USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
300
OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
tion for any statements not provable by later records. There have been some very old persons in the county, who have transmitted to the present generation some testimonies which have probable accuracy in them. There is a tradition that the old and venerable brick church a few miles from Smithfield was built in 1632 and was the second church erected in the Colony. Dr. Hawks men- tioned this as probable. It is quite likely that the date of its erection was as early as 1632, but that it was the second church in the Colony is disproved by all the early writers, who tell us of one at Henrico in 1611. Others, no doubt, though of a rude character, were raised in earlier settlements long before this time, and perhaps some cheap and plain one at Warrosquoyacke itself. The building of which we are speaking is a remarkable one. All of its materials must have been of the best kind, and its workmanship superior,- whether those materials were from England and the workmanship as to the interior done in England, as tradition says, or not. Its present condition fully proves this. Its thick walls and high tower, like that of some English castle, are still firm, and promise so to be for a long time to come. The windows, doors, and all the inte- rior, are gone. It is said that the eastern window-twenty-five feet high-was of stained glass. This venerable building stands not far from the main road leading from Smithfield to Suffolk, in an open tract of woodland. The trees for some distance around it are large and tall and the foliage dense, so that but little of the light of the sun is thrown upon it. The pillars which strengthen the walls, and which are wide at the base, tapering toward the eaves of the house by stair-steps, have somewhat mouldered, so as to allow various shrubs and small trees to root themselves therein. Some few, indeed, though quite small, have issued from between the bricks beneath the eaves, on other parts of the walls. This, arising from the dense shade around, gives the building and the picture of it (which I have) a deeply-interesting appearance .* Some twenty or thirty years ago a new roof was put upon it and worship occasionally held there, in which I have partaken on
* Some years since, in the month of November, toward the close of day, I passed by this church in company with an active young man ; and, as usual, turning aside to survey it, I saw among the shrubs a delicate young cedar, about a foot long, issuing out of the wall just under the cornicing of the roof. On expressing a wish that I had it, without dreaming that it could be gotten, my companion immediately began to clamber up the pillar nearest to it, and, ascending twelve feet, got in a position which enabled him to remove several of the loosened bricks and get the young plant, with good roots, from its nest. It is now a flourishing tree, eight feet high, near my study-window.
OLD SMITHFIELD CHURCH.
301
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
several occasions; but, the neighbourhood being deserted of Episcopal families and a new church built in Smithfield, it is now, like the tomb or body of Sir John Moore, "left alone in its glory."
There were two other old churches in this county. The Bay Church was a brick building about five miles northwest of Smith- field, near a bend in James River called Burwell's Bay, (some of that name having settled there at an early period,) originally Warrosquoyacke Bay. It was erected about the middle of the last century on the lands of Colonel Burwell, who was a Colonial clerk of the county. About the year 1810, the estate came into other hands; the church was pulled down and a kitchen built of the bricks; the sides and backs of the pews were used to make stalls for a stable and divisions in a barn, which was last struck with light- ning and burned down. The bell of the church was exchanged in Richmond for a brandy-still. The other church, called the Isle of Wight Chapel, was a framed wooden building about fifteen miles southwest of Smithfield, and was erected about the year 1750. It was destroyed by fire some thirty or forty years since. The new church at Smithfield was built in 1832, and has been under the charge of the Rev. C. J. Hedges, Thomas Smith, Jonathan Smith, John Downing, John C. McCabe, H. T. Wilcoxon, and Chauncey Colton.
