 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. |  |
ARTICLE LXXIII.
Norbourne Parish, Berkeley County.—No. 1.
This parish and county were, by Act of Assembly, taken from
Frederick in the year 1769,—just after the completion 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
liberality of that true friend of the Church in her darkest days, Mr.
Abraham Shepherd, and its enlargement to the generous donation
of eight hundred dollars by his pious widow; and the erection
of the fourth to the gift of three thousand dollars by one of his
sons, while other members of the family, and the parishioners
generally, have not been wanting in their contributions. To an
excellent parsonage for the minister they also contributed; but the
holy woman, the aged mother, excelled them and all others,—contributing
not less than one thousand dollars to it. From the year
1813 to the time of her death, in 1852, when she had reached her
ninety-second year, I knew her well. It was good to hear her speak
from the abundance of her heart on the subject which interested
her most. Out of the Bible first, and then out of the writings of
Hervey, Newton, and others of the evangelical school of the Church
of England, she drew her views of doctrinal and practical piety.
It so happened that several of those ministers under whose teachings
she sat were of that class, having for a time been followers of
Lady Huntingdon, Wesley, and Whitefield, but who drew back from
their path when they were about to turn aside from the old way of
the Church of England. She was most faithful in the use of all
the means appointed of God in his Church for "the perfecting of
of the Lord's Supper, in the strict observance of the Lord's Day,
in fasting and alms, in simplicity and cheapness of apparel, in selfdenial
that she might have to give to the poor and good objects.
She was conscientious even to scrupulousness. Her sons delighted
in fine cattle, and, at great expense and with great care, became
possessed of some of the finest in the land, and sold the young
ones at high prices. She has often told me that she could not be
reconciled to their asking and receiving such enormous prices for
poor little lambs and calves; and she took care to be in no way
partakers with them. Much more might I say, but prefer directing
my reader to the excellent and just picture of her character given
in a funeral-sermon by the Rev. Mr. Andrews, her minister.
Having thus referred to the first establishment of the Church at
Shepherdstown, I proceed to notice its next settlement in the parish
of Norbourne, at Charlestown, in what is now Jefferson county. It
took its name from Mr. Charles Washington,—one of the brothers
of General Washington,—who settled on some of the fine land
taken up or purchased by the latter during the period when he was
public surveyor. His house still stands in the suburbs of the village.
Others of the family soon moved to this neighbourhood, and for the
last forty years have formed a considerable portion of the flourishing
congregation now surrounding the county-seat of Jefferson.
The venerable walls of an Episcopal church, built of stone, in the
form of a T, are still to be seen a short distance from Charlestown.
Various conjectures have been offered as to the age of this house.
I have recently made particular inquiry on the spot, of some of the
oldest inhabitants, and have no doubt that it was erected soon after
the division of the parish from Frederick, in 1769, and not many
years before the war. As Washington had large possessions in this
neighbourhood, and was often there, none can doubt but that he was
a contributor to its erection and had often worshipped within its
walls. Under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Allen, a new brick
church was erected on the site of the present one. That becoming
too small to hold the congregation, another, much larger and more
expensive, was put up under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Jones.
Scarcely was it consecrated and begun to be used, before it was
consumed by fire, owing to some negligence or defect about the furnace.
To the praise of the congregation be it recorded, a third was
immediately erected on the same spot, which now stands, and I
hope will long stand, a monument of what may be done by zeal
and enterprise.
As to the ministers who officiated in Norbourne parish at an
early date, we have but little information. From a list of ministers
licensed for the Plantations by the Bishops of London in 1745 and
onward, I find that the Rev. Daniel Sturges was licensed for
Norbourne parish, in 1771,—two years after its separation from
Frederick,—and tradition speaks well of him. In 1786, he was
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Veasy, of whom a venerable old lady
in Charlestown—Mrs. Brown—speaks as a man who faithfully
performed his duty in preaching and catechizing, as she was the
subject of both. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wilson, of
whom I can learn nothing. In the year 1795, the Rev. Bernard
Page was minister. Of him I have often heard old Mrs. Shepherd
speak as one of the evangelical school,—deeply pious, zealous, and
far beyond the ministerial standard of that day. He had been
previously an assistant minister to the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, in Christ
Church, Alexandria. From Shepherdstown he went to the lower
part of Virginia, but soon died from the effects of the climate. Mr.
Page was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Heath, who was minister in
1800, and died in the parish. Mr. Heath was a follower of Mr.
