USA > Virginia > Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 37
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him and the Church, and tracts and books against Confirmation and our peculiarities were gotten up and put in circulation through the place, so that when I reached Clarksburg there was but one individual who would dare to appear for Confirmation, and sickness prevented the attendance of that one. Nor did the calamity end here ; for, not long after, Mr. McMechin himself returned, under the influence of excited feelings, to the Methodist communion as a lay member. It is, however, proper to state that when that excite- ment passed away he resumed his place in the bosom of the Episco- pal Church, but, of course, only as a lay member,-having been displaced from our ministry. Let young ministers in new parishes learn a lesson from the foregoing statement, and old ones even in old parishes not despise it.
The letter of my correspondent continues by saying that "after Mr. McMechin abandoned the ministry, the Rev. Thomas Smith, of Parkersburg, gave the little flock such pastoral care as his distant residence allowed. He called the friends of the Church together, proposed and caused to be adopted articles of confedera- tion, and had a regular vestry elected. Until the services of a regular minister were secured, he paid them several visits,-riding on horseback the distance of eighty-five miles to supply their spi- ritual necessities. The Rev. Mr. Kinsolving was the next settled minister. He officiated regularly at Clarksburg and Weston, and occasionally at Morgantown. He remained about a year, and was not only acceptable to his own people, but popular with all classes. The Rev. Mr. Tompkins succeeded him at Weston, and preached occa- sionally at Clarksburg,-perhaps once a month,-as well as at other places." To this communication I add that in the year 1852, the Rev. Robert A. Castleman went to Clarksburg, and was soon after joined by the Rev. James Page, who, between them, supplied Clarks- burg, Weston, Fairmont, Morgantown, and Buchanon, for one year, when the former confined his services to Clarksburg and Fairmont, and the latter to Weston and Buchanon. During the residence of the Rev. Mr. Tompkins in Weston, and chiefly by his exertions, an Episcopal church has been built in that place. During the ministry of Mr. Castleman, one has been built in Clarksburg and one pur- chased and repaired at Fairmont. To his efforts in Clarksburg and his solicitation abroad, we are indebted for the excellent house now standing in Clarksburg. A few zealous friends in Fairmont are entitled to praise for what they have done. Although our efforts have thus far failed in Morgantown, I cannot pass it by without
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mention of the pleasant visits made to that place, and the hospitable reception given me by those worthy members of our Church,-Mr. John Rogers and Mr. Guy Allen. Could the zeal and liberality of two individuals have sufficed for the establishment of the Episcopal Church in Morgantown, theirs would have done it. I have nothing more to add but that Mr. Castleman is about to leave Clarksburg, and the Rev. Mr. Smyth, a Deacon, is officiating in Weston.
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ARTICLE LXXIX.
Churches in Kanawha, Ravenswood, Parkersburg and the neighbourhood, New Martinsville, and Moundsville.
STILL pursuing the order in which efforts have been made for the establishment of the Episcopal Church in Western Virginia, we proceed to speak of the churches in Kanawha. The Rev. Messrs. Lee and Page, our first missionaries, extended their visits to Ka- nawha, and by the way of Point Pleasant ascended the Ohio, stopping at Parkersburg. The visit of Mr. Page led to his settlement in Kanawha, and during the time of his residence there he officiated in Charleston, at Coalsmouth, and Point Pleasant. A good be- ginning was made by Mr. Page, and, if circumstances had not made him feel it his duty to seek another field of labour after a few years, it is thought that the Church in that county would have greatly benefited by his labours. He was succeeded, after a num- ber of years, by the Rev. Frederick D. Goodwin, who laboured amidst many difficulties for two years and then removed to another field. The Rev. Mr. Martin followed Mr. Goodwin, and laboured at Charleston and Coalsmouth. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Craik, now of Louisville, who laboured among them for some years. Mr. Whittle and Mr. Ward were the next ministers. Mr. Ward was followed by the Rev. R. T. Brown, who, after a few years, was obliged, on account of his failing voice, to relinquish the charge. The Rev. Thompson L. Smith is the present minister.
