USA > Virginia > The planting of the Presbyterian Church in Northern Virginia : prior to the organization of Winchester Presbytery, December 4, 1794 > Part 4
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But notwithstanding their limited ability and the distance to be trav- eled, the Presbyteries were remarkably faithful in furnishing these people with Gospel ordinances. Besides the visits made by appointment of Synod and by ministers from New Castle and other Presbyteries, the Presbytery of Donegal, between 1735 and 1745, made large provision for the destitu- tion here. As we have already seen, Rev. Samuel Gelston, who visited Opecquon in the summer of 1736, was the first one sent. The next year Rev. James Anderson and Rev. William Bertram came on a general mis- sion, their services to be given without limitation of time and wherever oc- casion for them was found. In the spring of 1740, Rev. Samuel Caven visited Bullskin and Opecquon, and the next winter preached on the South Branch of the Potomac. Five years later he was again sent to Vir- ginia, and supplied Potomack in Virginia, Opecquon and Bullskin. In the fall of 1740 Mr. Lynn visited these churches and received a call to Opec-
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THE PLANTING OF PRESBYTERIANISM
quon; but because of some unfavorable rumors he was not settled there. In 1741, Rev. Alexander McDowell was ordained sine titulo, and was sent to "itinerate sine tempore in Virginia." In 1742, Rev. John Hindman was sent here as a missionary, and the next year we find him supplying Opecquon.
From 1745, through the loss of the Presbyterial Records, a gap of fourteen years occurs, during which we have but little knowledge of the evangelistic work of Donegal. We only know that it continued to send supplies to these congregations as it had opportunity; while to some of them special attention was given by the New Side Synod of New York, whose missionaries found a heartier welcome among them.
But when we have access again to the Records of Donegal, we find, not only that the missionary zeal of that Presbytery had not abated, but that it had entered with renewed activity upon the supply of the territory south of the Potomac. New congregations had been formed in this Lower Valley, and also along the waters of Back Creek, Capon and the South Branch. In the next ten years their missionaries had crossed to the east of the Blue Ridge, and churches of our faith and order were beginning to spring up at numerous points between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, and many of these continued to grow in strength and importance under the fostering of those zealous men, who, at great personal cost and sacrifice, supplied them with the ministrations of the Word.
The ministers thus engaged in the planting and training of these churches, prior to the organization of our Presbytery in 1794, were about fifty in number, not more than ten or twelve of whom were settled here as pastors. Their work covered a period of perhaps seventy-five years. The names of nearly all of them could be given, but it would probably be with- out interest to record them here, as so few of them are known to us now.
A matter of more interest is the date and the chronological order of the organization of these churches. It would be difficult, however, if not impossible, to give these dates with any accuracy, as the data by which we would have to be guided are not altogether reliable. When "the peo- ple of Potomoke, in Virginia," were "put in church order" in 1720, the Synod, soon after, gave the oversight of "the people of Virginia" to the Presbytery of New Castle. But unfortunately the Records of that Pres- bytery, which would throw light on the early history of many of our churches are lost. When the Presbytery of Donegal was erected in 1732 nothing was said as to its relations to the new settlements south of the Potomac, and three years or more elapsed before any attention was given to them. In the meantime it is reasonable to suppose that the Presbytery
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of New Castle was not neglecting the people whose religious interests the Synod had committed to its care. Besides supplying "the people of Po- tomoke," it would give needed attention to adjacent settlements. And it seems highly probable that her missionaries had visited other points in this Lower Valley before this region came under the oversight of Donegal. There is certainly something significant in the way in which such places as Bullskin, Back Creek, Tuscarora and Falling Waters are introduced in the Records of Donegal as compared, e. g., with the first appearance of Opec- quon. The minute for May, 1736, is "Mr. Gelston is ordered to supply the new inhabitants near Opekan in Virginia," showing on the face of the minute that this is the first minister sent there. Whereas in April, 1740, when Bullskin is first named, nothing is said to designate the locality, but it is mentioned as a place with which Presbytery is already acquainted and had probably supplied before. The same is true of Tuscarora, Back Creek and Falling Waters. When these names appear in the Third Volume of Donegal Records, they appear evidently as places which the Presbytery was accustomed to supply. We cannot affirm it as a fact, but the conjec- ture should not be too hastily dismissed as improbable, that Bullskin may be an older settlement even than Opecquon. For if, as seems most rea- sonable, the immigrants to this Valley first settled near the Potomac, on the rich and inviting lands of Berkeley and Jefferson, and then gradually, as these lands were taken up, made their way southward, it is not at all im- probable that there was a settlement on the waters of the Bullskin, before Hite had come to the head waters of the Opecquon.
