apply to the Governor to induct Mr. Eburne for life, and so have him fixed upon them, unless by process of law he could be discarded for some great crime or crimes. The vestry, however, at the end of the seven years, passed a resolve never to elect a minister for more than one year at a time, and invited him to remain on these terms; but he, getting old and infirm, preferred going to some milder climate. Here is the first recorded conflict of a vestry with the Governor on the subject of inductions. We shall very soon have occasion to consider the subject at some length. In the year 1697, the Rev. Cope Doyley was chosen minister. In the year 1700, Governor Nicholson appears on the vestry-book, in a manner characteristic of himself. He demands of the vestry, under their own hands, whether the Rev. Mr. Doyley reads the service of the Book of Common Prayer in the church. It is answered in the affirmative. In the year 1702, Mr. Doyley dies, and Mr. Solomon Whately is chosen from some other parish,-not, however, without the Governor's leave being asked for his removal. After having preached his trial sermon, and being called, some objection was raised, and he is requested to preach again, for the satisfaction of those who were not present at his first sermon. His election for one year was confirmed, at the end of which time his call was not renewed; but he was in- vited to continue for a few months while looking out for another parish. One of the vestry was directed to see the Rev. Isaac Grace, who had just arrived in the colony, and get him to preach. Mr. Grace expressed a willingness to come, but said that his case was in the hands of the Governor, who had forbid him to come into the parish. It seems that Mr. Whately was a favourite of the Governor, and that he was offended with the vestry for not choosing him as their permanent minister. Mr. Whately was the most active minister in sustaining Governor Nicholson when, on various accounts, he had become so unpopular that, at the peti- tion of the Council and some of the clergy, he was withdrawn from Virginia. This case of the vestry and Mr. Whately led Mr. Nicholson to get the opinion of Mr. Edward Northy, one of the King's high legal advisers, as to the relative powers and privileges of the Governors and vestries in presenting and inducting minis- ters, and to order it to be entered upon all the vestry-books. I have seen it on a number of them, and find it on that of Bruton parish, from which I am drawing these statements. On receiving it, the vestry passed some resolutions, and directed Mr. John
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Page, (grandson of the old vestryman of that name, who was now dead,) an eminent lawyer and member of the Council, to draw up something on the subject, with the view of presenting it to the House of Burgesses, requesting them to take action on the question. We hear nothing more of the dispute, and the Governor was recalled in 1705; but this is evident :- that the vestry never yielded the point; for although they thought it expedient to retain Mr. Whately until his death, yet it was under a solemn declaration of their deter- mination to elect their minister every year, which was done in the case of Mr. Whately and his successors, during the Colonial Govern- ment, so far as the vestry-book shows. The history of the case is this :- In theory, the Governor claimed to be the representative of the King, in Church and State, and patron of all the parishes ; also to be the representative of the Bishop of London, having the disposal of the ministers and the exercise of discipline over the clergy, thus making the office of the Commissary a nullity. Nor did the Commissaries object; for they were, with one exception, Presidents of William and Mary College, and fully employed. Dr. Blair did sometimes act. It was evident that if such was to be the construc- tion put upon the power of the Governor, as claimed by Effing- ham, Nicholson, and Spottswood, the vestries would have little power to prevent the settlement for life (with legal power to enforce their salaries) of many most unworthy ministers ; for although the law allowed them the right of choosing a minister within six months after a vacancy occurred, yet if they did not so do the Governor might send one and induct him for life. Now, such was the scarcity of ministers that they must wait the arrival of some new and untried one from England, or else take some indifferent one who was without a parish in this country. To save the congregations from imposition under such a system, the vestries adopted the method of electing from year to year, not presenting to the Governors for induction, by which induction so many un- worthy ministers might be settled upon them. Induction did take place in some cases where, after years of good conduct, it was safe to conform to the law; and in some few others. Who could blame them for this act of self-defence against such mighty power in the hands of one man, when the consequences of induction were so evil, and when the circumstances of the parishes, the small salaries and extensive districts to be served, and the state of the Mother-Church, made it so difficult to get worthy ministers ? This was the practice of the vestries almost from the first and to the very last of the Colonial establishment. In vain did the clergy
