University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE LXXIX.

Churches in Kanawha, Ravenswood, Parkersburg and the
neighbourhood, New Martinsville, and Moundsville.

Still pursuing the order in which efforts have been made for
the establishment of the Episcopal Church in Western Virginia, we
proceed to speak of the churches in Kanawha. The Rev. Messrs.
Lee and Page, our first missionaries, extended their visits to Kanawha,
and by the way of Point Pleasant ascended the Ohio, stopping
at Parkersburg. The visit of Mr. Page led to his settlement in
Kanawha, and during the time of his residence there he officiated
in Charleston, at Coalsmouth, and Point Pleasant. A good beginning
was made by Mr. Page, and, if circumstances had not made
him feel it his duty to seek another field of labour after a few
years, it is thought that the Church in that county would have
greatly benefited by his labours. He was succeeded, after a number
of years, by the Rev. Frederick D. Goodwin, who laboured
amidst many difficulties for two years and then removed to another
field. The Rev. Mr. Martin followed Mr. Goodwin, and laboured
at Charleston and Coalsmouth. He was succeeded by the Rev.
Mr. Craik, now of Louisville, who laboured among them for some
years. Mr. Whittle and Mr. Ward were the next ministers. Mr.
Ward was followed by the Rev. R. T. Brown, who, after a few years,
was obliged, on account of his failing voice, to relinquish the charge.
The Rev. Thompson L. Smith is the present minister.

There is an excellent brick church in Charleston, whose history
deserves a special notice. When I first visited Kanawha, there
were only two communicants in our Church in Charleston,—Mrs.
Colonel Lovell and Mrs. Quarrier. There were some few other
ladies, who by birth or education were attached to the Episcopal
Church, and some few gentlemen who laughingly advocated it in
preference to others. There was no Episcopal Church, and the
idea of building one seemed preposterous. Some two or three ladies,
however, determined upon a trial,—their husbands, fathers, and
brothers making sport of it. They used their tongues, their hands,
their pens, and raised in one year about a hundred dollars, which
afforded amusement to the gentlemen. The ladies, with characteristic

good-humour, patience, and perseverance, endured it all,
putting their earnings in the bank, and proceeded in their work.
The next year doubled their collections, which were also put at
interest. How many years were thus spent, and what was the
increase of each year, I cannot say; but this I know, that after many
years of patient perseverence, and the accumulation of a very considerable
sum, the gentlemen found that the ladies could not be
laughed out of their determination, and, some of them having also
come to better thoughts on the subject of religion, it was resolved
to accept the large amount now in hand, and add to it as much as
was necessary to build a church costing four or five thousand
dollars.

OLD MRS. QUARRIER.

I mentioned that at one time there were only two communicants
in our Church at Charleston,—Mrs. Lovell and Mrs. Quarrier. The
latter died in the year 1852, full of years, and ready to depart
and be with Christ. As Mrs. Quarrier, beyond any other individual,
may be considered the mother of the Church in Western
Virginia, by reason of her age, her holy life, and numerous posterity,
who in different places have zealously promoted it, I must
give a brief genealogical sketch of the same. Mr. Alexander
Quarrier was born in Scotland in the year 1746. He removed to
America in his twenty-ninth year, and, settling in Philadelphia and
marrying, lived there twelve years, when he removed to Richmond.
His wife dying, he contracted a second marriage with Miss Sally
Burns. He left Richmond in 1811, and removed to Kanawha,
where he died at the advanced age of eighty-two. By his first
marriage he had six children,—Harriet, Eliza, Margaret, Helen,
Alexander, and Betsy. By his second wife he had seven children,
—William, James, Gustavus, Monroe, Archibald, Fanny, and Virginia.
Being unable to state the marriages and localities, &c. of
all of them, I shall mention none. The members of the Church in
different parts of Western Virginia know how much it has been
indebted to them.

THE CHURCH IN THE SALINES.

About six miles above Charleston, in the midst of the celebrated
salt-works, there is a considerable population and several churches.
One of them belongs to the Episcopalians. When I was last there,
it had been deserted for a time on account of its bad construction,
with a view either to its repair or the building of another. The

minister at Charleston gives a portion of his time and labours to
this place.

