USA > Virginia > City of Suffolk > City of Suffolk > The history of Nansemond County, Virginia > Part 2
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The records of the Chuckatuck meeting-house published in the Southern Historical Publications contain valuable genealogical data, and show how strong the Quaker sentiment was in the county during this period. The leading spirit among the Friends was Thomas Jordan. The sketch of him in these records is as follows : "Thomas Jordan of Chuckatuck in Nansemond Co. in Va. was born in ye year 1634 and in ye year 1660 he Received ye truth and A Bode faithfull in it, and in constant unity with ye faithfull friends thereof ; and stood in opposision against all wrong and Desatefull spirits, having suffered ye spoiling of his goods and ye improsionment of his Body for for ye truth's sake, and continued in ye truth unto the End of his dayes."
The Quakers were very strict in their discipline. There is repeated record of disputes about lands and personal property being settled by the Friends in meeting. Contested wills were also referred to the Society for settlement. There is mention in a single line of a father publicly in meeting disowning his son for having married outside of the Society. Fuller mention is made of the fact that
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M. E Church, Whaleyville, Va.
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, Daniel Saubourn on behalf of men's meeting in Chuckatuck signed on "the eighth day of the 3d mth in the year 1701 a certificate of disownment against Tho' Duke of Nansemond County for marring of one that was not of us and lickwise going to the hireling priest." The records show that in 1682 both Thomas and Edmund Godwin were members of the Chuckatuck meeting-house. The Quakers increased very rapidly in spite of the laws against them and they seem to have been unmolested, except those who like Thomas Jordan refused to pay their tithes, defied the court and maligned the clergy. Besides the meeting-house at Chuckatuck, there was one at Somerton and one in Suffolk parish built "by the high-way side." The Godwins seem to have severed their connection with the Quakers, for after 1682 both Thomas and Edmund Godwin were vestrymen of Chuckatuck parish and both filled the office of sheriff. Col. Thomas Godwin Sr. was a burgess from 1654 to 1658. His son of the same name died in 1714. As the two bore the same name,
Iron Bridge, Reed's Ferry
and both filled conspicuous offices in the county and Colony it is often impossible to determine which Thomas Godwin is meant. The change of the county line in deference to Thomas Godwin in 1674 doubtless refers to the elder Godwin. The probability is that it was he who was Speaker of the Assembly in 1676. His son Thomas was a member of the defiant vestry in Chuckatuck that denied the Governor's right of induction. He was also Colonel commandant of militia and was removed by Gov. Nicholson in 1705. At the time of his death in 1714 he was presiding justice of the county court. Thomas Godwin, the third, was member of the House of Burgesses in 1714 and in 1723, and sheriff in 1731, 1732 and in 1734.
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Another distinguished man of this period was Col. Thomas Milner. In 1680 he was appointed surveyor of Nansemond, Nor- tolk and Princess Anne counties. About 1690 he made at the request of the Governor a survey of the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. For this service re received fifty pounds. He was Lt. Colonel of Militia and a member of the County Court. He was clerk of the House of Burgesses but was turned out of office by the Governor in 1685. He was afterwards elected a member of the House and was Speaker from 1691 to 1693.
In 1703 Gov. Nicholson, whose tyrannical behavior involved him in so many quarrels with the Colonists, incurred the hatred of the citizens of Nansemond by his interference in county affairs.
Iron Bridge, Exit
According to the statement of Commissary Blair the trouble began with Nicholson's turning out of office the efficient Clerk of the Court, Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan had voted and worked for the election of Capt. Thomas Swann to the House of Burgesses. The Governor was bitterly hostile to Swann and in revenge for Sullivan's espousal of Swann's cause, deprived that gentleman of his office, and appointed in his stead a man whom the court deemed wholly incompetent. The appointment was made by the Governor without consultation with his Council, and the court refused to accept the new appointee. The Governor again without consulting the Council immediately turned
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six of the eight justices out of office and appointed a new court of incompetent men. This court and the new clerk managed the affairs of the county so miserably that there was a general outcry. Nichol- son's behavior in this matter was the ground of one of the charges brought against him by Blair and helped to bring about his removal from office.
