USA > West Virginia > A history and record of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of West Virginia > Part 38
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*The Log church first erected was burned down the following winter, with many other houses. Mr. Hunt lost all his books and every thing else but the clothes on his back. "Yet none ever saw him repine at his loss." "Upon any alarm he was as ready at defence as any, and till he could not speak he never ecased to his utmost to animate us constantly to persist,-whose soul, questionless, is with God."-Captain Smith's History of Virginia.
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unworthy materials on board, as shown by their opposi- tion to Hunt and Captain Smith, two men who seemed to know no fear, but that of God. The future conduct of the larger portion of the Colonists, after their arrival, too well established this fact. The company in England appears to have apprehended something of this, from their instruc- tions, in which they say to the Colonists at their departure, that "the way to prosper and have success was to make themselves all of one mind, for their own and their country's good; and to serve and fear God, the giver of all goodness, since every plantation which he did not plant would certain- ly be rooted out." Although Captain Smith was appointed one of the Council of the Company, a violent opposition was made to his having a seat on their arrival. "Many," it is said in the narrative already quoted, "were the mischiefs which daily sprung from their ignorant yet ambitious spir- its; but the good doctrine and exhortation of our preacher, Mr. Hunt, reconciled them. and caused Captain Smith to be admitted of the Council." The next day, the Holy Com- munion was. for the first time, administered in Virginia. The number composing the first congregation at James- town was one hundred and four or five. "A circumstance," says the Rev. Mr. Anderson, author of three most laborious and interesting volumes on the Colonial Churches. "is men- tioned in President Wingfield's manuscript, which I cannot find recorded elsewhere, which shows, in a very remarkable manner, the careful and pious reverence manifested by the Colonists for the due celebration of Christ's holy ordinance, in their sad extremity." He says that when "the common store of oil, sack, vinegar, and aqua-vitae, were all spent, saving two gallons of each, the sack was reserved for the communion-table."*
In proof of the religious character of Captain Smith, as a part of the history of James City Parish, I quote the fol- lowing account of the first place of worship in the same, in a pamphlet published in 1631, by Mr. Smith, some years
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after his History of Virginia, and entitled, "Advertisements for the unexperienced planters of New England, or else- where, &c." To the Rev. Mr. Anderson's labours we are indebted for the revival of this pamphlet.
"Now, because I have spoken so much for the body, give me leave to say somewhat of the soul; and the rather, be- cause I have been demanded by so many, how we began to preach the Gospel in Virginia, and by what authority, what churches we had, our order of service, and maintenance for our ministers; therefore I think it not amiss to satisfie their demands, it being the mother of all our Plantations, entreating pride to spare laughter, to understand her sim- ple beginnings and proceedings. When I went first to Vir- ginia, I well remember, we did hang an awning (which is an old sail) to three or four trees, to shadow us from the sun; our walls were rails of wood, our seats unhewed trees, till we cut planks, our pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighbouring trees; in foul weather we shifted into an old rotten tent, for we had few better, and this came by way of adventure for new. This was our church, till we built a homely thing like a barn, set upon crotchetts, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth, so was also the walls. The best of our houses were of the like curiosity, but the most part far much worse workmanship, that could neither well defend wind nor rain, yet we had daily Common Prayer morn- ing and evening, every Sunday two sermons, and every three months the holy communion, till our minister died, (the Rev. Mr. Hunt.) But (after that) our prayers daily with an homily on Sunday's, we continued two or three years after, till more preachers came, and surely God did most merciful- ly hear us, till the continual inundations of mistaking direc- tions, factions, and numbers of unprovided libertines near consumed us all, as the Israelites in the wilderness." "Not- withstanding, (he says,) out of the relicks of our mercies, time and experience had brought that country to a great
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happiness, had they not so much doated on their Tobacco, on whose fumish foundations there is small stability."
Of the piety of Captain Smith we have evidence, in the account given of the survey of Virginia, when he and his valiant comrades fell into so many perils among the In- dians. "Our order was daily to have prayer with a psalm, at which solemnity the poor savages much wondered." On Smith's return to Jamestown, notwithstanding all former opposition, such were his merits and such its difficulties, that the Council elected him President of the Colony; and the first thing done was to repair the church, which, during his absence among the Indians, had, with other houses, been destroyed by fire. Characteristic, and evincive of piety in him, is the statement of it :- "Now the building of the pal- ace was stayed as a thing needless, and the church was re- paired."
