USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 31
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The lay readers during all this period, at the different chapels, were John Ruddell, James Barnett, John Barns, Henry Nelson, James Graham, Henry Frencham, Morgan Morgan, John James, William Dobson, William Howard, John Lloyd.
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FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
THE MINISTERS OF FREDERICK PARISH.
The Rev. Mr. Gordon was the first; when his ministry commenced and ended, not known. The Rev. Mr. Meldrum comes next, and continues until 1765. Between him and the vestry a long law-suit was carried on, which terminated in his favour. The vestry applied to the Legislature for relief, and obtained it. Mr. Sebastian was re- commended by the vestry to the Bishop of London for Orders in 1766, and became their minister, but after two years removed to North- umberland county. The Rev. Mr. Thruston became the minister in 1768, binding himself to preach at seven places scattered over the large parish of Frederick, Shepherdstown being one of them. Mr. Thruston was a native of Gloucester, where the name still abounds, and was captain of the militia in that county. The vestry of Pets- worth parish, in Gloucester, recommended him for Orders, and he was their minister for some years before coming to Frederick. He laid down the ministry and entered the army in 1777. After the war he lived at Mount Zion, in Frederick. In his latter days he removed to the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and, it is said, was preparing to take some part in defending that place against the British when they were defeated by General Jackson. He was the father of the late Judge Thruston, of the District of Columbia, and the ancestor of many respectable families in Virginia and else- where. From the time of Colonel Thruston's resignation in 1777 to the year 1785, there was no minister, so far as we can ascertain. In the year 1785, a vestry was elected, consisting of Colonel R. K. Meade, George F. Norton, churchwardens, John Thruston, Edward Smith, Raleigh Colston, Girard Briscoe, John Milton, Robert Wood, Major Thomas Massey. By this vestry the Rev. Alexander Bal- maine was chosen minister. He had been chaplain in the army of the Revolution, in which a number of the above-mentioned vestry- . men had served. Mr. Balmaine was born in Scotland, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, in the year 1740, was educated at St. Andrews with a view to the Presbyterian ministry, but relinquished the design. Himself and his brother, who was a lawyer, were warm friends of the Colonists in the Stamp Act difficulties, and became so obnoxious on that account to the loyalists about Edin- burgh, that they thought it best to try their fortunes elsewhere, and moved to London, where they became acquainted with Mr. Arthur Lee, who recommended Mr. Balmaine to the family of Richard Henry Lee, as private tutor. While there, he prepared
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for the ministry of the Episcopal Church, and upon receiving Orders became rector of Augusta parish, then extending to the Ohio River, and including, it is believed, Pittsburg itself, for he paid several visits to the Episcopalians in that place. When our difficulties commenced with England, true to his principles adopted in Scot- land, he took an early and active part, was chairman of the Com- mittee of Safety in Augusta, and drafted the resolution adopted by that committee. Soon after this, he entered the Virginia line as chaplain, and continued so until the very close of the war. Mr. Balmaine was the rector of the parish of Frederick until his death. I was his assistant during a number of the last years of his life.
-AW
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1.
ARTICLE LXXII.
Parishes in Frederick County .- No. 2.
