University of Virginia Library

ANNALS OF HENRICO PARISH.

BY RT. REV. LEWIS W. BURTON, D. D.

The picturesque ruins of Jamestown mark the beginning
of the Church in Virginia, in 1607. The history of Henrico
Parish begins with the second established settlement in
the colony. During the interregnum between the governorships
of Lord De la War and Sir Thomas Gates, Sir Thomas
Dale had acted as regent under the title of High Marshall of
Virginia. On the arrival of Gates, Dale, by agreement, took
advantage of the opportunity to carry out the cherished project
of founding for himself a settlement. In the early part
of September, 1611, at the head of 350 men, chiefly German
laborers, he pushed up the river. He founded Henricopolis
on the peninsula now insulated by Dutch Gap canal. Dale
was almost a religious fanatic. He had named his new city
in honor of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I. After
this prince's sudden death, Dale writes: "My glorious master
is gone, that would have enamelled with his favors the
labors I undertake for God's cause and his immortal honor.
He was the great captain of our Israel; the hope to have
builded up this heavenly new Jerusalem be interred, I think;
the whole frame of this business fell into his grave."

The Rev. Alexander Whitaker accompanied Dale. He
calls the latter "Our religious and valiant Governor." He
describes him as "a man of great knowledge in divinity, and
of a good conscience in all things, both which," he adds, "be
rare in a martial man."

The settlement of Henrico, therefore, had from the first a
decidedly religious character. Prominent and earliest among
the buildings erected by Dale was a church. He built it even
before he had laid the foundation of his own residence. Its
site was near the line of the present Dutch Gap canal. A
more handsome structure of brick was speedily undertaken.

For defensive purposes, Dale located another settlement at
the western angle of the junction of the Appomattox with
the James. This received the name of Bermuda Hundred,
by which it is still known. It quickly began to outshine its
sister village of Henricopolis. The governor of the colony
sometimes took up his residence at Bermuda Hundred.

But the earlier settlement gave the name of Henrico to the
county and parish with which we are concerned.

When, in 1634, the colony was divided into eight shires,
after the English fashion, the bounds of Henrico were made
to include present Chesterfield and Powhatan counties, on the
south of the river, and Goochland on the north. The parish
lines were coincident with those of the shire. Mr. Whitaker
was, of course, first rector of the parish. Dale enclosed a
glebe of 100 acres and built a parsonage on the south side of
the river, at a point convenient to both settlements. It was
called, and the site is still known by the name of Rock Hall.

Mr. Whitaker's father was Dr. William Whitaker, Master
of St. John's College, an eminent theologian and controversialist
of Cambridge, and a friend of the "judicious Hooker."
Alexander Whitaker himself was a graduate of Cambridge.
For some years he had been a minister in the north of England,
beloved and well supported by his people. He enjoyed
besides a handsome heritage from his parents. He seems
to have come to this country purely under the influence of the
highest missionary spirit, believing himself to have been
called by God to do so. He experienced all the struggles with
himself and all the opposition of friends that try the foreign
missionary's soul. A contemporary thus writes of him[1] :
"He did voluntarily leave his warme nest; and to the wonder
of his kindred and amazement of them that knew him, under-tooke
this hard, but, in my judgement, heroicall resolution to
go to Virginia, and helpe to beare the name of God unto the
gentiles." The unanimous opinion of him seems to be that
he was "purest of men," "truly pious," and most zealous in
that missionary work, especially among the Indians, to which
he had devoted himself. "Every Sabbath day," he writes to
a friend in London, "we preach in the forenoon and catechize

in the afternoon. Every Saturday, at night, I exercise (exhort)
in Sir Thomas Dale's house."

Meanwhile, in 1612, Pocahontas had been taken prisoner
by the English, and Dale had succeeded Gates as Governor.
Dale labored long to ground the faith of Jesus Christ in the
heart of this Indian princess. Of her he wrote: "Were it
but for the gaining of this one soul, I will think my time,
toils, and present stay well spent." Mr. Whitaker was undoubtedly
his glad agent in the effort to evangelize this child
of the forest. At any rate, this excellent clergyman had the
delight of baptizing her under the name of Rebecca. In
April of 1613 or 1614 he also married her to John Rolfe.
Shortly she and her husband removed into the neighborhood of
Henricopolis, where Rolfe had a plantation. They continued
to be members of this parish until Pocahontas left Virginia.

Whitaker sent a sermon of his to England, in which he had
written: "Though my promise of three yeeres' seruice to my
countrey be expired, will abide in my vocation here untill I
be lawfully called from hence." He added an earnest and
loving exhortation to others to come over and help. He resisted
the temptation to return to England in 1616 with his
attached friend, Dale. But within a brief time he was indeed
"lawfully called" by Him whose providence is supreme.

In the spring of 1617, this our first rector, the gentle, earnest
Whitaker, known to history as the "Apostle of Virginia,"
was accidentally drowned in the James.

A Mr. Wickham had served as an assistant to Mr. Whitaker,
apparently laboring at Henricopolis while Mr. Whitaker
gave most of his time to the larger and more prominent
settlement of Bermuda.

John Rolfe, when in England with his wife, Pocahontas,
wrote to King James concerning the Virginia colony. He
speaks of "Mr. William Wickham" as the "minister" at Henrico,
and as one "who, in his life and doctrine, gave good examples
and godly instructions to the people."

Some authorities describe him as "a pious man without
Episcopal ordination." Certainly he could only have been
in deacon's orders, for Governor Argall, successor to Dale,
begs that a minister be sent to Henrico, as Mr. Whitaker was
drowned, and Mr. Wickham was unable to administer the

sacraments. A Rev. Mr. Stockham is by some spoken of as
a successor to Messrs. Whitaker and Wickham. The Rev.
Jonah Stockton did come to the colony in January, 1621.
The clergyman whom these historians have in mind must
have been he. If so, he must have followed Mr. Bargrave.
By 1619 a successor to Mr. Whitaker had been found in the
person of Rev. Thomas Bargrave. If any modern missionary
finds it hard to make ends meet with a small salary poorly
paid, he may find some cool philosophizing on the subject in
the legislation of this early day.

"It was enacted that each clergyman should receive from
his parishioners 1,500 pounds of tobacco and 16 barrels of
corn." But if the "levy should prove unequal in value to
200 pounds, the law proceeded to declare that `the minister
was to be content with less.' "

It was under Mr. Bargrave's administration that the parish
of Henrico was chosen to be the site of a great university.
It was founded to supply both the English and the natives
with that education which is the handmaid of religion. Fifteen
thousand acres on the side of the settlement towards the
falls were set apart as college lands by the Virginia Company.
Large subscriptions had been secured in England in
response to an appeal of King James, through the Archbishop
of Canterbury. Laborers were sent over to till the lands
appropriated to the college. Young women of good character
were persuaded to cross over to be their wives. The
colonists themselves were enthusiastically interested. The
rector, Mr. Bargrave, donated his library. George Thorpe,
a devoted philanthropist and pious scholar, was superintendent
of operations. Happy progress was being made in the
establishment of the institution. The Rev. Mr. Copland,
who had been appointed its president, and who was still in
England, was requested to deliver a thanksgiving sermon in
London, for all the late mercies of God to the colony and for
the bright prospects before them.

Suddenly, without the slightest warning, there burst upon
the fair scene a storm cloud. Its thunderbolt shattered forever
this pious project. The city of Henrico never recovered
from the blow. For four years a conspiracy among the thirty
Indian nations had been forming. On the 22d of March,

Marriage of Pocahontas.

1622, it was ripe. That day Henricopolis shared the fate of
thirty other settlements. The inhabitants that escaped fled
to Jamestown. There the governor concentrated the relics of
his colony. The fatal day was by the next Assembly solemnized
as a holy day.

