USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 23
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some time amid the rubbish of the top-shelf of an old cupboard standing in the room, she brought out two small, old, well-worn pieces of church-plate, supposed to be those once used in the Old Quantico Church. I still have them in my possession, to bestow on some poor parish which will not be too proud to use them. There were galleries in the church at Broad Run, one of which was allowed to be put up by Mr. Thomas Harrison, provided it was done so as not to incommode any of the pews below it. The others were put up by the vestry and sold. The pews below were all common, though doubtless taken possession of by different families, as is usual in England. The old English custom (beginning with the Royal family in St. George's Church at Windsor) of appropriating the galleries to the rich and noble was soon followed in Virginia, and, as we shall see hereafter, the old aristocratic families could with difficulty be brought down from their high lofts in the old churches, even after they became uncomfortable and almost dangerous. I find an entry on this vestry-book concerning payment to the sextons of these churches for making fires, which is the first of the only two instances I have met with, and I am in doubt whether the pay- ment was for fire in the churches or vestry-rooms in the yard; for I have never seen where provision was made for fires in any of the old churches, either by open chimneys or stoves, if indeed stoves were then known in the land. It was the same case in the old churches in England, and still is in cathedrals to this day, and it is no wonder that the latter are so cold, damp, and comfortless. Very few, if any, of the country churches, even in New England, were warmed by stoves when I travelled through it in the year 1819. In this respect I think we have certainly improved on the customs of our fathers. I think that in some other respects we have advanced in liberality. Nothing was done gratuitously by any member of the church. The lay readers were always paid one thousand or twelve hundred weight of tobacco. Clerks received about the same. No liberal gentleman gave his wine for the Com- munion, as in latter days, but always charged for it. The annual cost at each of the churches in this parish was four pounds for twelve bottles of wine. One thing has struck me, in all the in- dentures required of those to whom orphan or illegitimate children were bound by the vestry, as speaking well for the times. The masters were required to teach those who were bound to them "the art and mystery of some trade," to "instruct them in the principles of the Christian religion." Sometimes the catechism, Lord's prayer, creed, and Commandments are specified, as also the doc-
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trines of the Episcopal Church. On the part of those bound, they must "obey their masters, keep his secrets, not leave his house night or day without leave, not embezzle his goods or suffer others to do it, not play at cards, dice, or any other unlawful game, or frequent taverns or tippling-houses." Whether these promises were faithfully complied with or not, we are unable to say. We shall see hereafter that, by the laws of the Assembly, the very same things were forbidden the clergy,-viz. : cards, dice, and other un- lawful games ; also taverns and tippling-houses and such places : but they were disregarded by many. It is, however, a matter of re- joicing to see such testimonies to good morals by those in authority, and by legislative acts, even though contradicted by the conduct of those who bear them. In the most corrupt ages of the Chris- tian Church the most wholesome laws are to be found and the best forms of religion have been used. That God who has kept the Bible pure through so many ages of darkness and corruption has also, by civil and ecclesiastical legislatures and rulers, preserved and handed down many most faithful expositions of its moral code. Some faithful ones there have been in every age who have obeyed these laws. I doubt not but there were some ministers in the darkest age of the Church in Virginia who obeyed her canons, and some masters and mistresses who fulfilled pledges to orphans and poor unfortunates.