But while we are not able to give, with any degree of certainty, the dates of the organization of our several churches, we can, with tolerable accuracy, fix the time when most of them first became places of worship for Presbyterian congregations. In doing this we are guided mainly by the records of the old Synods, and of the Presbytery of Donegal.
1
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I POTOMAC.
Beyond all question, the place at which Presbyterian worship was first held within our original Presbyterial bounds, was at " Potomoke in Virginia;" for even should our contentions be disproved, which locates that church west of the Blue Ridge, it must still have been within the territory assigned to Winchester Presbytery at its organization in 1794. That territory embraced the entire Northern Neck of Virginia. But if, as we are almost compelled to believe, the "Potomoke in Virginia" of the Synodical Records of 1719, et seq., is the " Potomack in Virginia" of the Donegal Records of a later date, then unquestionably our earliest Presbyterian organization was at, or near Shepherdstown, now in West Virginia. "The people " of that place were "put in church order " sometime before September, 1720, and were served by supplies from the Synod of Philadelphia until Septem- ber, 1724, when the care of these people was committed to the Presbytery of New Castle. But the loss of the Records of that Presbytery leaves us completely in the dark as to the history of that church for a period of nearly twenty years. In the meantime the Presbytery of Donegal was erected (1732), which gradually extended its jurisdiction south of the Potomac ; and in the last year of the period covered by the First Volume of its Records, a place called "Potomack in Virginia " appears, asking for supplies. This was in 1745. But the Second Volume of its Records, covering the next fourteen years, is lost, leaving us again in the dark. With the Third Vol- ume, however, "Potomack in Virginia " reappears. Under date of August 31, 1762, Mr. McGan (a name I find no where else) is "ordered to supply Tuscarora and Potomack in Virginia the first two Sabbaths in March." After that date this name silently drops from these Records. But why should it be dropped ? In the absence of all positive evidence, we, of course, can give no certain answer to this question. But in view of what is known to us, the conjecture is at least reasonable, that the church had obtained a permanent supply, and for several subsequent years had no occasion to ask help from Presbytery. Certainly a church with such a history would not be likely to let itself die. There was everything in its situation to favor its growth. There is, however, an interesting fact that may possibly throw light upon the question. A few years after the name "Potomack" disappears, the names of Shepherdstown ( October, 1768) and Elk Branch (April 11, 1769) appear for the first time, but as places of unusual importance. One of them, Elk Branch, is soon strong enough to
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call and settle Rev. John McKnight as its pastor ; while the other, Shep- herdstown, seems able to have procured its own supplies, until the Rev. Moses Hoge was obtained as its pastor. There is convincing evidence that Elk Branch had been a place of worship for some time before its name is mentioned in the Presbyterial Records. An old log church which stood in the Presbyterian graveyard near Duffields, and which had fallen into decay in 1792, must have been erected and used much earlier than 1769. A rea- sonable explanation, which meets all the known conditions of the case, is that Potomac Church, planted by Daniel McGill in 1720, continued to flour- ish under the fostering care, first of the Presbytery of New Castle, and then of Donegal, until it became advisable to divide it, which was done by effecting a separate organization at Elk Branch, which was already one of its preaching stations, and where a house of worship already existed. In this division, which, if our theory is tenable, took place at some time between 1763 and 1767, the old name, " Potomac," was dropped, and the name " Shepherdstown," by which the village was now called, was given it. Of these churches we will speak hereafter, under their present names.