Vestries.
In the history of the vestries we may fairly trace the or- igin, not only of that religious liberty which afterward de- veloped itself in Virginia, but also of the early and deter- mined stand taken by the Episcopalians of Virginia in be- half of civil liberty. The vestries, who were the intelligence and moral strength of the land, had been trained up in the defence of their rights against Governors and Bishops, Kings, Queens, and Cabinets. They had been slowly fighting the battles of the Revolution for a hundred and fifty years. Taxation and representation were only other words for sup- port and election of ministers. The principle was the same.
It is not wonderful, therefore, that we find the same men who took the lead in the councils and armies of the Rev- olution most active in the recorded proceedings of the ves- tries. Examine the vestry-books, and you will find promi- nent there the names of Washington, Peyton Randolph, Ed- mund Pendleton, General Nelson, Governor Page, Colonel Bland, Richard Henry Lee, General Wood, Colonel Harrison, George Mason and hundreds of others who might be named
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as patriots of the Revolution. The principle for which ves- tries contended was correct,-viz .: the choice of their min- isters. I do not say that it must necessarily be by annual election; but there must be a power of changing ministers, for sufficient reasons. The Governors and the clergy, who came from England did not understand how this could be, so used had they been to a method widely different. It was reserved for the Church in America to show its practicabil- ity, and also to establish something yet more important, and what is by most Englishmen still thought a doubtful prob- lem,-the voluntary principle, by which congregations not only choose their ministers but support them without taxa- tion by law. It may be wise to provide some check to the sudden removal of ministers by the caprice of vestries and congregations, as is the case in the Presbyterian and Episco- pal Churches, where some leave of separation is required from Presbyteries and Bishops; but neither of them are ever so unwise as to interpose a veto where it is evident that there is sufficient reason for separation, whether from dis- satisfaction on either side, or from both, or any strong con- sideration. The people have it in their power, either by withholding support or attendance, and in other ways, to secure their removal, and the ministers cannot be forced to preach. Either party have an inalienable right to separate, unless there be some specific bargain to the contrary. In one denomination in our land, it is true that ministers are appointed to their stations and congregations are supplied by its chief officers; but it must be remembered that this is only a temporary appointment,-for a year or two at most. Let it ever be attempted to make it an appointment for life, or even a long term of years, and the dissolution of that So- ciety would soon take place. In the first organization of our general Church in this country, after the separation from our mother-country, an office of induction was adopted, with the view of rendering the situation of the clergy more permanent; but such was the opposition to it from Virginia
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and some other States, that it was determined it should only be obligatory on those States which chose to make it so. Very few instances of its use have ever occurred in the Dio- cese of Virginia .*
*In proof of what is said as to vestrymen, we publish the following list of the Convention of 1776. From our examination of the old vestry-books, we are confident that there are not three on this list who were not vestrymen of the Episcopal Church.
A List of the members of the Convention of Virginia which began its sessions in the City of Williamsburg on Monday the sixth of May, 1776, as copied from the Journal :-
Accomac-Southey Simpson and Isaac Smith, Esquires; Albermarle-Charles Lewis, Esquire, and George Gilmer for Thomas Jefferson, Esquire; Amelia- John Tabb and John Winn, Esquires; Augusta-Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell, Esquires; West Augusta-John Harvie and Charles Simms, Esquires; Amherst-William Cabell and Gabriel Penn, Esquires: Bedford-John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esquires; Botetourt-John Bowyer and Patrick Lockhart, Esquires; Brunswick-Frederic Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esquires; Buck- ingham-Charles Patteson and John Cabell, Esquires; Berkeley-Robert Ruth- erford and William Drew, Esquires; Caroline-the Hon. Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esquires; Charles City-William Aerill. Esquire, and Sam- uel Harwood, Esquire, for B. Harrison, Esquire: Charlotte-Paul Carrington and Thomas Read, Esquires; Chesterfield-Archibald Cary and Benjamin Wat- kins, Esquires; Culpeper-Henry Field and French Strother, Esquires; Cum- berland-John Mayo and William Fleming, Esquires; Dinwiddie-John Ban- ister and Bolling Starke, Esquires; Dunmore-Abraham Bird and John Tipton, Esquires; Elizabeth City-Wilson Miles Cary and Henry King, Esquires; Es- sex-Meriwether Smith and James Edmundson, Esquires; Fairfax-John West, Jr., and George Mason, Esquires; Fauquier-Martin Pickett and James Scott, Esquires; Frederick-James Wood and Isaac Zane, Esquires; Fincastle-Arthur Campbell and William Russell, Esquires; Gloucester-Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esquires; Goochland-John Woodson and Thomas M. Ran- dolph, Esquires; Halifax-Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esquires; Hampshire-James Mercer and Abraham Ilite, Esquires; Hanover-Patrick Henry and John Syme, Esquires; Henrico-Nathaniel Wilkinson and Richard Adams, Esquires; James City-Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, Es- quires; Isle of Wight-John S. Wills and Charles Fulgham, Esquires: King George-Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esquires; King and Queen- George Brooke and William Lyne, Esquires; King William-William Aylett and Richard Squire Taylor, Esquires; Lancaster-James Seldon and James Gordon, Esquires; Loudoun-Francis Peyton and Josias Clapham, Esquires; Louisa-George Meriwether and Thomas Johnson, Esquires; Lunenburg-David Garland and Lodowiek Farmer, Esquires; Middlesex-Edmund Berkeley and James Montague, Esquires; Mecklenburg-Joseph Speed and Bennett Goode, Esquires; Nansemond-Willis Riddick and William Cowper, Esquires: New Kent-William Clayton and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires; Norfolk-James Holt and Thomas Newton, Esquires; Northumberland-Rodham Kenner and John Cralle, Esquires; Northampton-Nathaniel L. Savage and George Savage, Esquires; Orange-James Madison and William Moore, Esquires; Pittsylvania -Benjamin Lankford and Robert Williams, Esquires; Prince Edward-Wil- liam Watts and William Booker, Esquires; Prince George-Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esquires: Princess Anne-William Robinson and John Thoroughgood, Esquires; Prince William-Cuthbert Bullitt and Henry Lee, Esquires Richmond-Hudson Muse and Charles MeCarty, Esquires; Southamp-
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Some thoughts on the formation of the Virginia character, as displayed in the American Revolution and previously, may with propriety follow after the history of the Church and College at Williamsburg, and the foregoing list of ves- trymen. As London and the Universities were in one sense England, Paris and its University France, so Williamsburg, while it was the seat of Government, and the College of William and Mary, were, to a great extent, Virginia. Here her Governor and chief officers resided; here her Council often repaired and her Burgesses annually met. What was their character? Whence did their ancestors come, and who were they? Happily for the Colony, they were not Lords, or their eldest sons, and therefore beirs of lordship. With one or two exceptions, none such ever settled in Vir- ginia. Neither were they in any great numbers the ultra devotees of kings,-the rich, gay, military, Cavalier adher- ents of Charles I.,-or the non-juring believers in the divine right of kings, in the days of Charles II. and of James II. Some of all these there were in the Colony, doubtless. Some dainty idlers, with a little high blood, came over with Cap- tain Smith at first, and more of the rich, and high-minded Cavaliers after the execution of Charles I .; but Virginia 1 did not suit them well enough to attract and retain great numbers. There was too much hard work to be done, and too much independence, even from the first, for those who held the doctrine of non-resistance and passive obedience to kings and others in authority, to make Virginia a comfortable
ton-Edwin Gray and Henry Taylor, Esquires; Spottsylvania-Mann Page and George Thornton, Esquires; Stafford-Thomas Ludwell Lee and William Brent, Esquires; Surry-Allen Cocke aud Nicholas Fulton, Esquires; Sussex-David Mason and Henry Gee, Esquires; Warwick-Willlam Harwood and Richard Cary, Esquires; Westmoreland-Richard Lee, Esquire, Richard Henry Lee, Esquire, and John A. Washington, Esquire ;* York-Dudley Digges, Esquire, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Esquire, and William Digges, Esquire; Jamestown-Cham- pion Travis. Esquire; Williamsburg-Edmund Randolph, Esquire, for George Wythe, Esquire; Norfolk Borough-Willlam Roseow Wilson Curle, Esquire; College of William aud Mary-John Blair. Esquire.
*John A. Washington was probably the alternate of R. H. Lee.