I now return to the history of the ministers of Dettingen parish. At the death of Mr. James Scott, his son, the Rev. John Scott, was chosen minister. His ministry was of short duration. He resigned the following year on account of ill health, and died soon after. There are some painful circumstances in the history of this minister ; and, as they have been misrepresented and made worse than they really were, it is due to himself and posterity to make a correct statement. Even in that there is much not only to be regretted, but utterly condemned,-the spirit of the times affording no excuse which should for a moment be entertained. From a letter in my possession, I think it probable he was set apart for the ministry in early youth. At the age of eighteen, however, he was engaged in an affair which showed that he was ill qualified for it at that time,- being destitute of all godliness,-however changed he may have been afterward. He conceived that his father and himself had been in- sulted and injured by the misrepresentations of one who, according to report, was a most unworthy and dangerous man, and that it was his duty to seek reparation by a resort to arms. He accord- ingly determined to challenge, and applied to Mr. Bullett, his
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brother-in-law, to be with him in the contest. Mr. Bullett dissuaded him from the challenge in a letter, which I have in my possession, and which contains some of the many unanswerable arguments against duelling. Failing in his effort, he attends him to the place of combat,-the end of Old Quantico Church, where the father of young Scott had so often read the words of Jehovah from Mount Sinai, "Thou shalt do no murder." The result was, that the second, who had warned against the act, and who, it was supposed, had gone in the hope of preventing the contest, was so treated by the challenged man on the ground as to engage in a contest with him, in which the other was slain. He was tried and unanimously ac- quitted by the court upon the ground of self-defence. Mr. Scott was obliged to fly the country, and, with his younger brother, Gustavus, went to Scotland. I take the following account of him while in Scotland, and after his return, from a letter written by one of his descendants :-
"Immediately after the trial and acquittal of Mr. Bullett, my grand- father and his younger brother, Gustavus, left this country for Scotland. Soon after their arrival in Scotland they entered King's College, old Aberdeen, where they finished their education. My grandfather, who seems to have taken life by storm, married, while a student of King's College, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Gordon, one of the professors. He was afterward ordainel by the Bishop of London. It was during his re- sidence in Scotland that my grandfather formed an acquaintance (which ripened into a friendship) with Sir Robert Eden, an English or Scotch baronet. When Sir Robert was appointed Governor of Maryland, he in- vited my grandfather to Annapolis, promising to appoint him his chaplain, and to use his influence to obtain for him the rich parish of Eversham. My grandfather readily accepted so advantageous an offer, and soon after sailed for America, leaving his infant son, Robert Eden Scott, (who it was feared could not bear a three months' voyage,) with his maternal relatives. Upon his return to America, he proceeded to Annapolis, was appointed chaplain to the Governor, and pastor of the parish of Eversham. He re- sided in Maryland until the war between the Colonies and the mother- country broke out. An Englishman in principle, he adhered to the royal cause, and, taking too active a part in politics, became obnoxious to the Revolutionary party,-into whose hands the government had passed,- and was banished one hundred miles from tide-water. Compelled to leave Maryland, he sold his property there for Continental money, and returned to Virginia, intending to return to Scotland as soon as he could make the necessary arrangements. While making those arrangements he resided on his plantation, which he called Gordonsdale, after the name of his wife. His health soon after failing, he was advised to try the waters of Bath, in Berkeley county, Virginia. On his return from Bath he stopped at the residence of General Wood, who had married his cousin, Miss Moncure,- died there, and was buried under the pulpit of the old Episcopal church in Winchester. Whether he was pastor of any parish in Fauquier, I am unable to say ; but, as he did not long survive his banishment from Mary-
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5
land, I am inclined to think he never received such an appointment .* My grandfather, as the Bishop has no doubt heard, was a man of fine talents and remarkable eloquence, as well as the handsomest man of his day. His gayety and wit caused his society to be much sought after, and, from all that I have heard, rather unfitted him for his sacred profession. After his death, my grandmother, who had been summoned to Winchester to receive his expiring adieu, returned to Gordonsdale. The distracted condition of the country (the Revolutionary War was then at its height) compelled her to relinquish all hope of a return to her native country. She continued to reside at Gordonsdale, devoting herself to the education of her chil- dren,-a task for which she was eminently fitted, since she had received a college education. She lived to see her children grown and settled in life, and died lamented. Several years before her death she had the pleasure of welcoming to Virginia her eldest son, Robert Eden Scott, and, although twenty-one years had elapsed since she had left him an infant in Scotland, she recognised him immediately. During his visit to Virginia he received the office of a professorship in King's College, old Aberdeen, where he had received his education and his maternal ancestors had held professorships for three hundred years. He returned to Scotland, was made professor of mathematics, married a daughter of Sir William Forbes, and died young and childless."