The result of this terrible catastrophe was a great revulsion
of feeling on both sides of the water. Missionary effort
with the Indians was considered a failure. Their conversion
was deemed hopeless. A further severe blow was given to
the cause of religion in these parts in the dissolution of the
Virginia Company by the King in 1624. From this time on
down to 1730 the annals of Henrico Parish are fragmentary
and uncertain. The Rev. James Blair was the rector from
1685 to 1694. He was a determined and courageous Scotchman,
who had been educated at Edinburg University. While
still rector of this parish, in 1689, he was appointed commissary
of the Bishop of London, Dr. Compton, who ex-officio
had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the colonies. Mr. Blair
efficiently occupied this position of great responsibility and
trust till his death, fifty-four years afterward. He resigned
the parish to become founder and first president of William
and Mary College. He was also a member of the Colonial
Council. He resided first at Jamestown, preaching there
and at a church eight miles off in an adjacent parish. In
1710 he removed to Williamsburg and took charge of Bruton
parish. After filling with honorable and distinguished success
a most prominent and trying part in the ecclesiastical
history of the colony, he was laid to rest in the old graveyard
at Jamestown August 3, 1743, at the ripe age of 88.

The Rev. George Robinson is understood to have been in
charge of Henrico parish in 1695. Nothing seems to be
known of him besides that fact.

In 1724 the clergy of the colony were called upon for a
report by the Bishop of London. The name of the incumbent
of Henrico Parish has been torn from the manuscript of his
report.[2] He mentions that he had been in the parish fourteen
years. Its bounds were 18 by 25 miles. It contained
two churches and one chapel. There were 400 families and
1,100 tithable persons resident. The attendance at church

sometimes numbered from one to two hundred. The number
accustomed to commune at any one time was about twenty.
To the parents and teachers was left the catechizing of the
children. The families were so distant that it was difficult
to gather the children together, and, like those of our day,
when they grew to any bigness, they did not like to be publicly
catechized. As for the servants, the masters did nothing
for them except to let some of them, now and then, go to
church. There was no public school for the youth.

In 1730 we come to terra firma in our history. With
October 28th of that year begins the record book of the Vestry
of Henrico Parish. It is a folio 7½ by 12½ inches, bound
in vellum. It contains 191 manuscript pages, and covers the
period extending to September 24, 1774. It was accidentally
discovered by Mr. Peyton R. Carrington in August, 1867,
among the old records of Henrico County Court. With the
permission of the Presiding Justice, he delivered it to the
then rector, Rev. Dr. Wm. Norwood. He placed it in the
possession of the Vestry of St. John's Church. It was
printed in 1874, with an interesting introduction and valuable
notes by Mr. R. A. Brock, Secretary of the Virginia Historical
Society.

The minutes of ten meetings of the Vestry, from April 8,
1807, to December 16, 1817, both inclusive, were written on
sixteen pages of foolscap paper. The manuscript was found
in the third story of the house of Mrs. George M. Carrington,
at the corner of Twenty-eighth and Franklin streets, in 1867,
by Mr. Peyton R. Carrington.

Virginia vestries a century and a half ago were elected by
the freeholders and housekeepers. Among the earliest members
of the vestry in Henrico Parish were men whose names
are intertwined with the whole of the social and political
history of our Commonwealth.

The income of the Parish was derived from tithes. For
example, by the earliest resolution of our Vestry which has
been preserved to us, it was

At that date tobacco was the medium of exchange. Its value
may be estimated from the fact, that in 1739 the wardens
were forbidden to sell at private sale the levied tobacco for
less than 12s. 6d. per hundred. At that rate the rector's
salary was 100 pounds sterling, or about 500 dollars.

In this connection it is interesting to recall the fact that
Patrick Henry's genius as an orator first shone publicly in
what was known as the "Parson's Cause," a case in which a
minister of the Church of England brought suit for arrearages
in salary: The Virginia Burgesses having decreed that,
because of a failure of the crop, all debts payable in that commodity
might be met in money at the rate of two pence per
pound; the King having decided against this act, because
tobacco was rated at six pence a pound when the salary of
16,000 pounds of tobacco was made the legal compensation
of the clergy.

This first Vestry book is principally filled with the transactions
belonging to that body, as a factor in the civil government,
under the establishment of the Church of England.
These were chiefly what was known as processioning the
land—that is, going around the bounds of each person's land
and renewing the landmarks by chopping the trees. There
was also committed to the vestries of that day, and especially
to the church wardens, the care of the poor. We have among
the accounts entered in this vestry book such as these:—

"To John Jones for keeping his Daughter, being a Fool—
300 (lbs. of tobacco).

"To Doctor Hopper for Cuting off Cowsells arm—500 (lbs.
of tobacco).

"Ordd that the Chwdns do agree with any person for the
Cure of Pridgeon Waddles nose not exceedg[3] ten Pounds."

When this vestry book was begun the principal church of
the parish was situated on a plantation known as Curle's,
lying on the north side of the James, some miles below the
present city of Richmond. The church itself was called by
the name of the plantation on which it stood. It is said to
have been demolished within the past forty years. But the
writer in a visit to the locality could get no certain information
as to where its exact position was. The bowl of the
baptismal font now in St. John's is the sole relic of the Curle's
Church. It was discovered by Mrs. Margaret Pickett some
miles away from Curle's Church, in the cellar of a house into
which her family had just moved. It had been used as a
mortar for beating hominy. Dr. John Adams, her father,
brought it to Richmond and placed it in the hands of a stonecutter.
Being very much mutilated, it was reduced to a diameter
of 11, 9-16 inches. The original shape, however, was
preserved. Dr. Adams then presented it as a "precious and
sacred" relic to the Vestry of St. John's Church, May 13,
1826; and it was directed by them that it should be placed
in the chancel.

It is hardly to be wondered at that, when, in 1850, a member
of St. John's presented to it a new marble font, the congregation
was dissatisfied at the removal of the one piece of
furniture that bound their present edifice to its predecessors
in the parish, and after only a few years insisted upon its
return. Mr. P. R. Carrington thinks that the new font and
two oaken chairs given by the same gentlemen are now in the
church in Ashland.

To revert to our history, there was at this time also a
"chapple," probably the one called in 1735 "the falls Chappel."
Indeed, there had been a feeble attempt at a settlement
at the Falls of James river before that at Henricopolis. In
all probability this was the "one chapel" reported to the
Bishop of London in 1724. Probably Curle's Church also
was one of the "two churches" reported at the same time.
Perhaps the other one of the two was the old church at Henricopolis.
It is more likely to have been that one for which
Mr. Thomas Jefferson, an ancestor of the President, had contracted
in 1723, to be erected near Rock Hall. William
Randolph had bought the whole of the 5,000 acres embraced

in Dale's settlement, and had added as much more to his
estate, so that it extended down to Four Mile Creek, on
James river. Beside the Curle's plantation in this property,
there was also in it one, nearer the falls, called Varina from
the fact that its tobacco was supposed to have the same flavor
as that of Varina in Spain. Next to the Varina plantation
was the glebe of the parish, consisting of between 195 and 200
acres, which at an early date had taken the place of the one
at Rock Hall, on the southern side of the James. The Henrico
court-house, prison, etc., were near by. The situation
was about where Rolfe had located his residence.

It appears from the first entry in this earliest vestry book
that the minister then in charge of the parish was, as he is
styled, The Reverend Mr. James Keith. On his ministerial
staff he had three lay readers. The salary of each was 2,000
pounds of tobacco, or about twelve and a half pounds sterling,
equivalent to some $60.50 in our money. Sometimes, however,
they were more "a thorn in the flesh" than a help. For
in the minutes of the second meeting we read that the vestry
"Ordered

"That Sackfield Brewer be appointed Reader in the Chapple,
Richard Williams being absconded from his Duty
therein."

