University of Virginia Library

"The Episcopal Church, which ought to have been foremost in gathering
their scattered flocks, have been the last and done the least of any
Christian community in the evangelical work. Taking the Western country
in its whole extent, at least one-half of its population was originally of
Episcopalian parentage; but, for want of a ministry of their own, they
have associated with other communities. They had no alternative but that
of changing their profession or living and dying without the ordinances
of religion. It can be no subject of regret that those ordinances were
placed within their reach by other hands, whilst they were withheld by
those by whom, as a matter of right and duty, they ought to have been
given. One single chorepiscopus, or suffragan Bishop, of a faithful spirit,
who, twenty years ago, should have `ordained them elders in every place'
where they were needed, would have been the instrument of forming
Episcopal congregations over a great extent of country, and which, by
this time, would have become large, numerous, and respectable; but the
opportunity was neglected, and the consequent loss to this Church is
irreparable.

"So total a neglect of the spiritual interests of so many valuable people,
for so great a length of time, by a ministry so near at hand, is a singular
and unprecedented fact in ecclesiastical history, the like of which never
occurred before.

"It seems to me that if the twentieth part of their number of Christian
people of any other community had been placed in Siberia, and dependent
on any other ecclesiastical authority in this country, that that authority
would have reached them many years ago with the ministration of the Gospel.
With the earliest and most numerous Episcopacy in America, not one of
the Eastern Bishops has yet crossed the Alleghany Mountains, although
the dioceses of two of them comprehended large tracts of country on the
western side of the mountains. It is hoped that the future diligence of
this community will make up in some degree for the negligence of the
past.

"There is still an immense void in this country, which it is their duty to
fill up. From their respectability, on the ground of antiquity, among the
Reformed Churches, the science of their patriarchs, who have been the
lights of the world,—from their number and great resources even in
America,—she ought to hasten to fulfil the just expectations of her own
people as well as those of other communities, in contributing her full share
to the science, piety, and civilization of our country.

"From the whole of our ecclesiastical history, it appears that, with the
exception of the Episcopal Church, all our religious communities have
done well for their country."

"The following article, with some slight alterations, was sent to me as a
friend of the late Rev. Dr. Doddridge, by the Hon. Thomas Scott, of Chillicothe.
The writer was among the early settlers of the Northwest Territory,—was
Secretary to the Convention which framed the Constitution of
the State of Ohio, and has since held important and responsible offices
under its government. He is now far advanced in life, and employs a
still vigorous intellect in throwing together for publication his reminiscences
of early associations and bygone days.

D.

"Reminiscences of the first Minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church
who adventured into the Wilderness Regions of Western Virginia and
Eastern Ohio,—the late Rev. Dr. Joseph Doddridge, of Wellsburg, Brooke
County, Virginia.

"Presuming that but few of the present members of the Episcopal
Church in the now flourishing diocese in this State are aware that it was
owing, in a great measure, to the early labours and indefatigable exertions
of the individual above named that an Episcopate was obtained in Ohio, we
feel persuaded that a few brief reminiscences connected with his self-denying
and persevering efforts for the establishment in the West of the Church
of his fathers will not be unacceptable at the present period: indeed, as
the early and intimate friend of this pioneer-herald of the Cross in our
Western borders, we deem it but a measure of justice to the memory of
a man who, for a series of years, laboured in the good cause single-handed
and almost without remuneration. We shall, however, only advert to his
labours in general, not having at hand the data to enable us to do so in
detail.

"My first acquaintance with the subject of this notice commenced in
1788, in Hampshire county, Virginia. He was then about nineteen years
of age, and a successful and highly-esteemed labourer among the Wesleyan
Methodists, in connection with whom he continued several years. Being
recalled from his field of labour to the paternal mansion, in Western Pennsylvania,
by the sudden decease of his father, in consequence of which
event the younger members of the family—of whom he was the eldest—
were placed in circumstances requiring for a time his personal supervision,
the youthful itinerant felt it to be his duty to resign his charge, and, in
conformity with the last wish of his deceased parent,—who had appointed
him the executor of his will,—to apply himself to the settlement of his
estate.

"This accomplished, he found himself in possession of sufficient means
to enable him to prosecute his education, which as yet was limited,

owing to the few facilities for obtaining one afforded by their wilderness
location.

