USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 24
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than forty or fifty pounds, while cases occurred of still less. One great grievance was, that their salaries were not paid until eighteen months after their year's labour begun, the levy being never or- dered until twelve months had elapsed, and that not demandable for six months after ; and, if shipped to England, a still longer delay; and, if they did not send it to England and get their goods there, must sell it here and buy indifferent articles at an advance of from twenty-five to fifty per cent. The consequence of this was, that the clergy were often deeply in debt long before their salaries were paid. They thought it hard, therefore, that when, in the course of Providence, an increase of funds occurred for one year, by which they might be set free from debt or be enabled to buy a few books, this should be prevented by such an act. They had often before, by bad seasons injuring the tobacco, or by an abundant crop reducing the price, suffered a great diminution of salary, but the Assembly had never regarded this their loss and sought to supply it in any other way, and it was not fair now to reduce it by an arbitrary, unjust, and unconstitutional act. More- over, they said it was an ex post facto or retrospective law, passed after they had earned their salary by a year's labour. It was thus their own property, though not in their hands, as it ought to have been. They also declared that, considering the high price at which tobacco sold that year, it was a prosperous one. The quantity of tobacco shipped was estimated at thirty-five thousand hogsheads, instead of fifty thousand, the average crop; that, selling at fifty shillings a hundred instead of sixteen and eightpence, every man got two-thirds more than usual for his tobacco, and therefore could better afford to pay than in other years, except in such places as failed very greatly. The clergy thus lost two-thirds of their just expectations and lawful rights. They said the history of Virginia proved that a small crop of tobacco was best for the Colony, that the Legislature was often endeavouring to stint the crop of tobacco by preventing the culture of so much, and in former days had even destroyed some which was already made, and that now, when Providence had stinted the crop, it was hard that the clergy should be the chief, indeed only, sufferers. They most positively denied that the welfare of the poor was the object or the effect of the law, and said that the rich planters were the chief gainers by it,-that they had few tenants to pay them in money instead of tobacco, but cultivated their lands with their own servants, and now paid the clergy and others to whom they were indebted at one-third of the price at which they sold their tobacco. They charged the
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Legislature with taking from them one penny for the poor and a shilling for the rich, and maintained that some other method might have been adopted for the relief of real sufferers far more just and equal. Comparing their tithes with those of Israel of old, they computed their portion of the tobacco on an average to be less than one-fiftieth, and even in that year less than a twentieth, and said that nothing whatever of any other crops was taxed, and that all other crops that year were uncommonly abundant. If, therefore, the Church was worth supporting, they maintained that it ought to be honourably done. They affirmed that the effect of this unjust proceeding must be to deter respectable clergymen from coming into the Colony, or young men of education and respectability here from entering the ministry. They declared that such an effect had already been produced; that some of the best men had already left the Colony, and others were preparing to follow. There was, with one exception, (and he a young, con- ceited, and unworthy man,) entire unanimity among the clergy, while there was great diversity of sentiment among the laity, and certainly among the opponents of the measure there were many of the ablest and best men of Virginia. The clergy, indeed, boasted that what their advocates wanted in numbers was amply made up in quality. As the question came to be weighed in the balances of law and equity, it was more and more admitted to be unconstitutional and unfair. Many confessed their error; but it was too late to retract. The clergy had committed the unpardon- able sin of appealing to the Crown; and, though many of them became staunch Revolutionists, preaching and writing in behalf of the war, and some girding on their swords, the evil could not be repaired. Dissenters were rapidly gaining ground. They took possession of the vacant pulpits and drew off numbers from the Church, and no future Assembly could have been gotten to repair the wrong. Such was the permissive providence of God, and doubtless for wisest reasons. Had the one hundred clergy of Vir- ginia, or a large portion of them, been true men of God, not only leading holy lives, laboriously discharging all their duties, under- standing by their own heartfelt experience, and zealously preach- ing the doctrines of the Gospel as set forth by the Reformers in our standards, God would not have permitted that unjust act on the part of the Legislature of Virginia. There were doubtless many worthy men among them, and some few who understood, felt, and preached the Gospel; but, if Mr. Jarratt's testimony is to be received, God could not have been among them to bless
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them. After his ordination in England and settlement in Virginia, he attended one of the later convocations at Williamsburg, but was so disgusted at the manner in which he heard some of the doc- trines of the Gospel and the Church spoken of, that he resolved to attend no more of them. I doubt not there were many sober, good-natured men among the clergy, but they wanted weight of character, and were unfit for the ministry. There were many who preached a dry orthodoxy and frigid morality; but that was not enough. The Dissenters came and gave hungry souls something else, though often mixed with what was not the Gospel.
