USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 17
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"Colonel Garner, an officer of the Revolution, lived three or four miles distant: passing the church late in the evening with a friend, they were overtaken by an angry cloud of wind and rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The colonel proposed taking shelter in the church, leading their horses in, which they could do without difficulty, as the porch and pavement of the aisles were on a level with the ground. To this his friend positively objected, declaring he would rather bear the pelting of the storm than pass an hour within its gloomy walls. He therefore put spurs to his horse for his home. Not so with the colonel : he was a brave man, not fearing hobgoblins or witches. He dismounted at the opening in the wall, where there had once been a gate. Taking the bridle-rein in his hand, he proceeded to thread his way through the bushes to the porch. He got inside, followed by his horse, and was just entering the church, when the unusual visit frightened a flock of sheep that had taken shelter there, who suddenly rushed to the door to make their escape. The charge took the colonel by surprise, knocked him down, routed his horse, and trampled him in the dust, (for it was not paved as it now is.) After the column had passed over him, he found in the 'mêlée' he had lost his hat, and was scratched and bruised about the face and hands. Nothing daunted, how- ever, he groped his way into the church, and, being well acquainted with its internal arrangement, he took shelter in the pulpit, where he knew was a comfortable seat, and where he would be protected from the wet by the sounding-board, made of durable materials and still firmly attached to the wall. The storm was now raging without, lightning and thundering and raining, with a tempest of wind. After sitting for a time he fell asleep and did not awake until three or four in the morning. By this time the cloud had passed over, the stars were shining, and he was glad to extricate himself by a hasty retreat homeward. He found his discomfited horse taking his rest at the stable-door.
"Our happiness at this encampment, after some months, was unexpectedly broken up by the arrival of a vessel with an order to embark for St. Mary's, Maryland. We finished our military service by assisting in the defence of Fort McHenry, Baltimore. We had the satisfaction, however, of carrying with us the united testimony of the whole neighbourhood that not a chicken, an egg, or a vegetable, had been wrongfully taken by any one of the soldiers, nor an injury or an insult offered to any one. The church and its environs had been sacredly guarded, and we left it in a much better condition than we found it. But it was not so (as I afterward learned) by our successors, a
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company of militia from the upper country, who proved themselves to be a scourge to those they professedly came to protect, by robbery, violence, and destruction of private property. It was they 'who made a chopping-block of the Communion-table' and otherwise defaced the church. In ascribing it to the soldiers, be assured, sir, you have been led into an unintentional error. They served under a discipline paternal but strict, both as regards order and cleanliness. In the year 1820, being on a visit to Ayrfield, and seeing Old Yeocomico still a ruin, even more deplorable than when I left it, I proposed to Mr. Murphy to undertake its repair. To this he not only assented, but gave money, labour, and his personal service. The gentle- men of the neighbourhood subscribed cheerfully and liberally, and the work was pushed forward by employing suitable mechanics and importing from Alexandria lumber, shingles, paints, and seven or eight barrels of tar for the roof, which had not had a shingle put upon it since the year 1788, at which time, I heard Mr. Murphy say, the gentlemen of the sur- rounding estates were assessed to meet the expense. It is true as you state,-the font, 'a beautiful marble one,' as you describe it, had been taken away and used for unholy purposes, and by him restored; also, the plate, with a damask tablecloth and napkins marked ' Yeocomico Church' in the centre, had been safely kept at Lee Hall, and were gladly restored by the pious and excellent lady, the late Mrs. Sarah Newton, who at that time owned and occupied the mansion and estate. The first thing we did was to open a double gateway in front, with a wide gravel-walk up to the porch or apex of the cross, the pavement of which I laid with my own hands, none there being familiar with such work. If the narrow opening in the wall was symbolical of the 'narrow path,' the one we now opened was illustrative of 'free grace,'-a truth to which I feel myself indebted for a knowledge of salvation through the interceding blood of a crucified Redeemer. It is also true, as you state, I presented the church with a large stove and ample pipe to warm it thoroughly, it having stood for upward of a century without one. It is also true I had the great pleasure to place a Bible and Prayer-Book both on the desk and in the pulpit, and I rejoice to know the church is still protected and cared for,-although I have not seen it for more than twenty years. Permit me now, sir, in conclusion, to say I have frequently reflected with sorrow on the mysterious desolation of the ancient churches of Virginia, and can only account for it by the demoniac influence of the infidel theories and sentiments of the French Revolution, which at that time pervaded the public mind and had poisoned the very fountain of our better nature and sealed the best impulses of the human heart. These temples of the living God, these sacred monuments of the faith of our fathers and the religious care of the Provincial Govern- ment, were generally of lofty and commanding structure, of costly finish, and of the most durable materials,-such as in England havo lasted for centuries. They stood in well-chosen positions, and under their shadow lay the remains of the kindred of large congregations, many of whom were the immediate descendants of holy men who had ministered at their altars; yet, most strange to say, not an arm was put forth to save, or an eye found to pity. 'Behold, therefore, saith the Lord, your house is left unto you desolate.'