According to the theory of the Governors of Virginia they were the representatives of the King and hence patrons of all the livings in the Colony. The patent which gave to the Bishop of London the spiritual oversight of the Church in Virginia had left the right
Public School Building, Crittenden, Va.
of induction to the livings with the governors. If to this conceded right of induction, the Vestries had granted the justice of the Governor's claim of authority to present to the livings, then the Governor would have been enabled to impose upon the people any ministers whatever. The people maintained that they and not the King or his representatives were the patrons of the livings, and that the Vestry as the representative of the people could alone present to a living. It is often said that most of the leading Virginians in the Revolutionary period got their training for public life in the parish vestry meeting. Certain it is that Gov. Nicholson met with a distinct defiance from one vestry in Nansemond.
The opinion of Sir Edward Northy, the King's attorney, up- holding the Governor's prerogative, was sent to all the vestries and ordered to be recorded in the vestry-books. The Vestry of Chucka-
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tuck parish obeyed the Governor's order and placed the document on record, but added this spirited resolution to it :
"But as to presenting our present or any other minister for induction are not of opinion (record here is unintelligible) but are willing to entertain our present minister upon the usual terms, as formerly hath been used in this Colony."
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Geo. B. Robertson's Residence, Whaleyville, Va.
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A leading member of that Vestry was Capt. Thomas Swann, and it would be interesting to know whether his action in this matter was the ground of the Governor's hositility to him.
In 1728 Commissioners were appointed to determine the divid- ing line between Virginia and North Carolina. Col. Wlliam Byrd has left a description of the running of the dividing line in the West- over Manuscripts. He tells of his visit to the home of Col. Andrew Meade near the headwaters of Nansemond River. We have a vivid picture of the prodigal hospitality of those days. Col. Byrd says that on leaving, his host insisted on sending with him a cart-load of provisions to eat and drink. Byrd says that on the journey through the county "we passed no less than two Quaker meeting-houses. That persuasion prevails much in the lower end of Nansemond county, for want of ministers to pilot the people a decenter way to heaven. The ill reputation of the tobacco in these lower parishes
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makes the clergy unwilling to accept of them except such whose abilities are as mean as their pay."
In 1734 the house of Christopher Jackson, clerk of the County of Nansemond, was destroyed by fire and the greater part of the county records were burned. Several acts of Assembly were passed in this and succeeding years for the relief of persons the titles to whose property were rendered insecure by the loss of the records.
. Some time previous to the year 1731 Chuckatuck parish and , Lower parish were combined into one parish and called Suffolk parish. There is no record of the time when such change was made,
Public School Building, Holland, Va.
but reference is made to it in the will of John Yeates dated Septem- ber, 1731. This will is a lengthy and curious document. He makes provision for the maintenance of two schools built by him, and for the pay of the teachers. He gives to the church a communion ser- vice, pulpit cloth and cushion, a great Bible and some theological works. He bequeaths to "my friends, the gentlemen of the Vestry living this side of the river a treat at my house." He gives to "my worthy friends, the worshipful court of Nansemond, ten shillings to drink for my sake." He is evidently still disgruntled over the com- bining of the two parishes for he goes out of his way to take a fling
In 1742 an act of Asembly was passed for erecting a town at Constance's Warehouse in the County of Nansemond. The pre-
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amble to this act shows that the drift of population had turned strongly towards the head waters of the Nansemond. At first the settlements had been mainly on the lower Nansemond and on West- ern Branch.
"Inasmuch as it hath been represented unto this General As- sembly that great numbers of people have lately settled themselves at and near a place called Constance's Warehouse on the east side of Nansemond River in the County of Nansemond where the public warehouses are built ; which place is healthful, commodious and con- venient for traders to cohabit in, and bring their goods to. And
Main Street, Holland, Va.
that in case a town was laid out there trade and navigation would be greatly encouraged and increased."