Still, all this did not justify the act of which we have been speak- ing, which must ever be regarded as a deep stain on the Legislature of that day. Necessity, indeed, has no law, and there are times when laws must be violated in order to prevent a greater evil. Government has a right to interfere with the property of individuals, when they greatly abuse it to the injury of the public. But no such necessity existed. If tobacco was scarce, the price was very high, and all the necessaries of life abounded. The clergy, whether deficient in right views of religion or not, performed a large amount of bodily exercise and went through their required duties, and therefore had a right to what was secured to them by law. There was the same scarcity in Maryland, where the salaries were larger ; and yet there was no such commutation enjoined there. We again therefore come to the conclusion that the clergy were sinking in public estimation, the dissenters from and enemies to the Church were increasing, the Revolutionary spirit, the unwillingness to be interfered with by the authorities of England, was daily strength- ening, and all these combined to permit the passage of the law and to forbid the reparation of the wrong that was done. I add that in the College of William and Mary the same contest was going on. The Visitors and the Faculty were at variance,-the former claiming the right to dismiss the professors at pleasure, the latter affirming that, according to the charter of the College, a controlling power was in the authorities abroad ; but the former, as might be expected, prevailed. The time for revolution and inde- pendence was fully come, and there was no resisting it. President Camm, at the beginning of the war, being summoned before the Visitors to answer some complaints, denied their authority, and, refusing to attend, was displaced, and Mr. Madison, of more re- publican spirit, was chosen in his room.
Having closed the consideration of a question which for some years violently agitated the Church and Colony of Virginia, and
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which on one side was mainly defended by the minister of York- Hampton parish, we take our leave of poor old York, but not with- out a word or two as to its past, its present, and its future, so far as man may look into the future of a dilapidated town or village. Little York was never much more than a village ; although merchants from Baltimore and Philadelphia-at that time little more than villages-once got goods from its warehouses. How many inhabitants it had, when at its height, cannot be said. Be- sides tradesmen and artificers and shopkeepers, of whom we are unable to get any information, we learn that before and for some time after the Revolution there was one of the most delightful socie- ties anywhere to be found, consisting of Amblers, Archers, Gib- bons, Jamiesons, Macawleys, Nicolsons, Griffins, Nelsons, Diggeses, Smiths, Popes, Shields, Fouchees, &c. All these, with the other fami- lies of the place, and from the country around, filled the Episcopal Church in York, and formed a happy, undivided society. During the war, all fled who could : some did not return, or only returned to bid adieu to its ruins. From time to time, others removed, until it was left almost desolate, and the country around seemed likely to share the same fate. Agriculture grew worse and worse. Lands were almost given away. But within the last few years a favourable change has seemed likely to take place, in sympathy with the improvement of all Lower Virginia. A few zealous females, in the hope and anticipation of it, by the most indefatigable diligence, rebuilt the old church, which had been destroyed by fire, and the Rev. Mr. Withers, while Chaplain to the Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg, rendered acceptable services to the few remaining inhabitants of York. It has been hoped that the railroad, intended to connect Richmond with Baltimore by York River, would have found a terminus here, and thus insured a revival of the town. In this its friends have been also disappointed, that terminus being established higher up. Still, hopes are entertained of its more gradual improvement by the increased commerce floating on the bosom of York River, and from the rise in lands all around. The demand for houses is increasing, and, if the present owner of nearly all York and its vicinity was disposed to sell, lots and small farms would be purchased and settled. There is one interesting and venerable establishment in the vicinity of York which deserves a notice. It is called Temple Farm. It was the country-resi- dence of Governor Spottswood in the beginning of the last cen- tury. It was called Temple Farm because of a house in its gar- den, built by the Governor as a cemetery. It was in the mansion-
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house on this farm that Lord Cornwallis met Washington and signed the articles of capitulation. One of our Virginia antiqua- ries, (Mr. Caruthers,) in a semi-fictitious historical novel, after the manner of Walter Scott, has made this place a chief scene and Governor Spottswood the chief hero. But, it being so long since the date of the events described, many of its readers perhaps doubt whether the house was built by Governor Spottswood, or whether he ever lived there. Having myself had an interest, by marriage, in the house and farm, and knowing that there was much of the real in the traditionary accounts of it, but wishing to obtain the most reliable information, I addressed a letter to Doctor Wil- liam Shield, of York, who once possessed it, and received from him the following communication :-
" YORKTOWN, 12th February.
