USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 36
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" Signed, JOHN SMITH."
Since the above was in print, we have received the following extract from one of our public papers :-
" POCAHONTAS .- An interesting link in the chain of American Docu- mentary History has just been given by the rector of Gravesend, in Kent, to the Rev. R. Anderson, for his 'Colonial Church History.' It is the fac-simile copy of the entry of the death of Pocahontas, in the register of that parish, where she died three years after her marriage, when on the point of embarking to return to her native land with her husband, who was appointed Secretary and Recorder-General for Virginia. It runs thus :- '1616, March 21. Rebecca Rolfe, wyffe of Thomas Rolfe, gent., a Virginia lady borne, was buried in ye Chauncell.' The present church at Gravesend is an erection later than the date of this entry ; so that, in all probability, it is the only tangible relic of the last resting-place of one called by our forefathers ' the first-fruit of the Gospel in America,' of whom Sir Thomas Dale (Marshal of Virginia) wrote, 'were it but the gaining of this one soule, I think my time, toile, and present stay well spent.' Poor Pocahontas! who shall say what emotions passed through her mind, when, strong in affectionate confidence, she accompanied her husband from the pleasant savannas of Virginia, which she was never to see again, to the Court of England, and still (in the words of Purchas) 'did not onely accustom herselfe to civilitie, but carried herselfe as the daughter of a king.' Every trait preserved of her in the records of the time testifies to her 'increasing in goodness as the knowledge of God in- creased in her.' Her true story is one that can never become hackneyed even with familiarity, and should be religiously kept free from burlesque association."
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FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
GRAVEYARDS IN GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
There are three graveyards of some note near to each other :- that at Rosewell, where the Pages are buried ; at Timberneck Bay, where the Manns are buried; and at Carter's Creek, where the Burwells alone are buried. Many inscriptions upon the old tomb- stones have been furnished me.
The first of the Pages was John Page, usually called Sir John, of Williamsburg, who wrote the good book to his son Matthew. His son Matthew married Mary Mann, of Timberneck Bay, a rich heiress, and bequeathed an immense estate to his son Mann, who built Rosewell. His son Mann, Jr. married, first, Judith Wormley, who had only one child who lived ; and she married Thomas Mann Randolph, of Tuckahoe. Mr. Page's second wife was Judith Carter, daughter of Robert Carter, of Corotoman, commonly called King Carter. By this marriage he had Mann Page, of Rosewell, John Page, of North End, Gloucester, and Robert Page, of Broadneck, Hanover. The first of these three married Alice Grymes, of Mid- dlesex, by whom he had two children,-John Page, of Rosewell, alias Governor Page, and Judith, who married Lewis Burwell, of Carter's Creek. At the death of his first wife, Alice Grymes, Mann Page married Miss Ann Corbin Tayloe, sister of the first Colonel Tayloe, of Mount Airy, by whom he had Mann Page, of Mansfield, near Fredericksburg, who married his cousin, sister of the late Colonel Tayloe, of Mount Airy ; Robert Page, of Hano- ver Town, who married a daughter of Charles Carter, of Frede- ricksburg; Gwinn Page, who married first in Prince William and then in Kentucky ; Matthew Page, of Hanover Town, who died unmarried; Betsey Page, who married Mr. Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon ; Lucy Page, who married first Colonel George Baylor, and then Colonel Nathaniel Burwell.
The second son of Mann Page and Judith Carter-John Page, of North End-married Jane Byrd, of Westover, whose son Mann married Miss Selden, and was the father of William Byrd Page, of Frederick, who married Miss Lee, and was the father of the Rev. Charles Page, and many others.