To the above notice of Mr. Scott I add a report, which is not improbable, that, at the time he was summoned before the Council at Annapolis to give an account of his anti-American principles, Robert Goodloe Harper, then a young lawyer, was called in to examine him, and ever afterward spoke of him as the most talented man with whom he had ever engaged in controversy. After the resignation of the Rev. John Scott in 1784, the Rev. Spence Grayson was chosen minister. How long he continued such we do not know; nor can we say any thing concerning him or his ministry,-though our impression is that he was a worthy man. The vestry-records end with the year 1785. At the last meeting vestrymen were elected under the new organization of the Church, a delegate appointed to the Convention, and an order made to raise funds for the support of the minister,-as nothing now remained but the glebe, which was of little value. Although an order was passed that the records of the vestry should be handed over by the old clerk to the clerk of the new vestry, it fell into the hands of the overseers of the poor ; and, some blank leaves being left in the vestry-book, the proceedings of the latter body were for a few years recorded on them. In this way it happened that the vestry-book came into the possession of the court. I have petitioned the court to have it sent for safe-keeping to our fireproof library at the
* In this the writer is mistaken, as the vestry-book shows that he was minister in Dettingen parish nearly two years.
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Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church near Alexandria, to which, I hope, many such documents will be transmitted. We have no certain accounts of any successor to Mr. Grayson ; but it is confidently believed that the Rev. Thomas Harrison was the minister for some years after Mr. Grayson's death, as his name appears in the list of the overseers of the poor from 1792 to 1802, when it disappears, and when he either probably died or resigned. I have been unable to obtain any reliable accounts of Mr. Harrison. His name is nowhere to be seen on any of the lists of the clergy which I have. My old friend, Mr. Samuel Slaughter, of Culpepper, (now eighty-eight years of age,) told me, during the last summer, that he went to school to him in Culpepper when he was minister of Bloom- field parish, and that he afterward moved over to Prince William. He was the father of a numerous offspring of sons and daughters, who became scattered over the land. The late Mr. Phil. Harrison, of Richmond, was one of his sons, who are said to have been nine in number. I became acquainted with one of the families many years since near Dumfries. Its members were then preparing to move to the South. On the first page of the vestry-book of Dettingen parish, I find a leaf taken from the old Overwharton vestry-book and fastened to the latter,-doubtless by Mr. Harrison,-in which there is the following genealogy, taken from the parish record of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and certified by Richard Gibson, London :---
" Burr Harrison, of Chappawamsic, born in England, son of Cuthbert Harrison, baptized in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, 28th December, 1637. His son Thomas born in 1665; grandson Burr born May 21, 1699; great-grandson Thomas born 3d of March, 1723; his sister Jane the 9th of December, 1726; his sister Seth the 30th of November, 1729."
This last Thomas Harrison was, I suppose, the minister. There was doubtless an intermarriage between the Powells, of Loudon county, and the Harrisons, of Prince William, from which it comes that the names Cuthbert and Burr are so often to be found in these families. Whether all of the above were born in England, or some of them in this country, I am unable to say. There was a Thomas Harrison belonging to Broad Run Church, in Dettingen parish, long before the Rev. Mr. Harrison appears in the parish, and may have been his father. After the death of the Rev. Mr. Harrison, the Rev. Mr. O'Neal officiated for a short time. He died after I entered the ministry ; but I never met with him. No clerical dele- gate, and only one lay delegate,-Mr. Jesse Ewell,-ever appears in
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the Conventions of Virginia from Dettingen parish. It only remains that I mention, for the satisfaction of their posterity, the lay readers and vestrymen of this old parish during the fifty years of which the records testify. At Broad Run we find the names of John Bryant, William Peyton, Joseph Sherman, James Gray, George Carter. At Quantico Church, Mr. Thomas Machem or Mitchem, John Peyton, Jeremiah Moore, lay readers. The following are the names of the vestrymen'of this parish during the fifty years of its recorded proceedings :- Peyton, Rearser, Butler, Deskin, Linton, Renno, Blackburn, Furguson, Ewell, Seale, Gray- son, Baxter, Whetlige, Fouchee, Rust, Roussan, Crump, Frogg, Har- rison, Wright, Bullett, Wickliffe, Bell, Copedge, Thornton, Elsey, Betty, Eustace, Blackwell, Waggener, Nisbett, Kennor, Tibbs, Triplett, Carr, Lee, Baylis, Buchanon, Bennett, Hoe, Alexander, Fitzhugh, Kincheloe, Washington, Guatkin, M'Millon. The names of Adie and Tompkins are mentioned as men of uprightness, to whom the vestry and minister referred some important matters of difference for decision. The Lees, Peytons, Blackburns, and Ewells appear to have been most numerous and prominent in the vestries.