II OPECQUON.a
The church whose name appears next in the Records is "The Old Opecquon." The history of this church, so far as is known, down to 1772, when the pastoral relation of Rev. John Hoge was dissolved, has already been given with considerable fullness (pp. 18 to 28).
For the nine years which followed the resignation of Mr. Hoge, and which covered the exciting period before and during the Revolutionary War, the church was served by supplies appointed by Presbytery, or ob- tained from the casual visits of evangelists. Notwithstanding its diffi- culty in meeting its pecuniary obligations to their late pastor, no sooner had the church become vacant than great earnestness was displayed in
a In writing the name of this church, I have followed, throughout this volume, the spelling which received the final approval of Dr. Foote. In the first volume of his "Sketches of Virginia," he wrote the name "Opeckon ;" but in his second volume, six years later, he wrote it invariably "Opecquon." Dr. Foote is the highest authority as to the proper spelling of this historic name, the orthography of which, in Ecclesiastical annals, is so varied.
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securing supplies for the pulpit. Supplications were sent to Presbytery at every meeting. Mr. Hoge, who retained his residence in Frederick County for several years, and of whom his old parishioners were very fond, seems still to have been their main reliance for preaching. He was the one first appointed by Presbytery when the vacancy occurred, and almost the only one to supply their pulpit for the next three years, after which his name no longer appears in the minutes in connection with the church. But Mr. Vance, pastor of Tuscarora; Mr. McKnight, pastor of Elk Branch, and Mr. Thompson, of Kittocktin; with Messrs. Slemmons, Craighead, Balch, Linn and others from north of the Potomac, were sent to them, and some of them were sent quite frequently.
Of the evangelists who visited them, we have very little information. There is, however, one notable exception, that of Rev. Philip V. Fithian, a native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton in 1772. He was a young man of unusual gifts, who died three years after his entrance into the min- istry. While a student of theology, he became tutor in the family of Coun- cillor Robert Carter, of " Nomini Hall, " Westmoreland County, Va. He had a wonderfully clear and accurate insight into human character, and made good use of his opportunity in portraying what came under his obser- vation. His letters, written during the year of his residence at " Nomini Hall," have recently been published, and give one of the most instructive and attractive pictures of domestic and social life in Virginia at that period anywhere to be found. After his licensure in 1774, he, and Rev. Andrew Hunter, whose relatives lived in this Valley, were commissioned by the Synod to visit some of the frontier missionary fields. His diary of that journey contains many interesting facts about the churches he visited, and furnishes some racy reading about the people of that day. Some extracts from this diary will be given in connection with the places to which they relate. His visit to this Valley was made in the spring and summer of 1775. The War of the Revolution was then impending, and he found the whole country active with excitement and preparation. Of his visit to Opecquon he writes:
"Sunday, May 28. Opickon Church. A large and genteel society, mostly Irish. I preached two sermons; the people very attentive." x x He seems to have been the guest of Mr. Glass, of whom he writes:
"May 31. Mr. Glass was blessed while he was filling up his family, so far as to have eight daughters in continual succession and but three sons. I visited a brother of his a mile off at the head of Opickon Creek, a solid, lusty farmer. x x Several visits we made today, among others
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to one Colville. He is clerk for the Society, raises the tune and in the primitive genuine Presbyterian whine and roll, begins the first note of the music with a deep strained gutteral from the last word of the reading, with- out any intermissions. This, however, in these societies is universal. I am here under the necessity of close study, as the people do not allow of reading sermons.
1752356
"Sunday, June 11. [Opecquon. ] A numerous assembly. Mr. Hoge present. He is a lusty, well-made man. Capt. Holmes introduced me to him, and he received me kindly. Invited me to the session house, and home with him after worship. I proposed and strongly urged him to preach at least once, but he wholly declined it. Several store-keepers and people of note were out from Winchester, many members of the English Church, and all gave good attention. Sometimes, at particular sentences, I could observe every eye to be fixed, and the whole house in silence. Then when the sentiments cooled, one would cough, another would ogle some woman, a third would take snuff, etc. After sermon I rode home with Mr. Hoge. He is remarkably chatty, and in some cases facetious, has the reputation, I believe, justly, of a sound, well meaning man. I grieve for his present state; he has a large family, no way of supporting it, has been dismissed from this Society near three years. He is anxious of being re-instated, and is jealous of my having an intention to supplant him.