There is an excellent brick church in Charleston, whose history deserves a special notice. When I first visited Kanawha, there were only two communicants in our Church in Charleston,-Mrs. Colonel Lovell and Mrs. Quarrier. There were some few other ladies, who by birth or education were attached to the Episcopal Church, and some few gentlemen who laughingly advocated it in preference to others. There was no Episcopal Church, and the idea of building one seemed preposterous. Some two or three ladies, however, determined upon a trial,-their husbands, fathers, and brothers making sport of it. They used their tongues, their hands, their pens, and raised in one year about a hundred dollars, which afforded amusement to the gentlemen. The ladies, with charac-
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teristic good-humour, patience, and perseverance, endured it all, putting their earnings in the bank, and proceeded in their work. The next year doubled their collections, which were also put at interest. How many years were thus spent, and what was the increase of each year, I cannot say ; but this I know, that after many years of patient perseverence, and the accumulation of a very con- siderable sum, the gentlemen found that the ladies could not be laughed out of their determination, and, some of them having also come to better thoughts on the subject of religion, it was resolved to accept the large amount now in hand, and add to it as much as was necessary to build a church costing four or five thousand dollars.
OLD MRS. QUARRIER.
I mentioned that at one time there were only two communicants in our Church at Charleston,-Mrs. Lovell and Mrs. Quarrier. The latter died in the year 1852, full of years, and ready to depart and be with Christ. As Mrs. Quarrier, beyond any other in- dividual, may be considered the mother of the Church in Western Virginia, by reason of her age, her holy life, and numerous pos- terity, who in different places have zealously promoted it, I must give a brief genealogical sketch of the same. Mr. Alexander Quarrier was born in Scotland in the year 1746. He removed to America in his twenty-ninth year, and, settling in Philadelphia and marrying, lived there twelve years, when he removed to Richmond. His wife dying, he contracted a second marriage with Miss Sally Burns. He left Richmond in 1811, and removed to Kanawha, where he died at the advanced age of eighty-two. By his first marriage he had six children,-Harriet, Eliza, Margaret, Helen, Alexander, and Betsy. By his second wife he had seven children, -William, James, Gustavus, Monroe, Archibald, Fanny, and Vir- ginia. Being unable to state the marriages and localities, &c. of all of them, I shall mention none. The members of the Church in different parts of Western Virginia know how much it has been indebted to them.
THE CHURCH IN THE SALINES.
About six miles above Charleston, in the midst of the celebrated salt-works, there is a considerable population and several churches. One of them belongs to the Episcopalians. When I was last there, it had been deserted for a time on account of its bad construction, with a view either to its repair or the building of another. The
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minister at Charleston gives a portion of his time and labours to this place.
THE CHURCH AT COALSMOUTH.
About twelve miles from Charleston, and lower down, the river Coal enters into the Kanawha. At this place a number of Epis- copal families settled themselves from thirty to sixty years ago. They attracted the attention of our first ministers in Kanawha, and shared their labours. Among those families was that of Mr. Philip Thompson, of Culpepper, son of the Rev. Mr. Thompson, of St. Mark's parish, of whom we have given so good an account in our article on Culpepper. His family, now reduced in num- bers by death and dispersion, have contributed largely to the sup- port of this congregation. The venerable mother, daughter of old Mr. Robert Slaughter, of Culpepper, was loved and esteemed by all who knew her, as one of the humblest and most devoted mem- bers of the Church in Virginia. I have always felt my own sense of the divine power and excellency of religion strengthened by every visit made to her abode. She exchanged it some years since for a better one above.
The following communication from Mr. Francis Thompson, who has long been a lay reader of the Church, contains every thing of importance in relation to the congregation at Coalsmouth :-
"COALS, February 24, 1857.
"RIGHT REVEREND AND DEAR SIR :- I hasten to give you an imperfect account of the history of the Church in this neighbourhood; and, as there are no records to refer to, I shall have to rely on an imperfect memory. Morris Hudson, Elizabeth his wife, and their six children, nearly all mar- ried, removed to this neighbourhood from Botetourt county, Virginia, in 1797, and were probably the first Episcopalians that settled in this neigh- bourhood. They were both communicants of the Church. They came to Virginia originally from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and were mem- bers of Bangor Church,-an old church erected before the Revolution. They removed to Botetourt county, in this State, during Bishop Madison's time. The old patriarch, then in his eightieth year, (being uncertain whether he had been confirmed in childhood,) received the rite of Con- firmation at your hands, on your first visit to this county, together with several of his children. Some of their descendants still continue true to the faith of their fathers, whilst others have wandered into other folds. The next Episcopalians who settled here were my father's family, with whose history you are well acquainted. They removed here in 1817. My father died in 1837, in the seventieth year of his age. My mother died the 8th of March, 1852, in the seventy-fifth year of her age.
