USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 14
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This Joseph Ball married a Miss Ravenscroft, of England, and settled in London as practitioner of law. He had only one daughter, Fanny, who married Raleigh Downman in 1750. Her children were Joseph Ball Downman, of Moratico, Fanny, who married Colonel James Ball, of Bewdley, and Mr. Raleigh W. Downman, of Belle-Isle. This Joseph Ball was the uncle of General Washington. I have before me two letters from him, the one addressed to his sister Mary, and the other to his nephew George Washington, from which I take the following passages. The first is to his sister, when her son was thinking of going to sea. It is dated Stratford-by-Bow, 19th of May, 1747 :-
"I understand that you are advised and have some thoughts of putting your son George to sea. I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker, for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the common liberty of the subject ; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings a month and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash and use him like a negro, or rather like a dog. And, as to any considerable preferment in the navy, it is not to be expected, as there are always so many gaping for it here who have interest, and he has none. And if he should get to be master of a Virginia ship, (which it is very difficult to do,) a planter that has three or four hundred acres of land and three or four slaves, if he be industrious, may live more comfortably, and leave his family in better bread, than such a master of a ship can. He must not be too hasty to be rich, but go on gently and with patience,
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as things will naturally go. This method, without aiming at being a fine gentleman before his time, will carry a man more comfortably and surely through the world than going to sea, unless it be a great chance indeed. I pray God keep you and yours. " Your loving brother, JOSEPH BALL."
To his nephew he writes thus after Braddock's defeat :-
"STRATFORD, 5th of September, 1755.
" GOOD COUSIN :- It is a sensible pleasure to me to hear that you have behaved yourself with such a martial spirit, in all your engagements with the French, nigh Ohio. Go on as you have begun, and God prosper you. We have heard of General Braddock's defeat. Everybody blames his rash conduct. Everybody commends the courage of the Virginians and Carolina men, which is very agreeable to me. I desire you, as you may have opportunity, to give me a short account how you proceed. I am your mother's brother. I hope you will not deny my request. I heartily wish you good success, and am
" Your loving uncle,
" JOSEPH BALL "
"To MAJOR GEORGE WASHINGTON,
" At the Falls of Rappahannock, or elsewhere, in Virginia.
" Please direct for me at Stratford-by-Bow, nigh London."
A few words concerning a minister and church of another de- nomination will close my notices of Lancaster.
The county of Lancaster was the scene of the early labours of the Rev. Mr. Waddell, the blind Presbyterian preacher who is so feelingly described by Mr. Wirt, in the British Spy. At a time when disaffection toward the Established Church was spreading through Virginia, and great numbers were leaving it, Mr. Waddell, by his talents, zeal, and piety, gathered two congregations in this county. One of the churches was near the court-house. The graveyard, in its ruins, is the only relic of the establishment of that denomination in Lancaster county. About fifty years since, the church shared the same fate with those of the Establishment which have now passed away. The two acres of land on which it stood, and beneath which are the remains of numerous adherents to that denomination, has ever been regarded as sacred. A grove of oaks, sycamores, pines, and other trees shaded the hillocks and some tombstones which were spread over the surface of the earth, which was carpeted with a covering of green grass. It was, I am told, a favourite resort to the people of the village and country around,-to the young as a play-ground, to the old as a scene of contemplation. I recently visited the spot, but found it no longer a scene for the young or old, the gay or the grave. Nearly every VOL. II .- 9
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tree was gone, having been, within a year or two, cut down and converted into cord-wood and sold to the steamboats. Nothing is now to be seen but stumps and piles of dead branches, which hide not only the hillock-graves, but the few tombstones which were once to be seen. Young cedars are everywhere putting forth their shoots, and in a few years it will be with this spot as with many like it in Virginia,-it must be so hidden from the view that it will be difficult for any ecclesiastical antiquary to discover the spot where Mr. Waddell once proclaimed the Gospel of Christ. Rumour says that, in the absence of any member of the Church near at hand, application was made to some Presbyterian ministers at a dis- tance, and leave granted to do something to this interesting spot which has resulted in such utter desolation.
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ARTICLE LIX.
Parishes in Northumberland County .- Wycomico and St. Stephen's.
