USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 11
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ments which left the impression on my mind that his creed was not strictly regulated by the Bible. At his death, some years after this, his minister-the Rev. Mr. Jones-and some of his neighbours openly expressed their conviction, that, from his conversation and bearing during the latter years of his life, he must be considered as receiving the Christian system to be divine. As to the purity of his moral character, the amiableness of his disposition toward all, his tender affection to his mother and wife, kindness to his neigh- bours, and good treatment of his servants, there was never any question.
Among the many orations called forth by the death of Mr. Madison, there was one-now before me-by Mr. Philip Williams, of Winchester, Virginia. From this I select the following passages :-
" His parents were both pious, and instilled into his youthful mind the moral and religious principles which were the strong foundations of his future greatness. His father died before he was elevated to the Presidency, but his mother lived to see him advanced to that office, and enjoying all of worldly honours that the fondest mother's heart could wish. He re- ceived his classical education from Mr. Robertson, a Scotchman, who resided in King and Queen, and the Rev. Mr. Martin, an Episcopal clergy- man, who lived for many years in his father's family. Under their in- struction he prepared himself for college, and entered at Princeton in 1769. When he arrived at Princeton, he found that in his literary acquirements he was behind many of his juniors, and, with praiseworthy emulation, determined to learn twice as much each day as was usually acquired in that time. He persevered in his determination until he graduated on the last Wednesday in September, 1771. He continued at Princeton until 1772, from a desire to learn Hebrew and to extend his other studies under the superintendence of Dr. Witherspoon, then President of the College, to whom he was sincerely attached."
From his early training in pious principles, and from the testi- mony of his minister and others as to his later years, Mr. Williams expresses his conviction that Mr. Madison was an humble believer in Christianity. Mr. Williams, though a zealous Episcopalian, agrees with Madison in his opposition to the law advocated by Mr. Henry for the support of religion, and quotes the following passages with some others from his argument on the subject, introducing them with this statement :-
" The free exercise of religion was protected by the Bill of Rights; but there were many of our most distinguished men, who not only insisted upon the right of the Legislature, but urged the expediency of compelling every man to contribute to the support of some Church, but giving him the liberty to prescribe to which Church it should be paid. At the pre- ceding session a bill for a general assessment 'for the support of Christian
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teachers,' upon this principle, was reported to the House. Its opponents, with the double view of enlightening the public mind and ascertaining more accurately the public will, succeeded in passing a resolution that the bill should be printed and submitted to the people, that it might be exa- mined by them, and passed or rejected at the ensuing Legislature as they might dictate.
"Mr. Madison drew a memorial and remonstrance against the passing this bill, characterized by his usual mildness, good sense, and close reason- ing, which was extensively circulated throughout the State, and doubtless contributed in a great degree to defeat the measure.
" This memorial was by many attributed to the pen of George Mason. While it admitted the divine origin of the Christian religion, and paid a just tribute to the purity of its doctrines, it showed clearly the impolicy and danger of any interference by the civil power with the subject of religion.
" This able paper is so little known that I must trespass upon your patience by some extracts from it :-
" ' The bill implies either that the civil authority is a competent judge of religious truth, or that it may employ religion as an engine of civil policy. The first is an arrogant pretension, falsified by the extraordinary opinions of rulers, in all ages and throughout the world; the second, an unhallowed perversion of the means of salvation. The establishment pro- posed by the bill is not requisite for the support of the Christian religion. To say that it is, is a contradiction to the Christian religion itself, for every page of it disavows a dependence on the power of this world; it is a contradiction to fact, for it is known that this religion both existed and flourished, not only without the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them, and not only during the period of miraculous aid, but long after it had been left to its own evidence and the ordinary care of Providence.
" 'Experience testifies that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary ope- ration.