John Page, second son of John, of North End, married Miss Betty Burwell, and had several children. Their daughter Jane married Mr. Edmund Pendleton. William, third son of John, of North End, married Miss Jones, and had three children,-Jane, Byrd, and Carter. Carter Page, of Cumberland, fourth son of
-
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John, of North End, married, first, Polly, daughter of Archibald Cary, then Lucy, daughter of General Nelson, of York. Robert Page, of Janeville, Frederick county, married his cousin Sarah, of Broadneck. The sixth son was Matthew, who died unmarried. The seventh, Tom, who married Mildred, daughter of Edmund Pendleton, of White Plains. The eighth, Judith, who married Colonel Hugh Nelson, of York. The ninth, Molly, who married Mr. John Byrd, and had no children. The tenth, Jane, who mar- ried Nathaniel Nelson, and was the mother of Mrs. Nathaniel Bur- well, of Saratoga. The eleventh, Lucy, who married Mr. Frank Nelson, of Hanover. The above eleven were all the children of Mr. John Page, of North End, second son of Mann and Judith Page, of Rosewell. Their third son was Robert, of Broadneck, Hanover county, who married Miss Sarah Walker. Their chil- dren were, first, Robert, who married a Miss Braxton, and was the father of Carter B. Page, John White Page, Walker Page, and three sisters. Second, John, of Page Brook, who married Miss Byrd, of Westover, and left many children. Third, Matthew Page, of Annfield, who married Miss Ann R. Meade, and left two daughters. Fourth, Catharine, who married Benjamin Waller, of Williamsburg. Fifth, Judith, who married Mr. John Waller. Sixth, Sarah, who married Mr. Robert Page, of Janeville.
OLD SELIM
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FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
ARTICLE XXIX.
Gloucester .- No. 3. History of Selim, the Algerine Convert.
THE following article was written by the Rev. Benjamin H. Rice. The addition is from a descendant of Mr. Page, of Rosewell :-
THE CONVERTED ALGERINE.
The following narrative was committed to writing by an aged clergyman in Virginia, and is communicated for publication by a missionary of known character. Its authenticity may be relied on. It is introduced by the writer with the following paragraphs :-
I have long been of opinion that even the short account I am able to give of Selim, the Algerine, is worth preserving, and suppose that no person now living is able to give so full an account of him as myself, not having the same means of information.
Had Selim ever recovered his reason so far as to be able to write his own history and give an account of all the tender and interesting circumstances of his story, it would undoubtedly have been one of the most moving narratives to be met with. All I can write is the substance of the story as related to me, most of it many years ago. I have been careful to relate every par- ticular circumstance I could recollect worthy of notice, and make no additions and very few reflections of my own. I publish these narratives at this time for the sake of a few observations which they naturally suggest, and which I think seasonable at the present day.
About the close of the war between France and England in Virginia, commonly called Braddock's War, a certain man, whose name, as I have been informed, was Samuel Givins, then an inha- bitant of Augusta county, in Virginia, went into the woods back of the settlements to hunt wild meat for the support of his family,- a practice which necessity renders customary for the settlers of a new country. He took more than one horse with him, that it might be in his power to bring home his meat and skins. As he was one day ranging the woods in quest of game, he cast his eyes into the top of a large fallen tree, where he saw a living creature
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move. Supposing it to be some kind of a wild beast, he made ready to shoot it, but had no sooner obtained a distinct view than he discovered a human shape, which prevented the fatal discharge. Going to the place, he found a man in a most wretched and pitiable condition,-his person entirely naked (except a few rags tied about his feet) and almost covered over with scabs, quite emaciated and nearly famished to death. The man was unacquainted with the Eng- lish language, and Givins knew no other. No information, there- fore, could be obtained who he was, whence he came, or how he was brought into a state so truly distressing. Givins, however, with the kindness of the good Samaritan, took a tender care of him, and supplied his emaciated body with the best nourishment his present circumstances would afford. He prudently gave him but little at a time, and increased the quantity as his strength and the power of digestion increased. In a few days the man recovered such a degree of strength as to be able to ride on horseback. Givins furnished him with one of those he had taken with him to carry home his meat, and conducted him to Captain (afterward Colonel) Dickerson's, who then lived near the Windy Cave. Dicker- son supplied his wants, and entertained him for some months with a generosity that is more common with rough backwoodsmen, who are acquainted with the hardships of life, than among the opulent sons of luxury and ease.