"Be pleased to accept, reverend sir, my most respectful regard,
"PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, March 20, 1857."
"WM. L. ROGERS.
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ARTICLE LXI.
Washington Parish, Westmoreland.
THIS name was doubtless given to it at an early period, and after the first of the Washingtons; though we see nothing of its first establishment in the Acts of Assembly. The Bishop of London sends a circular to its minister in 1723. The Rev. Laurence De Butts was its minister in that year, and had been for the three pre- ceding years. The parish was thirty miles long and five wide, extending only half-way across the Neck at that time. There were two churches in it. He administered the Communion three times a year, and two quarts of wine had been used at one time. Mr. De Butts preached also, during the week, at St. Stephen's Church, Northumberland county, at Farnham Church, Richmond county, and in Cople parish, they all being vacant at that time. The glebe of four hundred and fifty acres was bequeathed to the parish for the better maintenance of a minister and schoolmaster, and the vestry gave it entirely to him on condition that he would provide one to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, which he had done. What has become of this glebe we know not. We find in the old county records the name of another minister in Westmore- land, about this same time,-the Rev. Walter Jones. He may have ministered in some other parish, or been a private teacher, and been merely summoned as a witness. We have no record of any minis- ter in Washington parish after this until the year 1754, when the Rev. Archibald Campbell appears on one of our lists.
Of him and his family I have something special to say. Our lists of clergy show him to have been the minister of Washington parish from the year 1754 to 1774,-a period of twenty years. During most of that time Round Hill Church (afterward in Hano- ver parish, King George county, by a change of the boundary-line in the two counties) was connected with Pope's Creek Church, in Washington parish, and Mr. Campbell was minister of those churches. I have something to say about the former of these churches which has a bearing on the date of Mr. Campbell's minis- try and first coming to this country.
In my report, in the year 1838, of a visit to this region in the
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preceding year, I thus speak :- " In passing from Westmoreland to King George county, where my next appointment was made, the traveller may see, immediately on the roadside, the last vestiges of an old church called 'Round Hill Church.' A few broken bricks and a little elevation made by the mouldered ruins are all now left to say, Here once stood a church of the living God."