Of the ministers in the county of Isle of Wight, previous to the year 1724, we have not yet been able to learn any thing except what has been already stated,-that, in the year 1642, the Rev. Mr. Falkner was rector of the whole county. It was then divided into two parishes. In the year 1724 the same division continued. The Rev. Alexander Forbes was minister of the upper parish, called Warwicksqueake, and Thomas Bayley of the lower or Newport parish. I have before me a letter from each of them, in that year, to the Bishop of London, giving an account of their parishes. Mr. Forbes enlarges in a second letter on all the points contained in his first, and gives a most particular, faithful, and painful his- tory of all the difficulties and trials of his ministry, and of the unhappy condition of things in his parish and in the Colony. His parish is eleven miles wide along the river, and more than sixty miles long, extending to the North Carolina line. He has three churches, one of which was doubtless the old one near Smithfield. He speaks of the impossibility of any successful efforts at doing much good either by preaching or catechizing, whether in churches or private houses,-both of which he had diligently tried,-by reason , of the extent of his parish and the scattered position of the families
-
302
OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
of his charge. He complains much of the Quakers, who annoyed him not a little; somewhat of the Anabaptists, who were then find- ing their way into Virginia ; but most of all of some of our own clergy, whose evil lives hindered the religion of the laity. His nearest neighbour, as we shall see, was an instance of this. He speaks of the Indian settlement on the Nottoway River,-Christina, -where Mr. Griffin's school was, and which was in his parish, though afterward in Southampton,-which was cut off from the Isle of Wight,-and deplores the ill example of the Colonists and its influ- ence on the natives. There were no schools in his parish. His number of communicants not more than thirty or forty. His glebe was indifferent and had no house on it. The tobacco raised there, being of bad quality, sold at a very reduced price, so that his salary was small. From the testimony of Commissary Blair and others, he was, however, not a mere complainant, but a very faithful and labo- rious man, who continued at his post for a long time,-perhaps until his death.
As to his neighbour,-the Rev. Mr. Bayley, in the lower parish, -he was, from all the accounts we have of him, the very reverse. Commissary Blair and Governor Spottswood speak of him, in their letters to the Bishop of London and others, as a most notoriously wicked man. Mr. Blair says that he has tried sharp reproof without effect, and thinks that he shall be obliged to adopt some- thing more severe. Whether he ever did does not appear. He acknowledges that the difficulties in the way of discipline were so great, and ministers so scarce, that he was obliged to pass by many offences.
From his answers to the Bishop of London, it appears that Mr. Bayley had been ten years in the States,-during a part of which he was minister of St. John's Church, Baltimore,-that there were four hundred families in his parish, and about forty communicants. He also had the small parish of Chuckatuck, in Nansemond, under his care, at which he preached during the week. In answer to the ques- tion whether there were any infidels in his parish, he says, "Yes, both bond and free;" and the method of their conversion was "by baptism and instruction." He speaks also of there being some unendowed schools in his parish, but in such way that we conclude they are none other than private schools.
After these we learn, by oral tradition, that there was a Mr. Pedier, who probably was minister of the parish in which the old church was situated, as he was buried in the aisle of it. Then the Rev. J. H. Burgess, afterward of Southampton, was minister of
303
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
the parish for the years 1773, 1774, 1775, and 1776; how much longer we know not. He went from thence to Northampton. The last of whom we hear was the Rev. Mr. Hubard, who was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1766. When he entered on his charge we know not, as he was minister in Warwick in the year 1776. He died in the parsonage on the glebe of Newport parish, after the year 1802. He manifested his attachment to the Church by preaching to the last, though there were only two or three persons present.
No vestry-book furnishing us with a list of the vestrymen, we insert the names of some of the families in this parish :- Bridger, Smith, Pierce, Parker, Young, Cary, Pedier, Wills, Godwin, Bur- well, Cocke, Holliday, Todd, Purdy, Tucker, Butler, &c. The tombstone of an ancestor of the Bridgers still stands on a farm a few miles from the Old Brick Church, with an inscription which declares him to have been a Councillor of State for Virginia under Charles II., and that he died in 1682.
Since writing the foregoing, I have received further information concerning this parish from a friend, who has come into possession of the fragments of an old vestry-book, which partially cover the period lying between 1724 and 1771. As we have stated above, the worthy Alexander Forbes was the minister in 1724, as appears by his letter to the Bishop of London in that year; but, according to the vestry-record, in two years after the Rev. Mr. Barlow is the minister officiating occasionally, being the minister of some neighbouring parish. In the year 1727, we find the Rev. Mr. Bayley-the minister of the lower parish, of whom we spoke as being so unworthy a man-applying for this parish. The vestry dispose of his application by electing him on the con- dition that "he make it appear that he is not in any ways de- barred or silenced by any order of Government." It appears, from other documents in my possession, that he had been thus " debarred and silenced." He was a notorious character, and, either before or after this, was in North Carolina and other parts of Virginia, seeking employment.