The poor man considered that he had no way to make himself and his complicated distresses known, without the help of lan- guage : he therefore resolved to make himself acquainted with the English tongue as soon as possible. In this his progress was sur- prising : he procured pen, ink, and paper, and spent much of his time in writing down remarkable and important words, pronouncing them, and getting whoever was present to correct his pronunciation. By his indefatigable application, and the kind assistance of Colonel Dickerson's family, he in a few months was so far master of Eng- lish as to speak it with considerable propriety. When he found himself sufficiently qualified for communicating his ideas, he gave the colonel and others a most moving narrative of his various unparalleled misfortunes. He said his name was Selim; that he was born of wealthy and respectable parents in Algiers ; that when a small boy his parents sent him to Constantinople, with a view to have him liberally educated there; and that after he had spent several years in that city, in pursuit of learning, he returned to Africa to see his parents, with a view to return to Constantinople to finish his education. The ship in which he embarked was taken
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by a Spanish man-of-war or privateer, and Selim thus became a prisoner of war. The Spaniards were at this time in alliance with France against England. Falling in with a French ship bound to New Orleans, they put him on board this vessel, which carried him to the place of its destination. After living some time among the French at New Orleans, they sent him up the rivers Mississippi and Ohio to the Shawnee towns, and left him a prisoner of war with the Indians, who at that time lived near the Ohio. There was at the same time a white woman, who had been taken from the frontiers of Virginia, a prisoner with the same tribe of Indians. Selim inquired of her, by signs, whence she came. The woman answered by pointing directly toward the sunrising. He was so far acquainted with the geography of America as to know that there were English settlements on the eastern shore of this conti- nent ; and he rightly supposed the woman had been taken prisoner from some of them. Having received this imperfect information, he resolved to attempt an escape from the Indians to some of these settlements. This was a daring attempt, for he was an entire stranger to the distance he would have to travel and the dangers which lay in his way ; he had no pilot but the sun, nor any pro- visions for his journey,-nor gun, ammunition, or other means of obtaining them. Being thus badly provided for, and under all these discouraging circumstances, he set out on his arduous journey through an unknown mountainous wilderness of several hundred miles. Not knowing the extent of the settlements he aimed at, he apprehended danger of missing them should he turn much to the north or south, and therefore resolved to keep as directly to the sunrising as he possibly could, whatever rivers or mountains might obstruct his path. Through all these difficulties Selim travelled on until the few clothes he had were torn to pieces by bushes, thorns, and briers. These, when thus torn and fit for no other service, he wrapped and tied about his feet to defend them from injuries. Thus he travelled naked, until his skin was torn to pieces with briers and thorns, his body emaciated, his strength ex- hausted with hunger and fatigue, and his spirits sunk under dis- couragements. All he had to strengthen and cheer him was a few nuts and berries he gathered by the way, and the distant prospect of once more seeing his native land. But this pleasing prospect could animate him no longer, nor could these scanty provisions support him. His strength failed, and he sank into despair of every thing but ending a miserable life in a howling wilderness, sur- rounded by wild beasts ! Finding he could travel no farther, he
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fixed upon the top of the tree where Givins found him, as the spot where his sorrows and his life must end together. But God, whose providence is over all his creatures, had other views. While Selim was dying this lingering, painful death, and was scarce able to move his feeble limbs, relief was sent him by the beneficent hand of Givins : he is again restored to life, and hope once more revives and animates his sinking heart. No doubt Colonel Dickerson was sensibly touched with this moving tale of woe, and the generous feelings of his humanity greatly increased. I infer it from his conduct ; for he furnished Selim with a horse to ride, treated him as a companion, and took him to visit the neighbours and see the country. He accompanied the colonel to Staunton, where the court of Augusta county sat, and where the inhabitants of the county were assembled, it being court-day. Among the rest was the Rev. John Craig, a Presbyterian minister of the Gospel, who resided a few miles from town. When Selim saw Mr. Craig he was struck with his appearance, turned his particular attention to him, and after some time came and spoke to him, and intimated a desire to go home with him. Mr. Craig welcomed him to his house, and then, or afterward, asked him why he desired to go home with him in particular, being an entire stranger, whom he had never seen before. Selim replied :-
" When I was in my distress, I once in my sleep dreamed that I was in my own country, and saw in my dream the largest assembly of inen my eyes had ever beheld, collected in a wide plain, all dressed in uniform and drawn up in military order. At the farther side of the plain, and almost at an immense distance, I saw a person whom I understood to be one of great distinction ; but, by reason of the vast distance he was from me, I could not discern what sort of a person he was. I only knew him to be a person of great emi- nence. I saw every now and then one or two of this large as- sembly attempting to go across the plain to this distinguished personage ; but when they had got about half-way over, they suddenly dropped into a hole in the earth, and I saw them no more. I also imagined that I saw an old man standing by himself, at a distance from this large assembly, and one or two of the mul- titude applied to him for direction how to cross the plain in safety ; and all who received and followed it got safe across. As soon as I saw you," added Selim, "I knew you to be the man who gave these directions ; and this has convinced me that it is the mind of God that I should apply to you for instructions in religion. It is for this reason I desire to go home with you. When I was among
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the French, they endeavoured to prevail on me to embrace the Christian religion. But, as I observed they made use of images in their religious worship, I looked on Christianity with abhorrence ; such worship being, in my opinion, idolatrous."