Wesley, and came over to this country under his auspices, to preside
over a female institution in Maryland, as appears by a letter to him
from Mr. Wesley, which I have seen. He, I presume, like many
others, refused to separate from the Episcopal Church when the
secession took place. The Rev. Emanuel Wilmer succeeded him,
and was in the parish about the years 1806 and 1807. The Rev.
Mr. Price had been occasionally preaching in this parish, especially
at Martinsburg and Shepherdstown, when I first visited them about
the year 1812 or 1813.
Having treated of the churches about Shepherdstown and Charlestown,
and the ministrations in Norbourne parish generally, I shall
now give an account of the churches in Martinsburg and the
vicinity, with some notice of certain laymen whose names are
worthy of a place in these sketches. The first church built at
Martinsburg, and which stood in the suburbs of the town, was erected
chiefly at the cost and under the superintendence of Mr. Philip
Pendleton,—father of the present Mr. P. Pendleton, of that place.
He was a zealous Churchman, and, so far as we know and believe, a
good Christian. He had a brother,—Mr. William Pendleton,—who
lived some miles off, and who, for a number of years during the
almost entire destitution of ministers, acted as a lay reader in
Martinsburg and at the church in Hedgesville,—the latter having
been built chiefly by himself and Mr. Raleigh Colston. Of the
Frederick. The families of Hedges, Coxes, and Robinsons also
took part in it. As it is a part of our plan to introduce brief
notices of some of the old families of the Church, and as there is
mention of the name of Pendleton, a name belonging to so many
true friends of the Episcopal Church of Virginia and elsewhere, we
shall devote a short space to a notice of the family. That notice shall
be chiefly taken from a brief autobiography of Judge Pendleton,
President of the Court of Appeals, and from a genealogy by the same,
—both executed not long before his death. From these we learn that
about the year 1674 there came from England to Virginia two
brothers,—Nathaniel, a minister, and Philip, a teacher. The former
died without issue. The latter left three sons and four daughters.
The two younger sons married and had children, but of them there
is no certain account. The four daughters married Messrs. Clayton,
Vass, Taylor, and Thomas,—leaving numerous descendants.
The eldest son married, at the age of eighteen, Mary Taylor, who
was only thirteen. Their sons were James, Philip, Nathaniel, and
Edmund,—the latter being the President of the Court of Appeals.
Their daughters were Isabella and Mary, who married William and
James Gaines, from one of whom the late General Gaines was
descended. The sons all married and left children, except Edmund,
the Judge, who first married Miss Roy, having one child, who died,
and next Miss Pollard, who had none, and who lived to the age of
ninety. The descendants of the above-mentioned grandchildren of
the first Pendleton have intermarried with the Taylors, Pollards,
Roys, Gaineses, Lewises, Pages, Nelsons, Harts, Richards, Taliaferos,
Turners, Shepherds, Carters, Kemps, Palmers, Dandridges, Cooks,
and others unknown to me, and who now exist in thousands throughout
Virginia and elsewhere. I shall only particularize the line of
those above mentioned in the parish of Berkeley. Nathaniel Pendleton—grandson
of the first of the name and brother of Judge
Pendleton—lived in Culpepper and had four sons,—Henry, Nathaniel,
William, and Philip. Henry was put in business in Falmouth
or Fredericksburg, but, not liking it, and his father not
consenting to its relinquishment, ran away and became a great man
in South Carolina,—having the Pendleton district of that State
called by his name. Nathaniel studied law,—went first to Georgia,
then to New York, where he became the intimate friend of General
Hamilton, and was the father of the late member of Congress from
Cincinnati. William was the faithful lay reader in Berkeley, whose
son followed his example, and whose grandson is the Rev. William
father of the present Philip Pendleton, of Martinsburg, and the late
Edmund Pendleton, of Maryland, and of Mrs. Cook and Dandridge.