In the year 1729, the Rev. John Gammill was chosen minister, and continued so until his death in 1744. The following letter from Governor Gooch to the vestry speaks well of him :-
" GENTLEMEN :-
" It is a great satisfaction to me that I can now recommend to your parish, which has been so long without a minister so good a man as the
304
OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
bearer hereof, the Rev. Mr. Gammill, whose good life and conversation will be very agreeable to you, as it is to, gentlemen,
"Your affectionate friend and humble servant,
" WILLIAM GOOCH.
"WILLIAMSBURG, March 3, 1729-30."
Commissary Blair also recommends him highly.
After Mr. Gammill's ministry the Rev. Mr. Camm occasionally officiated in this parish. Then the Rev. Mr. McKensie preached nine sermons. In the year 1746, we find the Rev. John Reid present with the vestry; and he seems to have been the minister until 1755, when the record becomes defective. In 1766, the Rev. Mr. Milner is the minister, and resigns in 1770. Tradition says, as we have stated, that a Rev. Mr. Pedier was once minister, and was buried in Old Smithfield Church. It is probable he suc- ceeded Mr. Milner. Then came Mr. Burgess and Hubard, as before stated. The old vestry-book confirms what has been stated as to the position of the three churches of this parish.
The following is the list of vestrymen during the period of which it is a record :-
" Laurence Baker, Samuel Davis, Matthew Jones, Thomas Walton, William Kinchin, William Crumples, William Bridger, James Day, George Reddick, Matthew Wills, Reuben Proctor, Nathaniel Ridley, Thomas Woodly, John Goodrich, George Williamson, James Ingles, John Porson, John Davis, John Simmons, William Wilkinson, Joseph Godwin, Henry Lightfoot, James Bridger, John Monro, Thomas Parker, Hardy Council, Henry Pitt, Arthur Smith, Richard Wilkinson, Henry Apple- whaite, Thomas Day, John Laurence, Hugh Giles, Thomas and John Applewhaite, Thomas Tynes, John Eley, Thomas Smith, Jordan Thomas, John Darden, Dolphin Drew, John Wills, William Hodsden, William Salter, Robert Barry, Charles Tilghman, Robert Burwell, Miles Wills, Edmund Godwin."
In the foregoing list, my friend remarks, are forty different surnames, almost all of which are now to be found in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties ; that is, within the original bounds of old Warwicksqueake shire and parish. It appears from the vestry- book that, in the year 1737,-that is, one hundred and five years after it was first built,-the Old Smithfield Church had a new covering of shingles put upon it. This was doubtless the first repair of the kind since its erection, for it was no uncommon thing for a well-built roof to last thus long. Old Yeocomico Church, in Westmoreland, has one on it at this time of greater age.
I have alluded to the families of Bridger and Parker, and their mansion at Macclesfield,-a few miles from Old Smithfield Church,
305
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
-in the first part of this article, and to a tombstone thereat; and a friend has furnished me with the following inscription, with the explanatory remarks :-
"Inscription on the tomb of the Honble Joseph Bridger, Paymaster-General to the British troops in America during Bacon's Rebellion, in the reign of Charles the Second of England.
" Sacred to the memory of the Honble Joseph Bridger, Councillor of State to Charles the 2d. He dyed Aprill 15, Anno Domini 1688, aged 58 years, mournfully leaving his wife, three sons, and four daughters."
Some eulogistic verses are added, from which we select the fol- lowing :-
"Can nature silent mourn, and can dumb stone Make his true worth to future ages known? Here lies the late great minister of state, That royall virtues had, and royall fate."
Perhaps it was as great an honour to him to be the son of the man who built Old Smithfield Church as to have been one of the Councillors of the corrupt Charles II., and to have acted with Sir William Berkeley against him who is called the rebel Bacon. That he was the son of the man who contracted for the church is stated in the following words accompaning the inscription :-
" General Bridger was the son and heir of the Joseph Bridger who superintended the building of St. Luke's, (the Brick Church,) in New- port parish, Isle of Wight county."
My friend adds these words :-
"The above is taken from a copy made by the late Mrs. Anne P. P. Cowper, of Macclesfield, from the tombstone, which is erected on a farm about three miles below the Old Brick Church, and is still in a perfect state. This farm was a part of an immense landed estate which descended to Mrs. Cowper from her mother, who was a widow Bridger, and married Colonel Josiah Parker, of Revolutionary celebrity."