After a failure of all efforts for the resuscitation of the Church in Dumfries, our attention was directed to the other parts of the parish of Dettingen. The Rev. Mr. Steel, beginning in 1822, la- boured for some years with partial success, and built a small church in the centre of the parish. The Rev. Mr. Slaughter followed him in 1835, and preached with more success at Brentsville-the new county seat-and at Hay-Market. The Rev. Mr. Skull succeeded Mr. Slaughter at the same places. The Rev. Mr. Towles has now for many years been faithfully and acceptably serving the parish. A new and excellent stone church has been built at Brentsville ; and the old court-house at Hay-Market has been purchased and converted into a handsome and convenient temple of religion. A race-course once adjoined the court-house, and in preaching there in former days I have, on a Sabbath, seen from the court-house bench, on which I stood, the horses in training for the sport which was at hand. Those times have, I trust, passed away forever.
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ARTICLE LXVI.
Hamilton and Leeds Parishes, Fauquier County.
AFTER the division of the former parish of Hamilton into Det- tingen and Hamilton, in the year 1745, the Rev. Mr. Keith con- tinued to be minister in Hamilton. How long he had been minister of the whole parish is not known; neither have I been able to as- certain how long he continued to be minister of Hamilton parish after the division, only that in 1758 the Rev. Joseph Brunskill was the minister. The vestry-book, which could have informed us, was placed in the Clerk's office, and there torn up, page after page, by the clerks or others, for the purpose of lighting cigars or pipes. Of the Rev. Mr. Keith and his descendants I have not been able to obtain all the information I desire and hope for. From all that I can learn, he was a worthy man. He was a native of Scotland. Being involved in the rebellion in favour of the Pretender, he was forced to fly his country, and came to Virginia. Returning to England for Orders, he was then settled in Hamilton parish, and performed the duties of his office there for a long time,-probably until 1757 or 1758. A daughter of his married Colonel Thomas Marshall, of Oakhill, Fauquier, the seat of the Marshalls to this day. He was the father of the late Chief-Justice. Both father and son were in the Revolutionary Army, and fought together at the battle of Monmouth. Another of Mr. Keith's children was the Clerk of Frederick county, Virginia, who so long and faith- fully performed the duties of that office. The descendants of Mr. Keith are numerous. They are also devoted members of the Epis- copal Church. After the division of the parish of Hamilton, Mr. Keith served, until his death, all that region now embraced in Fauquier county, as it was not until 1769 that Leeds parish was cut off. I am unable to ascertain how many churches there were then in that part now making the parish of Leeds. I can only speak of the two in that which is now Hamilton,-namely, Elk Run and Turkey Run Churches, both of which I have often seen, and in one of which I have preached. Elk Run Church was about fifteen miles, I think, below Fauquier Court-House, on the road to Fredericksburg, upon a small stream from which it took its name. It was a substantial brick church,-cruciform, I believe. I am not
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certain that the roof was on it when I first saw it, in 1811. Its walls continued for many years after this, and I saw them gradu- ally disappear during my annual visits to the Conventions. The other was called the Turkey Run Church, and was situated about a mile below Fauquier Court-House. It was an old frame church, which, after the erection of one at the court-house, was carried away and converted into a barn, and is still used as such. It was here I first met with Bishop Moore, after his arrival in Virginia in 1815. His preaching was very melting. I saw an old Episcopalian wiping the tears from his eyes during the sermon, but, on speaking to him afterward about the Bishop's preaching, was surprised to hear him say that the Bishop was nothing but a Methodist, so differ- ent was his style and manner from what had hitherto been common in Episcopal pulpits. The Bishop confirmed fifty persons at that time, the most of whom came forward in ignorance of the proper qualifications for this rite; or of the nature of true religion. Such was the case with many other congregations at the Bishop's earlier visits, some of which had no ministers, and others new ones, so that due precautions could not be easily taken to prevent unsuitable persons from coming forward. It injured the Church and the Bishop not a little for some time. He once told me that he really feared to hold a Confirmation in a new place, lest some unworthy candidates should come forward. Of the ministers who succeeded Mr. Keith, but little is known. In the year 1758, the Rev. Joseph Brunskill was the minister .* In the year 1774, the Rev. James
