USA > Virginia > Sketches of Virginia : historical and biographical > Part 4
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Of the congregation Mr. Craig says-" It was large by compu- tation, about thirty miles in length, and near twenty in breadth. The people agreed to have two meeting-houses, expecting they would become two congregations, which is now come to pass. That part now called Tinkling Spring was most in numbers, and richer than the other, and forward, and had the public management of the affairs of the whole settlement : their leaders close-handed about pro- viding necessary things for pious and religious uses, and could not agree for several years upon a plan or manner, where or how to build their meeting-house, which gave me very great trouble to hold them together, their disputes ran so high. A difference happened between Colonel John Lewis and Colonel James Patton, both living in that congregation which was hurtful to the settlement, but especially to me. I could neither bring them to friendship with each other, or obtain both their friendships at once ever after. This continued for thirteen or fourteen years, till Colonel Patton was murdered by the Indians. At that time he was friendly with me. After his death, Colonel Lewis was friendly with me till he died. As to the other
32
MR. CRAIG'S NARRATIVE.
part of the congregation, now called Augusta, the people were fewer in numbers, and much lower as to their worldly circumstances, but a good-natured, prudent, governable people, and liberally be- stowed a part of what God gave them for religious and pious uses, and now enjoy the benefit ; always unanimous among themselves, loving and kind to me these thirty years, with whom I enjoyed the greatest satisfaction, and serve them with pleasure. I had no trouble with them about their meeting-house, but to moderate and direct them when they met. . They readily fixed on the place, and agreed on the plan for building it, and contributed cheerfully money and labor to accomplish the work, all in the voluntary way, what every man pleased.
"As to my private and domestic state of life when fixed in the con- gregation, I purchased a plantation and began to improve upon it : and June 11th, 1744, married a young gentlewoman of a good family and character, born and brought up in the same neighbor- hood where I was born, daughter of Mr. George Russel, by whom I had nine children. My first-born died October 4th, 1745, being four months and six days old: a great grief to us the parents, being left alone. God exercised me with trying dispensations in my family. He took my first child, and left my second ; he took the third and left the fourth ; took the fifth and left the sixth, and gave me then more without any further breach. The people of my charge were all new settlers and generally of low circumstances. There own necessities called for all their labors ; they could or did do little for my support, except a few, and consequently fell greatly in arrears." It appears to have been the habit of Mr. Craig to keep a regular account of all he received from his congregations, for whatever purpose paid into him: and in the final settlement was willing to count all receipts as part of his salary.
" What made the times distressing and unhappy to all the frontiers, was the French and Indian war, which lay heavy on us, in which I suffered a part as well as others. When General Braddock was de- feated and killed, our country was laid open to the enemy, our people were in dreadful confusion and discouraged to the highest degree. Some of the richer sort that could take some money with them to live upon, were for flying to a safer place of the country. My advice was then called for, which I gave, opposing that scheme as a scandal to our nation, falling below our brave. ancestors, making ourselves a reproach among Virginians, a dishonor to our friends at home,' an evidence of cowardice, want of faith, and a noble Christian dependence on God, as able to save and deliver from the heathen ; it would be a lasting blot to our posterity." Mr. Craig urged the building forts in convenient neighborhoods, suffi- cient to hold twenty or thirty families, secure against small arms, and on alarms to flee to these places of refuge. One of which was to be the church. The proposition was acted upon very generally - "They required me to go before them in the work which I did
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EPITAPH ON MR. CRAIG.
cheerfully, though it cost me one-third of my estate. The people very readily followed, and my congregation in less than two months was well fortified."
Let us walk around this house, and enjoy the beauty of the pros- pect. These remains of the fortifications in the Indian wars wasting away by the constant tread of the assembling congregations, are eloquent memorials of the early age of Augusta County. This old house has seen generations pass ; it has heard the sermons of the Virginia Synod in its youthful days. Could its walls re-echo the sentences that have been uttered here, what a series of sermons ! Its three pastors, for about a hundred years, taught from the same pulpit. Here the famous Waddell was taken under care of Hanover Presbytery, as candidate for the ministry, in 1760: here the venerated Hoge was licensed in 1781: and here the Rev. Archibald Alex- ander passed some of his trials, in preparation for the ministry. In no other house in Virginia can such recollections be cherished as rise up around us here. Here were the teachings of the first settled minister in Virginia, and here have been heard the voices of the worthies of the Virginia Presbyterians for a century. Here has been treasured their testimony for God, to be heard again in the Judgment Day.