" "The establishment in question is not necessary for the support of civil government. What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establish- ments had on civil society ? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority ; in more in- stances have they been seen upholding the throne of political tyranny; in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries ; a just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not. Such a government will be best supported by protecting every citizen in the enjoyment of his religion, with the same equal hand which protects his person and property, by neither invading the equal rights of any sect, nor suffering any sect to invade those of another. It will destroy that moderation and harmony which the forbearance of our law to intermeddle with religion has produced among its several sects. Torrents of blood have been spilt in the Old World by vain attempts of the secular arm to extinguish religious discord by proscribing all differences in religious opinion. Time has at length revealed the true remedy. Every relaxation of narrow and vigorous policy, whenever it has been tried, has been found to assuage the disease. The
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American theatre has exhibited proofs that equal and complete liberty, if it does not wholly eradicate it, sufficiently destroys its malignant influence in the health and prosperity of the State. If, with the salutary effect of this system under our eyes, we begin to contract the bounds of religious freedom, we know no name that will too severely reproach our folly. At least, let warning be taken at the first-fruits of the threatened innovation. The very appearance of the bill has transformed that Christian forbearance, love, and charity, which of late mutually prevailed, into animosities and jealousies which may not soon be appeased. What mischief may not be dreaded should this enemy to the public quiet be armed with the force of law !
" ' The policy of the law is adverse to the diffusion of the light of Christianity. The first wish of those who enjoy this precious gift ought to be that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind. Compare the number of those who have as yet received it with the number still remaining under the dominion of false religion, and how small is the former ! Does the policy of the bill tend to lessen the disproportion ? No; it at once discourages those who are strangers to the light of truth from coming into the regions of it, and countenances, by example, the nations who continue in darkness, in shutting out those who might convey it to them. Instead of levelling as far as possible every obstacle to the victo- rious progress of truth, the bill, with an ignoble and unchristian timidity, would circumscribe it with a wall of defence against the encroachment of error.
" ' Finally, the equal rights of every citizen to the free exercise of his religion, according to the dictates of his conscience, is held by the same tenure with all our other rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consult the declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis and foundation of government, it is enu- merated with equal solemnity, or rather with studied emphasis. Either, then, we must say that the will of the Legislature is the only measure of their authority, and that, in the plenitude of this authority, they may sweep away all our fundamental rights, or that they are bound to leave this particular right untouched and sacred; either we must say that they may control the freedom of the press, may abolish the trial by jury, may swallow up the executive and judiciary powers of the State,-nay, that they may annihilate our very right of suffrage and erect themselves into an in- dependent and hereditary assembly; or we must say that they have no authority to enact into a law the bill under consideration.' "
THE CHURCHES IN MADISON AND RAPPAHANNOCK.
The following letter from the Rev. Mr. Leavell, the present minister of these counties, contains all that I have been able to collect concerning old Bloomfield parish :-
" DEAR BISHOP :- I have endeavoured to obtain all the information to be had respecting the old parish of Bloomfield,-embracing a section of country now known as Madison and Rappahannock. What I have gathered is from the recollections of the venerable Mrs. Sarah Lewis, now
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in her eighty-second year. Mrs. Lewis is descended from the Pendletons and Gaineses, of Culpepper, the Vauters, of Essex, and the Ruckers. From her I learn that there were two churches,-the brick church, called F. T., which stood near what is now known as the Slate Mills. It took its name from being near the starting-point of a survey of land taken up by Mr. Frank Thornton, who carved the initials of his name-F. T .- on an oak-tree near a spring, where his lines commenced. The other church was called South Church,-I presume from its relative situation, being almost due south, and about sixteen miles distant, and four miles below the present site of Madison Court-House. It was a frame building and stood on the land of Richard Vauters. Both buildings were old at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, and soon after, from causes common to the old churches and parishes in Virginia, went into slow decay. The first minister she recollects as officiating statedly in these churches was a Mr. Iodell, (or Iredell,) who was the incumbent in 1790 or 1792. He remained in the parish only a few years, when he was forced to leave it in consequence of heavy charges of immorality. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. O'Niel, an Irishman, who had charge of the parish for some years, in connection with the Old Pine Stake and Orange Churches. He was unmarried, and kept school near the Pine Stake Church, which stood near to Raccoon Ford, in Orange county. Mr. John Conway, of Madison, was a pupil of his, and relates some things which I may here mention, if you are not already weary of the evil report of old ministers. He played whist, and on one occasion lost a small piece of money, which the winner put in his purse, and whenever he had occasion to make change (he was a sheriff) would exhibit it, and refuse to part with it, because he had won it from the parson. He also took his julep regularly, and, to the undoing of one of his pupils, invited him to join him in the social glass. Still, he was considered as a sober man. Mr. O'Niel left these churches about the year 1800. After that the Rev. Mr. Woodville occasionally performed services there. After the parish became vacant, and the churches had gone to decay, the Lutheran minister, a Mr. Carpenter, officiated at the baptisms, marriages, and funerals of the Episcopal families. It was at the old Lutheran Church, near the court-house, that some of our first political men in Virginia, when candidates for Congress, held meetings and made speeches on Sundays, after the religious services. The same was also done in other places, under the sanction of Protestant ministers.