"REV. AND DEAR SIR :- Yours dated the 30th of January, asking for some information relative to Temple Farm, near Yorktown, which, ac- cording to history, was once the residence of Governor Spottswood, and the house in which Lord Cornwallis signed the capitulation, was received a few days ago.
"I purchased the farm and moved there in 1834, at which time the walls of the Temple, from which the place takes its name, were several feet high : within them (after removing the ruins) I found heaps of broken tombstones, and on putting the fragments together, to ascertain, if pos- sible, the names of some of the persons who had been buried there, I succeeded in finding the name of Governor Spottswood, showing that he was buried at Temple Farm, -- a fact, perhaps, not generally known. There was one tombstone, however, entire and unbroken, with the following sin- gular inscription on it, and which, as it may be interesting to you, I send verbatim et literatim :-
' Major WILLIAM GOOCH, of this parish. Died October 29, 1655.'
'Within this tomb there doth interred lie, No shape, but substance, true nobility. Itself, though young in years, just twenty-nine, Yet graced with virtues moral and divine ; The Church from him did good participate, In counsel rare, fit to adorn a State.'
"The house at Temple Farm is built of wood, and is in rather a dilapi- dated condition at present. The original building was very large, and consisted of a centre building with two large wings, either one of which was as large as the present house, which in fact was originally the centre building.
" I gave for Temple Farm, in 1834, three thousand dollars, and sold it to Mr. Pettit, in 1839, for seven thousand dollars. Mr. P. sold it in 1853 for eleven thousand dollars, and the present owner informs me that he has been offered fifteen thousand dollars. The increase in the price of our lands here is not, perhaps, to be attributed so much to the effect of marl, as to the great benefits anticipated to all this country on York River from the completion of the contemplated railroad from Richmond to York
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River, and to the fact that the steamboats are now regularly plying from Baltimore and Norfolk, up York River, to the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers. There are in Old York between twenty-five and thirty houses, all of which are generally inhabited ; and there is a demand for more.
" With my best wishes for your health and happiness, I am, with the highest respect, your friend and servant,
WILLIAM H. SHIELD."
It is well known that Governor Spottswood died at Annapolis, in the year 1737, on his way to join the army which he was appointed to command, and which was about to engage in a Western expe- dition. His remains were doubtless carried by water to York, and deposited at this, his favourite residence, and in the tomb or temple which he had built, and in which other worthies were buried. It may be said, without fear of contradiction, that there is not on all York River a more picturesque spot than Temple Farm. Its capacity for improvement is also very great.
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ARTICLE XVIII.
Hampton Parish, Elizabeth City County, and Parishes in Warwick.