"Accompanied by his younger and only brother, Philip,—who subsequently
became eminent in Virginia as a lawyer and legislator, dying,
while a member of Congress, in Washington City, in 1833,—he entered
Jefferson Academy, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, they being among the first
students at that pioneer literary institution, in what was at that period, in
the transmontane States, denominated the `Far West.'

"The Wesleyans having now laid aside the Prayer-Book or ritual enjoined
to be used on occasions of public worship by the founder of their
society, the Rev. John Wesley,—a formula which Dr. Doddridge's judgment
sanctioned as being not only beautifully appropriate but highly edifying,—he
did not therefore resume his connection with them after his
return from college, but diligently applied himself to an examination of
the claims of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which his parents had
been members prior to their removal to the West. Suffice it to say, this
examination resulted in a determination to offer himself a candidate for
Orders in that Church. Early in the year 1792, he received ordination
at the hands of the Right Rev. William White, of Philadelphia, soon after
which he located temporarily in Western Pennsylvania, but in the course
of a few years settled permanently in Charlestown, now Wellsburg, in
Brooke county, Virginia.

"At this early period of the settlement of the country, the greater portion
of the population of Western Virginia and Pennsylvania consisted of
emigrants from Maryland and Virginia, where many of them had been
attached to the Mother-Church; hence the advent of a preacher of their
own denomination was hailed by them as an auspicious event, filling their
hearts with gladness. He was everywhere greeted with kindness, cheered
and encouraged in his labours by the presence of large and attentive congregations;
albeit in most places where they assembled for public worship
their only canopy was the umbrageous trees of the unbroken forest, whose
solemn silence was, for the time-being, rendered vocal by their devotions.

"During the year 1793, I occasionally attended the ministrations of
this zealous advocate for the cause of Christ, at West Liberty, then the
seat of justice for Ohio county, Virginia, and the residence of many respectable
and influential families. At this place divine service was held
in the court-house. Although still a young man, Dr. Doddridge was an
able minister of the New Covenant. When preaching, there was nothing
either in his language or manner that savoured of pedantry or awkwardness;
yet he did not possess that easy graceful action which is often met
with in speakers in every other respect his inferiors; but this apparent
defect was more than compensated by the arrangement of his subject, the
purity of his style, the selection and appropriateness of his figures, and
the substance of his discourses. He was always listened to with pleasure
and edification, commanding the attention of his hearers not so much by
brilliant flights of imagination and rhetorical flourishes, as by the solidity
of his arguments and his lucid exhibition of the important truths which
he presented for their deliberate consideration.

"In person he was tall and well proportioned, walking very erect. He
possessed fine colloquial powers, was social, an agreeable companion, and
highly esteemed by those who knew him on account of his plain, unostentatious
manners, courteous demeanour, and rigid devotion to duty.

"The first Episcopal church in Western Virginia, if I remember rightly,

called St. John's, was erected in 1792-93, in a country parish, a few miles
distant from the residence of Dr. Doddridge, whose pastoral connections
with it, I have been informed, continued for nearly thirty years, when
declining health compelled him to dissolve it. At no great distance from
St. John's, and occupied by the same pastor, another edifice, also in Virginia,
was erected at a very early period, the name of which I cannot now
recollect.

"In the course of a few years after he took up his abode in Virginia,
many families reared in the Episcopal Church removed from the older
States and settled west of the Ohio River, where they were as sheep in a
wilderness without a shepherd. To those of them within a convenient distance
from his residence he made frequent visitations, holding service in
temples not made with hands but by the Great Architect of nature.

"We have been credibly informed that Dr. Doddridge was the first
Christian minister who proclaimed the Gospel of salvation in the now
flourishing town of Steubenville, in this State, and that some years
previous to the close of the last century he officiated there monthly, the
place at that time containing but a few log cabins and a portion of `Fort
Steuben.'

"The parish of St. James, on Cross Creek, in Jefferson county, was
early formed by him, and was for many years under his pastoral charge.
At St. Clairsville, Belmont county, he had a congregation and church, the
pulpit of which he occupied from time to time until another pastor could
be obtained. Occasionally his missionary excursions included Morristown,
Cambridge, and Zanesville.

"In the autumn of 1815, this untiring apostle of the Church, with a
view of preparing the way for future missionaries, made a tour through
part of Ohio, coming as far west as this city,—Chillicothe,—preaching in
the intermediate towns and ascertaining where Episcopal services would be
acceptable. He was, I think, the first regularly-ordained clergyman of
that Church who officiated in our place, which he did several times during
his stay among us.