"The Episcopal families around the churches above mentioned were the Ruckers, Barbours, Beales, Keastleys, Lewises, Blafords, Vauters, Strothers, Thorntons, Burtons, Conways, Gipsons, Pannells, Gaineses.
"Since the resuscitation of the Church in Virginia, although a long time after the commencement of the same, efforts have been made to re- vive the Church in the old Bloomfield parish. A new brick church has been put up at Madison Court-House, and for a time there was a most encouraging prospect of a considerable congregation at that place ; but emigration, the bane of so many other rising congregations in Virginia, has sadly reduced our numbers and disappointed our hopes.
" Since the first efforts in behalf of the churches in Madison, the follow- ing clergymen, ministers of the adjoining counties of Orange, Culpepper, and Rappahannock, have given a portion of their time and labours to Madison :- The Rev. Mr. Lamon, the Rev. Mr. Doughen, the Rev. Mr. Cole, the Rev. Mr. Brown, the Rev. Mr. Earnest, the Rev. Mr. Leavell.
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" Of late years the county of Rappahannock has been formed, partly, I believe, from Madison, and a parish organized in the same. Through the zealous efforts of a few individuals, a neat brick church has been put up at Woodville, in that county. Previous to this the Rev. Mr. Brown spent some years in the parish, labouring there and in Madison. A few years since the Rev. W. H. Pendleton, of Leeds parish, Fauquier, rendered them regular though unfrequent services. For the last three years the Rev. Mr. Leavell has been dividing his time and labours equally between the two counties of Madison and Rappahannock.
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ARTICLE LVII.
Northern Neck of Virginia .- Fairfax and Carter Families.
WE enter now on that most interesting portion of Virginia called the Northern Neck, which, beginning on the Chesapeake Bay, lies between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, and crossing the Blue Ridge, or passing through it, with the Potomac, at Harper's Ferry, extends with that river to the heads thereof in the Alleghany Mountains, and thence by a straight line crosses the North Moun- tain and Blue Ridge, at the head-waters of the Rappahannock. By common consent this is admitted to be the most fertile part of Virginia, and to abound in many advantages, whether we consider the rich supply of fish and oysters in the rivers and creeks of the tide-water portion of it and the rapid growth of its forests and improvable character of its soil, or the fertility of the lands of the valley, so much of which is evidently alluvial.
There were settlements at an early period on the rich banks of the Potomac and Rappahannock by families of note, who took pos- session of those seats which originally belonged to warlike tribes of Indians, which latter were forced to give way to the superior prowess of the former. Of some of these families and their abodes we shall have occasion to make mention in our progress along the parishes lying upon the two rivers. It is not inconsistent with the religious character and design of our work to begin with some notice of that family to which the whole proprietorship of the Northern Neck originally belonged, by a grant from the Crown, especially as, both in England and in Virginia, so many of that name have been attached to the Episcopal Church, and some of whom have been bright ornaments of it.
