A history and record of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of West Virginia, Part 39

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IN WEST VIRGINIA.

CHAPTER VIII. Republication from Bishop Meade's Book Continued. Parishes.

Counties and Parishes of Botetourt, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Greenbrier and Montgomery.

When Frederick county was first divided from Augusta, the latter was left with all of Western Virginia beyond the Alleghany mountains, then extending to the Pacific Ocean, or as it was sometimes said, to the "waters of the Missis- sippi."

In the year 1769, Botetourt was taken from Augusta, and also extended westward indefinitely. At a subsequent period Montgomery was taken from Botetourt. But in the year 1777, Rockingham, till then a part of Augusta, and Rock- bridge and Greenbrier, were cut off from Augusta, Botetourt, and Montgomery. In all of these, parishes were also estab- lished by Act of Assembly. What was done in them after this is unknown. In Rockingham, probably before its sepa- ration from Augusta, there were as may be seen in our ar- tiele on Augusta, two churches. In Rockbridge, when com- posed of Augusta and Botetourt, there may have been a church or churches, but I have obtained no information of such. Before this period the Presbyterians had made set- tlements in this region, especially about Lexington. On none of our lists of clergy or records do we find any minis- ters belonging to Rockbridge after its separation from Au- gusta, and Botetourt. In Montgomery and Greenbrier par- ishes and counties, we presume there were uone. In Bote- tourt parish, (for all the new parishes were called by the

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same name with the counties) we find that the Rev. Adam Smith was the minister in the years 1774 and 1776.

Article LXXI. from Bishop Meade's book. Parishes in Frederick County.

In our last communication we had reached the Blue Ridge,-the great dividing-line between Eastern and Western Virginia. We now ascend that beautiful range of mountains and look down on the wide and extensive valley which lies between it and those numerous ones which hide the great Allegheny from our view. I believe it is generally admitted that this valley is not only the most fertile and desirable portion of the State, but also the most picturesque and beautiful. But it is not our province to descant on such themes. We may, however, be permitted to declare our as- sent to the hypothesis of Mr. Jefferson and others, that it was once a great lake or sea, which emptied itself through the channel formed by the force of the waters at Harper's Ferry, leaving immense prairies behind to be covered in due time with heavy forests, some of which our eyes now behold, while most of them have been felled by the hands of our forefathers .*

Such a country could not but attract the attention of hardy and adventurous farmers. The first who entered it were from Pennsylvania. Crossing the Potomac at what is now called Shepherdstown, but at first and for a considerable time Mecklenburg,-doubtless after some town or place in Germany,-they there made a settlement. From thence em- igration proceeded on toward Winchester, Stephensburg, or

*It is a true tradition, I believe, that one of the Carters, who at an early period took up or purchased a large tract of land in old Frederick, includ- ing all that which now belongs to the Burwell family, and extending beyond and along the Opequon and its barren hills and stunted trees, offered to one of his sons the choice of an equal portion of that upon the Opequon and of that fertile prairie lying between it and the Shenandoah River, and that the former was preferred because of the timber, which was visible, though of so indifferent a character. That the lower and richer lands of this part of the valley were once prairie in the days of our forefathers is generally admitted. Old Mr. Isaac Ilite, of Bellgrove, now deceased, informed me that his father often spoke of the land about the White Post as being, in his day, covered with a thicket of saplings.

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IN WEST VIRGINIA.

Newtown, Woodstock, &c. Joist Hite, the ancestor of all the Hites, was the first to make a settlement north of Win- chester, with sixteen families. This was in the year 1732. His descendants of that name became active members of, or friends of, the Episcopal Church. Soon after this, Pres- byterians of Scotch and Irish descent began to settle in the valley. In the year 1738, a number from Pennsylvania, wish- ing to add themselves to those already settled, sent, through the synod of Pennsylvania, a deputation to Governor Gooch, of Virginia, "asking all liberty of conscience and of worship- ping God agreeably to the principles of their education." They professed the utmost loyalty to the King, and promised "the most dutiful submission to the government which is placed over them." The Governor assured them of his fa- vour, and that no interruption should be given to their min- isters, if they should "conform themselves to the rules pre- scribed by the Act of Toleration in England." It was the same principle which had been acted on before this time in Virginia, and continued to be to the end of the Colonial Es- tablishment. Under that law, any number of persons, of whatsoever name, might ask for and should receive a li- cense for some place of meeting where they might worship after their own way. Even during the preceding century, the first of our settlements in Virginia, the Germans on the Rappahannock and the French Hugunots on James River had not only been tolerated, but allowed special favours, such as grants of lands and freedom from taxes, until of their own accord they applied to be aduntted into union with the Established Church under Episcopal ministers,- finding it difficult to procure any of their own. Other de- nominations also were allowed licenses for places of worship, -whether private or public houses,-provided they sought and used them in compliance with the true intent of the law. In the case of President Davies, about the middle of the last century,-which we have considered when speaking of the parish in Hanover,-seven places of worship were licens-