October 12, 1733, Mr. Keith ceased to be minister of the
parish.

About this time the Assembly considerably lessened the
size of Henrico county and parish. Goochland was cut off in
1727. Powhatan was taken along with it as a part of the
original Goochland. Dale parish, in Chesterfield, was set up
by itself in 1735. At a meeting held on June 17, 1735, a
temporary supply of the pulpit was arranged. The Rev. Zach
Brook was to preach a day in every fifth week at the Falls
Chapel, and the Rev. David Mossom every fifth Sunday at the
Church. For this service they were to be allowed 400 pounds
of tobacco, or about two and one-half pounds English money,
per sermon. This Mr. Brook had been the first minister of
St. Paul's, Hanover, and had labored in that charge as early
as 1724 at least. Mr. Mossom was at this time rector of St.
Peter's, New Kent, a position which he occupied from 1727
to his death, in 1767. In that capacity he married General

Washington at the "White House," in St. Peter's Parish.
He came from Newburyport, Mass., and had the honor of
being the first native American admitted to the presbyterate
in the Church of England. This arrangement was continued
until the following September, when "The Revd mr. Anthony
Gavin" appeared on the scene. He produced
"a letter from the Honble William Gooch,
"Esqr, his Maj's Lieut. Governor of this Colony, and another
from the Rev'd James Blair, Commissary, directed to the
Church Wardens and Gent of the vestry, recommending the
said Mr. Gavin to the Cure of this parish."

These letters were read;
"and the Vestry being desirious of first hearing him performe
the office of his Ministereal function," resolved to "Suspend
their opinion as to his reception till after Sermon, when they"
agreed "to meet again."

The trial sermon of this reverend candidate proved a success.
For it is immediately afterward entered that—

"Whereas the Revd Anthony Gavin hath performed his
office both in reading and preaching to the General Satisfaction
and approbation of the Vestry, it is thereupon unanimously
agreed that he be received and entertained as minister
of this parish."

There is no note of Mr. Gavin's resignation in the vestry
book. Bishop Meade says he served in Henrico only nine
months. The Bishop pronounces him a zealous and laborious
man, but very plain of speech. That latter trait of character,
combined with the fact that he was opposed to slavery as "unlawful
for any Christian, and particularly for Clergymen,"
may account for his short incumbency. But we find him
Rector of St. James', Goochland, August 5, 1738, and he continued
in that position until his death, in 1749.

On Sunday, the 18th of July, 1736, the Reverend William
Stith, after having gone through the same process as his predecessor,
was received as Minister of the Parish. This Mr.
Stith was the only son of Capt. John Stith, of Charles City,
and the grandson, on his mother Mary's side, of William
Randolph, of Turkey Island, Henrico. He was born in
1689. He received his academical education at the grammar
school attached to William and Mary College. He pursued

his theological studies in England, and was ordained there.
On his return to Virginia, in 1731, he had been elected Master
of the Grammar School at Williamsburg, and Chaplain
to the House of Burgesses. He married his cousin, Judith,
daughter of Thomas Randolph, of Tuckahoe.

His salary as Minister of Henrico Parish was 16,000
pounds of tobacco, equivalent to 100 pounds sterling, or, in
present money, $484.

It was during the ministry of Mr. Stith that the project of
building a new church began to be agitated. It was a comparatively
easy thing in those days to build a church. The
vestry had only to order a levy to secure the building fund.
If any tithable person failed or delayed to make payment, the
collector was empowered to distrain for the tax.

A new church somewhere in this locality was beginning to
be a necessity, because of the increase of population hereabouts.
Already Richmond was looming up on the horizon
of the future as the town of the parish. The first action is
recorded as follows:

"At a Vestry held at Curls[4] Church for Henrico parish ye
8th day of October Anno Dom. 1737 for laying ye parish
Levey—

"The Vestry do agree to build a Church on the most Convenient
place at or near

"Thomas Williamsons in this parish to be Sixty feet in
Length and Twenty-five in

"Breadth and fourteen foot pitch to be finished in a plain
Manner After the Moddle of

"Curls Church. And it is ordered that the Clerk do Set up
Advertisements of the particular parts of the Said Building
and of the time and place of undertaking the Same.

* * * * * * * *

"It is ordered that the Collector do receive of every Tithable
person in this parish five

"pounds of Tobacco after the Usual deduction to be apply'd
towards building the New Church at Williamsons."

Had the resolution been literally carried out, the new
church would have been located on the Brook Road. Through
some unaccountable reason the matter was dropped for nearly

two years. Then we find the following entry upon the vestry
book:

"At a vestry held at Curls Church for Henrico parish July ye
21st Ano Dom 1739

* * * * * * * *

"It is Ordered that the Church Wardens do give Notice and
Set up Advertisements at all publick

"places in this parish, that on the Second thursday in October
next, at Curls Church, will be

"held a vestry in order to let out the Building of the New
Church, at which Time the parish Levy will be Laid."
Next appears the following record:

"At a Vestry held for Henrico parish on the Twentieth day
of Decr Anno 1739

"It is agreed that a Church be Built on the most Convenient
Spot of Ground near ye

"Spring on Richardsons Road, on the South Side of Bacons
Branch, on the Land of

`The Honourable William Byrd Esq. to be Sixty feet Long
and Twenty-five broad

And fourteen feet pitch'd, to be finished in a plain manner
after the

`Moddle of Curls-Church. Richard Randolph Gent undertakes
the Said Building and engages to finish the Same by
the Tenth day of June, which Shall be in the year of our
Lord

"Seventeen hundred and forty-one; for which the Vestry
agrees to pay him the

"Sum of three hundred and Seventeen pounds Ten Shillings
Current Money to be

"paid by the Ammount of the Sales of Twenty thousand
pounds of Tob'o annually

"to be Levyd on the parish and Sold here for Money till the
whole payment be compleat."

The contract price in United States figures was $1,536.70.
An appropriation of 5,250 pounds gross tobacco had been
made for this new enterprise out of the levy laid October 8,
1737. A levy of 20,000 pounds net tobacco had been laid
October 11, 1739, for the new church. May 5, 1740, the
vestry sold this last mentioned tobacco to Col. Richard Randolph

at the rate of 10s. per hundred, current money. The
only additional appropriation toward this object found on
record was a levy of 20,000 pounds net tobacco, laid October
13, 1740.

But still another change in situation was necessitated.

"At a Vestry held for Henrico parish the 13 Day of October
Anno Dom 1740.

"Richard Randolph Gentleman, produses a Letter Directed
to him from the Honbl'e

"William Byrd, Esquie, which is read as followeth—viz:
`Sir—October 12th, 1740.

" `I should with great pleasure, oblige the Vestry, and particularly
your Self, in granting

"them an Acre, to build their Church upon; but there are so
many roads already thro that

"Land, that the Damage to me would be too great to have
another of a mile long cut

"thro it. I should be very glad if you wou'd please to think
Richmond a proper place,

"and considering the great number of people that live below
it, and would pay their

"Devotions there, that wou'd not care to go so much higher
I can't but think it wou'd be

"Agreeable to most of the people, and if they will agree to
have it there, I will give them

"two of the best Lots, that are not taken up, and besides give
them any pine Timber they

"can find on that side Shockhoe Creek, and Wood for burning
of Bricks into the Bargain.

"I hope the Gen't of the Vestrey will believe me a Friend to
the Church, when I make

"them this offer, and that I am both theirs—. Sir— and your
most Hum'l ser': W. Byrd.'

"Whereupon the Questian is put whither the said Church
should be Built on the Hill caled Indian Town at Richmond,
or at Thomas Williamsons plantation on the Brook Road,
and is caryed by a Majority of Voices for the former.