In the corrupt and venal reign of Charles II., the whole State of Virginia, except such parts as had been specially patented, was made over for a time to Lord Culpepper. There was, of course, a good pecuniary consideration given to the King for quitrents. Lord Culpepper was not only the proprietary of the Colony, but had the livings of all the parishes in his gift,-could bestow or take away as he pleased. There was, however, too much of Ame- rican feeling, even at that early period, to submit to such a mea-
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sure. So heavy were the complaints, and so threatening the opposition, that the King withdrew the grant of proprietorship for the whole State, and restricted it with limitations to the Northern Neck, as above described. By intermarriage between the families of Culpepper and Fairfax, this part of the State came into possession of Thomas Fairfax, whose mother was daughter of Lord Culpepper, himself being the seventh Fairfax who had inherited the title of Lord Cameron. He it was who lived and died in the forests of old Frederick county, as we have stated in a former number, being one of the earliest vestrymen of the parish, an active magistrate, the patron of Washington, a friend of the poor, an eccentric but most upright man.
The family of Fairfax is a very ancient and respectable one, according to English history and family records. Within the last few years, four octavo volumes of the Fairfax history and corre- spondence have been published in England, a large portion of whose contents were accidentally discovered in an old box, supposed to contain tiles, in one of the old family seats. They had been se- creted there during Cromwell's rebellion, or soon after, for safe- keeping, and lest they should fall into the hands of those who would make an ill use of them. Being in a box which, when opened, presented only tiles to the eye, they were supposed to be lost for the larger part of two centuries. Being furnished with a copy of these volumes, and having looked over them for the purpose of collecting any thing suitable to these pages, I present the following brief notices.
The Fairfaxes were of true Saxon origin, going back to the times of William the Conqueror. The name Fair-Fax meant Fair Hair. In the early history of the family an interesting fact is stated in old English verse,-viz .: that grandfather, son, and grandson, with their wives and children, lived in the same house at Bradford,-a village in England.
" Under one roof they dwelt with their three wives, And at one table eat what God gives : Our times a sweeter harmony have not known : There are six persons, yet their hearts but one. In these three pairs Bradford may justly glory : What other place can parallel this story ?"
The above lines were written by the rector of Bradford, in 1647.
At the beginning of the Reformation, one of the Fairfaxes was so staunch a Catholic that he disinherited his eldest son for taking part in the sacking of Rome by the Protestants. The following
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extract from his will shows the character of his creed :- " First; I will and bequeath my soul to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to Lady Mary, his blessed mother." He leaves money to the poor, and also to fourteen poor persons with which to buy black gowns and torches for attendance at his funeral. In a few generations, how- ever, after this, we find Romanism supplanted by as staunch a Protestantism. Thomas Fairfax, the first who had a peerage, and for which, besides many civil and military services, he had to pay fifteen hundred pounds to King James I. in his pecuniary diffi- culties, was a Protestant, and sympathized with Cromwell in his contest with Charles I. His son Ferdinand distinguished himself in Cromwell's army; and his grandson Thomas was the celebrated Lord Fairfax, one of the leaders in the rebel army.
The first Thomas, who purchased the title, had a brother named Edward, who signalized himself by translating "Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered" into a smooth English, before unknown. In a work on Demonology, he thus declares his religious belief and ecclesiastical position :- "I am, in religion, neither a fanatic Puritan nor super- stitious Papist, but so settled in conscience, that I have the sure ground of God's word for all I believe, and the commendable ordinances of our English Church to approve all I practise."
The will of Ferdinando Fairfax, father of the great General in Cromwell's army, differs much from that of his Romish ancestor. Instead of commending his soul to Lady Mary, in conjunction with her son, his will runs thus :- "First, I commend my soul to their infinite Majesties, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,-the same God who hath with his manifold blessings been gracious to me in this world, and whose goodness, in his great mercy, I hope to enjoy in heaven. Next, I give my body to be buried, without much pomp or ceremony, in what place it shall please God to call me out of this sinful world; but, if with convenience it may be, I desire to be interred in the parish of Bolton Percy, near the body of my dear wife." A sensible and pious will, worthy of imitation.