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ed for him before the Governor declared that he was exceed- ing the bounds prescribed by the spirit and intent of the law.

With these general observations we proceed to the his- tory of the parish of Frederick. The materials are furnished by the Acts of Assembly dating back to the year 1738, to the records of the court beginning in 1744, and to the old vestry-book going back to the year 1764, and some papers of an earlier date.

In the year 1738, the Assembly, in consideration of the increasing number of settlers in the valley, determined to cut off two new counties and parishes-West Augusta and Fred- erick-from Orange county and parish, which latter then took in all Western Virginia. The county and parish of Frederick embraced all that is now Shenandoah, with a part of Page, Warren, Clarke, Frederick, Jefferson, Berkeley, and Hampshire. Augusta had all the rest to the utmost limits of Virginia, wherever they were,-the contest with France as to the boundaries not being then settled. The execution of the Act, however, was postponed until it should be made to appear that there were inhabitants enough for the appointment of justices of the peace, &c. In the year 1744, the vestry and court of Frederick county were organiz- ed and in action. Of the vestry, nothing more is heard after its organization, except the appointment of processioners in 1747, until the year 1752, when an Act of Assembly was pass- ed dissolving it and ordering a new election, on the ground that it had raised more than fifteen hundred pounds for build- ing a number of churches which were unfinished and in a ruinous condition. As the churches of that day and in this region were log-houses, costing only from thirty to forty or fifty pounds, there must have been much misspending of money. Who those vestrymen were does not appear. Those chosen in their place were the following :- Thomas Lord Fairfax, Isaac Perkins, Gabriel Jones, John Hite, Thomas Swearingen, Charles Buck, Robert Lemmon, John Lindsey,

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John Ashby, James Cromley, Lewis Neil. Thomas Bryan Martin, the nephew and one of the heirs of Lord Fairfax, does not ever appear as vestryman, but seems to have been an active magistrate, and to have taken a considerable part in completing McCoy's Chapel, on the road from Winchester to Front Royal, in the neighborhood of the MeCoys and Cunningham Chapel, which stood near the spot where what has been long called the Old Chapel-near the Burwell buri- al ground-still stands. Mr. Edward McGuire also appears as a magistrate, but not as vestryman,-he being of the Romish Church. He was the ancestor of many worthy min- isters and members of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia.

To McCoy's and Cunningham's Chapel are to be added two on the north and south branches of Shenandoah, whose lo- cation cannot now be ascertained, one in Winchester, one at Bunker's Hill, called Morgan's Chapel, of which we shall speak more fully hereafter, perhaps one called Wood's Chap- el, between Winchester and Charlestown, and one at Shep- herdstown, then called Mecklenburg Chapel. All these were probably begun, and some of them sufficiently completed for use, between the years 1740 and 1750. In 1768. Mr. Van Swearingen received one hundred and forty-eight pounds for completing a new church at Mecklenburg, now Shepherds- town. In the year 1768, Isaac Hite was directed to contract for a church at Leith's-place not known-for forty-nine pounds. In the year 1774, a church was ordered to be built near Cedar Creek for one hundred pounds; whether execut- ed or not, I cannot tell. In the year 1772, it was resolved to build a church, costing two hundred and fifty-two pounds, at Carney's Spring, near Berryville, 'on land given by Mr. Charles Smith, which was afterward increased to four hun- dred and forty-nine pounds, and a contract made with Mr. John Neville, father of General Neville, and some of the materials collected on the spot. In the following year it was determined to build it at Cunningham's Chapel, two aeres

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of ground being given by Colonel Hugh Nelson, of York, the then owner of the Burwell tract, and the materials moved there. Again it was resolved to build at Carney's Spring, and the materials removed a second time. The result of the controversy was that no such Church was ever built, though the money was in hand. The war soon came on, and at the end of it the funds were delivered into the hands of the over- seers of the poor. In the year 1762, a new stone church was contracted for in Winchester,-the same which was after- ward sold in order to build the present Church.