"It is thereupon Ordered that the Church formerly Agreed
on to be Built by

"Richard Randolph Gen: on the South side of Bacons Branch,

be Built on Indian Town at Richmond, after the Same Manner
as in the said Former Agreement was mentioned."

The allotment had been made in April, 1737. The two
lots which Mr. Byrd gave for the church constitute the Grace
street half of the present church yard. The Record Book
was destroyed by the British under Tarleton. The record of
the deed to these two lots is said to have been of the date of
March 5, 1743.

There is no record of the completion, or first use of this
church. But by December 7, 1741, the Falls Chapel seems
to have been abandoned; John Eals, its reader, and Eleanor
Williams, its sexton, had been transferred to this church;
and everything here was in full blast. The only thing left
for us to suppose is that this church was completed at the date
called for by the contract, June 10, 1741. Probably the
erection of this church had rendered the Falls Chapel unnecessary.

The lines of the church then erected are easily distinguishable.
The present transepts lie exactly with the points of the
compass. They formed the eastern and western ends, respectively,
of the original church. Imagine the northern sides of
the two transepts connected. The old church would thus be
enclosed. All the portion of the present church lying north
of that imagined line, or, in other words, the present nave of
the church, was a later addition. The ceiling in the old
church was a foot and two-thirds below the present cornice.
The chancel, according to the then prevailing ecclesiastical
custom, was in the eastern end. The present pulpit, with
its sounding board and the latter's panel, stood there. The
pews, of course, all faced in that direction. In the western
end was a gallery. It projected as far as the present angle
of the transept and the nave. Beneath it, on the south side,
was the robing room. On the opposite side of the aisle were
the stairs to the gallery and a lumber closet. The gallery
was lighted by two small windows. The present are the original
pews, but they have been lowered. Formerly their backs
reached to the windows. The hinges are handwrought, and
fastened on by nails made in the same way. The wainscoting
and the window sash are those first put in. Any one
examining the exterior will easily recognize the original

weather-boarding. It is thicker and wider than on the newer
part of the church, and fastened by nails wrought on the anvil
with heads half an inch broad.

The officers of the church at this time were as follows:

The Rev. William Stith, Minister.

James Powell Cocke, Church Warden.

James Cocke, Church Warden.

Richard Randolph, Vestryman.

John Redford, Vestryman.

Bowler Cocke, Vestryman.

John Bolling, Vestryman.

Edward Curd, Vestryman.

John Williamson, Vestryman.

John Povall, Vestryman.

Robert Mosby, Vestryman.

William Fuller, Parish Collector and Vestryman.

Peter Randolph, Vestryman.

Sackville Brewer, Reader at Curles Church and Clerk of
the Vestry.[5]

John Eales, Reader at Richmond Church.

John Hobson, Sexton at Curles Church.

Eleanor Williams, Sexton at Richmond Church.

While in charge of Henrico Parish and living in its glebe
house Mr. Stith wrote his History of Virginia. He published
it in 1747. It went through the printing and bookbinding
establishment at Williamsburg, then the only one in
the colony. Its exceptional exactness gave its author the
reputation of being "the accurate Stith."

In his introduction he suggests a picture, which is a restful
contrast to the busy life of the present clergy of this
parish. He says that he wrote his history as "a noble and
elegant entertainment for my vacant hours."

December 3, 1751, the Rev. Mr. Stith resigned the parish
to take effect the first day of the following October. The
reason given is that he had been "Chosen Minister of S.
Ann's."

But in August of 1752 he was elected President of William

and Mary College. He accepted that position, and died
in it, three years later. The Rev. Rascow Cole declined the
offer of the Parish. The Rev. Joseph Bewsher at first
accepted the Vestry's unanimous election, but resigned before
the date set for his taking charge. This could not have
been the well-known Jonathan Boucher, who was tutor to
Washington's stepson (young Custis); for Jonathan Boucher
was only born in 1738, and ordained in 1762. Finally,
August 25, 1752, the Rev. Miles Selden was unanimously
elected minister. He accepted, to enter on his office the first
day of the next October. He was the grandson of John
Selden, the first settler of the name, who came to the Northern
Neck of Virginia about 1690.[6] He was the first cousin of the
Rev. Wm. Selden, Rector of Elizabeth City Parish, in 1771.

The arrangement with him was that he should perform
divine service at the Richmond Church once every
five weeks. This Church had been called the "New
Church," the "Upper Church," the "Richmond Church."
Within a few years after its erection it was also spoken
of as the "Town Church." How completely the tide had
begun to ebb from the neighborhood of Curles is shown
by the fact that in 1768 the Vestry recorded the opinion that
Curles Church should be removed; and that a committee was
appointed to choose a new location. But by 1770 it had been
determined simply to repair the old building. The "Worshipful
Gentlemen of the Vestry" began to hold their sessions
at "Richmond Town." The first meeting of the Vestry in
Richmond of which we know occurred November 13, 1749,
when the Rev. Wm. Stith was present. That care for appearances
had been attended to which such a situation demands.
Eleanor Williams, the sexton, was put to work
making curtains. There must needs be imported from England
as quickly as possible—

"One Parsons

"Surples, a Pulpit Cushen and Cloth, two Cloths for Reading

"Desks, a Communion Table Cloth and a Dozen of Cushens—

"to be of good Purple Cloth, and the Surples good Hollond,
also a

"large Bible and four large Prayer Books."

The Church lot in 1746 had been fenced in with wood.
In 1770 it was walled in with bricks four and one-half feet
high above ground. The remains of this improvement may
undoubtedly be seen in the present Grace street wall and in
the lower portion of the Twenty-fifth street wall of the
church yard.

By December 8, 1772, it had become necessary to enlarge
the church. It is of record under that date that,

"It is the Opinion of the Vestry that

"An Addition of Forty feet in

"Length and of the same wedth as the

"pres't Church at Richmond is be

"Built to it, at the North Side with

"a Gallery on both Sides & one End

"with proper windows above and below,

"& Order'd that the Chwdns Lett to the

"Lowest Bidder the Building the said

"Addition."

That improvement was the beginning of what constitutes
the present nave. Probably the most valuable testimony as
to what constituted the changes now made is that given by the
Rev. Prof. Cornelius Walker, D. D., of the Virginia Theological
Seminary. He became a Sunday school scholar and
an attendant upon the services of St. John's in 1826, and continued
so until the time of the changes, in 1830. He describes
the building consistently with the action of the Vestry
just quoted. The galleries were supported by light columns.
He thinks there were two narrow aisles in this new nave,
along the outer side of each of which ran the line of gallery
columns. But I think the two aisles were introduced in
1830. The original gallery at the west end of the old church
remained. Over it also continued the belfry, sustaining a
bell. The chancel and pulpit were, of course, removed to the
centre of the south side of the old church, so as to face the new
nave.

The panel of the sounding board stood up against the wall

between two windows. There was as yet no door at the east
end of the old church. But on its south side and east of the
new position of the chancel was a door with an aisle running
across the old church from south to north, where naturally
there would have been a space before the original chancel.

There was, I understand from another source, one pew
between this aisle and the eastern wall of the transept. This
south door opened upon the walk leading up from near the
corner of Grace and Twenty-fifth streets. According to Mr.
P. R. Carrington, this door was not closed until 1857 or
1859. All the interior woodwork was unpainted, but so
smoothly finished as to have the appearance of having been
varnished.

Mr. P. R. Carrington is of the opinion that the original
communion rail, which extended across the whole eastern end
of the old church, remained even after the pulpit had been
removed, and that behind this rail the President of the Virginia
Convention of 1775 sat, when that body was in session
within the building.