This parish of Bolton Percy was one in which his brother, the Rev. Henry Fairfax, ministered. He appears to have been a truly pious man, and his wife to have been an helpmeet to him. Some interesting letters, written before and after their marriage, show them to have been well formed by nature and grace for the position which they chose in preference to all others. While the country was full of confusion and bloodshed, and his father, brother, and nephew were so actively engaged in revolutionary scenes, he quietly performed his duties as a parish minister, molesting none,
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and being unmolested by any. He had two sons : one of them, Bryan, was a scholar and author ; another, Henry, was the fourth Lord Fairfax, inheriting the title from the great General, who had no son. His son, who was the grandson of the humble curate of Bolton Percy, was also inheritor of the title, and married the daughter of Lord Culpepper. Their son Thomas was the emigrant to America. At his death, his brother Robert, in England, in- herited the title, who, dying without issue, bequeathed his estate to the Rev. Denny Martin, a relative of the family, who assumed the name of Fairfax. The title, however, descended to the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, minister of the Episcopal Church of Alexandria, who was the son of William Fairfax, of Belvoir, the friend of Washington, and manager of the estates of Lord Fairfax after the death of Robert Carter, alias King Carter, of Lancaster.
Before proceeding further with our brief notice of the Fairfax family in Virginia, I must add a word as to the celebrated General in Cromwell's army. Marrying into a Presbyterian family, and espousing a cause much patronized by that denomination, he in- clined, for a time at least, to that persuasion. He appears to have been an upright and conscientious man. The language of his let- ters sometimes savours not a little of that which marked the com- munications of Cromwell; but his sincerity was never questioned, -which cannot be said of Cromwell, notwithstanding all the praises heaped upon him of late years. His great General (Fairfax) could not bring himself to pursue the ill-counselled, obstinate, and tyran- nical Charles to the scaffold, but retired into private life until the time came to put an end to the troubles of the Commonwealth by the restoration of monarchy, in which he took an active part. He had an only child,-a daughter, who married the profligate Duke of Buckingham and led a suffering life. Her relative, Bryan Fairfax, the author, in writing of her, says, "She was an example of virtue and piety in a vicious age and debauched court;" adding, " David tells us, 'Men of high degree are a lie, (they promise and never perform,) and men of low degree are vanity,' (that is, have nothing to give.)"
Before leaving the English connections of this family, it may not be without interest to mention, that there appears to have been an intimate friendship between the Herberts and Fairfaxes in the mother-country, which may have laid the foundation of that which was established between some of them in this. The same may be said in relation to the many matrimonial connections between the Fairfaxes and Carys of Virginia. I meet with a notice of one
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occurring in England, which may have led to those in America. Coming back to Virginia, with my notices of this family, I take pleasure in recording the proofs of genuine piety in the Rev. Bryan Fairfax. On going to England to receive the title, and perhaps some property with it, he met with much trouble, delay, and morti- fication. The Earl of Buchan, General Washington's friend, ad- dressed a letter of religious sympathy and condolence to him, to which he thus responds :- "I have the happiness to say with the Psalmist, in respect of God's dealings toward me, 'I know that of very faithfulness thou hast caused me to be troubled.'" I have also seen and published a sermon of his, in which the evangelical plan of salvation is most distinctly and happily set forth. He also married into the Cary family,-his marriage being one of five oc- curring between the families in the course of a few years. Mr. William Fairfax, of Belvoir, near Mount Vernon, the father of the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, had married one of the same. One of his daughters was married to General Washington's elder brother Lawrence, the owner of Mount Vernon, by which means it came to pass that there was such an intimacy between the General and the Fairfax family, and that matrimonial connections between the Washington and Fairfax families have been so multiplied.
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