THE CHURCH AT COALSMOUTH.

About twelve miles from Charleston, and lower down, the river
Coal enters into the Kanawha. At this place a number of Episcopal
families settled themselves from thirty to sixty years ago.
They attracted the attention of our first ministers in Kanawha,
and shared their labours. Among those families was that of Mr.
Philip Thompson, of Culpepper, son of the Rev. Mr. Thompson,
of St. Mark's parish, of whom we have given so good an account
in our article on Culpepper. His family, now reduced in numbers
by death and dispersion, have contributed largely to the support
of this congregation. The venerable mother, daughter of old
Mr. Robert Slaughter, of Culpepper, was loved and esteemed by
all who knew her, as one of the humblest and most devoted members
of the Church in Virginia. I have always felt my own sense
of the divine power and excellency of religion strengthened by every
visit made to her abode. She exchanged it some years since for a
better one above.

The following communication from Mr. Francis Thompson, who
has long been a lay reader of the Church, contains every thing of
importance in relation to the congregation at Coalsmouth:—

We have no other church besides these on the Kanawha River,
though our ministers have had stations at the court-house in a
neighbouring county and at Buffalo in Kanawha county. At Point
Pleasant, besides the occasional visits of the Rev. Mr. Craik and
Mr. Henderson, the Rev. James Goodwin laboured several years in
the hope of building a church and raising up a congregation, but
was disappointed. Various circumstances have prevented the establishment
of a flourishing village on that most beautiful of all the
sites on the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, which, by their junction
there, concur to make it as convenient for trade as it is memorable

for the bloody battle with the Indians in which the family of Lewis
so signalized itself,—some of whose descendants still live upon the
spot and adhere to the Church of their ancestors.

BRUCE CHAPEL.

About twelve miles below Point Pleasant, on Mercer's Bottom,
a large and fertile tract of land, once owned by Charles Fenton
Mercer, we have a comfortable brick building called Bruce Chapel,
erected during the ministry of the Rev. James Goodwin, and so
named because of the large contribution made to it by Mrs. Eliza
Bruce, now of Richmond, and whose liberality to so many other
objects is well known throughout Virginia. The chapel is in the
neighbourhood of the Moores, Beales, General Steenbergen, and
others whose names I cannot now recall.

THE CHURCH AT RAVENSWOOD.

Ravenswood is a small village on the Ohio River, built on land
taken up by General Washington, (who never made a mistake as to
the quality of soil,) and left to some of the Ashton family of King
George, with whom the Washington family was connected. Mr.
Henry Fitzhugh, formerly of Fauquier, marrying a descendant
of the Ashtons, became possessed of a part of this estate, and
settled on it with a large family of children. At his expense a
neat little chapel has been put up at Ravenswood, and when ministerial
services were not to be had one of his sons has officiated as
lay reader. The Rev. Mr. Tompkins has now for the last two
years been residing there, discharging the duties of a teacher and
minister at the same time. Services are also held at the court-house
of that county.

Since the above was penned, I have received a communication
which states that the ladies, by their zeal and diligence, raised one
hundred and fifty dollars for the furnishing of the chapel, and that
some contributions were made by individuals other than the family
above mentioned, in the neighbourhood, and in Wheeling and Cincinnati,
though not to a large amount. Contributions of labour were
also made by some of the neighbours. The Rev. Mr. Wheeler was
the minister for two years from the year 1842. The Rev. Messrs.
Martin and Craik and Brown, of Charleston, the Rev. Mr. Goodwin,
of Point Pleasant, the Rev. Messrs. Smith and Perkins, of Parkersburg,
the Rev. Mr. Hyland, of Moundsville, and Drs. Armstrong
and McCabe, of Wheeling, have all rendered acceptable services at

Ravenswood. The vestrymen have been Mr. Henry Fitzhugh,
Dr. John Armstrong, Thomas Atkinson, W. S. Holmes, D. M. Barr,
Burdett Fitzhugh, Henry Fitzhugh, Jr., R. H. Dickenson, James
R. Mays, George H. Fitzhugh, T. D. Noussey, J. Beckwith, Thomas
Kirk, D. Frost, I. J. C. Davenport, H. Harpold, James Beatty.