"Monday, June 12. The opinion of his politicks is blank. He rode . with me to Mr. Glass'. Mr. Glass gave me for my sermons five dollars and many thanks. He proposed I should stay with them a year on trial, but I objected on Mr. Hoge's case."
For a church, however, as large and vigorous as Opecquon had become, it would not do to be dependent on the precarious services of Presbyterial supplies, or of traveling evangelists. A pastor became a necessity, and many calls were made. Among them, one was sent, April 14, 1774, to the Rev. James Waddel, " The Blind Preacher" of the Bristish Spy, then liv- ing in Lancaster County, Va., but beginning to feel unsettled, because of the ill effect of that climate upon his health. This call was declined. After several other unsuccessful efforts, a call was made in October, 1781, for Rev. John Montgomery, and accepted. In this call, as we might expect, Cedar Creek united; but it is interesting now to find the name of Winchester associated with these old churches in their present call.
The Rev. John Montgomery, to whom this call was given, was a native of Augusta County, Va., and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His parents were prominently identified with the New Providence Church. He prepared for
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college in a school which his father helped to found, and was graduated at Princeton in 1775. In the fall of that year he became, by appointment of Presbytery, the assistant of Rev. William Graham in that famous academy which has now grown into Washington & Lee University. He was received by Hanover Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry in 1777; but con- tinued to teach while pursuing his theological studies under Dr. Graham. After his licensure, October 28, 1778, he devoted himself to the ministry. and was ordained by Hanover Presbytery April 27, 1780. The next year (1781) he was settled over Opecquon, Cedar Greek and Winchester,where he continued to minister, greatly beloved by his people and much blessed in his work, until 1789, when, much to the regret of his congregation, he resigned his charge and moved to land that he had inherited on the Big Calf Pasture River, in the western part of Augusta County, where he lived the remainder of his life as pastor of Lebanon and Rocky Spring churches. During the latter part of his life his increasing bodily infirmities greatly interrupted his ministry. He married Agnes Hughart, and was the father of eleven children-" about the canonical number in that day." He died in 1818, and was buried at the Rocky Spring Church. His numerous descendants to the fourth generation remain staunch Presbyterians, and many of them have been, or are, office bearers in the church.
With the call of Mr. Montgomery, it is important to observe that the names of the churches calling him disappear from the minutes of Donegal Presbytery. The exact facts which explain this disappearance are not dis- tinctly known. In May, 1755, the Synod of New York (New Side) erect- ed the Presbytery of Hanover, with boundaries not very clearly defined, but extending westward across the Blue Ridge, and providing "that any of their members settling to the southward or westward of Mr. Hoge's con- gregation shall have liberty to join said Presbytery." Mr. Montgomery, when called to these churches in Frederick County in 1781, was a mem- ber of Hanover Presbytery; but instead of having his membership trans- ferred to the Presbytery of Donegal, the churches calling him-in some manner and at some time, of which we have no record-had their Presby- terial relations transferred to Hanover. When the Presbytery of Lexing- ton was erected, May, 1786, it was ordered that it be bounded on the north by the southern boundary of Carlisle Presbytery, which was formed at the same time by the division of Donegal. That southern boundary, however, was not defined ; nor the churches named that were to be em- braced in Lexington Presbytery; but Moses Hoge, pastor of "Concrete," on the South Branch, and John Montgomery, pastor of Winchester,
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Opequon and Cedar Creek, are especially named as members. And when a successor to Mr. Montgomery was obtained he was dismissed from Han- over to Lexington Presbytery, which then asserted an undisputed claim to these churches.
The removal of Mr. Montgomery from this charge left it vacant for but a short time, as a successor was soon secured in the person of the Rev. Nash Legrand.