Meanwhile the Vestry-book is witness to the fact that
the glebe was also kept in good repair and enjoyed improvements
from time to time. Nor by any means was
the whole of the spiritual energies of the parish concentrated
in the Richmond Church. Two other chapels had been
erected, one at Deep Run, between 1742 and 1745,[7] and the
other, somewhere before 1773, near Boar Swamp, on what is
now the site of Antioch Baptist Church, about twelve miles
from Richmond, in the direction of the Nine Mile Road.
Among the last entries in the oldest Vestry book is the following
account of the obligations of the Parish:

                                     

"At a vestry held at Richmond on Friday the 17th. Day of December 1773 for laying the Parish Levy. "Henrico Parish. Dr. Lbs. Tob'o
"To the Revd Mr. Selden his annual Salary	17,150	£125. 1.
"To Wm Street Clk. Deep Run Church.	1,789	13. 0.10
"To Ja's Sharp D'o at Curls	1,789	13. 0.10
"To a Salary to p'd to Clk. Richm'd Church
"hereafter to be app'd and to remain in
"the Church Wardens hands 'til such
"appointment	1,789	13. 0.10
"To R'd Trueman Clk Boar Swamp
"Church	500	3.12.11
"To the Sexton of Curls Church	536	3.10. 7
"To R'd Williams Sexton of the town
"Church, and a power granted the Ch.
"Wardens to displace him if they think
"fit	536	3.10. 7
"To Jos. E. Freeman who is app'd Sexton
"of Deeprun Ch. in the room of Jos. Ellis	536	3.10. 7
"To Fort's Sydnor Clk. Vestry	500	3.12.16
"To Ch. Wardens for Ch. Elements	300	2. 3.9"

It was while the hand of the Rev. Miles Selden was upon
the helm that the fair ship whose course we are tracing entered
the storm cloud of the Revolutionary War. Thence
forward it is lost to view, except for infrequent momentary
glimpses, till 1785. All that we know of it are the following
facts: Its rector, Mr. Selden, was the chaplain of the Virginia
Convention of 1775. That Convention met in this
church March 20th of that year, under the presidency of
Edmund Pendleton. This meeting of a political convention
in a church was no unusual thing in those days. The first
General Assembly, the earliest legislative body in America,
had sat with their hats on, after the manner of the English
Commons, in the church at Jamestown, July 30, 1619. A
member left on record the reason. "The most convenient
place we could find to sit in was the quire (sic) of the
Church."

At the session of the Virginia Convention referred to
as having been held in St. John's Church, Patrick Henry
flashed the electric spark, which exploded the colony in
revolution. He stood, according to tradition, near the
present corner of the east transept and the nave, or more
exactly, as it is commonly stated, in pew 47, in the east

aisle of the nave, the third one from the transept aisle.
He, as we have already seen, faced the eastern wall of
the transept, where were then two windows. In the more
northern of these stood Col. Edward Carrington. He broke
the silence that followed the orator's burning words with the
exclamation: "Right here I wish to be buried." The situation
of his tomb bears witness to the fulfillment, by his wife,
of his request at his death, in 1810.

At last, in 1781, when Richmond had fallen into the hands
of Arnold, this sacred edifice was made a barracks for his
British soldiery. It must have seemed then to pastor and
people that the final word in their parochial history had been
written. But Easter Monday, March 28, 1785, brings us to
the beginning of a second Vestry book. It is a volume 6½ x 8
inches, bound in leather. It contains on 696 pages the minutes
to April 5, 1887.

From 1785 the history of Henrico Parish will be almost entirely
localized in Richmond. We must, therefore, take a brief
glance at the situation. The town when captured by Arnold
is said to have had some three hundred houses. At about this
time, when the seat of government was removed hither, the
inhabitants, with the exception of two or three families, were
Scotch. Their small tenements were scattered here and there
between the river and the Hill. Colonel, afterward Judge
Marshall, observed that the little cottages looked "as if the
poor Caledonians had brought them over on their backs, the
weaker of whom were glad to stop at the bottom of the hill;
others a little stronger proceeded higher; while a few of the
stoutest and boldest reached the summit, which, once accomplished,
affords a situation beautiful and picturesque."

The first record in the second Vestry-book is of an election
of twelve Vestrymen, holden on March 28, 1785, at the courthouse,
in the city of Richmond.

Their names were:

Edmund Randolph,

Jaquelin Ambler,

Bowler Cocke,

Miles Selden, Jr.,

William Foushee,

Hobson Owen,

John Ellis,

Turner Southall,

Nathaniel Wilkinson,

Daniel L. Hylton,

Thos. Prosser,

Wm. Burton.

On the following Thursday, in is church, the majority
subscribed the required promise of conformity and organized
for duty. Edmund Randolph and Bowler Cocke were appointed
church wardens. They were instructed to recover the
church plate and other property, and to open subscriptions
for the repairs of the churches and the salaries of sextons.
One of these, appointed at this meeting for Richmond, was a
woman. It is evident that, besides the Richmond church,
those at Curles and at Deep Run were still in existence.
But there was no minister.

On the 10th of the following May the Rev. John Buchanan
was unanimously chosen by ballot incumbent for the Parish.
I am unable to reconcile with this action the statement which
is said to have been copied from the Virginia Gazette of 1785,
that the Rev. Miles Selden died May 23, 1785, being minister
of St. John's at the time of his death.[8]
Some question
afterward arose whether the election of a minister was warranted
by the powers then vested in the vestry. So the vestry,
on June 7th, repeated the formality. His duties, with
reference to services, were defined to be that he should preach
every other Sunday in "Richmond Church," and on the intervening
Sunday at Curles and Deep Run alternately. Discretion
was given him as to the place for celebrating the festival
days.

On the 15th of June, 1785, the first convention of the reorganized
Diocese of Virginia was held in Richmond. Probably
the sessions for business were held in the capitol; but by
resolution the Convention attended divine service on Thursday,
at 9 A. M., in this, at that time, "the Church in this
city," and listened to an "excellent sermon" preached in this
pulpit by the Rev. John Bracken. It was a correspondence
between the Rev. David Griffith and the rector of Henrico
parish that led to the resuscitation of the Church in Virginia.
Both Mr. Buchanan and the lay delegate of this parish,
Edmund Randolph, took prominent parts in this Convention.
Mr. Randolph was afterward Governor of Virginia and
Attorney-General and Secretary of State in Washington's
Cabinet.

Mr. Buchanan was elected treasurer of the Diocese. He
faithfully and efficiently occupied that position for nearly
thirty years, until increased age and consequent infirmities
compelled him to decline reappointment. Mr. Randolph was
on a committee to prepare an address "to the members of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, representing the
condition of that Church, and exhorting them to unite in its
support."

Its words have become famous in American Church history:
"Of what is the Church now possessed? Nothing but
the glebes and your affections." Mr. Randolph also reported,
in behalf of a committee, the resolution that declared the
willingness of the Virginia Convention "to unite in a general
ecclesiastical convention with the members of the Protestant
Episcopal Church." June 28, 1785, the Vestry acted on the
recommendation of the late Convention and appointed a committee
to prepare subscription papers for the expenses of consecrating
and maintaining a Bishop, one subscription paper
to be circulated by each member of the Vestry.

A sad picture is drawn for us in a statement prefixed,
April 2, 1789, by the Vestry, to other subscription papers,
which they subsequently circulated. The minister and other
officers had been serving for several years with little or no
compensation; also they deeply deplore "the almost total decline
of divine worship for some years past, and the consequent
depravation of the morals of every denomination
amongst us." A letter of Mrs. Edward Carrington, to an
English friend, dated 1792, and quoted by Bishop Meade,
reveals still more of the spiritual darkness then prevailing:

"This evil (the want of public worship) increases daily;
nor have we left in our extensive State three churches that are
decently supported. Our metropolis even would be left destitute
of this blessing but for the kind offices of our friend,
Buchanan, whom you remember well, an inmate of our family.
He, from sheer benevolence, continues to preach in our
capitol to what we now call the New School—that is to say,
to a set of modern philosophers who merely attend because
they know not what else to do with themselves. But, blessed
be God, in spite of the enlightened, as they call themselves,
and in spite of Godwin, Paine, etc., we still, at times, particularly

on our great Church days, repair with a choice few
to our old church on the hill (St. John's) and by contributing
our mite endeavor to preserve the religion of our fathers.
Delightful hours we sometimes pass there," etc.