* Since writing the article on Hamilton parish, I have learnt something concern- ing the Rev. Mr. Brunskill which deserves to be noticed, especially as it is connected with the question of discipline in the Colonial Church. He was a notorious evil- liver, being given to intemperance and other vices. His vestry complained of him to Governor Dinwiddie, who summoned him and his accusers, with their witnesses, to Williamsburg. They appeared before the Governor and Council, Commissary Dawson being one of the Council. Being found guilty, the Governor ordered the vestry to dismiss him and choose another minister. On his return to the parish, Mr. Brunskill posted the Governor and Council on the church-door, and perhaps elsewhere, declaring that they had no jurisdiction in the case, and adding in the same notice a canon of the English Church, whereby none but a Bishop could pass sentence on a clergyman. The justification of the Governor was, that, although none but a Bishop could absolutely deprive of Orders, yet the Governor, as supreme ruler in Virginia, and representing the Crown, which was chief in Church and State in England, had a right and was bound to exercise some discipline and prevent such dishonour to religion, and that, as ministers were tried before the civil courts in England, so Mr. Brunskill had been tried before the Governor and Council, which was the supreme court in Virginia. Commissary Dawson entertained some doubt as to the canonical regularity of the proceeding, but in a letter to the Bishop of London justified it on the ground of necessity.
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Craig is minister. After Mr. Craig, I hear of the Rev. Mr. Kennor, from Hanover parish, King George, and the Rev. Mr. Iredell, from Culpepper, as living in the parish and preaching,-neither of whom was very creditable to the Church. In the year 1805, the Rev. Mr. O'Neale and Mr. Charles Marshall appear as delegates in the Convention, as minister and lay delegate. Mr. O'Neale taught school in Warrenton for some years, and then removed to Dumfries, and died since I entered the ministry. Most prostrate was the condition of the parish in the year 1812 or 1813, when I first visited it. There was no house of worship at Warrenton belonging to any denomination, and the old Turkey Run Church was inconvenient, so that the service was held in the court-house. Notice being given that I would preach at three or four o'clock on a certain day during the session of the court, a large crowd assembled from the country around to hear a young Virginia Episcopalian. It so happened that a very important case detained the court beyond the appointed hour of worship. The people, however, gradually filled the house and hemmed in the lawyers. The ladies ascended the bench on which judges and magistrates sat, and enclosed the judge, until at length the business of the court was obliged to stop, and neither judge nor lawyers could escape. The house being completely filled, I was sent for, and, being unable to pass through the crowd, was raised up through the window and put into the sheriff's box, from which I preached.
About this time, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians proposed to build a church in conjunction. It was commenced, and a wall was put up and a roof completed. Some difficulty arising between the partners, as is generally the case, the Episcopalians determined to build one for themselves, without relinquishing their claim on the unfinished one. Accordingly, a frame building was put up and consecrated as an Episcopal Church. This was used until within a few years. A still better one of brick now receives the increasing congregation, under its faithful and zealous minister, the Rev. Mr. Norton, whose father and myself became candidates for the ministry at the same time. His lot was cast in Western New York, though by birth a Virginian. He still lives, a venerable though disabled minister.
LEEDS PARISH, FAUQUIER.
This parish, as we have seen already, was taken out of Hamilton in the year 1769. The first and only minister, before the Rev. Mr. Lemmon took charge of it in 1816, was the Rev. James Thom-
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son, from Scotland, born near Glasgow, in the year 1739, and who died in February, 1812. He came to this country in 1767 or 1768. He lived at first in the family of Colonel Thomas Marshall, of Oakhill, and instructed his sons, John Marshall, afterward Chief- Justice, James Marshall, and others. In 1769, he went to Eng- land for Orders. On his return, he married Miss Mary Ann Far- row, sister of the late Nimrod Farrow, of Leeds Manor, and settled at the glebe, near Salem, where he had a school, to which some of the sons of Mr. Thomas Marshall were sent to him again. Mr. Thomson, at the coming on of the Revolution, partook largely of the spirit which animated Colonel Marshall and his son, the Chief- Justice. In a sermon preached at the time of the first difficulties at Boston, he thus speaks :-
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