Having thus brought down the history of the church-build- ings to the time of the Revolution, we will now give a list of the lay readers and vestrymen from the year 1764, when the vestry-book commences, merely premising that the county and parish of Frederick were in 1769 divided into the counties of Dunmore, afterward changed to Shenandoah, Frederick, and Berkeley, and into the parishes of Beckford, Frederick, and Norbone.

Names of the vestrymen from the year 1764 until the year 1780, when no more meetings of the vestry take place until 1785 :- Isaac Hite, John Hite, John Greenleaf, Thomas Ruth- erford, James Keith, John Neville, Charles Smith, James Wood, Jacob Hite, Thomas Wadlington, Burr Harrison, Thomas Swearingen, Van Swearingen, Angus McDonald, Philip Bush, Frederick Conrad, George Rice, Alexander White, James Barnett, Marquis Calmes, John McDonald, Ed- ward Snickers, Warner Washington, Joseph Holmes, Benja- min Sedwick, Edmund Taylor, John Smith, Samuel Dowdal. Of these, Philip Bush and some others, in consequence of some unknown difficulties, resigned in the year 1774, though all of them resumed their seats except Mr. Bush. Lord Fair- fax in the year 1775 made a deed to Mr. Bush, Frederick Con- rad and others, for the lot on which the Lutheran Church stood, though Mr. Conrad continued as vestryman until the year 1780, when the vestries were all dissolved by Act of As- sembly. James Wood, who was both clerk and vestryman,

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resigned in 1777 and entered the army. He rose to the rank of General, and was afterward Governor of the State, and represented the parish two years in Convention while Gov- ernor. James Barnett resigned in 1773 and joined the Bap- tists.

The lay readers during all this period, at the different chap- els, were John Ruddell, James Barnett, John Barns, Henry Nelson, James Graham, Henry Frencham, Morgan Morgan, .John James, William Dobson, William Howard, John Lloyd.

The Ministers of Frederick Parish.

The Rev. Mr. Gordon was the first; when his ministry com- menced and ended, not known. The Rev. Mr. Meldrum comes next, and continues until 1765. Between him and the vestry a long law-suit was carried on, which terminated in his fa- vour. The vestry applied to the Legislature for relief, and obtained it. Mr. Sebastian was recommended by the vestry to the Bishop of London for Orders in 1766, and became their minister, but after two years removed to Northumberland county. The Rev. Mr. Thruston became the minister in 1768, binding himself to preach at seven places scattered over the large parish of Frederick, Shepherdstown being one of them. Mr. Thruston was a native of Gloucester, where the name still abounds, and was captain of the militia in that county. The vestry of Petsworth parish, in Gloucester, recommended him for Orders, and he was their minister for some years be- fore coming to Frederick. He laid down the ministry and entered the army in 1777. After the war he lived at Mount Zion, in Frederick. In his latter days he removed to the neighborhood of New Orleans, and, it is said, was preparing to take some part in defending that place against the British when they were defeated by General Jackson. He was the father of the late Judge Thruston, of the District of Column- bia, and the ancestor of many respectable families in Vir- ginia and elsewhere. From the time of Colonel Thruston's resignation in 1777 to the year 1785, there was no minister, so far as we can ascertain. In the year 1785, a vestry was