Mr. Buchanan had come to Richmond from Lexington
Parish, Amherst county, Va. He left there a salary of
10,000 pounds of tobacco. In all his ministry in this parish
he received little beside the rent of the glebe and the perquisites
of the office. That little was mostly bestowed in
charity upon others. He was a frugal bachelor, and for ten
years eked out his scanty pittance here by tutoring in the
family of one of his kindest vestrymen, Mr. Jaquelin Ambler,
for many years Treasurer of the Commonwealth. Afterward
he was made comfortable by the inheritance of the
property of his brother James, who had been a well-to-do
merchant in this city. The Vestry, however, tried to fulfill
its obligations to the rector. At its April meeting in 1789, it
adopted a plan for securing a revenue, which it continued to
follow for years. The city was divided into four wardships.
Canvassers were appointed for each. As a result, on the 23d
of May following they were able to pay Mr. Buchanan 20
pounds, the clerk and the sexton each two pounds eight
shillings, and to appropriate a surplus of 3 pounds 14 shillings
to repairs and other contingencies. The following December
Mr. Buchanan was paid sixty pounds for the preceding
half year's services.

But the other evil mentioned by the Vestry—viz: the decline
in church attendance—was not so easily overcome. In
1790 this church had been practically abandoned. Even the
triennial elections of the Vestry were appointed to be held at
the Capitol, the day to be subject to the weather. It was opened
for service only at the great festivals, Christmas, Easter and
Whit Sunday, when the Lord's Supper was administered.
Thenceforth for years the services of our Church were held
in the Capitol on alternate Sundays with the Presbyterians.
Mr. P. R. Carrington says that Mr. Thos. H. Drew, who
removed to Richmond in 1800, told him that, from that date
until about 1815, Dr. Buchanan held service at St. John's
only three times each year, Easter, Whit Sunday and Christmas,
when the Holy Communion was administered and confirmations

were held. The congregation in its personnel was
much the same every Sunday. Between the pastor of the
Presbyterians, Rev. John D. Blair, and Mr. Buchanan, the
most delightful fraternity existed. The spirit of Church
unity engendered by this joint worship prompted the Vestry,
in this same year, 1790, to extend permission to any regular
minister of any denomination whatever, professing Christianity,
to use the country churches of the parish, when not
used by the Rev. Mr. Buchanan or any other minister of the
Protestant Episcopal Church. And in 1812 the custom of
alternating services with the Presbyterians was transferred to
this, the parish Church.

A little glimpse into the musical features of the parochial
history is now afforded us. July 24, 1790, the rector was
requested "to contract with Mr. Purrington to conduct Psalmody
every Sunday for three months in the time of divine
service, for which he was authorized to promise Mr. Purrington
six shillings for each day's attendance, or being ready
to attend." It appears that the rector had to advance and
wait some time for a repayment of the chorister's salary.

Already the question of a new organ had been prominent.
February 15, 1791, the Vestry had in hand £34, the proceeds
of a concert and the sale of an old organ. This amount they
determined to appropriate for a new instrument. But probably
because the fund did not increase sufficiently for this
purpose, the money was in 1794 loaned out to the minister.

April 25, 1791, an inventory of property was taken. The
glebe was reported to be worth about £1,000, and at the time
was renting for £40 per annum. Its houses were out of repair.
The personal property consisted of "one silver cup and
salver." The older of the present patens and chalices bear
the London Goldsmiths Co.'s mark of 1718. They are quite
likely the communion vessels referred to in this inventory.

In 1792 begins the lamentation which wails forth from
many a modern Vestry book. Great difficulty was experienced
in collecting money which had been subscribed or pledged for
the support of the parish. But the Vestry of that day applied
heroic measures. The balances due on subscriptions for 1791
were delivered to the town sergeant for collection. Where
immediate payment could not be obtained, notes payable in

three months were requested. In 1793 it was declared that
promissory notes were preferable to subscriptions. And in
1794 it was determined that all arrearages up to the end of
1793 should be put into the hands of a collector, with instructions
to commence suit on every delinquent that would not
make immediate payment.

All previous troubles and perplexities, however, were only
as the penumbra of the eclipse now at hand. There is no record
of a Vestry meeting between April 29, 1794, and May
12, 1812, except one held April 8, 1807. Indeed, the depressed
condition of the whole Church in Virginia was so
great between 1799 and 1812 that even the annual conventions
were discontinued for several years. When the Vestry did
meet in 1807 it was only to confess failure. For then was
begun a movement looking to the purchase of ground and
the erection of a church to accommodate the many members of
the Protestant Episcopal Church who felt that it was no
longer convenient to attend the services on Church Hill.
Bishop Meade paints a distressing picture of the condition of
the parish at this time. "My next Sabbath (that is, after his
ordination at Williamsburg, February 24, 1811,) was spent
in Richmond, where the condition of things was little better.
Although there was a church in the older part of the town, it
was never used but on Communion days. The place of worship
was an apartment in the Capitol, which held a few hundred
persons at most; and as the Presbyterians had no church
at all in Richmond at that time, the use of the room was
divided between them and the Episcopalians, each having
service every other Sabbath morning, and no oftener. Even
two years after this, being in Richmond, on a Communion
Sunday, I assisted the rector, Dr. Buchanan, in the old
church, when only two gentlemen and a few ladies communed.
One of these gentlemen, the elder son of Judge Marshall, was
a resident in the upper county."

In the fall of 1812 correspondence began with a view to
securing an assistant minister for the parish. Meanwhile
the rector was requested to obtain help when necessary for
any of the churches in the parish. But in the providence of
God an event occurred which solved many perplexing problems,
though apparently not at all for the advantage of this

particular church. The terrible calamity of the destruction
of the Richmond Theatre by fire, and the consequent holocaust
of prominent citizens and precious lives had led to the
erection on the fatal spot of a memorial church. This, in
1814, was opened for worship under the name of the Monumental
Church.

The Vestry of Henrico Parish welcomed the new addition
so soon as they learned it was to be Protestant Episcopal in
character. Thus at once was met the desire for a new and
more convenient church on the part of those who had located
around the Capitol on Shockoe Hill. And shortly an assistant,
whose need had been felt as early as 1812, was also thus
secured. Bishop Madison had died in 1812. In 1814
Bishop Moore was elected Bishop of the Diocese. Dr. Buchanan
himself received one vote for the office. Bishop
Moore also accepted the rectorship of Monumental Church.
Thereupon Monumental Vestry proposed to pay $200 per annum
to the Vestry of Henrico Parish towards an assistant
minister for "the Richmond Hill Church," provided that, in
the absence of the Bishop on Diocesan duties, that assistant
should officiate once every Sabbath, alternately morning and
evening, in the Monumental Church. The Vestry of Henrico
Parish readily acquiesced and appropriated one thousand dollars
per annum for three years as its share toward the assistant's
salary. A unanimous ballot was cast for the Rev. David
Moore, of New York, the eldest son of the Bishop by his first
marriage. And in the following November the right of succession
to the rectorship was given to Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore
did not accept.

The Rev. Wm. H. Hart, who had married a niece of
Bishop Moore, laid before the Vestry testimonials as to "his
good conduct for three years past," "as required by the 31st
Canon of the Church of the United States." May 1, 1815,
he was elected assistant minister, with the right of succession
to the rectorship. He is described as stout, weighing about
170 pounds, and being 5 feet 10 or 11 inches in height.