AFTER the death of Mr. Balmaine, the Rev. Mr. Bryan officiated for a time at Winchester, Bunker's Hill, and Wickliffe, in the ca- pacity of assistant to myself, for a few years. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Robertson as assistant in Winchester alone. After a few years he resigned and went on a mission to Greece. In the year 1827, Christ Church, Winchester, was organized into a sepa- rate parish, to be called the parish of Frederick, Winchester, with the Rev. J. E. Jackson, minister. Mr. Jackson was one of three worthy brothers of most respectable parentage in Tutbury, England, all of whom ministered in the Church of Virginia and elsewhere in this country. The Rev. J. E. Jackson was the father of the Rev. William Jackson, who recently died so enviable a death in Norfolk. He was a most diligent and faithful pastor, preaching the true doctrines of the Gospel. Under his careful supervision the present excellent church and parsonage were built. In 1842, he resigned and moved to Kentucky. He was succeeded in 1842 by the Rev. Mr. Rooker, who resigned in 1847. Its present rector, the Rev. Cornelius Walker, succeeded Mr. Rooker. In May, 1834, another division of Frederick parish took place, when Wickliffe, including Berryville, was organized. The Rev. Mr. Jackson had been my assistant in that part of the parish for two years before this. The Rev. Mr. Rice had preceded him in that capacity. The Rev. Mr. Shiraz followed Mr. Jackson. Its next was the Rev. Richard Wil- mer, who was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Peterkin. Its present, the Rev. Mr. Whittle. This parish has recently been subdivided, and the Rev. Mr. Powell, who was disappointed during the last year in going to China, is the minister of that part which includes Wickliffe Church. Another offshoot was also made from Frederick parish many years since, in the neighbourhood of Middletown, where a parish was organized and a neat brick church built in the village, under the auspices of the late Strother Jones, the families of Hites, and others. It has had mainly to depend on the occasional services of the ministers in Winchester. The Rev. Mr. Bryant and the Rev. Mr. Irish were each for some time settled among them, and in none
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of our congregations have more zeal and liberality been displayed, according to numbers and means.
Having thus spoken of the five different divisions of Frederick parish, after itself had been reduced by Acts of Assembly, I pro- ceed to mention the new churches built since the Revolution, in addition to those at Winchester and Middletown, already alluded to. Among the first things done by the vestry of Frederick, after its reorganization in 1787, was the adoption of measures for the build- ing of a stone chapel where it was designed to erect that one which failed, through the disagreement of the people and vestry, just be- fore the Revolution,-viz. : where that called Cunningham's Chapel stood. The land having now come into possession of Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, the same two acres for a church and burying- ground, which were offered by Colonel Hugh Nelson before the war, were now given by Colonel Burwell, and the present stone chapel ordered to be built in 1790. At what time it was completed does not appear, but probably in the same year. After the revival of our Church in Virginia commenced, a stone church was built at Wickliffe, Mr. Tredwell Smith and General Thomas Parker being the most active agents. A strenuous effort was made to have it a free church, which I earnestly opposed, and offered to insure from elsewhere as much as was pledged by other than Episcopalians. It was ascertained that not more than fifty dollars, out of the two or three thousand dollars which it cost, would be subscribed by other than Episcopalians, and the plan was dropped. This church was badly executed, and after a time the present excellent one of brick was built under the superintendence of Mr. Jaqueline Smith, and in a great measure at his expense. The ground on which it stood had been given by the family of Williams, who, with their ancestors in the Northern Neck of Virginia, had ever been staunch friends of the Church. After some years the church at Berryville was built on ground given by Mr. John Taylor, who owned the farm of which it was a part. The building of this church was delayed for some years by the attempt to have it placed on some basis which would make it common to all denominations. Effort after effort was made to effect it on this plan, without success. At length, when the friends of the scheme acknowledged its failure, I addressed the congregation in favour of an Episcopal church, and succeeded at once. In the year 1834, it was found that the old chapel was too small and inconvenient for the increasing congregation, and it was therefore determired to erect another and larger one, in a more central and convenient place, in the vicinity of Millwood, on ground
OLD CHAPEL AND BURYING GROUND IN CLARKE COUNTY.
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FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.