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place for them and their posterity .* And yet we must not suppose that the opposite class-the paupers, the ignorant, the servile-formed the basis of the larger and better class of the Virginia population, when it began to develop its character at the Revolution, and, indeed, long before. These did not spring up into great men in a day or a night, on touching the Virginia soil. Some of the best families of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, formed at an early period a large part of that basis. Noblemen and their el- der sons did not come over; but we must remember how many of the younger sons of noblemen were educated for the bar, for the medical profession, and the pulpit, and turn- ed adrift on the world to seek their own living, without any patrimony. Some of those, and many more of their enter- prising descendants, came to the New World, especially to Virginia, in search of fortune and honour, and found them here. Numbers of Virginia families, who are almost asham- ed or afraid in this republican age to own it, have their gen-
*It may very properly be called a mixed basis of Cavaliers, of the followers of Cromwell and of the Pretender, and of the Huguenots, when persecuted and forced to fly for refuge to other lands; and also of many respectable persons at other times. The Test-Act, or subscriptions required of the vestry- men and other officers, shows that no encouragement was held out, either to the followers of Cromwell or of the Pretender, to expect honours and offices in Virginia. They always required allegiance to the established Government, except during the temporary usurpation of Cromwell. After the establish- ment of the House of Hanover, the Stuart Pretenders and their followers were denounced in these test- oaths. Some specimens of these subscriptions, or oaths, are presented in our sketches. So that, probably, not many of either extreme came to Virginia, where they were thus stigmatized and ex- cluded from office unless on condition of abjuring their principles. Dr. Hawks, in his History of the Church in Virginia, says that its population before the protectorate of Cromwell was twenty thousand; after the restoration of mon- archy, thirty thousand. There were only ten thousand added in ten or twelve years. If we consider how many of this number were from natural increase in a new country, how many not of the Cavalier cless had come over, and how many of that class returned on the accession of Charles II., it will not leave a large number to make an impression on the Virginia character. Most of those Cavaliers who, by their birth and talents, were most likely to make that impression, had gone to Surinam, Barbadoes, Antigua, and the Leeward Islands. These "were to be men of the first rate, who wanted not money or credit." (See Dr. Hawk's History, page 284.) After the restoration of monarchy, some of the followers of Cromwell came over to Virginia, but most probably in much smaller numbers than the Cavaliers had done, as they would not find so welcome a home, for the loyalty of Virginia at that time cannot be questioned.
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ealogical trees, or traditionary records, by which they can trace their line to some of the most ancient families in England, Scotland, Ireland, and to the Huguenots of France. Where this is not the case, still they can derive their origin from men of education, either in law, physic, or divinity, which things were too costly in the old coun- tries to be gotten by the poorer classes, except in some few instances where charity was afforded. Ministers could not generally be ordained without degrees from Cambridge. Ox- ford, Dublin, or Edinburgh. Lawyers studied at the Tem- ple Bar in London; physicians at Edinburgh. For a long time Virginia was dependent for all these professional characters on English education. Those who came over to this country poor, and ignorant, and dependent, had few opportunities of elevating themselves; as has been happily the case since our independence, by reason of the multiplica- tion of schools and colleges, and of all the means of wealth' which are now open to us. Sir William Berkeley in his day, rejoiced that there was not a free school or printing-press in Virginia, and hoped it might be so for a hundred years to come; and, perhaps it was not much otherwise as to schools. In the year 1723, the Bishop of London addressed a circular to the clergy of Virginia, then somewhat over forty in number, making various inquiries as to the condition of things in the parishes. One of the questions was, "Are there any schools in your parish?" The answer, with two or three exceptions, (and those in favour of charity-schools,) was, none. Private schools at rich gentlemen's houses, kept perhaps by an unmarried clergyman or candidate for Orders, were all the means of education in the Colony, and to such the poor had no access. Another question was, "Is there any parish library?" The answer invariably was, none; except in one case, where the minister replied, "we have the Book of Homilies, the Whole Duty of Man, and the Singing Psalms." Such were the answers from thirty,
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clergymen, whose responses I have before me .* If "knowl- edge be power," Virginia was, up to that time, so far as the poor were concerned, but a barren nursery of mighty men. Would that it had been otherwise, both for Church and State! Education was confined to the sons of those who, being educated themselves, and appreciating the value of it, and having the means, employed private teachers in their families, or sent their sons to the schools in England and paid for them with their tobacco. Even up to the time of the Revolution was this the case with some. General Nel- son, several of the Lees and Randolphs, George Gilmer, my own father and two of his brothers, and many besides who might be mentioned, just got back in time to prepare for the Revolutionary struggle. The College of William and Mary, from the year 1700 and onward, did something toward ed- ucating a small portion of the youth of Virginia, and that was all until Hampden Sydney, at a much later period, was established. But let any one look at the published cata- logue of William and Mary, and see how few were educated there from 1720 to the Revolution, and let him notice who they were. Let him also examine whatever lists of Bur- gesses, Henning's volumes and the Old Virginia almanacs furnish, and he will see who they were that may be considered the chief men of Virginia. I have been recently examining an- other set of records which show who were considered her first men. I allude to the vestry elections; and nine times in ten we are confident one of their body was the delegate. They were the ruling men of the parishes,-the men of prop- erty and education. As we have said before, from an early period they were in training for the Revolution, by the steady and ever-successful struggle with Commissaries,
*Even the little establishment of Huguenots at Manakintown, whose compact settlement so favoured education, and whose parentage made its members to desire it, was so destitute, that about this time one of their leading men, a Mr. Sallie, on hearing that the King was about to establish a colony in Ireland for the Huguenots, addressed him a letter begging permission to be united to it, saying that there was no school among them where their chil- dren could be educated.