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elected, consisting of Colonel R. K. Meade, George F. Norton, churchwardens; John Thruston, Edward Smith, Raleigh Col- ston, Girard Briscoe, John Milton, Robert Wood, Major Thomas Massey. By this vestry the Rev. Alexander Bal- maine was chosen minister. He had been chaplain in the army of the Revolution, in which a number of the above-men- tioned vestrymen had served. Mr. Balmaine was born in Scotland, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, in the year 1740, was educated at St. Andrews with a view to the Pres- byterian ministry, but relinquished the design. Himself and his brother, who was a lawyer, were warm friends of the Colonists in the Stamp Act difficulties, and became so ob- noxious on that account to the loyalists about Edinburgh, that they thought it best to try their fortunes elsewhere, and moved to London, where they became acquainted with Mr. Arthur Lee, who recommended Mr. Balmaine to the family of Richard Henry Lee, as private tutor. While there, he pre- pared for the ministry of the Episcopal Church, and upon receiving Orders became rector of Augusta parish, then ex- tending to the Ohio River, and including, it is believed, Pitts- burg itself, for he paid several visits to the Episcopalians in that place. When our difficulties commenced with England, true to his principles adopted in Scotland, he took an early and active part, was chairman of the Committee of Safety in Augusta, and drafted the resolution adopted by that com- mittee. Soon after this, he entered the Virginia line as chap- lain, and continued so until the very close of the war. Mr. Balmaine was the rector of the parish of Frederick until his death. I was his assistant during a number of the last years of his life.

Article LXXII. from Bishop Meade's book. Parishes in Frederick County .- No. 2.

After the death of Mr. Balmaine, the Rev. Mr. Bryan offi- ciated for a time at Winchester, Bunker's Hill and Wickliffe, in the capacity of assistant to myself, for a few years. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Robertson as assistant in Win-

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chester alone. After a few years he resigned and went on a mission to Greece. In the year 1827, Christ Church, Win- chester, was organized into a separate parish, to be called the parish of Frederick, Winchester, with the Rev. J. E. Jack- son, minister. Mr. Jackson was one of three worthy brothers of most respectable parentage in Tutbury, England, all of whom ministered in the Church of Virginia and elsewhere in this country. The Rev. J. E. Jackson was the father of the Rev. William Jackson, who recently died so enviable a death in Norfolk. He was a most diligent and faithful pastor, preaching the true doctrines of the Gospel. Under his careful supervision the present excellent church and parsonage were built. In 1842, he resigned and moved to Kentucky. He was succeeded in 1842 by the Rev. Mr. Rooker, who resigned in 1847. Its present rector, the Rev. Cornelius Walker, succeed- ed Mr. Rooker. In May, 1834, another division of Frederick parish took place, when Wickliffe, including Berryville, was organized. The Rev. Mr. Jackson had been my assistant in that part of the parish for two years before this. The Rev. Mr. Rice had preceded him in that capacity. The Rev. Mr. Shiraz followed Mr. Jackson. Its next was the Rev. Richard Wilmer, who was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Peterkin. Its present, the Rev. Mr. Whittle. This parish has recently been subdivided, and the Rev. Mr. Powell, who was disappointed during the last year in going to China, is the minister of that part which includes Wickliffe Church. Another offshoot was also made from Frederick parisli many years since, in the neighbourhood of Middletown, where a parish was organized and a neat brick church built in the village, under the aus- pices of the late Strother Jones, the families of Hites, and others. It has had mainly to depend on the occasional ser- vices of the ministers in Winchester. The Rev. Mr. Bryant and the Rev. Mr. Irish were each for some time settled among them, and in none of our congregations have more zeal and liberality been displayed, according to numbers and means. Having thus spoken of the five different divisions of Fred-

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erick parish, after itself had been reduced by Acts of Assem- bly, I proceed to mention the new churches built since the Revolution, in addition to those at Winchester and Middle- town, already alluded to. Among the first things done by the vestry of Frederick, after its reorganization in 1787, was the adoption of measures for the building of a stone chapel where it was designed to erect that one which failed, through the disagreement of the people and vestry, just before the Revo- lution,-viz .: where that called Cunningham's Chapel stood. The land having now come into possession of Colonel Na- thaniel Burwell, the same two acres for a church and bury- ing-ground, which were offered by Colonel Hugh Nelson be- fore the war, were now given by Colonel Burwell, and the present stone chapel ordered to be built in 1790. At what time it was completed does not appear, but probably in the same year. After the revival of our Church in Virginia com- menced, a stone church was built at Wickliffe, Mr. Tredwell Smith and General Thomas Parker being the most active agents. A strenuous effort was made to have it a free church, which I earnestly opposed, and offered to insure from else- where as much as was pledged by other than Episcopalians. It was ascertained that not more than fifty dollars, out of the two or three thousand dollars which it cost, would be subscribed by other than Episcopalians, and the plan was dropped. This church was badly executed, and after a time the present excellent one of brick was built under the super- intendence of Mr. Jaqueline Smith, and in a great measure at his expense. The ground on which it stood had been given by the family of Williams, who, with their ancestors in the Northern Neck of Virginia, had ever been staunch friends of the Church. After some years the church at Berryville was built on ground given by Mr. John Taylor, who owned the farm of which it was a part. The building of this church was delayed for some years by the attempt to have it placed on some basis which would make it common to all denomina- tions. Effort after effort was made to effect it on this plan,