NORTHUMBERLAND county, lying on the bay and the Great Po- tomac, was partially settled at an early period. In the year 1646, during the government of Sir William Berkeley, we find the follow- ing Act of Assembly :- " Whereas, the inhabitants of Chicawane, alias Northumberland, being members of this Colony, have not hitherto contributed toward the charges of the war, [with the Indians,] it is now thought fit that the said inhabitants do make payment of the levy according to such rates as are by this present Assembly assessed. ... And in case the said inhabitants shall refuse or deny payment of the said levy, as above expressed, that, upon report thereof to the next Assembly, speedy course shall then be adopted to call them off from the said Plantation." It had in the previous year been allowed a Burgess, in Mr. John Matram. In the fol- lowing year Mr. William Presley was the delegate. In the year 1648, we find the following Act :- " That the ninth Act of Assembly of 1647, for the reducing of the inhabitants of Chickcoun and other parts of the neck of land between Rappahannock and Poto- macke Rivers be repealed, and that the said tract of land be here- after called and known by the name of the county of Northumber- land." In the year 1649, it is declared "that the inhabitants on the south side of the Potomacke [Potomac] shall be included, and are hereafter to be accounted within the county of Northumber- land." In the year 1653, the bounds of Northumberland are reduced by the establishment of Westmoreland county, which was made to extend "from Matchoactoke River, where Mr. Cole lives, and so upward to the falls of the great river Potomacke above the Necostins town;" that is, above what is now Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. In the year 1673, the boundary-line between Lancaster and Northumberland is settled, according to an order of the Assembly, by Colonel John Washington, (the first settler, and great-grandfather of General Washington,) Captain John Lee, William Traveson, William Moseley, and R. Beverley. While we
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have the above Acts of Assembly in relation to its civil divisions, we find nothing as to its religious concerns. The establishment of a parish or parishes within its bounds is nowhere given us, excep) in two lists of the counties in the year 1754, when it is called St. Stephen's parish, with Mr. Thomas Smith for its minister, and in 1758, when it is called Wycomico, and has the Rev. John Leland as its minister. In the year 1776, it is said to have two parishes,- Wycomico and St. Stephen's,-Mr. John Leland the minister of the former, and the Rev. Benjamin Sebastion of the other. Mr. Leland was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1775, and Mr. Sebastion in 1766. It is, however, confidently affirmed to this day that there were two parishes, called Upper and Lower St. Stephen's, besides Wycomico, and that the glebes can be pointed out.
In the year 1785, we find the two parishes represented in the Convention,-Wycomico by the Rev. Mr. Leland, and as lay delegate T. Gaskins, St. Stephen's by the Rev. Thomas Davis, with Mr. Hudson Meuse as lay delegate. In the year 1786, Wycomico alone is represented by Mr. Leland and Mr. Gaskins. In 1787, Mr. Leland appears for the last time, with Mr. David Ball as lay delegate. In 1789, Mr. Oneriphorus Harvey is lay delegate from Wycomico, and in 1790, Mr. Isaac Besye. In that year the Rev. Thomas Davis represents St. Stephen's parish, and also in 1792. In 1795, the Rev. John Seward, with Abraham Beacham as lay delegate, represents St. Stephen's, while three lay delegates, Messrs. Hopkins, Hardy, and Hurst, represent Wycomico. In the year 1797, Thomas Gaskins and Thomas Hurst are lay delegates from Wycomico, and Mr. William Claughton from St. Stephen's. In 1799, the Rev. Mr. Seward still represents St. Stephen's, while William Davenport and Thomas Harvey are lay delegates for Wycomico. There being no Convention, or, if one, no records of it, until 1805, we are unable to say who ministered in Northumber- land in the interim. In that year the Rev. Duncan McNaughton represented St. Stephen's, with John Hull as lay delegate. In the year 1812, the Rev. Samuel Low, with Thomas Gaskins as lay delegate, was in the Convention. Mr. Low was also there in 1813, accompanied by Mr. Joseph Ball. From that to the present time there has, I believe, been no regular minister belonging to either of the parishes of this county, though services have been rendered to them both by the ministers of Lancaster county.