Within the last few months I spent a night at the hospitable house of Colonel Baber, near whose outer gate the old church stood. On learning that there was an old tombstone still to be seen among the ruins, I determined to search for it. In the morn- ing, on our way to St. Paul's Church, Colonel Baber's son, Rev. Mr. Dashiel, and myself, dismounted and made our way to the spot through the thick pines and cedars with which it was overgrown. After considerable search we discovered the end of a large tomb- stone, the greater portion of which was covered over with the roots of trees, moss and leaves. After clearing away the two latter, we made out the inscription, as follows :- " Here lies Rebecca, the wife of the Rev. Archibald Campbell, minister of Washington parish, who died the 21st of March, 1754." "Here also lies Alexander, their child." Now, as it is well known that he had another son by the name of Alexander, an eminent lawyer of Virginia, the one buried beneath or near this stone may have been born and died some years before this, and so Mr. Campbell's ministry be carried back a number of years before 1754, his second son Alexander being born before that time. If this be so, and it be also true that the Rev. Mr. Campbell kept a school in Westmoreland,-as tra- dition says, and of which there is no doubt,-it may also be true, as tradition further reports, that General Washington and Thomas Marshall, father of the Chief-Justice, and perhaps Colonel Monroe and Mr. Madison, all of whom were born in this region, may at one time have been scholars of Mr. Campbell. General Washington was born in 1732, and until his sixteenth year was much in West- moreland. It is only necessary that Mr. Campbell's ministry and school should have commenced five or six years before the death of his wife, to render this a probable thing. I introduce the report in order to elicit either confirmation or rejection. Of the history of this branch of the Campbells of Virginia I have obtained the following statement. Two brothers, Archibald and Alexander, emigrated to Virginia some time before the war. Archibald settled as a clergyman in Westmoreland, and Alexander as a merchant in Falmouth. At the breaking out of the war, Archibald took part with the Americans, with the Washingtons and Lees, his parish-
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ioners, while Alexander preferred the British side of the question, and returned to Scotland. The youngest son of Alexander was born in Glasgow, in 1777 .*
* This youngest son was none other than the celebrated poet Thomas Campbell. In a letter from a friend who is much interested and deeply versed in such mat- ters, there is the following passage :- "Of the Campbells I can say nothing more than you have related at this moment, except perhaps that lawyer Campbell was a most eloquent man, and that Campbell, a brother of the poet, married a daughter of Patrick Henry. This I will inquire into. As Patrick Henry himself was de- scended on the mother's side from the stock of Robertson the historian, and is in that way a relative of Lord Brougham, so his descendants are connected with the poet Campbell, thus showing a connection between our great orator and one of the greatest politicians and one of the sweetest poets of the age."
The following extract from a letter of one of Mr. Campbell's grandsons throws additional light on the history of the family :- "I will now give you some facts that I have been able to gather in reference to him and his descendants. Parson Campbell came to Virginia previous to the year 1730. He resided at the glebe near Johnsville, in what was then Westmoreland but now King George county. He preached at Round Hill Church, and probably at Pope's Creek Church. A road leading a part of the way from the glebe to Round Hill Church still goes by the name of the Parson's Road. It was said to have been cut through the forest for Parson Campbell's use. Parson Campbell was twice married. His first wife died soon after her marriage. His second wife was a sister of the Rev. William Stuart, of King George County. By this marriage there were three sons,-Archibald, Alexander, and John: the two last-mentioned were distinguished lawyers. Archi- bald, my grandfather, left a daughter and two sons. Frederick, the elder son, was a lawyer. He inherited an entailed estate in Scotland, and died in Europe. Ferdi- nand, the second son, was formerly Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary College, and died near Philadelphia. Alexander was twice married, and left two daughters, one of whom died unmarried : the other is the wife of Judge Wayne, of the Supreme Court. John was also married twice, and left several children. Parson Campbell was from Scotland. He was related to the Stuart and Argyle families of that country, and was the uncle of Thomas Campbell the poet. In addition to the performance of his ministerial duties, he also taught a school. It is said that he had among his pupils Madison, Monroe, and Chief-Justice Marshall. The Rev. William Stuart studied theology under his direction. Parson Campbell died leaving a considerable estate."
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The following letter, having been received since the foregoing was published in the "Southern Churchman," corrects some inaccuracies and furnishes additional information.
"BISHOP MEADE,
"NEWSTEAD, March 20, 1857.
"REV. AND DEAR SIR :- In perusing the brief sketch given by you of the Camp- bells of Virginia, my mother discovered some inaccuracies, which it gives us plea- sure to correct as far as we can do so. She says that her grandfather (Archibald Campbell) married twice. Of the history of his first wife, whose name you saw on the tombstone at the Round Hill Church in King George, she knows very little, as she survived but a very short time after marriage, leaving no descendants. The second wife, who was her grandmother, was a Miss McCoy, daughter of William McCoy, who was the pastor of North Farnham parish, Richmond county, in the year 1754, but
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The sons of Archibald were Archibald, Alexander, and John. Archibald inherited the property of his father in Westmoreland, consisting of two seats, the one called Pomona, the other Camp- bellton, at the last of which the father lived and kept his school. It is now the summer residence of Mr. Laurence Washington. The other sons, Alexander and John, were eminent lawyers. Alexander married a Miss Fitzhugh, of King George, who at his death married the Rev. Dr. Kollock, minister of churches in Princeton, New York, Charleston, (South Carolina,) and lastly in Savannah. An only daughter, by her first husband, married Judge Wayne, of the Su- preme Court. The last son, John, was a lawyer in Westmoreland, and represented the county in the Legislature, and the parish in one of our Conventions. His daughters were Eliza, who married Mr. Leland; Emily, who married Robert Mayo; Sarah, who mar- ried Landon Berkeley; Louisa, who married John Mayo; and Octavia.