I have also referred to a small parish, called Chuckatuck, in Nansemond county, of which I could say nothing for want of any documents. A friend has sent me the copy of a portion of an old vestry-book of this parish, which contains the proceedings of the vestry from December of the year 1702 to 1709. I will first give the names of the gentlemen composing the vestry during that period :-
"Captain Edmund Godwin, Major Thomas Swann, Captain L. Havield, Mr. James Davis, Mr. Oliver Slaughter, Mr. James Cewling, Mr. Thomas
20
306
OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
Drury, Colonel Thomas Godwin, Captain John Pitt, Mr. Thomas Corbell, Colonel George Norsworthy, Captain Charles Drury, Mr. John Brasseur, Major Thomas Jordan, Captain B. Kearne, Mr. John Lear, Peter Best, Thomas Cutchins, John Isles."
The vestry seems to have been an energetic and decided one. In April, 1703, is their first action :-
" The vestry, being willing to embrace the first opportunity for the service of God, have therefore entertained and agreed with Mr. William Rudd, minister, to preach a sermon every intervening Thursday until the 1st of October next, at the rate of three hundred and eight pounds of tobacco per sermon, and also to pay twelve shillings for his ferrying over the river: which Mr. William Rudd accepts, and promises, with God's assistance, to perform his duty. During the summer they invite him to become their minister and preach every other Sunday, for eight thousand pounds of tobacco."
Mr. Rudd was then the minister of Norfolk, in Elizabeth River parish, and it was customary to ask the consent of the Governor to a separation; wherefore the vestry addressed a letter to Governor Nicholson. Mr. Rudd became their minister, and remained such for some years. After this they had the services of the Rev. Thomas Hassell, but how long is not known. It was during the infancy of this vestry that Governor Nicholson was endeavouring to establish his authority over the vestries in relation to induction of ministers and the supply of vacancies. The opinion of Sir Edward Northy, the King's Attorney, was sent to all the vestries and ordered to be recorded on the vestry-books. The vestry of the little Chuckatuck parish obeyed the Governor's order and placed the document on record, but added this spirited resolution to it :-
"But as to presenting our present or any other minister for induc- tion, are not of opinion, [here is something not very intelligible by itself, but rendered perfectly so by what follows,] but are willing to entertain our present minister upon the usual terms, as formerly hath been used in this Colony."
I do not know that there was ever more than one church in this parish. That is still standing, and has been occasionally supplied by ministers from Suffolk and Smithfield. I have often been in it, and enjoyed the services held therein.
On the few pages of this vestry-book which are before me, I find all the oaths which at that time were required of vestrymen and churchwardens. As they varied according to times and cir- cumstances, and some are to be seen in one vestry-book and some
30₸
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
in another, I will present them all to the reader as they here appear :-
"The oaths appointed to be taken, as by an Act of Parliament, in the reign of William the Third, instead of allegiance and supremacy.
"I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be true and faith- ful, and bar [bear] true allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third. So help me God.
"I, A. B., do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and hereticall, that damnable doctrine and position, that Princes excommuni- cated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murthered by any of their subjects whatsoever; and I do declare, that no foreign Prince, Person or Prelate, State or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, predominance, or authority, ecclesiasticall or spiritual, within this Realm. So help me God.
"I, A. B., do sincerely believe that there is not any transubstantiation in the Sacraments of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of bread and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever."
"The oath of a vestryman, being the oath of obedience canonical.
"I, A. B., do swear, that I approve of the doctrine and discipline, or government, in the Church of England as concerning all things necessary to Salvation; and that I will not endeavour, by myself or any other, directly or indirectly, to bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to that which is so established; nor will I ever give my consent to alter the go- vernment of this church by Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, and Archdeacons, &c., as it stands now established, and as by right it ought to stand, nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and superstitions of the See of Rome. And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to the plaiu and common sense and understanding of the same words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever; and this I do heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the faith of a Christian. So help me God."
' The oath of a churchwarden.
"You shall execute the office of churchwarden in the parish where you are chosen, according to your discretion and skill, in his Majesties' eccle- siastical laws of this Realm now in force. So help me God."
PARISHES IN SOUTHAMPTON.