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complain to the Bishop of London, and even to the Crown, of the uncertain and precarious tenure by which they held their livings from year to year. In vain did the Governors and Commissaries speak of this custom of the vestries, as preventing more and better ministers from coming over. In vain were the sympathetic responses from England. The vestries were unmoved. The Governors and Commissaries were wise enough to attempt nothing more than complaints; for they must have seen that the vestries had much reason for their conduct, and that any rigid interpreta- tion of the law and effort to enforce it would meet with effectual resistance from the vestries. The Crown and the Bishop of London dared not issue any injunction of the kind. On the contrary, whatever was done in England from time to time was in modification of any supposed high rights of Governors and in favour of vestries, and the nearer the Revolution approached the more fearful were the authorities in England of doing any thing against the vestries. The vestries were the depositaries of power in Virginia. They not only governed the Church by the elec- tion of ministers, the levying of taxes, the enforcing of laws, but they made laws in the House of Burgesses; for the burgesses were the most intelligent and influential men of the parish, and were mostly vestrymen. It is easy to perceive why the vestry of Williamsburg wished the question between them and Nicholson referred to the Assembly; for it was only referring it to the other vestries, who were pursuing the same course with themselves. Nor were the vestries represented in the popular branch of the Government only. We will venture to affirm, and that not without examination, that there was scarce an instance of any but a vestryman being in the Council, although, as the Council was chosen by the Governor and the King, there was more likelihood of some being found in them who might favour high views of prerogative.
In the history of the vestries we may fairly trace the origin, not only of that religious liberty which afterward developed itself in Virginia, but also of the early and determined stand taken by the Episcopalians of Virginia in behalf of civil liberty. The vestries, who were the intelligence and moral strength of the land, had been trained up in the defence of their rights against Governors and Bishops, Kings, Queens, and Cabinets. They had been slowly fighting the battles of the Revolution for a hundred and fifty years. Taxation and representation were only other words for support and election of ministers. The principle was the same.
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It is not wonderful, therefore, that we find the same men who took the lead in the councils and armies of the Revolution most active in the recorded proceedings of the vestries. Examine the vestry- books, and you will find prominent there the names of Washing- ton, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, General Nelson, Go- vernor Page, Colonel Bland, Richard Henry Lee, General Wood, Colonel Harrison, George Mason, and hundreds of others who might be named as patriots of the Revolution. The principle for which vestries contended was correct,-viz. : the choice of their ministers. I do not say that it must necessarily be by annual election; but there must be a power of changing ministers, for sufficient reasons. The Governors and the clergy, who came from England, did not understand how this could be, so used had they been to a method widely different. It was reserved for the Church in America to show its practicability, and also to establish something yet more important, and what is by most Englishmen still thought a doubt- ful problem,-the voluntary principle, by which congregations not only choose their ministers but support them without taxation by law. It may be wise to provide some check to the sudden removal of ministers by the caprice of vestries and congregations, as is the case in the Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches, where some leave of separation is required from Presbyteries and Bishops; but neither of them are ever so unwise as to interpose a veto where it is evident that there is sufficient reason for separation, whether from dissatisfaction on either side, or from both, or any strong con- sideration. The people have it in their power, either by withhold- ing support or attendance, and in other ways, to secure their re- moval, and the ministers cannot be forced to preach. Either party have an inalienable right to separate, unless there be some specific bargain to the contrary. In one denomination in our land, it is true that ministers are appointed to their stations and congrega- tions are supplied by its chief officers ; but it must be remembered that this is only a temporary appointment,-for a year or two at most. Let it ever be attempted to make it an appointment for life, or even a long term of years, and the dissolution of that Society would soon take place. In the first organization of our general Church in this country, after the separation from our mother-coun- try, an office of induction was adopted, with the view of rendering the situation of the clergy more permanent; but such was the oppo- sition to it from Virginia and some other States, that it was deter- mined it should only be obligatory on those States which chose to
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make it so. Very few instances of its use have ever occurred in the Diocese of Virginia .*
* In proof of what is said as to vestrymen, we publish the following list of the Convention of 1776. From our examination of the old vestry-books, we are con- fident that there are not three on this list who were not vestrymen of the Epis- copal Church.