Fifty acres of lands belonging to Jethro Sumner (being a part of the estate of the late Daniel Sullivan, Clerk of the County, which land had come to Sumner through his wife, Margaret Sullivan.) were bought and laid off by the County Surveyor, John Milner. Trustees of the new town were appointed. They were Lemuel Rid- dick, W'm. Baker, Wm. Wright, Edward Wright, John Gregory and Edward Norfleet. The land was purchased for three pounds an acre. The town was called Suffolk, though it was not in Suffolk parish, the name of the parish antedating that of the town by many
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years. A reminder of the ancient name of the settlement remains in the tract of land adjoining the town cemetery, which is still called, Constantia, and the house on the place is now used by the town as a home for indigent negroes.
We have now reached a period of the county's history where for the first time records within the county itself are available for information. The records are copies of the old vestry books of Upper Parish of Nansemond, and Suffolk Parish. The vestry book of Upper Parish commences in 1744, and that of Suffolk Parish in 1749. So far as is known, these volumes are the only records
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Hotel at Whaleyville, Va.
owned by the county of events antedating the destruction of the county records in 1866.
These old records present a picture of the life and habits of the people of Nansemond in early days, which, though fragmentary, is still full of interest. Until the Revolution, the Church of England was the established church of Virginia. The clergy were inducted into office by the Governors and the church was supported like any other institution of government by taxes paid by the people. The authority to present a clergyman was held by a vestry of twelve men, who were elected by the people. The vestry were generally the most conspicuous and influential members of the community. Their duties were not merely ecclesiastical, for to them was in-
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trusted the care and support of the poor of the parish and the hold- ing of all trust funds for such purposes. They appointed the pro- cession masters, and to them the reports of all processionings were made. They fixed the rate of taxation for tithes and, to them all tithes were paid. The study of these old vestry books makes plain the fact that the people of Virginia identified themselves with the church just as they identified themselves with the government. They were the church just as they were the state. The parson was their duly appointed minister, whose duties were well marked out and whose authority was carefully defined. The vestries made
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Bank at Whaleyville, Whaleyville, Va.
earnest efforts that the parish be always supplied with a minister, but every church and chapel was provided with a salaried clerk, who read the services regularly ; and the lack of a minister did not pre- vent the congregations from attending services. Wherever a suffi- cient number of citizens settled in the county a chapel was immedi- ately erected and a clerk appointed. The people were the church, and the vestry the duly elected representatives of the people. The taxes for maintaining the church establishment were called tithes. Every male inhabitant over sixteen years of age was a tithable and must pay his part towards the support of the church. The rate of taxation for tithes from 1750 to 1800 varies from 28 to 60 pounds of tobacco per poll; but as the records show that Nansemond to-
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bacco brought only from 11/3 to 2 pence a pound, the tax would never have been very onerous. Tobacco was the common currency, and the minister's salary was 16,000 pounds to tobacco yearly. The clerk of the chapel received 1,000 pounds, and in one case during a long vacancy in the ministry of the parish the salary of the clerk in the parish church was raised to 2,000 pounds. The number of tith- ables in Upper Parish in 1744 was 1,139. There was a church at Chuckatuck, in early days, near the present site of St. John's, but this church was pulled down and the present one erected in 1755. The old Glebe Church, or Bennett's Creek Church, as it is called in
Boat Landing, Suffolk Wharf
the records, was erected in 1738. These two seem to have been the only churches in Suffolk Parish. The lands along the river and western branch were the first portions of the county settled, but after 1700 the upper portion of the county received a large influx of population. Upper Parish outgrew the other parishes, and Lower Parish and Chuckatuck were combined to form Suffolk Parish about 1725. Even after this combination, Upper Parish held the majority of inhabitants, and in 1744 a part of it was added to Suffolk Parish. The first church in Upper Parish was commonly known as the Old Brick Church. In 1748 this church was abandoned as being unsafe.
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The site of this church is unknown. After the founding of Suffolk in 1742, the town church became the parish church, but there were several chapels with organized congregations that were served by the minister. These chapels were at Somerton, Cypress, Holy Neck and Nottoway. When the boundary between Nansemond and Southampton was changed in 1785, Nottoway was put in South- ampton.
The old vestry books furnish valuable information as to the ancient citizens of the county. The reports of the procession masters give the names of most of the freeholders in the county. Some of the items entered upon the records provoke a smale. The order for the payment of 500 pounds of tobacco to the doctor for "salevating
Court House, Suffolk, Va.