Having exhausted our little stock of information concerning the Isle of Wight parishes, we proceed to Southampton, which was cut off from it in the year 1748, and the parish called Nottoway, which was in a few years divided and St. Luke's parish established. In the year 1758 we find a Rev. Thomas Burgess minister of the un- divided Nottoway parish ; and in the year 1773, the Rev. William Agur minister of Nottoway parish, and the Rev. George Gurley of St. Luke's, and the same in 1774. But in the year 1776, the
308
OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND
Rev. William Andrews takes the place of Mr. Agur in Nottoway parish. In the year 1785, Mr. George Gurley appears in the Con- vention at Richmond as rector of St. Luke's still, and in 1786 the Rev. Benjamin Blunt has taken his place. This is the last repre- sentation from Southampton until after the revival of the Church in Virginia. I have, however, some private information concerning a portion of its intermediate history. During the war the Rev. John Henry Burgess, who had been before ministering in Newport parish, Isle of Wight, moved into Southampton, and there both preached the Gospel and instructed the youth. He probably preached at all the churches in the two parishes, and supported himself by teaching, as the salaries of the ministers were very badly paid during the war, if at all, and many of them ceased to preach. There were not less than seven churches in the two parishes, including one built under his auspices. The names of five of them were Lecock, Oberry's, Simmons's, Jones's, and Millfield. The latter, Millfield, was near his residence, and is now in posses- sion of the Baptists. All the rest have passed away. Mr. Bur- gess's school was held in high esteem. Among those which were educated in it we may mention one of the late Presidents, William Henry Harrison. To the number of patriotic ministers we may surely add the Rev. Mr. Burgess ; for so zealously did he advocate the cause of America, both privately and publicly, that the British got possession of him during the war, and kept him a prisoner until the close of it. So entire was the prostration of the Episco- pal Church in this county, that it was some time after our efforts at resuscitation commenced before attention was turned toward it. The Revs. Edmund Withers and Edward B. McGuire gave a portion of their time and labours to it a few years since, and not without effect. The Rev. Mr. Gibson, of Petersburg, and Robert, of Greensville, have added their occasional services since then, and we hope the time is not far distant when we shall have a regular ministry and temples of our own.
PARISHES IN SURREY COUNTY.
This county originally contained all that is now Surrey and Sussex. There were two parishes in it in 1738, called Lawn's Creek and Southwark, running the whole length of the county toward the Carolina line, being one hundred and twenty miles. At that time each of them were curtailed; and, as in the case of the Isle of Wight parishes, Black River divided them. Those parts of the parishes which lie south of Blackwater River formed
309
FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
a parish by the name of Albemarle, in what is now Sussex county, and the parts north of Black River formed another parish, retain- ing the name of Southwark,-that of Lawn's Creek being hence- forth dropped. Although there were many ministers in the parishes of Surrey before the year 1724, and between that and 1754 and 1758, and though I have their names on different documents in possession, I am not able to identify or locate them, because these documents do not appropriate them to their parishes. I am able to say who were the ministers in 1724, because their answers to the Bishop of London show it. I can say who were the ministers in 1754 and 1758, because I have a list both of the ministers and parishes of those years. Had I the old vestry-books, they would supply the deficiency ; but I have none of either of these parishes; and yet they may be in existence, though in some tattered form.
I give, first, some of the answers of the Rev. John Worden, who says,-
"I arrived in Virginia in 1712, when Governor Spottswood sent me for six months to Jamestown. Thence I went to the parishes of Weynoake and Martins Brandon, both of which parishes were hardly sufficient to support a minister ; therefore I removed to this parish, where I have been since January 30th, 1717." His parish, he says, "is ten miles wide along the river, and one hundred and twenty long, with seven hundred tithables in it. There are some Indians, bond and free, and negroes, bond and free. Some masters will have their negroes baptized; and some will not, because they will not be sureties for them. I cannot persuade parents and masters to send their children and servants to be catechized. I some- times get eight shillings and fourpence for my tobacco, per hundred, and sometimes not so much; and if I send it to Europe, perhaps it brings me in debt, as of late years it hath happened. The vestry will not keep my glebe-house in order; but if I choose to do it myself, I may and welcome. I have a church and chapel thirty miles apart,-twelve communicants at the former, and thirty or forty at the latter."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.