UNTIL the year 1751 it was called Hampton parish, and on one of my lists after this; but on the vestry-book beginning in 1751 it is changed to Elizabeth City. Elizabeth City county is one of the eight original shires of Virginia in the year 1634. It is situ- ated, as may be seen by looking at the map, just between the mouths of James and York Rivers. Its compass is so small and so compact that it does not appear that there was ever an at- tempt at building more than one church in it,-that at Hampton, -unless there may have been one on the Back River portion of it, of which, however, we have no account. Although the parish and county of Elizabeth City be comparatively so small,-only eigh- teen miles square,-yet are they on many accounts deeply interest- ing. Old Point Comfort, which is a part of this county, was, with the exception of Cape Henry, most probably the first place in Virginia which was touched by Captain Smith in 1607. In ex- ploring the county for a suitable settlement, they met (says the historian Burk) with five of the natives, who invited them to their town, Kecoughtan or Kichotan, where Hampton now stands. It was doubtless one of the earliest Indian towns, as it became in 1610 one of the earliest settlements of the Colony. Even before that, it became a kind of Cape of Good Hope to the Colonists, who called here on their expeditions up York, Rappahannock, Potomac, and Nansemond Rivers. It was also the first harbour which Eu- ropeans reached after their long voyages over the Atlantic. Here they usually stopped, and often proceeded to Jamestown and Wil- liamsburg by land. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that we find a church and ministry here at an early period; especially as this place does not appear to have suffered in the Indian massacre of 1622, the natives having probably at this time been driven from this corner of the Colony. We have no vestry-book of more an- cient date than 1751 from whence to draw our facts concerning the early history of this parish; but the records of the court, which are equally trustworthy, as far back as the year 1635, have been preserved in the old clerk's office, and furnish us with some
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interesting documents touching the ministers and church at Hamp- ton. I am indebted to the researches of the Rev. John McCabe, late minister of Hampton, for the following facts out of the records of the court, and which he has embodied in his full and interest- ing account of this parish in the Church Review.
In the year 1644 we find the churchwardens presenting to the court an unworthy female. In the year 1646 we find Nicholas Brown and William Armistead presenting one of their own body. In the year 1644 we read of a Rev. Mr. Mallory as performing service and being remunerated for it. In the next year we read of a Rev. Justinian Aylmer, who continued to officiate until 1667, -twenty-three years. In the year 1667 we read of a Rev. Jere- miah Taylor, who buried a Mr. Nicholas Baker in the new church of Kichotan, according to a request in the will.
In the same year Mr. Robert Brough, by will, requests that he may be buried in the old church of Kichotan. In one and the same year there were an old and a new church standing at Kicho- tan. The old one had probably been built many years, and was going to decay. As there was a law passed in 1621, under the administration of Sir Thomas Yeardley, that a house of worship should be erected and a burial-ground set apart on every planta- tion, (that is, settlement,) there is reason to believe that there was one then built at Kichotan, if not before; and that the new one was built between 1660 and 1667, and that new one is the present church of St. John's, at Hampton. As to the location of the old one, Mr. McCabe and some friends settled that point beyond all dispute. There is an old burial-ground, about a mile from Hamp- ton, on the Pembroke farm, now the property of John Jones, Es- quire, on which are a number of old gravestones, and where tradi- tion had located an ancient church. To this Mr. McCabe and his friends repaired with proper instruments, and, clearing away the rubbish and digging into the earth, soon found the brick foundation of the former church ; the superstructure having probably been, as with most other first churches, of wood. Among other interments in that graveyard are those of John Neville, Vice-Admiral of his Majesty's fleet in the West Indies, who died in 1697; of Thomas Curle, born in the year 1640, in Sussex, England, and dying in 1700; also of the Rev. Andrew Thompson, minister of the parish, who died in 1719, "leaving the character of a sober and religious man." It seems that the old church had been repaired after the new one was built, and that it and the burial-ground were pre- served for funeral purposes, (as the old church and graveyard at
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Blandford and the old chapel and burying-ground in Clarke county ;) but now they are ruins in the midst of a field. From the examination of records Mr. McCabe concludes that the Rev. Mr. Mallory was the minister in 1664; how long before is not known. He was succeeded in 1665 by the Rev. Mr. Aylmer, who in 1667 was followed by the Rev. Jeremiah Taylor. He was a disgrace to his name and the ministry. For his insolency and misbehaviour in open court, he was committed to confinement during the court's pleasure. Again he was presented by the grand jury for drunk- enness, and again for slander. It speaks well for the grand juries of that day, that they would take cognizance of and punish of- fences which are sometimes permitted to pass unnoticed or unpu- nished by some church judicatories of our day, of various denomi- nations. He was succeeded in 1677 by the Rev. John Page, who left the Colony in 1687. He was no doubt the same of whom we read as minister of St. Peter's, New Kent, for one year about this time. He was succeeded by the Rev. Cope Doyley in 1687. In 1712 the Rev. Andrew Thompson became the rector, and died in 1719 .* In 1731 the Rev. Mr. Fife becomes the minister, and con- tinues until his death in 1756. He was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Warrington, who died in 1770. The Rev. William Selden followed and continued until 1783, and was succeeded by the Rev. William Nixon. It does not appear how long he continued, as there is no meeting of the vestry from 1786 until 1806,-twenty years. At that meeting the Rev. George Halson was chosen minis- ter. About this time also the Rev. Mr. Syme served for a short period. Twenty years longer elapsed before another meeting of the vestry occurred, when the Rev. Mark L. Chevers was chosen, who continued to serve the parish, in connection with the chap- laincy at Old Point, until 1842 or 1843. In the year 1845 the Rev. Mr. Bausman became its minister, and in 1850 the Rev. Mr. McCabe, who continued until the present year, 1856.