"The first clergyman who visited us was the Rev. Mr. Page, who came as a missionary, and was afterwards the pastor of the congregation in this neighbourhood, and officiated generally throughout the county. He la- boured zealously for several years, and, I have no doubt, accomplished much good. Had he remained, I think the Church would have been established
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here on a firm foundation. I do not recollect the precise time of his coming or leaving. The little brick church on the hill was erected in 1825, (chiefly by old Mr. Hudson.) I think the Rev. Mr. Page preached in it for some years. This church was used until 1835, when it was burned.
" The first vestry was P. R. Thompson, Davis Hudson, Jesse Hudson, and others whose names I have forgotten. After Mr. Page left, we were for some time without a minister, and the Methodists and Presbyterians came in and gathered up the sheaves already bound by him, as many bap- tized by him connected themselves with those Churches. The Rev. F. D. Goodwin succeeded Mr. Page, and continued about two years. I think he came in 1830 or 1831, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Martin in 1833, who remained in the county about five years, and gave place to Mr. Craik, who preached for us occasionally for several years. Old Mr. West had charge of this parish part of a year during Mr. Craik's ministry in Charles- ton. After Mr. West left us, Mr. Craik still continued to preach for us, · until the spring of 1845, when the Rev. F. B. Nash was called to this parish. He continued to labour zealously for several years. During his ministry St. Mark's Church was built on a part of the lot given by my father for a church and parsonage. The parsonage was built for Mr. Martin, but was never occupied by a minister until Mr. Nash came. St. Mark's Church was built in 1846, and shortly afterward St. John's in the Valley. The congregation in Quay's Valley was first gathered by Mr. Craik, and an old still-house converted into a place of worship. I think he started a subscription-paper for St. John's before he left. There are several communicants still living near this church, though they have never had any services since Mr. Nash left, with the exception of one or two sermons from Mr. Henderson, who continued here a short time. I was licensed as a lay reader about thirty-two years ago, and have continued to officiate in that capacity and as superintendent of the Sunday-school up to this time. Our school last summer, and as long as the weather permitted during the fall, was quite a flourishing one, numbering more than forty scholars. We shall resume it on next Sunday, if the weather continues good. I remain, dear sir, your attached friend, F. THOMPSON."
List of Persons who have acted as Vestrymen, (from memory.)
P. R. Thompson, Sen., Davis Hudson, Jesse Hudson, John Lewis, P. R. Thompson, Jr., John P. Turner, Alexander Bradford, Dr. John Thompson, Robert Simms, George Rogers, Alfred A. Thornton, Benjamin S. Thomp- son, George W. Thornton, Francis Thompson.
We have no other church besides these on the Kanawha River, though our ministers have had stations at the court-house in a neighbouring county and at Buffalo in Kanawha county. At Point Pleasant, besides the occasional visits of the Rev. Mr. Craik and Mr. Henderson, the Rev. James Goodwin laboured several years in the hope of building a church and raising up a congregation, but was disappointed. Various circumstances have prevented the es- tablishment of a flourishing village on that most beautiful of all the sites on the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, which, by their junction there, concur to make it as convenient for trade as it is memorable
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for the bloody battle with the Indians in which the family of Lewis so signalized itself,-some of whose descendants still live upon the spot and adhere to the Church of their ancestors.
BRUCE CHAPEL.
About twelve miles below Point Pleasant, on Mercer's Bottom, a large and fertile tract of land, once owned by Charles Fenton Mercer, we have a comfortable brick building called Bruce Chapel, erected during the ministry of the Rev. James Goodwin, and so named because of the large contribution made to it by Mrs. Eliza Bruce, now of Richmond, and whose liberality to so many other objects is well known throughout Virginia. The chapel is in the neighbourhood of the Moores, Beales, General Steenbergen, and others whose names I cannot now recall.
THE CHURCH AT RAVENSWOOD.