Mary Brinkley and keeping her salevated" is not the record of per- secution, but of kindly care for one of the parish poor. In 1755 the Assembly passed a law that every person receiving aid from the parish should, upon the shoulder of the right sleeve, in an open and visible manner, wear a badge with the name of the parish cut either in blue, red or green cloth; and if any poor person should neglect or refuse to wear such badge, his or her allowance should be with- drawn, or the offender whipped not exceeding five lashes for each offence. This law seems to have been a dead letter in most parishes,
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but it was enforced in Suffolk Parish, at least to the extent of pro- viding the badges and making the allowance to the poor conditional on their wearing the badge. The provision in Yeates' will "for a treat at my house to my friends, the gentlemen of the vestry," was not a jest, but a recognition of the convivial habits of these gentle- men; for we read in the list of parish expenses an order for the payment "to Wm. Johns for the trouble of his house and liquor 200 pounds of tobacco." Men kept open house in those days, and the decanter stood invitingly in the open. Men were free-livers and no criticism attached to a man who drank in his home or in the house
Masonic and Town Hall, Chuckatuck, Va.
of a friend. The minister no less than the laity took his glass, and did not violate convention. The salary of the parson was fixed by law at 16,000 pounds of tobacco. In Nansemond this meant a scant living, as the land was not adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, and the tobacco here was proverbially poor stuff. The vestries never took this fact into consideration, and held to the letter of the law. But few ministers were willing to undertake the task of living on from £50 to £80 a year, and of those who came some were men who were unable to get a parish elsewhere. The result was disastrous in several instances. In Upper Parish, two parsons, Balfour and Lunan, were arraigned by the vestry for being too much addicted
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to drink, and in Suffolk Parish the minister for many years was Parson Agnew, an irascible old gentleman who was continually at odds with the vestry and people. With these exceptions, however, the ministers seem to have been above reproach, and in one case the vestry puts on record its high appreciation of the character and services of its minister, the Rev. Henry John Burges.
The local institutions of the Colonial period present a striking contrast to our times, not only in ecclesiastical but in civil life. The county court consisted of eight justices of the peace, appointed by the Governor in Council. The office of a justice was one of dis-
Christian Church, Holland, Va.
tinction, for the court was to consist "of eight of the most able, hon- est and judicious persons in the county." The office of sheriff de. volved upon the eldest justice, but could only be held for one year, and passed in rotation to the other justices. No justice to whom the office of sheriff had come in due course was allowed to refuse it, a heavy fine being the punishment for such refusal. The county clerk was also appointed by the Governor in council. A special act provided for the punishment of a justice who should be "overtaken of drink on court day."
As late as 1705 the county courts were compelled to provide at every court house, stocks, pillory and a ducking stool. The act providing for the ducking stool has a plaintive tone: "Whereas
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oftentimes many brabling women often slander and scandalize their neighbors, for which their poor husbands are often brought into chargeable and vexatious suites and cast in great damages. Be it enacted that in actions of slander occasioned by the wife as afore- said, after judgment passed for the damages, the woman shall be punished by ducking."
In the first days of the colony every man "fitting to bear arms" was compelled by law to bring his gun with him to church. This law gradually became a dead letter, as the Indians were driven out. The Nansemond and Nottoway tribes remained and were a con-
Public School Building, Suffolk, Va.
tinual menace to the inhabitants of Nansemond, and the custom of going to church armed obtained in this county long after it was abandoned by the other communities along the seaboard.
The vestry records state explicity that the county court house was in Upper Parish even before the building of Suffolk, and the reports of the procession masters indicate that it was situated a few. miles east of Suffolk.
In 1763 George Washington visited the county and explored the Dismal Swamp in the capacity of a prospector or engineer. In his diary for October of that year he gives a brief account of his experiences.