Let us cross the turnpike, and, passing the parsonage, enter the " God's acre"-the old burying-ground where lie so many of the first settlers ; and, as at Opecquon, we mourn that so few of these mounds have inscriptions to tell us where those emigrants sleep. They are all around us, we call over their names, and no answer comes, even from a stone, to say, "we lie here." How short-lived is man and his unwritten, or his historic memory ! forming to-day a part of the life and activity of society, and to-morrow like a withered branch cast in the dust. We bless and praise the Lord for the gospel, and will hope that these withered branches shall, very many of them at least, be found grafted into the good olive tree, and partaking of its fatness on Mount Zion. But the congre- gation has not been forgetful of the graves of their three pastors, who, for nearly a century, were examples of patient labor of minis- ters, and the stability of the church. Look on this slab, with a head-stone, near the middle of the yard. On the stone is the short record, expressing volumes, " Erected by G. C., son to J. C." On the slab, "In memory of Rev. John Craig, D. D., commencer of the Presbyterial service in this place, Anno Domini, 1740; and faithfully discharging his duty in the same, to April the 21st, Anno Domini, 1774: then departed this life with fifteen hours' affliction from the hand of the great Creator, aged sixty-three years and four months. The church of Augusta, in expression of their gratitude to the memory of their late beloved pastor, (having obtained liberty of G. C.) paid the expense of this monument, 1798." Now, let us turn towards the gate on the west end, and read on a white marble slab-" Sacred to the memory of Rev. Wm. Wilson, second pastor of Augusta church. Born Aug. 1st, 1751, died Dec. 1st, 1835." A sketch of his life will appear in a subsequent chapter. 3
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TINKLING SPRING.
Let us go a little nearer the gate, and read upon the white marble slab, " Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Conrad Speece, D. D., for more than twenty-two years pastor of Augusta church, born November 7th, 1776, died February 15th, 1836. He conse- crated a mind rich in genius and learning, to the service of his Saviour, in the great work of the gospel ministry ; and here sleeps with his people, till they shall stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ. Reader-If in his life he tried in vain to save, hear him at last, O ! hear him from the grave. This stone is erected in token of affection that can know no end." This man could write better than most of his contemporaries, and could preach better than he could write. Feasted by the poetic labors of others, he himself indited a hymn to be sung while the English language praises God. Of humble origin, he was raised by the smiles of the Lord to stand in the valley, with such men as Samuel Brown, G. A. Baxter, and Moses Hoge, and form one of the triad at Hampden Sidney, with Rice and Alexander. His prolific pen contributed abundantly to the three octavo periodicals in his native State, devoted to reli- gion and morals, and sent contributions to the Connecticut Evan- gelical Magazine. With Dr. Baxter, he laid down in the Assembly, in the case of Daniel Bourne, his neighbor, the platform of the southern churches on slavery. Beloved by his brethren in the ministry, in general, and feared by some in particular ; a systematic pastor and punctual presbyter ; he left productions of his pen, and incidents in his life, sufficient to form a volume worthy of preserva- tion. His merits and productions cannot be discussed in this place, they must have their appropriate positions among his brethren. When another century is passed, may it be found that this congre- gation has been served as constantly by ministers as few in number, and equal in ability and spiritual qualifications, to these that lie gathered with their people. And may the present pastor fill his full measure of excellence and service, in honor of his birth-place and his parents.
CHAPTER III.
TINKLING SPRING.