After the disappearance of Mr. Campbell from any of our re-
whose name you incorrectly spell, in your article on that parish, McKay. This William McCoy married a Miss Fitzhugh, of Marmion, King George,-a woman distinguished for her eminent piety,-and our grandmother was a daughter by that marriage. The school which you speak of was established after his last marriage, for the benefit of his own sons, Archibald and Alexander. My grandfather, who was John, being an infant at the period of his death, was baptized by him on his death-bed. My mother thinks she has heard that Chief-Justice Marshall, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, were taught by him, with her uncles Archibald and Alexander. She does not think that the school was established early enough to admit the belief of Colonel Marshall or General Washington's having been pupils of his. To the property acquired by my mother's grandfather in Virginia, he gave the name of Kirnan, after a family seat in Argyleshire, Scotland. Campbellton was the residence of my grandfather. Alexander married his cousin, Miss Fitzhugh, of Marmion, and had only one daughter by that marriage, whose name was Lucy : she lived in my grandfather's family until the period of her death, which occurred within a few years past. Mrs. Wayne was by a second marriage. The other brother, Archibald, married Miss Hughs, of Maryland, and had two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Frederick, inherited a large entailed estate in the island of Bute, in Scotland, from the Stuarts, who intermarried with the Campbells, and he took the name of Frederick Campbell Stuart with the estate. The second son, Ferdinand, was Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary, under the administration of Drs. Smith and Wilmer. The daughter, Anna Campbell, married Dr. Tennant, an eminent physician of Port Royal: she died not many years since. Her children were Washington, who was a physician ; Mercer, who married Miss Grymes, of King George; Susan, the first wife of Dr. John May, of Westmoreland; Maria, who married Thomas Hunter, of Fredericksburg; and Lucy, who married his brother, Taliafero Hunter. Mrs. Tennant lived and died a very consistent member of the Episcopal Church, and her children are all members of it. We give this information in compliance with your request that mistakes might be corrected.
"Yours very respectfully, VOL. II .- 11
ELIZA C. LELAND."
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cords, we have no account of any minister in Washington parish until the year 1785, when the Rev. Francis Wilson serves it for one year. In the year 1796, the Rev. John O'Donnell appears once in a Convention. We have none after this until the year 1822, when the Rev. Josiah Clapham appears in Convention, with Mr. John Campbell, son of the Rev. Mr. Campbell, as lay delegate. Mr. Clapham continued its minister for some years, performing his duties piously and faithfully, and with as much energy as his bodily infirmities would allow of. After a considerable interval, we find the parish again supplied by the services of the Rev. William McGuire, who served it in connection with Cople parish. Within a few years past, a new parish has been taken from Washington parish, by the name of Montross, in which a new church has been built, while another, by the name of St. Peter's, has been built at Oak Grove. We are much indebted to the labours of the Rev. William McGuire for both these new churches. The Rev. Mr. Tuttle was the minister of Washington parish for one year, since which time the Rev. Mr. Chesley has been settled there.
THE OLD CHURCHES IN WESTMORELAND.