In 1767 Washington, together with Fielding Lewis and
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Thomas Walker, obtained a grant of land in the swamp. The rec- ord of the grant in the land office is as follows: "Sept. 10th, 1707. In the great Dismal Swamp. Beginning at a corner tree of George Walker and Davis Meades' land, 50 acres, part thereof formally granted to John Cole, April 25th 1695, and 188 acres as the residue never before granted." Washington was a stockholder in the Dis- mal Swamp Land Co., whose property was largely in the county of Nansemond. Two canals were dug by this company; one of them, five miles long, bears the name of Washington; and the other, Jeri-
Bank of Holland, Holland, Va.
cho canal, derives its name from the name of the estate through which it passes near its former junction with the Nansemond river.
When the trouble with Great Britain began, Nansemond promptly organized its Committee of Safety, and this committee was very active in the cause of the colony. Parson Agnew, the min- ister of Suffolk Parish, was a zealous supporter of the British cause, and bitter in his condemnation of the growing spirit of inde- pendence. In the spring of 1775 Parson Agnew was observed to visit actively among his congregation, urging them to full attend- ance on a certain Sunday. The ladies especially were invited. On the appointed Sunday the church was filled with women, while a crowd of men numbering five hundred stood outside and listened through
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the windows. Parson Agnew read the prayer for the King and no word of disapproval was heard. He chose for his text, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." His hearers pricked up their ears, for they knew what was coming. He began to decry the heinous sin of disloyalty to government. Suddenly Mr. Wm. Cowper, a vestryman and magistrate, left his seat in the magis- trate's pew and, mounting the steps of the pulpit ordered the speaker to come down. "I am doing my Master's business," said the parson. "Which master?" replied Cowper; "your Master in heaven or your master over the seas? You must leave this church or I will use force." "I will never be the cause of breeding riot in my Master's house," said the minister. Parson Agnew then came down from the pulpit and walked down the aisle and through the crowd at the church door, which parted to make him a passage. He entered his carriage and drove away. The congregation quietly dispersed, and Parson Agnew never again entered the church where he had preached for so many years.
This ejection of the minister by his own congregation caused a great deal of talk in the county and throughout the colony. In some quarters the people were much criticised for their action. The parson, though driven from his pulpit, continued his activity against what he considered the spirit of disloyalty. He was warned re- peatedly by the Committee of Safety, but he persisted. The matter grew so grave that the committee finally, through its secretary, Mr. John Gregorie, sent to the Virginia Gazette a recital of the charges against Agnew.
(Virginia Gazette, April 8th, 1775.) CHARGES AGAINST PARSON AGNEW.
"He asserted that it was no hardship to be carried beyond sea for crimes committed here. He declared when speaking of the Con- gress that all such combinations and associations were detestable; that the Congress did not know what they were about; that the de- signs of the great men were to ruin the poor people and that after a while they would forsake them and lay the whole blame on their shoulders, and by this means make them slaves. He likewise in- formed Mr. Smith there was an association of the other party up the county and the people were signing it fast, that they had dis- covered their error in signing the present one. Upon the whole the public will plainly discover the principles this Rev. Gentleman en- tertains and in what light he views the general resolutions adopted and entered into for our relief from the oppressive hand of power. Had this zealous advocate for despotic rule been as assiduous in the
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discharge of the several duties of his function as he has been indus- trious in propagating false and erroneous principles, not only in private discourse, but in blending detestable tenets in his angry ora- tions from the pulpit in order to gain a party in opposition to the common cause and thereby lending his aid to reduce the very people that gave him bread to a state of wretchedness, this committee had not been at the trouble to examine the 11th article of the association and opening his conduct to the censure of the world."
(Signed) JOHN GREGORIE. (C. C.)
In the journal of the Committee of Safety of the colony there is this entry :
"Williamsburg, April 9th, 1776.
"The proceedings and sentence of the court of commissioners for Nansemond county, respecting the conduct of Rev. John Agnew and the said Agnew's appeal from the said sentence were laid be- fore the committee. Resolved, that this committee hear the said
Jackson Bros. Co.'s Mill, Whaleyville, Va.
appeal tomorrow, and Mr. Agnew have notice to attend." The minutes of the committee from this point to April 29th, 1776, are missing, so that we have no knowledge of the result of the appeal. Agnew left the county some time during this year and became chap- lain of the Queen's Rangers, a British troop. He was taken pris- oner, along with his son, Stair Agnew, during the Revolution and carried to France.
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