GOING down from the splendid prospect on Rockfish Gap, to the edge of the "lake country," as the Sage of Monticello termed it, you enter the bounds of the oldest congregation in Augusta County, one that contends with Opecquon for the honor of being the first in the great valley, and the first in the State after the days of Ma- kemie,-the congregation of the Triple Forks of the Shenandoah, which formerly stretched across the valley from this Gap to the Ridge, in the western horizon. You are, too, in the bounds of that division of the congregation named Tinkling Spring, which assem- bled to worship God in the southern part of the settlement, the old
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1219089
TINKLING SPRING CHURCH.
stone church being the place for that part that lay along the track of the paved road. Ministers then were few, and men went far to worship; eight or ten miles were an ordinary ride or walk, to the house of God, on a Sabbath morning. Staunton, in its early days, belonged to Tinkling Spring congregation ; and Col. Lewis, the first settler on Lewis's Creek, and John Preston, "the shipmaster of Dublin," were among the regular worshippers.
The road from the Gap to Staunton, at first passed near the church. The travelled road now leaves the church some two miles to the south. About three miles from Waynesborough, and six from the village of Asylums, diverging from the turnpike that winds its way among scenery that irresistibly invites your gaze, if you love mountains, you will find upon a hill-side, half concealed by forest trees, the house of worship. To this hill and sweetly flowing spring come in crowds on the Sabbath, the young men and maidens with the old men and matrons, the place where their great-grand-fathers emigrating from the Presbyterian country in the north of Ireland, with their families, their politics, and their religion, came regularly for the services of the sanctuary. There, in a log building finished off by the widow of John Preston, John Craig, the first settled Pres- byterian minister in Virginia, after the days of Makemie, preached the gospel for many years. The southern part of the congregation of the Triple Forks, had some difficulty in deciding on the place for their church building, and for a time worshipped in different parts at stands, or tents. Mr. Craig intimates that the rivalry of some individuals, Cols. Lewis and Patton, hindered the congregation in their choice. Tradition' says that he himself was a partizan in selecting the site. The larger portion of the southern section of the congregation chose this hill on account of its central position, and the refreshing spring that gushed forth with a peculiar sound- and took the name of Tinkling Spring. Mr. Craig preferred a situ- ation more northwardly, near the residence of James Pilson, and appealing to the old gentleman one day in expectation that he would be favorable to the location nearest his dwelling, received for a re- ply-that the Tinkling Spring was best for the whole southern part of the congregation-that a more northern locality would give the northern part two places of worship, and the centre one, and the southern part none. "Well, well," said the disappointed pastor- "are you against me too, Jimmy ? Well, I am resolved that none of that water shall ever tinkle down my throat." He kept his word. Like the leading men of his charge, or more properly like all his charge, he was a persevering man; and while his congregation quenched their thirst in full draughts, he only moistened his lips, and that but seldom.
This congregation was generally with their first pastor, on the " old side," or with the protectors. The neighboring congregation, New Providence, was generally of the "new side." There might have been, and probably were for a few years, some heart-burnings confined to a few members. The two congregations have, from time
36
COLONEL JOHN LEWIS.
that the present families know not when it was otherwise, been on terms of strictest friendship. Had memorials of the instances of personal piety in each congregation been preserved, the Christian public might have received edification equally affecting from among the children of the old side and of the new. The divisions could never be distinctly marked in the congregations, for any length of time, any farther than accidental circumstances made a perceptible difference in the habits of neighborhoods. All through the valley were families more strict in their attention to the education of their children in ways of piety than others, more careful to devote them to God in a way to produce a lasting impression.