"In Virginia at a very early period he held religious services at Charlestown,
Grave Creek, and Wheeling. At the latter place was quite a number
of Episcopalians, whom he frequently visited, keeping them together
until the arrival of that pious and devoted servant of God, the Rev. John
Armstrong, their first resident pastor.

"From the time of his ordination, he made it a practice to visit and
preach wherever he could find a few who desired to be instructed in the
faith of their fathers. These efforts to collect and keep within the fold
of the Church the scattered sheep of the flock imposed upon him the necessity
of traversing a wide extent of country, which, being but sparsely
settled, was poorly provided with roads; consequently, all his journeys had
to be performed on horseback.

"In labours this Christian minister was most abundant, sustained under
their performance by the approbation of his own conscience and the long-deferred
hope that the time was not far distant when Episcopalians in the
Atlantic States—to whom, through letters to several of their Bishops and
otherwise, he made request and earnest appeals in behalf of a field already
white for the harvest—would awake from their apathy to a lively consciousness
of the imperative duty of making the long-neglected West a
theatre for missionary exertion.

"Some years subsequent to his entrance into the ministry of the Protestant

Episcopal Church, he found it necessary, in order to meet the wants
of an increasing family, to combine with his clerical profession one that
would be more lucrative in a new and sparsely-settled country: he accordingly
studied medicine, completing his course under Dr. Benjamin Rush,
in the Medical Institute of Philadelphia. To the avails of the latter profession
he was mainly indebted for means to rear and educate a large family
of children.

"His life was one of close application and incessant toil; but his health
eventually failed, and an asthmatic disease, with which in his later years
he was sorely afflicted, in a great measure impaired his ability for usefulness.
In the fall of 1824 he attended a Convention of his Church holden
in this city, but he appeared greatly enfeebled. In the course of the
succeeding summer, he spent some weeks here in the family of a beloved
sister, Mrs. N. Reeves, hoping, though vainly, that a cessation from labour,
change of air and scene, would in some measure renovate his exhausted
energies. During this period the friendship of our youthful days and the
remembrance of former years revived. He often visited me at my own
domicile, where we held free converse and communion together, and I
found him the same cheerful, agreeable companion as in days `lang syne.'
Nothing ever occurred to mar our friendly intercourse or to diminish our
kindly regards for each other. But he is taken from our midst; his disencumbered
spirit has been called to its reward by the Great Head of the
Church.

"Finding that neither travelling nor rest availed to arrest the progress
of disease, my friend returned to his home and family in Virginia, as he
emphatically said, `to die among his own people.' He lingered in much
bodily affliction till November, 1826, when, strong in the faith which he had
preached, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, his sufferings were terminated
by death, to him a most welcome messenger.

"Of the published writings of the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, his `Notes on
the Settlement and Indian Wars, together with a View of the State of
Society, Manners, Customs, &c., of the Early Settlers of the Western
Country,' is the principal.

"This graphic picture of pioneer scenes, manners, customs, and events,
is peculiarly interesting as well as valuable on account of its fidelity,—it
being the result of the writer's personal experience and observation. The
work was undertaken by its author not only for the purpose of preserving
the facts therein recorded, but also with a view of enabling those who
come after him properly to estimate the advantages of position in a civilized
and refined state of society, by contrasting them with those possessed
by their forefathers in the Western regions.

Thomas Scott.

"Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio, June 25, 1855"

"Those who would see the main causes of the feeble condition of the
Episcopal Church in Western Virginia, and of the difficulties in the way
of its speedy progress, under any helps that can be brought to bear upon
it, must consider the history of Western Virginia, and the peculiarity of
her condition, by comparison with other portions of our land, similar as
to soil and position. Take, for instance, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania,