given by Mr. George Burwell, of Carter Hall. Such, however, was the attachment of many to the old chapel that funds for the latter could not be obtained, except on condition of alternate services at the chapel. From year to year these services became less frequent, until at length they are now reduced to an annual pilgrimage, on some summer Sabbath, to this old and much-loved spot, except when services are held for the servants, or death summons the neighbours to add one more to the tenants of the graveyard .*
My remarks on the old parish of Frederick, and some of its branches, will be brought to a close by a brief reference to a spot- of all others most sacred to many now living as the depository of all that was mortal of those most dear to us,-the burying-ground which lies at the foot of the hill on which still stands the old stone chapel. Ever since its appropriation to this purpose, it has been the graveyard of rich and poor, bond and free, those who lived near it, and the stranger from afar who died near it. It is called the Burwell graveyard, not merely because the land was given by one of that name, but because it is the resting-place of a far greater number bearing that name than any other. It has recently been enlarged and a portion of it divided into lots and the whole enclosed with a strong stone wall. The vestry have also proposed the raising and vesting in stock the sum of one thousand dollars for the per- petual preservation of it and the old chapel which overlooks it. Both of them stand in the immediate angle of two public and much-frequented roads, and the passing traveller may see old and venerable trees overshadowing many tombs, younger ones of per- petual verdure more recently planted, green hillocks, covered with grass and ivy, high headstones and large marble slabs, marking the place of interment and designating the names of those whose re- mains are beneath, and now and then a pillar, either for young or old, rising above the other memorials. To this place, for more than sixty years, have I been travelling, either borne in the arms of others, or as a mourner, or as officiating minister. To it, at no
* The following are the names of the vestrymen of Frederick parish before the division of it took place. It would be too tedious to enumerate all those belonging to the subdivisions down to the present time. In addition to those already men- tioned as composing the first vestry after the war, in 1787, are the following :- John Woodcock, John Peyton, Edward Smith, Thomas Byrd, Isaac Hite, Jr., Na- thaniel Burwell, Warner Washington, Jr., John Page, General Thomas Parker, Robert Page, Matthew Page, Philip Nelson, Robert Carter Burwell, Fairfax Wash- ington, Henry St. George Tucker, Alfred Powell, George Norris, Philip Burwell, G. R. Thompson, Nathaniel Burwell, Jr., Obed Waite, Dabney Carr, Joseph Baldwin, Richard Briarly, Daniel Lee, William B. Page, John W. Page, Strother Jones. VOL. II .- 19
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distant day, I expect to be carried, and from it I hope to see arise the bodies of some of the truest saints of the Lord, unto whom, in the adjoining temple, I was privileged to preach the blessed Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A brief notice of the family of Burwells, so many of whom lie buried there, and of one other individual mentioned in the vestry- book as the friend and defender of the Church, and whose body was interred among his relatives, is all that I shall further say in connection with this spot. The early genealogy of this family I take from Henning's Statutes at Large, Campbell's History of Vir- ginia, and the tombstones at Carter's Creek, in the county of Gloucester. The first of the name in this country was Major Lewis Burwell, of Carter's Creek, in Gloucester county, Virginia, who died in 1658. His wife was a Miss Higginson, whose father sig- nalized himself in the wars with the Indians. He had two sons,- Nathaniel and Lewis. Nathaniel married a daughter of Robert Carter, commonly called King Carter, by whom he had three sons and one daughter. The daughter was named Elizabeth, and mar- ried President Nelson. His sons were Lewis, Carter, and Robert Carter. Lewis was either father or grandfather of that Lewis Burwell who was President of the Council in 1750. Carter married Lucy, the daughter of John Grymes, and settled at the Grove, near Williamsburg. He was the father of Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, who moved to Frederick and built Carter Hall. The third son, Robert Carter, settled in Isle of Wight, and was the father of Na- thaniel Burwell, of that county, and of Fanny, the first wife of Governor Page. His son Nathaniel was the father of Robert Car- ter Burwell, who moved to Frederick, of Mrs. Philip Nelson, and of their three sisters, Jane, Fanny, and Ariana, who died unmarried, and lie with their brother in the Burwell graveyard. The second son of the first of the Burwells was, as we have stated, Major Lewis Burwell. His first wife was Abigail Smith, heiress of Na- thaniel Bacon, who was for many years President of the Council, and near relatives of Bacon the rebel. Hence the name of Bacon, in the Burwell family. By this marriage, he had four sons and six daughters. His second wife was the widow of the Hon. Wil- liam Cole, and came from Nansemond county, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. He died in the year 1710, leaving only three sons out of the six, and six daughters out of the nine. He lived at King's Mill, or somewhere near, either in York county or James City. His son Lewis built a large house at King's Mill
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and improved the place at great expense, also purchased other lands around, and a tract in the Isle of Wight; on account of which, in 1736, he obtained leave of the Assembly to dock the entail of a tract of land in King William and dispose of it. Of his numerous descendants, and of those of the other branches, we can only say that we find them settled in King William, Lancaster, Nanscmond, Isle of Wight, and then moving to Frederick, Berkeley, Botctourt, Richmond City, and other places. The father of those settled in Botetcurt we read of as an active member of the vestry in King William. Wherever they have gone, they have retained their at- tachment to the Church of their fathers, and some have entered its ministry.