In the various Indian wars and in the revolutions this congrega- tion showed its patriotism, and sent forth fathers and sons to meet the enemy in battle. Some of the leading military men in the ex- pedition against the Indians were from this congregation. The Lewis family were famous. Charles A. Stuart, late of Greenbrier, son of John Stuart, who was in the battle of Point Pleasant, tells us that his mother was a Lewis, a grand-daughter of the emigrant John Lewis. On his authority we are informed that John Lewis and Mar- garet Linn came from Ireland-" but being Presbyterians, were probably of Scottish origin. John Lewis was advantageously a ten- ant under a Catholic landlord, and for his skill, industry, and fidelity, had the promise of continuance at pleasure. The promise was vio- lated on application for the same place by a Catholic. Upon Lewis's refusal to give immediate possession, his landlord unlawfully under- took by force to oust him. Resistance, of course, followed. In the affray, Charles, (or perhaps Samuel), a brother to John, an officer in the king's service, and then sick at John's house, was killed. This last act excited John to the utmost pitch of fury, in which he slew one or two of the assailants, and escaping, fled to Portugal. Hav- ing remained there two or three years, he privately made arrange- ments for the removal of his family to America, where he and they were soon reunited. He then came to this part of the country, and settled in what is called Beverly Manor. His first encampment (for so it may be called, although he built a cabin), was on the bank of Middle, then Carthrae's river, not four hundred yards from a house now occupied by Charles A. Stuart. Thence he removed to Lewis's Creek, settled on the tract of land now belonging to the heirs of Robert Mccullough, and there built the old stone house, which is still standing, and is probably by far the oldest house in the country. He was the founder of the town of Staunton. This is also in Beverly Manor. He there bred up his family, consisting of four sons and one daughter. His sons were Thomas, William, Andrew, and Charles. John, of the Warm Springs, was the son of Thomas, the surveyor of Augusta, when Augusta extended to the Mississippi river." All the sons of Col. John Lewis were the parents of a numerous pro- geny. Andrew Lewis, who was a man of vast energies, both physi- cal and moral, was the commandant of the southern division of Lord Dunmore's army against the Shawanees, and repulsed the In-
37
COL. JAMES PATTON-JOHN PRESTON.
dians at Point Pleasant, in Oct., 1774. In the very front of this battle, his brother Col. Charles Lewis, sealed his destiny in blood, leaving a name consecrated amongst the dearest and sweetest remem- brance of thousands who survive him. Of the 100,000 acres of land said to have been granted to John Lewis, I have no knowledge; but presume that the grant alluded to, is that which was made to the Greenbrier Company, of which he and his son Andrew were members, and the efficient agents." -- William was active in the French and Indian wars-was an officer in the revolution, in which he lost one son in battle, and had one maimed for life. When the rumor came that Tarlton was approaching the valley, the father was confined by sickness-the mother, with the spirit that dwelt in the breasts of hundreds of mothers in the valley, sent her three sons of 17, 15, 13 years-saying, go my children, I devote you all to my country .- The valley-woman knew the distresses of war; in their childhood, they had known the miseries of savage depredations; and loving their children they preferred an honorable death in the battle-field, to the disgraceful sufferings and death by marauding parties, and the tomahawk of the savage.
When a call was made for militia to aid General Green against Cornwallis, Tinkling Spring sent her sons. Waddell, their minister, addressed to the soldiers at Midway, the parting sermon. In the battle at Guilford Courthouse, these men were found in the hottest of the fight. Some were among the slain. Some brought away deep wounds from sabre cuts ; and bore the scars through a long life, protracted in some cases to more than fourscore years.
Col. James Patton came from Donegal, a man of property, the commander and owner of a merchant ship. He obtained from the Governor of Virginia, a grant for 120,000 acres of land in the val- ley for himself and his associates. His residence was on the south fork of Shenandoah. He took up land on the Alleghanies, in Mont- gomery county, and was killed by the Indians, in one of their plun- dering incursions, while he was on a visit to that beautiful country in 1753. The Indians came upon him suddenly at Smithfield.
John Preston, a shipmaster in Dublin, married a sister of Col. James Patton ; was not successful in his business in Ireland, parti- cularly on account of his religious opinions ; came with Col. Patton and. resided for a time at Spring Hill, afterwards occupied by Dr. Waddell; and about the year 1743, purchased and occupied a tract near Staunton, lately occupied by General Baldwin. Here he soon died-leaving a widow and five children, all born in Ireland but one. His eldest daughter married Robert Breckenridge, of Botetourt- the grandfather of those ministers, Robert and John, whose acts have been inwoven with the history of the Presbyterian Church since about 1830. The second married Rev. John Brown, pastor of New Providence and Timber Ridge, whose descendants have been famous in Kentucky. The third child, William, was the father of a numerous family, male and female, that have not been unknown in Virginia. The fourth married Francis Smith, and the fifth John
38
REV. JOHN A. VANLEAR.