lying on two sides of Western Virginia. While the latter (Western Virginia)
is more hilly and mountainous, and less attractive on that account
to the emigrant, she has also had other obstacles to settlement and improvement,
which have left her far behind the former two. In the first
place, the unsettled condition of her land-titles continues to this day to
present most serious difficulties in the way of sale to those who would form
such materials as might be moulded into Episcopal congregations. Another
obstacle to the settlement of Western Virginia is the fact of its
being part of a slave-holding State. This has prevented immense numbers
from the North from choosing this as their home, while, on the other
hand, the fact of the contiguity of Western Virginia to the free States, furnishing
a facility for the escape of slaves, has prevented Eastern Virginians
from settling there. Episcopal families for a long period of time
have in great numbers been passing by or through Western Virginia, and
have formed the basis of churches in the South or Southwest. Comparatively
few have settled in Western Virginia. The few are indeed the
chief materials out of which our churches are composed. The causes
above-mentioned have mainly produced the immense difference between
the present condition of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Western Virginia.
While the two former have their forests cleared, their lands well
cultivated and covered with comfortable dwellings and farm-houses,—while
they abound in flourishing villages and even large towns, and churches and
schools and colleges,—it is quite otherwise with the latter. A large proportion
of her high hills and mountains are still covered with dense forests.
Her villages and towns are few and small,—some not increasing at all,
others but slowly. Immense bodies of her lands are owned by non-residents,
being only inhabited by those who have no inducements to improve them,
and who only seek to gain, during their uncertain residence, just what is
necessary for the sustenance of life. On my recent visit, I passed through
four tracts of fifty thousand acres each, owned by four different individuals,
who were non-residents. These, I am told, are only a few of many large
unimproved tracts: hundreds of thousands of acres can be bought at the
low price of from twenty-five cents (perhaps less) to one dollar per acre,
and of good land too, which will one day, though a distant one, be covered
with flocks and herds. Of course, as villages and towns in the interior
are for the most part sustained by the surrounding country, if this be uncultivated,
or does not flourish, those cannot increase greatly. That
Western Virginia has, on her surface and within her bosom, the materials
of great wealth and improvement, none can doubt. I have ever believed
and said that at some future day she would be one of the most interesting
and desirable portions of our country. The improvements in the roads,
already made from Winchester, Staunton, and other places, to the Ohio
River, have done something for the comfort of the traveller and the improvement
of the country; but it is only necessary to travel these roads in
order to see in how wild and uncultivated a condition large portions of
Western Virginia still are; while those who traverse it on horseback, by
the cross-routes, will see a far more rugged state of things. The Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad will do much for certain portions of Western Virginia;
and the Central Railroad, if pursued, as we trust it may be, will do
much for some other portions. There will also be a general, though it
cannot be a rapid, improvement throughout the greater part of this region.
Still, however, the causes mentioned above will continue for a long time
to operate. The slave-holder from Eastern Virginia and elsewhere will
not [OMITTED] this increasingly-unsafe position for his slave-property. The
Northern man, who still cherishes strong opposition to slavery, will not
come where it exists, nor would he be welcomed there; for in no part of
Virginia is the opposition stronger to any thing savouring of abolitionism
Still, it is our duty, as I have often said privately, publicly, and officially,
not only diligently to cultivate the places already opened to us, tend the
little flocks already gathered, search for wandering sheep among the hills
and mountains, but be ever ready to occupy any new positions, such as
Fairmont and Fellowsville, which shall from time to time present themselves.
If we cannot do all that we would, let us do all that we can. But
it is best to think soberly, and not deceive ourselves with false calculations.
Even Western Pennsylvania, though having more ministers and churches
than Western Virginia, has but few by comparison with her agricultural
and other improvements, and by comparison with Ohio and other parts of
our country. The cause of this may be found chiefly in the character of
the population which first took possession of it, and still holds possession,
and which was and is averse to the Episcopal Church. The same may be
said of the population of Western Virginia. Though for the most part of a
different kind from that which first established itself in Western Pennsylvania,
it was not and is not favourable material for the Episcopal Church, as
past experience has shown. Western Virginia was doubtless settled chiefly
from Eastern Virginia. Those who moved from the valley were not Episcopalians,
for it is well known that the Germans and Scotch-Irish took
possession of the valley at an early period, and that the Episcopal Church
had scarcely an existence there until a very late period. Those who emigrated
from Eastern Virginia were chiefly of that class who had deserted
the Episcopal Church and been engaged in a violent hostility to it, and
carried with them and transmitted to their children nothing but prejudice
against it,—which prejudice has been cherished ever since by their religious
teachers. But, even if such prejudice has not been, so many
generations have since grown up in utter ignorance of our Church, that in
the great body of the people of Western Virginia there is no tendency to
it, but the reverse. That the service of our Church is most admirably
adapted to the edification of the poor and labouring man, I firmly believe
and often delight to affirm; but the difficulties in the way of getting such
to make trial of it are so great, by reason of their partiality to other denominations,
and various other circumstances, that hitherto all the efforts
to induce them so to do, whether in Virginia or elsewhere, have been of
little avail."