J
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Governors, Bishops of London, and the Crown, on the sub- ject of the calling and induction of ministers. They also spoke through the House of Burgesses, which was made up of themselves. We will venture to affirm that very few of the statesmen of the Revolution went into it without this training. Even Mr. Jefferson, and Wythe, who did not con- ceal their disbelief of Christianity, took their parts in the duties of vestrymen, the one in Williamsburg, the other in Albemarle; for they wished to be men of influence. In some of the communications to England, the vestries are complained of by the clergy as the aristocratic bodies,- the twelve lords or masters of the parishes; and they did sometimes, I doubt not, rule the poor clergy with a rod of iron; but they were not the men to truckle to George III., Lord North, or the Parliament. Well did Mr. Burke, in his celebrated speech on American affairs, reply to some who said that the rich slaveholders of the South would not stand a war, "that they were entirely mistaken; for that those who had been long accustomed to command were the last who would consent to obey."* In proof of my position that men of education, and that gotten chiefly in Europe, were the ancestors of large numbers of those who formed at a later period the most influential class, I would here insert a list of the earlier clergy of Virginia which I got from some ancient documents, (most of them unpublished,) and this is but a small part of those whose names are lost to us for- ever. Let the reader compare these with names on the civil and military list of Virginia's history, and he must ac-
*In all that we say on this subject, concerning the patriots of the Revolu- tion and their connection with the Episcopal Church, and especially the ves- tries, it must not be understood as exchiding from their fair share in the assertion of the liberties of the country those of other denominations. The Baptists as a body soon tendered their services, and were accepted. They, however, were mostly descended from Episcopalians, having for conscience' sake separated themselves from the Established Church not long before the war. The same may be said of the Presbyterians In Eastern Virginia; they were not numerous, being chiefly in Hanover, Charlotte, and Prince Edward, but still they furnished most valuable men to the cause. Those of Western Virginia, as well as the Germans, were descended from European ancestors who were not of the Episcopal Church. They also were forward and most effective in the Revolution.
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knowledge the probability at least of consanguinity between many of them. I begin with the names of Bucke, Whitta- ker, the two Williamses, (names still common in Virginia,) Young, Key, Berkeley, Hampton, Richardson, Teackle, Cot- ton. Palmer, Gordon, the Smiths, Ware, Doyley, the Bow- kers, Saunders, Holt, Collier, Wallace, Walker, the Monroes, Slaughter, Blair, Anderson, Ball, the Yateses, Hall, Latane, the Roses, the Joneses, Sharp, Waggener, the Taylors, Stith, Cox, the Brookes, the Robertsons, the Robinsons, Collings, Baylie, Bell, Warden, Debutts, Forbes, Marshall, Preston, Goodwin, Cargill, Hughes, the Scotts, the Fontains and Maurys, the Dawsons, Ried, White, Campbeil, Graham, the Thompsons, Fraser, Thacker, Wilkinson, the Navisons, the Stewarts, the Dixons, Webb, Innis, Warrington, Cole, Pur- die, Marye, Mackay, Jackson, Green, McDonald, Moncure, Keith, Leland, Craig, Grayson, Bland, Manning, Hamilton, Dick, Clay, Lyons. Many of the foregoing belong to the first century of our existence and to the early part of the second. Many of the families of Virginia may have descended from some of the foregoing without knowing it. I leave it to others to search out the civil list of Virginia names, in or- der to ascertain as far as practicable how many of their an- cestors may have been well educated doctors and lawyers, or respectable merchants and farmers, when first coming to this country.
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