Concerning the church in Wycomico parish, and which was called Wycomico Church, we have something to say from personal know- ledge. Bishop Moore and myself both performed services in it,
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though to a small number of persons. The last time that Bishop Moore was in the desk, a piece of plastering from its high arched ceiling fell upon his head, which was protected by only a few gray hairs. Judging from the size of the house, there must, at the time of its erection, have been many attendants, for it was the largest of the old churches in Virginia of which I have any knowledge. It was built about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when faithful architecture had already waned. After my last visit to it in 1837, I made the following communication to the ensuing Con- vention of 1838 :-
"On Thursday, the 22d instant, I visited Northumberland Court-House in company with the Rev. Washington Nelson, and preached to a respect- able congregation in the Reformed Methodist Church. But few Episcopal families are now to be found in this county. There were formerly three large brick churches in it, two of which are entirely gone, and the third will soon share their fate unless speedy means of prevention be adopted. The one yet remaining, called Wycomico Church, was built in the year 1771, not long before the Revolution, and the walls are still firm. The other part of the workmanship was so inferior to that of former times, that the vestry refused to receive it at the hands of the contractor. The roof is now falling in, and the ceiling has given way some years since. Each of the Bishops of Virginia have preached in this decaying house, though not without some apprehension. Its present condition is truly distressing. The doors and windows are gone. The fine brieks which case the windows and doors are gradually disappearing. Along the deserted aisles, and in the pews of this large cruciform church, measuring seventy- five feet in every direction, may now be seen the carriage, the wagon, the plow, the fishing-seine, barrels of tar and lime, lumber, and various im- plements of husbandry. The cattle have free admission to it, and the pavement of the aisles, and even the marble slab which covers the remains of one of the latest of its ministers, is covered with dirt and rubbish. The old bell which once summoned the neighbours to the house of God is lying in one of the pews near the falling pulpit. In the deserted chancel you look in vain for the Communion-table and the baptismal font, and there is too much reason to fear that these also are used for purposes far other than those to which they were originally consecrated and applied. Some steps have recently been taken toward the repair of this large and venerable building, but whether they will be continued and the work consummated is still doubtful."
At the end of twenty years it pains me to say that my faintest hopes have been more than disappointed, and my worst fears more than realized, since not only every vestige of the house is removed and its site enclosed and cultivated with an adjoining field, but I cannot learn that there is a single family or even individual in the parish still connected with or attached to the Church. The whole population is incorporated with other denominations. That worthy friend and member of our Church, Mr. Joseph Ball, of the old seat
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of Ditchley, was near enough to attend Wycomico, and in Romish days would have been regarded and called its patron saint. Some years after my last visit to this falling church, he placed in my hands a rich service of Communion-plate which belonged to it, saying, that as he was the only surviving friend of the old church, and utterly despaired of its revival, he wished me to take charge of it and let it be used in some other parish. This I did, on the condition that if the parish ever revived it should receive back again the property of its ancestry. The vessels are now used in the congregation and church at Millwood, in Clarke county, and the condition of their loan is recorded in the vestry-book of the parish. The following inscription will also show that its date and use were far anterior to the establishment of old Frederick parish, out of which the parish about Millwood has been carved.
They are as follows :- on the tankard, "The gift of Bartholomew Shriver, who died in 1720, and of Bartholomew his son, who died in 1727, for the use of the parish of Great Wycomico, in the county of Northumberland, 1728." The inscription on the plate is, "The gift of Reynard Delafiae to Quantico Church." We know of no Quantico Church but that which stood near Dumfries, in Prince William county, and suppose that this plate must once have belonged to it. There is no date to the inscription. The cup, as will be seen hereafter, was the gift of Hancock Lee, in 1711.