A list of the members of the Convention of Virginia which began its sessions in the City of Williamsburg on Monday the sixth of May, 1776, as copied from the Journal :-
Accomac-Southey Simpson and Isaac Smith, Esquires; Albemarle-Charles Lewis, Esquire, and George Gilmer for Thomas Jefferson, Esquire ; Amelia-John Tabb and John Winn, Esquires ; Augusta-Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell, Esquires ; West Augusta-John Harvie and Charles Simms, Esquires ; Amherst --- William Cabell and Gabriel Penn, Esquires; Bedford-John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esquires ; Botetourt-John Bowyer and Patrick Lockhart, Esquires ; Bruns- wick-Frederic Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esquires; Buckingham-Charles Pat- teson and John Cabell, Esquires ; Berkeley-Robert Rutherford and William Drew, Esquires ; Caroline-the Hon. Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esquires ; Charles City-William Acrill, Esquire, and Samuel Harwood, Esquire, for B. Har- rison, Esquire ; Charlotte-Paul Carrington and Thomas Read, Esquires; Chester- field-Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esquires ; Culpeper-Henry Field and French Strother, Esquires; Cumberland-John Mayo and William Fleming, Esquires; Dinwiddie-John Banister and Bolling Starke, Esquires; Dunmore- Abraham Bird and John Tipton, Esquires ; Elizabeth City-Wilson Miles Cary and Henry King, Esquires ; Essex-Meriwether Smith and James Edmundson, Esquires ; Fairfax-John West, Jr., and George Mason, Esquires; Fauquier-Martin Pick- ett and James Scott, Esquires ; Frederick-James Wood and Isaac Zane, Esquires ; Fincastle-Arthur Campbell and William Russell, Esquires; Gloucester-Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esquires ; Goochland-John Woodson and Thomas M. Randolph, Esquires ; Halifax-Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esquires ; Hampshire-James Mercer and Abraham Hite, Esquires; Hanover-Patrick Henry and John Syme, Esquires ; Henrico-Nathaniel Wilkinson and Richard Adams, Esquires ; James City-Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, Esquires; Isle of Wight-John S. Wills and Charles Fulgham, Esquires ; King George-Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esquires; King and Queen-George Brooke and William Lyne, Esquires; King William-William Aylett and Richard Squire Taylor, Esquires ; Lancaster-James Seldon and James Gordon, Esquires ; Loudoun-Francis Peyton and Josias Clapham, Esquires; Louisa-George Meriwether and Thomas Johnson, Esquires ; Lunenburg-David Garland and Lodowick Farmer, Esquires ; Middlesex -Edmund Berkeley and James Montague, Esquires; Mecklenburg-Joseph Speed and Bennett Goode, Esquires ; Nansemond-Willis Riddick and William Cowper, Esquires ; New Kent-William Clayton and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires ; Norfolk-James Holt and Thomas Newton, Esquires ; Northumberland-Rodham Kenner and John Cralle, Esquires ; Northampton-Nathaniel L. Savage and George Savage, Esquires ; Orange-James Madison and William Moore, Esquires ; Pittsyl- vania-Benjamin Lankford and Robert Williams, Esquires ; Prince Edward-Wil- liam Watts and William Booker, Esquires ; Prince George-Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esquires ; Princess Anne-William Robinson and John Thorough- good, Esquires; Prince William-Cuthbert Bullitt and Henry Lee, Esquires ;
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