Ravenswood is a small village on the Ohio River, built on land taken up by General Washington, (who never made a mistake as to the quality of soil,) and left to some of the Ashton family of King George, with whom the Washington family was connected. Mr. Henry Fitzhugh, formerly of Fauquier, marrying a descendant of the Ashtons, became possessed of a part of this estate, and settled on it with a large family of children. At his expense a neat little chapel has been put up at Ravenswood, and when minis- terial services were not to be had one of his sons has officiated as lay reader. The Rev. Mr. Tompkins has now for the last two years been residing there, discharging the duties of a teacher and minister at the same time. Services are also held at the court-house of that county.
Since the above was penned, I have received a communication which states that the ladies, by their zeal and diligence, raised one hundred and fifty dollars for the furnishing of the chapel, and that some contributions were made by individuals other than the family above mentioned, in the neighbourhood, and in Wheeling and Cin- cinnati, though not to a large amount. Contributions of labour were also made by some of the neighbours. The Rev. Mr. Wheeler was the minister for two years from the year 1842. The Rev. Messrs. Martin and Craik and Brown, of Charleston, the Rev. Mr. Goodwin, of Point Pleasant, the Rev. Messrs. Smith and Perkins, of Parkers- burg, the Rev. Mr. Hyland, of Moundsville, and Drs. Armstrong and McCabe, of Wheeling, have all rendered acceptable services at
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Ravenswood. The vestrymen have been Mr. Henry Fitzhugh, Dr. John Armstrong, Thomas Atkinson, W. S. Holmes, D. M. Barr, Burdett Fitzhugh, Henry Fitzhugh, Jr., R. H. Dickenson, James R. Mays, George H. Fitzhugh, T. D. Noussey, J. Beckwith, Thomas Kirk, D. Frost, I. J. C. Davenport, H. Harpold, James Beatty.
THE CHURCHES IN PARKERSBURG AND THE VICINITY.
Parkersburg was one of the places visited by our first mission- aries,-the Rev. Messrs. Lee and Page. The Rev. Mr. Goodwin, also, either before or after his settlement in Kanawha, paid an ac- ceptable visit to the people of that place. The Rev. Mr. McMechin, soon after his ordination, spent a year or more in attempting to raise up a congregation there. In the year 1843, the Rev. Thomas Smith was elected its minister and the church was regularly organ- ized, and in the following year was admitted into union with the Convention of Virginia. . Mr. Smith immediately commenced, with his accustomed enterprise, to raise funds for building a church, and was sufficiently successful in securing enough to provide a small and plain church; but, as is too often the case in the progress of such a work, the views of those engaged in it were enlarged, both as to the size of the building and the style of its execution, so that the completion of it was delayed for some years. It is a well-built and handsome brick church, and stands on ground presented to the vestry by J. F. Snodgrass, late member of Congress from that dis- trict. For a large portion of the funds for its erection, and for much of the superintendence of the work, the congregation is indebted to General J. J. Jackson, of Parkersburg. Mr. Smith died in 1847, and was buried beneath the vestibule of the church, at his own re- quest, the reason being assigned that, as he felt himself to be a poor sinner, he wished to be trampled under the feet of all who entered the house. In the same year the Rev. Mr. Perkins was chosen, who entered on his duties in the month of October. In the year 1853, Mr. Perkins resigned the charge, since which time it has been vacant. During Mr. Perkins's term of service two other churches have been built in connection with Parkersburg,-one about fifteen or twenty miles above it, on Cow Creek, and another about ten or twelve miles below it, at Bellville. The latter was built almost entirely by Mr. Wells, on whose land and near whose house it stands. Mr. Perkins used occasionally to officiate at each of these places.
The following is the list of the vestrymen of this parish :- John Taylor, J. G. Stringer, Dr. D. Creel, A. L. Kinnaird, J. M. Little-
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boy, Sen., J. F. Snodgrass, J. R. Murdock, W. S. Gardiner, David B. Spencer, J. J. Jackson, Beverley Smith, W. P. Rathbone, Dr. Farmin, E. D. Safford, C. J. Meale, Isaac Morris, W. H. Morehead, G. B. Neale, J. J. Dickenson, W. H. Laurence, W. H. Small, J. J. Neale, J. H. Adams, E. F. De Selding.