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without success. At length, when the friends of the scheme acknowledged its failure, 1 addressed the congregation in favour of an Episcopal Church, and succeeded at once. In the year 1834, it was found that the old chapel was too small and inconvenient for the increasing congregation, and it was therefore determined to erect another and larger one, in a more central and convenient place, in the vicinity of Mill- wood, on ground given by Mr. George Burwell, of Carter Hall. Such, however, was the attachment of many to the old chapel that funds for the latter could not be obtained, except on condition of alternate services at the chapel. From year to year these services became less frequent, until at length they are now reduced to an annual pilgrimage, on some summer Sabbath, to this old and much-loved spot, except when ser- vices are held for the servants, or death summons the neigh- bours to add one more to the tenants of the graveyard .*

My remarks on the old parish of Frederick, and some of its branches, will be brought to a close by a brief reference to a spot of all others most sacred to many now living as the depository of all that was mortal of those most dear to us,- the burying-ground which lies at the foot of the hill on which still stands the old stone chapel. Ever since its appropria- tion to this purpose, it has been the graveyard of rich and poor, bond and free, those who lived near it, and the stranger from afar who died near it. It is called the Burwell grave- yard, not merely because the land was given by one of that name, but because it is the resting-place of a far greater number bearing that name than any other. It has recently been enlarged and a portion of it divided into lots and the

*The following are the names of the Vestrymen of Frederick parish before the division of it took place. It would be too tedious to enumerate all those belonging to the sub-divisions down to the present time. In addition to those already mentioned as composing the first vestry after the war, in 1787, are the following :- John Woodeock. John Peyton. Edward Smith, Thomas Byrd, Isaac Hite. Jr., Nathaniel Burwell, Warner Washington, Jr., John Page. Gen- eral Thomas Parker, Robert Page, Matthew Page, Philip Nelson. Robert Car- ter Burwell. Fairfax Washington. Henry St. George Tucker. Alfred Powell, George Norris, Philip Burwell. G. R. Thompson, Nathaniel Burwell, Jr .. Obed Waite. Dabney Carr. Joseph Baldwin, Richard Briarly, Daniel Lee, William B. Page, John W. Page, Strother Jones.

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whole enclosed with a strong stone wall. The vestry have also proposed the raising and vesting in stock the sum of one thousand dollars for the perpetual preservation of it and the old chapel which overlooks it. Both of them stand in the immediate angle of two public and much-frequented roads, and the passing traveller may see old and venerable trees overshadowing many tombs, younger ones of perpetual ver- dure more recently planted, green hillocks, covered with grass and ivy, high headstones and large marble slabs, mark- ing the place of intermentand designating the names of those whose remains are beneath, and now and then a pillar, either for young or old, rising above the other memorials. To this place, for more than sixty years, have I been travelling, either borne in the arms of others, or as a mourner, or as officiating minister. To it, at no distant day, I expect to be carried, and from it I hope to see arise the bodies of some of the truest saints of the Lord, unto whom, in the adjoining temple, I was privileged to preach the blessed Gospel of our Lord and Sav. ious Jesus Christ.

Article LXXIII. from Bishop Meade's book. Norbourne Parish, Berkeley County .- No. I.

This parish and county were, by Act of Assembly, taken from Frederick in the year of 1769,-just after the comple- tion of the church at Mecklenburg, or Shepherdstown, under the superintendence of Mr. Van Swearingen. A small church had previously stood probably on the same spot. By his will in 1776, the father of Mr. Abraham Shepherd-Mr. Thomas Shepherd-directed his executor to deed "a lot of two acres on which the English church stood." A third was erected on that lot many years since, and has been enlarged of late years to its present dimensions. A new, larger, and more excellent one in all respects is now far advanced. Without detracting from the praise due to many who have contributed funds and efforts to the last two churches, we must ascribe the first of them chiefly to the zeal, perseverance and liber- ality of that true friend of the Church in her darkest days,

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A history and record of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of West Virginia, Part 39

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