I shall be excused for adding to the above a piece of family history connected with that of a high public functionary of Old Colonial Virginia, which may serve to cast some light on the state of society and of the Church at the close of the first century of our settlement. The second Lewis Burwell, as we have seen, had nine daughters, one of whom completely upset what little reason there was in Governor Nicholson of famous memory. He became most passionately attached to her, and demanded her of her parents in. royal style. Neither she, her parents, or the other members of the family, were disposed to comply. He became furious, and for years persisted in his design and claim. All around him felt the effects of his rage. The father, brothers, Commissary Blair, and the Rev. Mr. Fowace, minister of some parish near Williamsburg, were the special objects of his threatened vengeance. To the young lady he threatened the life of her father and brothers if the did not yield to his suit. This caused a friend of his in England to write a letter of remonstrance, in which he says, "It is not here as in some barbarous countries, where the tender lady is dragged into the Sultan's arms, just reeking with the blood of her nearest relatives, and yet she must strangely dissemble her aversion." l'o Commissary Blair he declared that "he would cut the throats of three men if the lady should marry any other but himself,-viz. : the bridegroom, the officiating minister, and the justice who issued the license." The Rev. Mr. Fowace, in a letter to the Lord-Commissioners in England, complains, among other things, of being assaulted by Governor Nicholson one evening on his return from a visit to the family, (the Major being sick,) and ordered never again to go to this house with- out leave from himself. It seemed that the Governor was jealous of him. Besides abusive language and other indignitics, he pulled
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off the minister's hat, as being disrespectful to him even on horse- back. Such was the conduct of the Governor to him in this and other respects that the Council and some of the clergy united in a petition to the Crown for his removal, which was granted. All this and much more is on record in the archives of Lambeth Palace, copies of which are before me. What was the subsequent history of the young lady who, like another Helen, was the innocent cause of so much strife, is not told. Even her Christian name is not given. I need not say that if a Governor of Virginia under our free system should assume such royal airs, the case would be much more speedily and easily disposed of by the lady, the parents, and the minister.
I promised to conclude this article with some mention of a gen- tleman whose name was on the vestry-book and whose body was interred in the old graveyard. That person was Mr. Edmund Randolph, a distinguished lawyer of Virginia, who was often em- ployed by the vestries as their counsellor. Such was the case with the vestry of Frederick parish. Mr. Edmund Randolph was the son of Mr. John Randolph, once Attorney-General of the State, but who, at the breaking out of the war, preferred the royal to the re- publican cause, and went to England with his family. His office was given to his patriotic son Edmund Randolph, who figured so largely, as the defender of his country, in the councils of the State and of the nation, and the zealous supporter of the Church against all which he believed to be assaults upon her rights. Young Edmund Randolph was adopted by his uncle Peyton (who had no children,) and espoused the same side, both as to the Church and State, with the uncle, and was for a time the Secretary of State under General Washington. He was educated at Williamsburg, soon after Mr. Jefferson, Governor Page, and other distinguished men of Virginia. It was a period of growing infidelity at that college, and Mr. Randolph was for a time somewhat tinctured with it, as he himself told me toward the close of his life. I can never forget the manner in which he described the effect of a little flattery from one of the leaders of the new school, for some doubts expressed by him as to the truth of Christianity or of some of its doctrines. That leader patted him on the head, calling him a promising youth for the utterance of so independent a thought. The pressure of that hand, he said, was felt for a long time afterward. But he happily escaped the infidelity which soon deluged the State, and joined Mr. Peyton Randolph, Robert C. Nicholas, Judge Pendle-