* I am enabled to supply a deficiency in this catalogue, from a letter of the Rev. James Falconer, who was minister in this parish between the Rev. Mr. Thompson and the Rev. Mr. Fife. His report to the Bishop of London is, that his parish is fifty miles in circumference, with three hundred and fifty families ; that the owners were careful to instruct the young negro children and bring them to baptism ; that service is performed every Sunday, and that most of the parishioners attend; that there were about one hundred communicants ; that his salary was about sixty-five pounds ; that there were two public schools in the parish, and one good private one kept by a Mr. William Fife, a man of good life and conversation. He was doubt- less the person that succeeded him in 1731.
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Concerning two of the preceding ministers, the Rev. Thomas Warrington and the Rev. William Selden, there is a transaction recorded on the vestry-book worthy of special notice, as serving to illustrate still more the contest between vestries and Governors, Commissaries, and the Crown. It seems that at the death of the Rev. Mr. Fife two candidates presented themselves,-the Rev. Mr. Warrington, who was recommended to the parish by Governor Gooch, and Mr. William Selden, then a young lawyer, probably of Hampton, who, disliking his profession, wished to enter the minis- try, and applied for a title to this parish with which to proceed to the Bishop of London for Orders. The vote in the vestry being taken, there was a tie between the candidates. At this the Go- vernor and Commissary were much displeased, and wrote a sharp letter upbraiding the vestry with despising the authority of the Crown and the Bishop of London by thus refusing to comply with the recommendation of their commissioned agents in Virginia,- that is, themselves,-and again call upon them to receive Mr. Warrington. The vestry have no meeting for four months, and then the vote was the same as before. They, however, choose Mr. Warrington temporarily, and at the end of five months more unani- mously choose him as their minister; and he continued to serve them faithfully and acceptably until his death, thirteen years after, in 1770. At his death Mr. Selden is again an applicant for the parish, is elected, and goes to London for Orders, which he obtains that same year, and continues to be an acceptable minister until 1783, when he resigned on account of ill-health, and soon after died. For an account of him and his descendants, I refer to a note in my second article on Henrico; though I am unable to re- concile the date of his birth, as there given, with the date of his application to the vestry, and think there must be a mistake on the part of my informant.
Of the Rev. Mr. Warrington I have information in other docu- ments, showing him to have been a fearless, upright man, and while reading of him have been reminded of his brave and patriotic grandson, Commodore Louis Warrington .*
* The Rev. Mr. Warrington was the grandfather of Commodore Warrington. From his birth the latter became an object of peculiar interest to a lady in Wil- liamsburg, whom I am unable to name or identify except that she was the aunt of a Miss Frances Caines, the intimate friend of Miss Ambler, afterward Mrs. Edward Carrington, of Richmond, from whose papers I have often quoted. Both the young ladies had been companions of the mother of young Louis Warrington, and took a lively interest in him on that account. Miss Caines and Miss Ambler (afterward
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