There were three of these,-the Round Hill Church, Pope's Creek Church, and one at Leeds, on the Rappahannock. Pope's Creek Church lay immediately on the road from Westmoreland Court-House to King George. The following notice of it is taken from my report to the Convention of 1838 :-
"It was near to this church that General Washington was born. It was in this that he was baptized. Here it was that he received those early impressions of religion which, instead of being effaced by age, seemed to grow with his growth and strengthen with his strength. The proofs of this have been abundantly furnished in the 'Religious Opinions and Cha- racter of Washington,' by the Rev. Mr. McGuire, a work recently published, and for which the writer deserves the thanks of every friend of Washing- ton, of religion, and of our country. I have said that this church is now in ruins, and I would add, that about twenty-six years ago, [1812,] when I was in Deacon's Orders, I remember to have been in it, with the Rev. Mr. Norris, an early and beloved associate in the ministry, at which time it was beginning to decay in the roof; but there was a large congregation, and twenty-eight children were brought forward for baptism. It was the first service which had been performed in it for a long time, and from that period it continued to decay, until a few years ago it was set on fire in order to prevent injury, from the falling of the roof, to the cattle which were accustomed to shelter there."
It ought to be added that so attached were the citizens of the
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county to this old building, that the excuse for its destruction by fire was not readily admitted. Indeed, so indignant were they, that it was brought before the grand jury and the court. The result, however, was the acquittal of the party. It has now been twenty years since the above-mentioned visit, and I have often within that time passed the same spot, at each time perceiving the disappearance of all that was old, and the rise and growth of what was new. Trees and shrubs have been growing up over and around the old site, rendering it more difficult each year to the passing traveller to find out where Old Pope's Creek Church once stood. I should not myself, in a recent visit, have been able to discover it, but for the aid of a friend who was with me. I could not but ask myself and that friend if it were not possible that a simple but durable monument-say a pillar a few feet high-could be placed on the roadside, with the name of Pope's Creek Church upon it, to inform posterity that on that spot stood the church of the Washingtons, the Lees, the Paynes, and others. It is said that the Legislature intends to have an enclosure around the birthplace of Washington and the burying-place of his ancestors, which are near at hand; and surely some individual or individuals would take pleasure in marking the spot where God was worshipped by so many, and where the remains of not a few were interred, although no tombstones have preserved their names. Among those whose bodies were deposited around this church is to be numbered the Hon. Thomas Lee, (the father of Richard Henry Lee and a noble band of brothers and sisters,) the owner of Stratford, for whom it was rebuilt by the Queen, after being consumed by fire, who held the first offices in the Colony under several Governors, and whose commission as Governor reached Virginia in 1756, just after his death. I take the following inscrip- tion from his tombstone, which I saw some years since, lying against the wall of the family vault at Stratford :-
"In memory of the Hon. Thomas Lee, whose body was buried at Pope's Creek Church, five miles above his country-seat, Stratford Hall, in 1756."
Of Mr. Lee some account has been given in the sketch of the Lee family in the article on Northumberland county.
LEEDS OR BRAY'S CHURCH.
This church stood on the Rappahannock, at the outskirts of the place called Leeds. It was of brick. The ruins of it are yet to be seen, apparently hanging on the bank of the river. It has
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undergone many changes of late years since it was deserted as a house of worship, having been used as a tavern, stable or barn, and been altered so as to suit the different purposes to which it has been applied. Leeds was once a place of note in this part of Virginia. It was doubtless named, either by the Fairfaxes or Washingtons, after the town of Leeds, in Yorkshire, near which both of their ancestral families lived. This in Virginia was a place of much trade in tobacco and other things. Its shipping was very consider- able at one time, and it gave the promise of being a town of no small importance, but, like many other such places in Virginia, as Dumfries, Colchester, Warren, Warminster, it failed to fulfil the expectations excited. For one thing it deserves to retain a lasting place in the history of the American Revolution. As Boston was the Northern, so Leeds may be called the Southern cradle of Ame- rican Independence. This was the place where, with Richard Henry Lee as their leader, the patriots of Westmoreland met, before any and all others, to enter their protest against the in- cipient steps of English usurpation. At this place did they resolve to oppose the Stamp Act, nor allow any citizen of Westmoreland to deal in stamps. This is a true part of the American history.
ROUND HILL CHURCH.
Of this we have said something in our mention of the Rev. Mr. Campbell. In the following communication from my brother, Bishop Payne, of Africa, further notice of it will be found, together with interesting accounts of his own family. One of these at my first visit to Pope's Creek Church promised one hundred dollars for its repairs,-a large sum for those times.
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