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ton, Governor Page, and others, in defending the Church and religion. He was not only engaged by different vestries in special cases, as in the parish of Frederick, but was counsel for the whole Church in that great question of the constitutionality of the law which took away the Church property, and which was lost to the Church by the sudden death of Judge Pendleton. Mr. Randolph informed me that he had read that opinion and decision which was drawn by Judge Pendleton, the President of the court, and, as I think, that it was among his papers. Since his death I have re- peatedly inquired for it, but was informed that neither among his papers nor those of Judge Pendleton was it to be found. It has always been said that the document was in the pocket of Judge Pendleton when he was suddenly struck dead on the morning of the day on which it was to have been used. The latter days of Mr. Randolph's life were spent chiefly at his son-in-law's, Mr. Bennett Taylor's, of Frederick county. I saw him during this period, and conversed with him on religious subjects, in which he seemed to take a deep interest. McKnight's Commentary on the Epistles came out about this time, and Mr. Randolph, who had pro- bably never been much conversant with such books, became passion- ately fond of it, and sometimes talked of preparing and publishing some selections from it, or an abridgment of it, that others might enjoy the pleasure he had experienced in some of its elucidations of Scripture, which seemed to him, to use his own language, like a new revelation on some dark points. Mr. Randolph died at Carter Hall, the seat of Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, of Frederick county, and lies buried in the old graveyard by the side of Mrs. Taylor and her husband. I close by referring in anticipation to a topic which at some later stage of this work I purpose to notice more fully. I have said above that the time of Mr. Randolph's residence at William and Mary was one of growing infidelity. I was not aware until lately that infidelity was of so recent an origin in Virginia. In the year 1723 the Bishop of London addressed a circular to all the clergy of Virginia, with a view of ascertaining the state of religion in all the parishes. Among the questions was the following :- Are there any infidels in your parish ? In- variably the reply was, none but the Indians and negroes. An infidel among those who had been brought up in the Christian faith was an unhappy being not then known in Virginia. The great deep of the French Revolution had not then begun to be broken up. Even France was not then infidel. I could scarce
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believe those uniform responses of the clergy of Virginia, registered as they are in the archives of our Mother-Church, and copies of which are before me, until I came to another record of a somewhat later date, which tells of the introduction of the first infidel book which came over to Virginia. It was entitled, "A Plain Instruc- tion." The fact is communicated to the authorities in England, by a letter or letters from the authorities here, as a most dreadful one.
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ARTICLE LXXIII.
Norbourne Parish, Berkeley County .-- No. 1.
THIS parish and county were, by Act of Assembly, taken from Frederick in the year 1769,-just after the completion of the church at Mecklenburg, or Shepherdstown, under the superintend- ence of Mr. Van Swearingen. A small church had previously stood probably on the same spot. By his will in 1776, the father of Mr. Abraham Shepherd-Mr. Thomas Shepherd-directed his executor to deed "a lot of two acres on which the English church stood." A third was erected on that lot many years since, and has been enlarged of late years to its present dimensions. A new, larger, and more excellent one in all respects is now far advanced. Without detracting from the praise due to many who have contributed funds and efforts to the last two churches, we must ascribe the first of them chiefly to the zeal, perseverance, and liberality of that true friend of the Church in her darkest days, Mr. Abraham Shepherd, and its enlargement to the generous dona- tion of eight hundred dollars by his pious widow ; and the erection of the fourth to the gift of three thousand dollars by one of his sons, while other members of the family, and the parishioners generally, have not been wanting in their contributions. To an excellent parsonage for the minister they also contributed ; but the holy woman, the aged mother, excelled them and all others,-con- tributing not less than one thousand dollars to it. From the year 1813 to the time of her death, in 1852, when she had reached her ninety-second year, I knew her well. It was good to hear her speak from the abundance of her heart on the subject which interested her most. Out of the Bible first, and then out of the writings of Hervey, Newton, and others of the evangelical school of the Church of England, she drew her views of doctrinal and practical piety. It so happened that several of those ministers under whose teach- ings she sat were of that class, having for a time been followers of Lady Huntingdon, Wesley, and Whitefield, but who drew back from their path when they were about to turn aside from the old way of the Church of England. She was most faithful in the use of all the means appointed of God in his Church for " the perfecting of
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