CHURCH IN WETZEL COUNTY.
A church at New Martinsville, in this county, was partly built some years since, under the auspices of the Rev. James McCabe and the Rev. Mr. Hyland, and supplied for some time with services by the same. I have no list of the vestrymen of this parish, which was called Wetzel parish after the name of the county.
CHURCH AT MOUNDSVILLE.
Within twelve miles of Wheeling, on the Ohio River, is to be seen one of the largest of those Indian mounds which are to be found in our Western world. It gives the name to the place. In the time of the elder Mr. Armstrong, there were some families be- longing to our Church in and around it, which were visited by him, and to whom with the other people of the place he preached. The passage of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through it, and the establishment of a large depôt at it, has increased the population so much that an Episcopal church was erected here some years since, and the Rev. Mr. Hyland has, in connection with a school, performed the duties of a minister in it. -
The following is a list of the vestrymen of the parish :- Colonel John Thompson, Isaac Hoge, E. H. Caldwell, W. S. Lane, O. S. Hock, G. W. Bruce, William Collins, General G. Jones.
From the foregoing notices of the Church in Western Virginia, it will be perceived that our "beginning is small." May some future historian, when all its resources have been developed, have the pleasure of recording that "its latter end has greatly increased" !
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ARTICLE LXXX.
Recollections of the Episcopal Church in this Country during the last Fifty Years.
HAVING thus disposed of the Church of Virginia, I purpose in the present to record some things in relation to the General Church which have come under my observation, and in which I have taken some part. As I introduced the notices of the Virginia Church with some preliminary remarks on its previous history, so would I offer a few thoughts as to the earlier history and character of the American Church generally, before entering on the particular nar- rative to which this article is devoted. And, as I was forced by a regard to historic truth to acknowledge that at no time from its first establishment was the moral and religious condition of the Church in Virginia even tolerably good, so am I also, by the same consideration, obliged to admit much that was defective in relation to other parts of the American Episcopal Church. More especially was this the case in regard to Maryland, which bore a strong re- semblance to Virginia in more respects than one. The character of her early population resembled that of Virginia, in having more of the aristocracy than was to be found in some other parts of the English territory in this country. Slavery also was introduced at an early period, and served to strengthen that feature in her character. She, like Virginia, was also put under a regular establishment,- though not at so early a period. She had her Governors and Com- missaries, who acted as substitutes for the Bishop in ecclesiastical matters. Neither Maryland nor Virginia were under the patronage of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, as other portions of America were. The history of those other portions, by comparison with those of Virginia and Maryland, establishes the fact beyond contradiction, that the selection of missionaries by that Society was generally better than the supply coming to Virginia and Maryland through the Bishop of London, or some other chan- nel. The reader is referred to Dr. Hawks's faithful and laborious History of the Church in Maryland for proof of this in relation to that diocese. I adduce only one testimony besides, and that from the well-known Dr. Chandler, of our American Church. After a
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visit to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, about the year 1753, he addressed a letter to the Bishop of London, in which, after speaking in high terms of the laity of that part of the State, he adds, "The general character of the clergy, I am sorry to say, is wretchedly bad. It is readily confessed, that there are some in the Province whose behaviour is unexceptionable and exemplary ; but their number seems to be very small in comparison,-they appearing here and there, like lights shining in a dark place. It would really, my lord, make the ears of a sober heathen tingle to hear the stories that were told me by many serious persons of several clergymen in the neighbourhood of the parish where I visited ; but I still hope that some abatement may be fairly made on account of the prejudices of those who related them." My own recollection of statements made by faithful witnesses forty-five years ago, as to a number of the old clergy of Maryland, accords with the above. I have but little knowledge from any source of the few Episcopal clergy north of Maryland. They were not more than eighty in number when the War of the Revolution began. As to foreign importation of clergymen, Bishop White (who was once the only Episcopal minister in Pennsylvania) justly remarks, "It could not be the channel of a respectable and permanent supply." Nevertheless, as they nearly all of them depended chiefly for their support on the aid of the above-mentioned Society, it is to be believed that pains were taken to select the best which could be obtained from the English Church at that time, and to require the best recommendations in behalf of those who were natives of America. That there were mistakes none can doubt .*
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