Mr. Legrand's ancestors were Huguenots, who came to Virginia in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was a native of Prince Edward County and a graduate of Hampden Sidney College in 1788, under the presidency of Rev. John Blair Smith. He had entered college to prepare for the medical profession, but was converted in the great revival of 1787-8, and at once consecrated himself to the work of the ministry. He pursued his studies to this end under the direction of Dr. Smith, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Hanover April 25, 1789. Immediately he began a career of great success as an evangelist, preaching in many fields, but spending the months of March and April of the next year in the charge over which he was afterward settled. He was then employed by the newly appointed "Commission of Synod " as their first missionary, and labored under their direction from June 1, 1790, to the first of October following, when, though strongly solicited to continue in this work, he resigned his commission and accepted a call from these churches in Frederick County in which he had already labored, and to which he now removed in the fall of 1790. He was ordained to the full work of the ministry by the Presbytery of Hanover April 5, 1791, at a meeting held in the Briery Church, in his native county, Prince Edward; and the following October was dismissed to the Presbytery of Lexington. He was never installed in the Opecquon field, though he continued his labors there with distinguished success for nineteen years, when impaired health compelled him to resign. In Octo- ber, 1809, he was dismissed by the Presbytery of Winchester to his old Presbytery of Hanover, within the bounds of which he continued to labor, as his health would allow, in vacant churches and destitute neighborhoods, but never again had he the stated charge of a congregation.
About the year 1794, Mr. Legrand was united in marriage to an accom- plished lady, Margaret Holmes, a member of the Cedar Creek Church, and a sister of Governor David Holmes, of Mississippi; by this marriage he had five children, and was singularly happy in his home. Mrs. Legrand died sometime before he left Opecquon; and after his removal he married Mrs. Paulina Read, of Charlotte County, Va., on whose large estate he afterwards
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resided in the comforts of an ample fortune. He died in 1814, while on a visit to his old friends in Frederick County; and his unmarked grave is in the burying ground of his old Stone Church in Winchester.
Dr. Foote, in his "Sketches of Virginia," Vol. I, pp. 530-543, gives an extended and most interesting sketch of the life, character, and ministry of Mr. Legrand, to which the reader is referred. In that sketch he is described as a remarkably handsome man, with dark brown hair, high forehead, open countenance, expressive eye, and melodious voice; tall and spare, yet well proportioned, graceful and easy of movement, and preposessing in manner. While inclined to taciturnity, and sometimes to a gloomy reserve, yet, in company that pleased him, his powers of conversation were extraordinary, abounding in wit, and amusing anecdote. His preaching was unusually attractive, though not distinguished for superior learning, finish of compo- sition, or force of reasoning. In these particulars he was far surpassed by many of his contemporaries, who yet fell far hehind him, both in popular- ity and usefulness. His comely person, graceful gestures, and especially the music and modulation of his voice, fitted him admirably for the pulpit, and attracted the attention of his hearers, without any special regard to the subject-matter of his discourse. But, in addition to this, the deep and all- pervading impressions of godliness with which his soul was imbued, cre- ated an atmosphere about him which all felt. He lived near to God, and uniformly enjoyed his religion. He excelled in prayer, as one who lived near the throne. He was always conscious of the presence of his Saviour. And in the pulpit all these things imparted such an unction to his sermons and exhortations, that few could hear him preach without feeling more or less conviction of sin. No minister of his day was so much sought after by men, or so much honored of God as Legrand. No wonder, then, that under his ministry Opecquon saw its best days. Delighted crowds attended his ser- vices; and under his pungent preaching the waning piety of God's people was rekindled, inquiry was awakened, and rich spiritual harvests were gathered. It was soon found that the House of Worship was not large enough for present requirements, and the old log building, which had already supplanted a smaller one, was taken down and the commodious stone church, which was destroyed by fire in 1873, was built; and on pleasant Sundays was filled from door to pulpit.
In closing this account of the "Old Opecquon," it is interesting to state that in the early months of 1792, this church had another distinguish- ed visitor, whose "reminiscenses," if not so spicy as the "Diary" of Mr. Fithian, are at least as valuable. I quote from an unpublished manuscript
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of Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., in which he tells of his work in this Lower Valley immediately after his licensure in the old Presbyterian Church in Winchester:
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