And yet the erection of Monumental sealed for many long
years the fate of that congregation, whose history we are especially
pursuing, to be weak and struggling. Monumental was
spacious and handsome. In it was centered the melancholy and

curious interest attaching to the awful calamity, from whose
ashes it had sprung. It had the prestige of having for its
rector the learned, godly, courtly and eloquent Bishop of the
Diocese. It was situated near the brow of that hill on which
the Capitol was the nucleus for the gathering of wealth and
fashion. The statistics of the parochial reports in the Convention
Journals tell the inevitable result. In 1816 Monumental
had 120 communicants; "the Church on Richmond
Hill" about 30. Before Bishop Moore arrived, Dr. Buchanan
had generally preached at Monumental on Sundays.
After the Bishop took charge, the Doctor frequently read the
service. One of his auditors has left on record the judgment:
"He was, I think, the best reader I have ever heard."
And even after an assistant of Henrico Parish had been secured,
according to the proposition of Monumental Vestry,
it would seem that Dr. Buchanan himself assumed the duty
of officiating at Monumental when the Bishop was absent.
Dr. Buchanan had also been appointed, according to a plan
then followed in the Diocese of Virginia, a sort of rural dean
or presiding elder over the neighboring counties of Goochland
and Louisa, as well as over Henrico itself. Even after the
burden of years had weighed down Dr. Buchanan, Bishop
Moore reports him as engaging every Sunday in ministerial
duties without pay.

The Bishop gratefully acknowledged his assistance at Monumental.
While Dr. Buchanan thus devoted himself to
Monumental and general church duties, his assistant, the
Rev. Mr. Hart, was producing a revival of material prosperity
in the congregation worshipping on the other hill.
In 1815 and 1816 $988.32 had been spent on repairs to the
church, which even then was beginning to be called "old."
In 1816 Mr. Hart had been authorized to treat for and purchase
an organ from a New York builder at a cost of $1,100.
In 1818 the size of the church was deemed inadequate to the
accommodation of all its members. It was determined to
build a new, spacious and handsome brick edifice. The site
chosen, according to the testimony of living citizens, was the
northeast corner of Broad and Twenty-third streets. It is a
matter of record, according to Mr. Chas. P. Rady, historian
of "Richmond Randolph" Lodge of the Masonic Fraternity,

that on June 24, 1818, a procession marched from its hall to
"the old church on Richmond Hill"; that there an appropriate
address was delivered by the Rev. Wm. Henry Hart;
and that after the discourse the lodges present proceeded to
the site chosen and laid the corner-stone of the new church
amidst a large concourse of citizens.

In 1819 the annual parochial report to the Bishop at the
Convention noted that the new church had been begun, and
was nearing completion. The Sunday school was reported to
be flourishing. And the number of communicants had attained
what proved to be high-water mark for years. The
truth of the matter is the times were inflated; there was a
"boom." Dr. Walker says that speculators insisted that
Richmond would rival New York. Various additions to the
manufacturing establishments of the city were located on and
near Church Hill. And according to Dr. Walker, the bald
scars on its sides tell the tale of uncompleted improvements.

But before the year 1820 had reached its noon a terrible
financial reaction had thrown the congregation back into
weakness and despair. Already in 1817 there was evidence
that the organ and other purchases had overstrained the congregation.
The organ had cost $1,420.86. Only $978 had
been paid. The balance was still due, even in June, 1825.
Special means were taken to raise money. In 1819 there was
in financial circles what we call to-day a "panic." So that to
the Convention of 1820 the minister in charge reported that
the congregation had almost been crushed by the pressure of
the times.

We hear no more of the proposed new and elegant church
at the corner of Broad and Twenty-third streets. But Dr.
Walker says its skeleton was not taken down until 1828 or
1829. As he remembers it, it had the appearance of a large,
square building of fine red brick, with projections, making it
almost hexagonal, a shape probably suggested by the Monumental
Church, of which, I dare say, it was to be a rival.
Its four sided roof rose to a point. There were to be three
galleries. The structure was more than half finished when
the work was abandoned.

But the depression did not last long. The improvement
that set in showed that the chastening had had its divinely

intended effect. Thenceforth the growth of the church was
rather spiritual than material.

At this period the church yard began to receive attention.
In 1799 the municipal authorities had purchased from John
Adams and from Richard Adams, Jr., the latter being the
executor of Thos. B. Adams, the two lots lying between the
church's property and Broad street, and had enclosed the
whole square with a brick wall at the city's expense. At the
same time the church yard was open as a burying ground for
the city at large. An arrangement was subsequently entered
into by the Vestry and the city fathers by which the church
resigned the management of the burying ground in return for
the city's bearing the expenses of the church yard.

We are indebted to Mr. P. R. Carrington for a resumé of
the city's action at this time with reference to the burying
ground.

July 18, 1814, an abortive effort was made at a meeting of
the "City Hall" to provide an ordinance for "regulating the
mode of interment in the burying ground belonging to the
Corporation adjoining the Episcopal Church on Richmond
Hill." But on the 19th of June, 1815, in "an ordinance for
regulating the public burying grounds of this city," it was
stated that "an arrangement had been entered into by the City
Hall and the Vestry of the Parish of Henrico, by which all
the grounds appropriated to the interment of the dead, which
belonged to said Parish and situated on Richmond Hill, had
been enclosed by one common wall with the lands which belonged
to the corporation adjoining thereto, and that it was
well understood that the Common Hall should at all times
have power to establish such regulations as they might think
most proper for the government of the same, and should
moreover incur and defray all necessary expenses attending
the erection of gates and steps and keeping the brick wall in
good repair." It was ordained that the Church Wardens
should have authority to appoint the sexton or keeper, and to
remove him as well as to have authority over him during his
term of office. No respect of religious denomination was to be
allowed in interments; and the fee was fixed. The Wardens
were to draw on the Chamberlain of the City for an amount
not exceeding $50 per annum for repairing the wall, gates

and steps to grounds. No subsequent changes were made for
some time, save as to fees. But the whole arrangement was
evidently merely a formal one for years; for in 1828 the
Vestry gave the rector charge of the graveyard and authorized
him to pay the sexton for care of the church out of the
receipts from grave digging. And we are told by Mr. P. R.
Carrington that the first "keeper" was appointed May 18,
1863, by City Council.

Twenty years had now elapsed since the city's addition to
the church yard in 1799. It must be remembered that this
was the only public cemetery in the city until the opening of
that known as Shockoe Cemetery, in 1826. The whole square
had now been filled with graves. The Vestry protested
against further interments therein. In November, 1820,
they appointed a committee to obtain a burying ground elsewhere,
and to secure subscriptions from the citizens generally
to that object. The committee reported in May of the following
year that it had been unable to secure a convenient site
for the location of the proposed new burying ground on account
of the high price charged for land. October 9, 1821,
the Vestry requested the Wardens, "hereafter to prohibit the
sexton from digging any graves in the old part of the burying
ground without written permission from one of them."

One who has carefully examined the records, reports that
at this Vestry meeting, October 9, 1821, the first mention of
the parsonage is made in the minutes.

The plan of renting pews had been agreed upon in 1812.
Only one-half of the whole number were at first offered for
rent, and that only for one year. They were disposed of at
public auction. Later the period was increased to three
years, and the number of pews offered for rent was made two-thirds
instead of one-half. The wardens reported that "the
measure of renting the pews appeared very pleasing to a great
portion of our parishioners." By 1816 the pew renting
system had been so thoroughly engrafted on the congregation
that in that year the Vestry was elected by the pew renters.
In 1820, however, through the inadequacy of receipts to meet
current expenses, the custom of weekly collections for voluntary
contributions was added. This feature does not seem to
have met with favor. For after seven months of trial the
collections were confined to the first Sunday in the month.