THE CHURCHES IN PARKERSBURG AND THE VICINITY.

Parkersburg was one of the places visited by our first missionaries,—the
Rev. Messrs. Lee and Page. The Rev. Mr. Goodwin,
also, either before or after his settlement in Kanawha, paid an acceptable
visit to the people of that place. The Rev. Mr. McMechin,
soon after his ordination, spent a year or more in attempting to
raise up a congregation there. In the year 1843, the Rev. Thomas
Smith was elected its minister and the church was regularly organized,
and in the following year was admitted into union with the
Convention of Virginia. Mr. Smith immediately commenced, with
his accustomed enterprise, to raise funds for building a church, and
was sufficiently successful in securing enough to provide a small
and plain church; but, as is too often the case in the progress of
such a work, the views of those engaged in it were enlarged, both as
to the size of the building and the style of its execution, so that
the completion of it was delayed for some years. It is a well-built
and handsome brick church, and stands on ground presented to the
vestry by J. F. Snodgrass, late member of Congress from that district.
For a large portion of the funds for its erection, and for much
of the superintendence of the work, the congregation is indebted
to General J. J. Jackson, of Parkersburg. Mr. Smith died in 1847,
and was buried beneath the vestibule of the church, at his own request,
the reason being assigned that, as he felt himself to be a
poor sinner, he wished to be trampled under the feet of all who
entered the house. In the same year the Rev. Mr. Perkins was
chosen, who entered on his duties in the month of October. In
the year 1853, Mr. Perkins resigned the charge, since which time
it has been vacant. During Mr. Perkins's term of service two other
churches have been built in connection with Parkersburg,—one
about fifteen or twenty miles above it, on Cow Creek, and another
about ten or twelve miles below it, at Bellville. The latter was
built almost entirely by Mr. Wells, on whose land and near whose
house it stands. Mr. Perkins used occasionally to officiate at each
of these places.

The following is the list of the vestrymen of this parish:—John
Taylor, J. G. Stringer, Dr. D. Creel, A. L. Kinnaird, J. M. Little-boy,

Sen., J. F. Snodgrass, J. R. Murdock, W. S. Gardiner, David
B. Spencer, J. J. Jackson, Beverley Smith, W. P. Rathbone, Dr.
Farmin, E. D. Safford, C. J. Meale, Isaac Morris, W. H. Morehead,
G. B. Neale, J. J. Dickenson, W. H. Laurence, W. H. Small, J. J.
Neale, J. H. Adams, E. F. De Selding.

CHURCH IN WETZEL COUNTY.

A church at New Martinsville, in this county, was partly built
some years since, under the auspices of the Rev. James McCabe
and the Rev. Mr. Hyland, and supplied for some time with services
by the same. I have no list of the vestrymen of this parish, which
was called Wetzel parish after the name of the county.

CHURCH AT MOUNDSVILLE.

Within twelve miles of Wheeling, on the Ohio River, is to be
seen one of the largest of those Indian mounds which are to be
found in our Western world. It gives the name to the place. In
the time of the elder Mr. Armstrong, there were some families belonging
to our Church in and around it, which were visited by him,
and to whom with the other people of the place he preached. The
passage of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through it, and the
establishment of a large depôt at it, has increased the population
so much that an Episcopal church was erected here some years
since, and the Rev. Mr. Hyland has, in connection with a school,
performed the duties of a minister in it.

The following is a list of the vestrymen of the parish:—Colonel
John Thompson, Isaac Hoge, E. H. Caldwell, W. S. Lane, O. S.
Hock, G. W. Bruce, William Collins, General G. Jones.

From the foregoing notices of the Church in Western Virginia,
it will be perceived that our "beginning is small." May some
future historian, when all its resources have been developed, have
the pleasure of recording that "its latter end has greatly increased"!