Mr. Craig cheerfully undertook the agreeable work he seemed called to by an extraordinary Providence. He soon found that Selim understood the Greek language, which greatly facilitated the business. He furnished a Greek Testament; Selim spent his time cheerfully in reading it, and Mr. Craig his leisure hours in explain- ing to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the space of about two weeks he obtained what Mr. Craig esteemed a competent knowledge of the Christian religion. He went to Mr. Craig's house of wor- ship, made a public profession of Christianity, and was baptized in the name of the adorable Trinity. Some time after this, Selim informed Mr. Craig that he was desirous to return to his native country and once more see his parents and friends. Mr. Craig reminded him that his friends and countrymen, being Mohammedans, entertained strong prejudices against the Christian religion, and that, as he now professed to be a Christian, he would probably be used ill on that account, and that here in America he might enjoy his religion without disturbance. To which Selim replied, that his father was a man of good estate, and he was his heir; that he had never been brought up to labour, and knew no possible way in which he could obtain a subsistence ; that he could not bear the thought of living a life of dependence upon strangers and being a burden to them ; that he was sensible of the strong prejudices of his friends against Christianity, yet could not think that, after all the calamities he had undergone, his father's religious prejudices would so far get the better of his humanity as to cause him to use his son ill on that account ; and that, at all events, he desired to make the experiment. Mr. Craig urged that the favourable regards of his friends and a good estate on the one hand, and a life of poverty and distress on the other, might prove a too power- ful temptation to renounce that religion he now professed to believe true, and to return again to Mohammedanism. Selim said, what- ever the event might be, he was resolved never to deny Jesus.
When Mr. Craig found that he was fully resolved, he applied to some of his neighbours, and, with their assistance, furnished Selim with as much money as they supposed sufficient to defray his ex- penses to England, from whence he said he could easily get a passage to Africa. He furnished him, also, with a letter to the Hon. Robert Carter, who then lived in Williamsburg and was
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noted for his beneficence to the poor and afflicted, requesting him to procure for the bearer an agreeable passage in some ship bound to England. Mr. Carter did more than was requested of him : he furnished Selim plentifully with sea-stores. Being thus provided for, he set sail for England, with the flattering prospect before him of being once more happy in his own country and in the arms of his affectionate parents. For many months no more is heard of him by his American acquaintance.