The Rev. William N. Pendleton, of Virginia, belongs to a different
branch of the same family,—his mother being the daughter of Colonel
Hugh Nelson, of Yorktown. It would be inexcusable in me not to
record something more particular of one member of this large and respectable
family,—viz.: Mr. Edmund Pendleton, President of the
Court of Appeals. He was born in Caroline county, and brought up
in the clerk's office of that county. At an early age he was clerk of
the vestry, and the little which he received for that office was spent
in books, which he diligently read. At twenty years of age he was
licensed to practise law. In a few years we find him in the General
Court. He was in the House of Burgesses in the beginning of the
war,—taking a leading part in all its incipient steps. He was also
in the first Congress. After this, and until his death, he was Judge
and President of the Court of Appeals. Thus he says, (in that
brief autobiography from which I have taken the above,) "Without
any classical education, without patrimony, without what is called
the influence of family connection, and without solicitation, I have
attained the highest offices of my country." His following words
deserve to be written in letters of gold:—"I have often contemplated
it as a rare and extraordinary instance, and pathetically exclaimed,
"Not unto me, not unto me, O Lord, but unto thy name,
be the praise!' " I cannot refrain from adding the following words,
written by himself, in the year 1801, at the bottom of a genealogical
tree of the family drawn by his own hand:—"I have never had
curiosity (or, more properly, pride) enough to search the Herald's
Office or otherwise inquire into the antiquity of my family in England,
though I have always supposed the two brothers who came here
were what they call there of a good family, fallen to decay,—since
they were well educated, and came the one as a minister, the other as
a schoolmaster: however, I have had pleasure in hearing uniformly
that my grandfather and his immediate descendants were very respectable
for their piety and moral virtue,—a character preserved
in the family to a degree scarcely to be expected in one so numerous.
My mother was among the best of women, and her family highly
respectable." The elevation to which Judge Pendleton attained by
diligence and moral worth,—the latter resulting from true piety,—
without the advantages of birth, education, and fortune, affords great
encouragement to the young men of our land to imitate his noble
example. He did not despise such advantages, but he considered the
religious ancestors as infinitely better. He did not, in a proud
spirit, boast of his own achievements, saying,—
Vix ea nostra voco,"—
but humbly ascribed all merit and success to God.
Of a renowned and wealthy ancestry we have no reason to be
proud: for a pious one we ought to be thankful to God; for he has
promised his mercy to thousands descended from such. To be
descended from a Lord Nelson or a George IV., a Cromwell or a
Bonaparte, with all their honours and offices, while their characters
were stained with crimes of deepest dye, is not to be coveted; but
to be descended from such virtuous and religious patriots as were
some of those who achieved the independence of America, is a
lawful gratification, though we have no reason to be proud of or to
value ourselves on account of that. If at any time we are tempted
to think highly of ourselves at the thought of worthy ancestors, it
would be well to remember that, by going a little further back, we
may find ourselves in company with some of the most ignoble and
base of the human family. We should, indeed, ever bear in mind
that all of us must trace our origin to two most notorious transgressors
who were driven into evil from one of the richest and most beautiful
lands on earth. Such exiles are we, their descendants, to this day,
before that God with whom not only a thousand days, but a thousand
generations, are but as one.
Having said thus much of a family two of whose members—Mr.
William Pendleton and his son—contributed so much as lay readers
to the sustaining the Church at Hedgesville, I should be inexcusable
not to make some record of the character and services of
one of the most honest and upright specimens of humanity, in the
person of Colonel Edward Colston, in the same neighbourhood,
who also was a most efficient lay reader, as well as promoter of
every good work in the parish and in the diocese. Whether we view
him as a member of the parish, of the diocese, or General Convention,
or the State Legislature, or Congress, as husband, father,
master, neighbour, or friend, he was the same open, manly, consistent
person. You always knew where to find him on every
question. As was said by one of General Hamilton, "he carried
his heart in his hand, and every one might see it." Though through
life often pressed in his pecuniary affairs,—but this no fault of his
own,—he made a conscience of setting apart a due portion to the
cause of religion and charity. On one occasion, when he had lost
event, he enclosed to me a share of bank-stock worth seventy-five
dollars, requesting me to apply it to some good object, and saying
that perhaps he had withholden something which was due to other
objects besides his family, and God had taken away from him a
portion of what was put in his hands as a steward, considering him
unworthy of the trust. I may also appeal to all his neighbours, if
in his intercourse with them he did not display the same simplicity
and friendliness which so remarkably characterized his uncle, Judge
Marshall, and his venerable mother, who was a softened image of
that uncle both in person and character. I might also speak of
other worthy persons in that interesting parish among the Robinsons,
Hedges, and Coxes, who contributed after a time to build the present
larger church at Hedgesville, and one not far off on Back
Creek; but I must hasten to the more particular mention of one in
whom they are all deeply interested, as having been even more than
an ordinary minister to their fathers and mothers.
| Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. | |