I sincerely wish that it were in my power to give as good an ac- count of the remnant of the old church itself. The following extract from my report to the Convention of 1841 will tell the history of the disposal of the walls of Wycomico Church :-
" Having thus briefly stated my Episcopal duties in the Northern Neck, I must beg leave to advert to a circumstance which was particularly pre- sented to my consideration while near the site of one of our old churches in the county of Northumberland, and which has been not a little mis- understood and even misrepresented in the public prints and on the floor of our Legislature. In the spring of 1840, I received a communication from Mr. Joseph Ball, an old and valued member of our Church in North- umberland, on the subject of the sale of the church in his neighbourhood. It was then just in that condition when, spoliation of the bricks having begun, it would become an object of plunder to all around and soon dis- appear. One of the neighbours, therefore, proposed to purchase it, and my consent was asked. I replied that I had no right whatever to dispose of it. Visiting that part of the State soon after, Mr. Ball informed me that a gentleman living near the church, and professing an attachment to it, declared that it distressed him to see the church thus treated; that in a short time not a brick would be left; that they would be used for hearths, chimneye, and such like purposes, all the country around; that, if Mr. Ball would consent, he would give five hundred dollars, either to rebuild it or
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to take it down,-the materials in the latter case being his own; that he had consulted a lawyer, who told him that the head of the Church could dispose of it. As Mr. Ball was an old warden of the parish and the only surviving member, the gentleman thought he might be regarded as the head; but, on being told that the Bishop was so regarded, it was referred to myself. In reply to the renewed proposal, I stated again that I had no right to sell it, and was unwilling to have any thing to do with it, as it might be misunderstood and misrepresented. On its being urged by Mr. Ball that a refusal to give such permission would only encourage great numbers to robbery, I at length said that, if he chose to sell it, I would receive the proceeds, and place them in the hands of the trustees of our Theological Seminary, to be returned should it ever be called for to build a church in its room. I was induced to do this partly by the consideration that our Convention had many years before passed a resolution calling upon persons having church-plate in vacant parishes to send it for safe- keeping to the Bishop of the Diocese, liable to be called for should the parishes ever be revived. Such property has been given into the hands of Bishop Moore and myself, and has been lent to other parishes on that condition. I accordingly, in writing, stated my assent to the sale of the walls of the church (nothing else remaining) for five hundred dollars, giving what right I might be thought to have. I looked upon the trans-« action as an affair between the person proposing it, Mr. Ball, and myself, as friends to religion and the Church, who were desirous to prevent a dishonourable use of the remains of a building not likely to be wanted again, and as an act which would be approved by all good and pious per- sons. After having paid one-half of the money, the purchaser refused the remainder, on the plea of its having been an improper sale. In order to prevent all future misunderstanding of this transaction, I have thought it best thus to place it among our records. The two hundred and fifty dollars which were paid were expended, I believe, on the Chapel attached to our Theological Seminary, and I hold myself personally responsible for its return whenever any competent authority shall claim it."
I am sorry to add that to this day the remaining two hundred and fifty dollars is unpaid. I trust that the descendants of the purchaser, even to the latest generation, will feel bound to Wyco- mico, even as the trustees of the Theological Seminary, for the part which has been used.
NOTICES OF THE LEE FAMILY IN VIRGINIA.
In the county of Northumberland and parish of Great Wycomico, and within sight of the Chesapeake Bay, there is an estate and mansion called Ditchley,-an English name of note,-which has probably from its first settlement, more than one hundred years ago, been the favourite resort of the ministers of the Episcopal Church. Its present owner is Mr. Flexmer Ball. His father, Mr. Joseph Ball, was one of the truest members of our Church. Of his ancestry we have just written in our last article. Many and plea- sant have been the hours which, in company with some of the
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brethren, I have spent at Ditchley within the last thirty years. Ditchley is one of the old residences of the Lees. The mansion called Cobbs, where Colonel Richard Lee, the first of the family, lived for some time, was near to Ditchley, and has only very re- cently been removed to make place for another, although it must have been built two hundred years ago or more. The first settler, of whom more will hereafter be said, had many sons, of whom the seventh, Hancock Lee, built and lived at Ditchley. He was twice married,-first to a Miss Kendall, then to a Miss Allerton, by each of whom he had children, whose descendants are among us to this day. He died in 1729, as his tombstone in the family burying- ground at Ditchley shows to this day. Both of his wives are buried at the same place. That he was a patron of the church is shown by the fact that he presented a Communion-cup to the parish in 1711. In honour either of himself or father, or the whole family, the parish was then called Lee parish, as may be seen by the in- scription on the cup. It was afterward called Wycomico. After the downfall of the parish, Mr. Joseph Ball placed this and other pieces into my hands for preservation, in hope that the day might come when the old Lee and more modern Wycomico parish might call for it again. It is now used in the church at Millwood, Clarke county, and the source whence it came and the pledge given are recorded in the vestry-book of the same, as has already been said.