How long after this I do not recollect,-perhaps some years,- the poor unfortunate Selim returned again to Virginia in a state of insanity. He came to Williamsburg, and to the house of his old benefactor, Mr. Carter. His constant complaint was, that he had no friend, and where should he find a friend? From which complaint the cause of his present very pitiable situation was easily conjectured : his father was not his friend. Notwithstanding the derangement of his mental powers, he had certain lucid inter- vals, in which he so far enjoyed his reason as to be able to give a pretty distinct account of his adventures after he left Virginia. He said he had a speedy and safe passage to England, and from thence to Africa; and that, on his arrival, he found his parents still alive, but that it was not in his power long to conceal it from them that he had renounced Mohammedanism and embraced the Christian religion, and that his father no sooner found this to be the case than he disowned him as a child and turned him out of his house. Affection for his parents, grief for their religious prejudices and his own temporal ruin, tormented his tender heart. He was now turned out into the world, without money, without a friend, without any art by which he could obtain a sub- sistence. He left his own country, the estate on which he ex- pected to spend his life, and all his natural connections, without the most distant prospect of ever seeing or enjoying them more. He went to England, in hopes of there finding some way to live, where he could enjoy his religion when every other source of com- fort was dried up. But, having no friend to introduce him to the pious and benevolent, he found no way to subsist in that country ; on which he resolved to return to America, it being a new country, where the poor could more easily find the means of support. In his passage to Virginia-while he had probably no pious friend to console him in his distresses nor to encourage and support him under them, and while he had little to do but pore over his wretched situation-he sunk, under the weight of his complicated calamities, into a state of insanity.
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Though Selim's great distress was that he had no friend and he was constantly roving about in quest of one, yet of friendship he was incapable of enjoying the advantages. In pursuit of his object he went up to Colonel Dickerson's, but to no purpose. From thence he wandered away to the Warm Springs, where was at that time a young clergyman of the name of Templeton, who, having understood something of his history, entered into conversa- tion with him. He asked him, among other things, whether he was acquainted with the Greek language; to which he modestly replied that he understood a little of it. Mr. Templeton put a Greek Testament into his hand, and asked him to read and con- strue some of it. He took the book and opened it, and, when he saw what it was, in a transport of joy he pressed it to his heart, and then complied with Mr. Templeton's request. By these actions he showed his great veneration for the Sacred Scriptures, and how long he had retained the knowledge of the Greck in cir- cumstances the most unfavourable. From the Warm Springs he went down to Mr. Carter's, (who, by this time, had removed from Williamsburg to his seat in Westmoreland county,) in hopes that gentleman would act the part of a friend, as he had formerly done; but still, poor man, he was incapable of enjoying what he greatly needed and most desired. He soon wandered away from Mr. Carter's, was taken, and carried to the madhouse in Williams- burg.
The above account I received from Mr. Craig, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Templeton; and it is the substance of all I knew of Selim before I came to reside in this State. Since my arrival here I have seen several men who were personally acquainted with him while in a state of derangement. They say he was commonly in- offensive in his behaviour, grateful for favours received, manifested a veneration for religion, was frequently engaged in prayer,-that his prayers were commonly, though not always, pretty sensible and tolerably well connected,-and that he appeared to have the temper and behaviour of a gentleman, though he was in ruins ; that he went roving from place to place, sometimes almost naked for want of sense to keep on the clothes that he had received from the hand of charity, until he was taken with the sickness which put an end to his sorrows; that when he was taken sick his reason was restored and continued to his last moments; that the family where he lay sick and died treated him with great tender- ness, for which he expressed the utmost gratitude, and that, at his request and importunity, no persons sat up with him on the night
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in which he died. It appears, however, that he died with great composure; for he placed himself, his hands, his feet, and his whole body, in a proper posture to be laid in his coffin, and so expired.
The following is added by a descendant of Mr. Page :-
" Among the pictures that made the deepest impression on me at Rose- well, and which decorated the old hall, was that of Selim. He was painted Indian fashion, with a blanket round his shoulders, a straw hat on his head, tied on with a check handkerchief. This portrait Governor Page had taken in Philadelphia, by Peale; and, when the box arrived at Rose- well, the family and servants were all assembled in the hall to seeit opened. Great was their astonishment and disappointment to find, instead of a por- trait of their father and master, Selim's picture, which was greeted instantly with his usual salutation, ' God save ye.' He was a constant visitor at Rosewell, and was always kindly received by servants and children, who respected him for his gentleness, piety, and learning. One of his fancies was never to sleep in a house, and, unless he could be furnished with regi- mentals, disdained all other clothing. One of his greatest pleasures, when in Williamsburg, was to read Greek with Professor Small and President Horrocks, of William and Mary, and at Rosewell, with Mr. Page, and his youngest son, who read Greek and Hebrew at a very early period ; but it was always out of doors.
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