Howard, and their descendants are numerous in Kentucky and the south-western States. Devoutly attached to the Presbyterian Church famed for its vigorous contests for liberty in Scotland, and Ireland, and America ; a firm believer in the Calvinistic creed long and well tried as the creed to bear up men in great emergencies ; conscien- tious in his personal religion, estimating the gospel and its advan- tages to man, a mortal and immortal creature, as beyond all price ; devoutly thanking God, before his death, that an orthodox minister was connected with his family, the pastor of a congregation in the wilderness ; though cut off in a few years, he impressed a character that has been handed down from generation to generation, by his descendants, for a hundred years, that speaks beyond all argumen- tation or praise the value of the principles on which the early settlers of the valley built up their society. You may find his son-in-law the first minister of New Providence, the traces of whose labors remain till this day : among his descendants you may find persons in all the varied stations of honest and honorable society, the mountain farmer, the minister of the gospel, the lawyer, the Go- vernor ; you may find near Staunton the vale in which he lived and left his widow, you may see here the spot where he worshipped in the plainness and simplicity of the Presbyterian forms, you look to that yard where his ashes rest, and you find no monument inscribed John Preston.
The Rev. John A. Vanlear that died pastor of Mossy Creek, a part of the ancient. bounds of the Triple Forks of Shenandoah, preserved some memoranda of the Vanlear family. John Vanlear, a pious man and thorough Presbyterian, a merchant, emigrated from Holland and settled in Philadelphia. He was one of the company that built the first house of worship for Presbyterians in the city. Feeling the necessity of a house, he willingly exerted himself in the work of collecting funds. Those more nearly inter- ested not being able to raise sufficient money, he applied to a particular friend, a Quaker, for aid-" Well, friend John," said the Quaker-" thee art engaged in a good cause. I wish thee success. I can't subscribe to thy paper. But if thee will send to my store, thee shall have nails to do the whole building." The house was built on the north-west. corner of Chestnut and Second streets. This man died in Philadelphia, leaving one son, who removed to Lancaster. He left several sons, two of whom removed to Williams- port, in Maryland, and its vicinity, and one to Christian's Creek, in Augusta County, about the year 1752. This man left two sons and one daughter ; one of the sons, Jacob, lived and died on the place settled by his father. His widow survived him many years, and died at the age of nearly one hundred; a woman of wonderful. memory, the relator of many of the traditions respecting the pioneers of the valley. This man left a son on the same place, many years an elder in the Tinkling Spring church. The other son, John, born in Lancaster about 1745, and seven years old when his father removed to Christian's Creek, married a Miss Allison, in Augusta
39
JOHN M'CUE-JAMES C. WILLSON.
County, and removed to Montgomery about the time of the revo- lutionary war, and settled on the north fork of Roanoke, ten miles from Christiansburg, and four from Blacksburg. He served several campaigns during the war, and was present at the siege of York, and the capture of Cornwallis. At the first organization of a church in Montgomery County, he was chosen elder, and officiated till upwards of eighty years of age. Father of ten children, three sons and seven daughters ; he trained them up in the old fashioned way of keeping the Sabbath, and saw them' all members of the church ; two of his sons elders, and one a minister of the gospel, (the collector of these memoranda), and died at the advanced age of eighty-eight, in the year 1833. "The Bible, and Shorter Catechism, and a sermon from Davies or Burder, on every Sabbath"-says his son, was the order of his house. Other genealogies of equal or greater interest may probably come to light respecting the pious men and women of Tinkling Spring. Let their descendants look for them.
Now let us visit the grave-yard to the west of the church, sur- rounded by a stone wall, in shape of a section of a horse-shoe, divided at the toe. Let us enter by this gate on the south side nearest the church, and before we go towards the south-west end, we will pause a moment to read the white marble slab to the memory of the third pastor, John M'Cue. Craig, the first pastor, lies near Augusta church ; Waddell, in Louisa, under an apple-tree, in a place chosen by himself, near where the Counties of Orange, Albemarle, and Louisa meet : M'Cue was suddenly removed Sept. 20th, 1818, in the 66th year of his age. His congregation assembled for worship on the Sabbath morning. His family preceded him a little on their way to the house of God. After a time a messenger in- formed the gathered people that his lifeless corpse had been found near his own gate. Whether he had fallen from paralysis, or the restiveness of his horse, can never be known. There was no appear- ance of a struggle after his fall. His ministry extended over 27 years.
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