The following account of the Lee family is copied from a manu- script in the handwriting of William Lee, dated London, September, 177-, the last figure not known, but just before the war, as is evi- dent from the document itself. Its author was one of the six sons of Thomas Lee, so many of whom were active in the Revolution. It is somewhat doubtful whether in the early part of it Mr. Arthur Lee and William Lee, in London, were not as effective as Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee in America. Mr. William Lee, author of the following sketch, was sheriff and alderman in the city. of London, and subsequently commercial agent for Congress in Europe and their Commissioner at the Courts of Berlin and Vienna. He married a Miss Ludwell and left three children,- William Ludwell, of Greenspring, who is buried in the old church- yard at Jamestown, Portia, who married Mr. William Hodgson, and Cornelia, who married Mr. John Hopkins. The high character of Mr. Lee stamps a value on the following statement :-
" Richard Lee, of good family in Shropshire, and whose picture, I am told, is now at Cotton, near Bridgenorth, the seat of Lancelot Lee, Esq., some time in the reign of Charles I. went over to the Colony of Virginia
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as Secretary and one of the King's Privy Council, which last part will for shortness be called 'of the Council.' He was a man of good stature, comely visage, enterprising genius, a sound head, vigorous spirit, and generous nature. When he got to Virginia, which at that time was not much cultivated, he was so pleased with the country that he made large settlements there with the servants he carried over. After some years he returned to England, and gave all the lands he had taken up and settled at his expense to those servants he had fixed on them, some of whose de- seendants are now possessed of very considerable estates in that Colony. After staying some time in England, he returned to Virginia with a fresh band of adventurers.
" During the civil war here, Sir William Berkeley was the Governor of Virginia : he and Lee, both being loyalists, kept the Colony to its allegiance, so that after the death of Charles I. Cromwell was obliged to send some ships-of-war and soldiers to reduce the Colony, which not being able to do, a treaty was made with the Commonwealth of England, wherein Virginia was styled an independent dominion. This treaty was ratified here as made with a foreign power, upon which Sir William Berkelcy (who was of the same family as the present Earl of Berkeley) was re- moved, and another Governor appointed in his room. When Charles II. was at Breda, Richard Lee came over from Virginia and went there to him to know if he could undertake to protect the Colony if they returned to their allegiance to him; but, finding no support could be obtained, he returned to Virginia and remained quiet until the death of Cromwell, when he, with the assistance of Sir William Berkeley, contrived to get Charles II. proclaimed there King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Virginia two years before he was restored here, and Sir William Berkeley was reinstated as his Governor, in which station he continued until some time after the Restoration, when he came over, and died pre- sently. It was in consequence of this step that the motto of the Virginia arms always till after the union was 'En dat Virginia quintam ;' but since the union it was changed to 'En dat Virginia quartam;' that is, King of Great Britain, France, Ireland, and Virginia. Here, by-the- way, I cannot help remarking the extreme ingratitude of this Prince Charles II. Oliver Cromwell, to punish Virginia and some of the other parts of America for adhering to the royal cause, after he had got him- self quite fixed in his supreme authority, both here and there, contrived the famous Navigation Act, upon a model he borrowed from the Dutch, by which the American Colonies were deprived of many of their ancient and valuable privileges : upon the Restoration, instead of repealing this Act, it was confirmed by the whole Legislature here; and to add to the ingratitude, at two other periods in his reign, taxes were imposed on American commodities under the pretext of regulations of trade, from which wicked source have flowed all the bitter waters that are now likely to overwhelm America or this country, and most probably will in the end be the ruin of both. But to return. This Richard Lee had several chil- dren. The two eldest-John and Richard-were educated at Oxford. John took his degree as doctor of physic, and returned to Virginia, and died before his father Richard. He was so clever and learned, that some great men offered to promote him to the highest dignities in the Church, if his father would let him stay in England; but this offer was refused, because the old gentleman was determined to fix all his children in Vir- ginia. So firm was he in this purpose, that by his will he ordered an
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