And now once more the question of a new church was agitated.
A Mr. Day, of Maryland, had made certain propositions
respecting the building of a new church on the site of
the old one. July 1, 1822, a committee of two was appointed
to act thereupon and report to the next meeting of the Vestry.
But the project seems to have been "pigeon-holed" by the
committee.

December 19, 1822, the Parish was afflicted in the death of
its rector, the Rev. John Buchanan, D. D. (William and
Mary, 1794). The whole community mourned his departure.
He was buried beneath the chancel, to the right of the communion
table. Among the obituaries which appeared at the
time in the secular press of Richmond, were such tributes as
these: "He was faithful to the duties of a minister and a
man." "One who left few equals and no superior; one whose
loss is literally irreparable." "So good, so humane, and so
benevolent a man. Always happy, always cheerful, always
loving and beloved. He was the very soul of his companions."

Mrs. Lydia H. Hart (wife of the Rev. Wm. H. Hart, his
assistant and successor), on December 28, 1822, wrote:

Eight days after Dr. Buchanan's death Mr. Hart, in fulfilment
of the arrangement made at his appointment to the
assistantship, was requested to assume the rectorship. One
of the first achievements of his rectorate was to save the glebe
to the parish. It will be remembered that this property was
situated on the north side of the James river, next to the
Varina estate. There is no evidence that it had been purchased
by a levy of the Vestry on the people. On the contrary,
there is every probability that it was a gift to the parish
by the London Company, and that it was secured to the parish
by an old patent.

Mr. P. R. Carrington states that the patent was from Sir
William Berkeley, Governor, and was dated April 16, 1666.

The boundaries given are 198 acres, three roods, 16 poles.
The entry in the patent book in the Virginia Land Office is
under date October 9, 1672.

In 1817 the Vestry had protested against its confiscation,
on the ground partly that it had been in all probability a
private donation to the parish, and partly that the incumbent
was still living. As soon as Dr. Buchanan was dead, the
overseers of the poor pounced upon the glebe again and offered
it for sale. But Mr. Hart obtained, in 1826, a decree
in chancery in favor of this Church against all claims of the
overseers of the poor. A purchaser for the glebe was found
by the Vestry. But meanwhile the overseers had taken an
appeal. The intending purchaser naturally declined closing
the bargain until a final decision was obtained. The Vestry
asked the overseers to unite with them in a petition for an
immediate decision of the case.

Under the succeeding rector an effort was made by the
Vestry through him to lease the lands. But the record of this
action, taken March 26, 1829, is the last entry on the Vestry
book in reference to this matter. Bishop Meade says: "I am
privately informed that the Vestry withdrew their claim or
did not prosecute it, rather than involve the Church in what
might prove a long and bitter controversy with the overseers
of the poor, representing the citizens of Henrico, although
well persuaded that the Chancellor was right in his decision."

* * * * * * * *

"In ceasing to contend for their rights, the Vestrymen of
Henrico only did what other Vestrymen have done, preferring
rather to suffer loss than promote strife, and thereby
injure the cause of religion."

Fortunately the Church was not left without a rectory.
The rectors ever since the last decade of the previous century
had been living in a parsonage situated on the east side of
Twenty-fourth street, between Broad and Marshall. The
south line of the lot began at a point 110 feet north of Broad
street. The lot was 55 feet wide and 120 feet deep. It had
been given for the use of the minister by Col. Richard Adams.
October 9, 1821, trustees had been appointed to receive from
his executor and legatees a deed of conveyance of this parsonage
house. But a deed to it was not secured until March

3, 1871. Then Mr. P. R. Carrington (administrator of the
estate of Richard Adams, Sr.) made one to the trustees of
St. John's Church. It was duly recorded.

Mr. Hart also was successful in developing the Sunday
school to a high degree of prosperity. Among the 19 in his
confirmation class of 1827 were 5 of his 22 Sunday school
teachers and 6 of the 190 scholars. The rector enthusiastically
testifies to the happy influence of the Sunday school
upon the whole Church. The fact that he kept a day school
for boys during part of his ministry may account for his
success in Sunday school work, notwithstanding his reputation
for using the rod freely. That year, through the exertions
of the Sunday school teachers, aided by the congregation,
the interior of the Church was painted and otherwise
much improved. Some of the teachers and young men of the
congregation personally engaged in the manual labor.

Bishop Moore, in his Convention address, declared it to be
"second in its internal appearance to very few of the churches
in this Diocese." The Bishop said he had preached there to
a very large congregation, and mentions the present prosperous
state of the Church.

July 13, 1828, Mr. Hart intimated his determination to
resign his charge in consequence of an intended removal to
New York. To Mr. Hart we owe the keeping of a parish
register, from September 17, 1815, when he administered a
baptism. The original was sent anonymously to the Rev.
L. W. Burton, when rector. Back of that there are no official
records. But Mr. P. R. Carrington has copied into the
Parish Register, that in use in 1891, the original returns in
the Henrico county records, from July 2, 1785, to May 28,
1791, both inclusive, and the notices which appeared in the
Richmond Enquirer from April 4, 1808, to March 11, 1817,
the latter date being that of the marriage of General Winfield
Scott.

The Rev. Wm. F. Lee was unanimously elected Mr. Hart's
successor. He was to receive for his salary the entire income
from the rent of pews. According to Bishop Meade's description,
he was light as a feather, but possessed of a strong mind
and will, and lived under the pressure of a heart and soul
devoted to the love of God and man. Although physically

unequal to the itinerancy, he had revived the foundations of
the Church in Goochland, Powhatan, Amelia and Chesterfield,
and had seen them supplied by ministers. His ministry
in Richmond began in September, 1828. To Mr. Lee we
probably owe the name "St. John's Church." This building
had had, as we have seen, many names: "The New
Church," "The Upper Church," "The Richmond Church,"
"The Town Church," "The Church on Richmond Hill," "The
Richmond Hill Church," "Henrico Church on Richmond
Hill," "The Church," "The Old Church," etc. There
is no record of action agreeing upon the name "St. John's."
But in the Vestry book shortly after Mr. Lee's advent it was
written for the first time without comment: "At a meeting of
the Vestry of Henrico Parish, at the lecture room of St.
John's Church, Richmond, Saturday evening, April 25,
1829," etc. And in the Convention Journal for that same
year this Church is entered in the parochial reports as "St.
John's Church, Richmond, Henrico Parish."

A little later we come to another change in titles. The
Vestry continued until 1850 to record its minutes as those of
Henrico Parish. But May 7, 1833, the wardens make a report,
in which they style themselves "The Wardens of St.
John's Church, Henrico Parish." It was, however, in 1840
that the rector of this Church was spoken of, no longer as
rector of Henrico Parish, but as rector of St. John's Church.

Mr. Lee's ministry was full of promise from the start. He
reported to the Convention of 1829 that his weekly lectures
were generally crowded. The Sunday school flourished. A
library of nearly 200 volumes had been added to it. No
longer was the gallery at the west end of the old church sufficient
for the sessions of the school in winter, nor the other
galleries in summer. A portion of the school overflowed into
the pews below. And Dr. Walker also says that the Lenten
services, especially those of Passion Week, were more largely
attended. A missionary society, auxiliary to the Domestic
and Foreign Society of the General Church, had been organized.
The members of it had engaged with zeal and spirit
in the cause of missions. It was during his ministry that
night services were begun, apparently for the first time in the
history of the parish; for, according to Dr. Walker, there had

been previously no lamps. He says that evening lectures
had been introduced at the Rectory soon after 1826. But
now, according to the same eye witness, a few lamps were
placed at the pulpit and at one or two other important points;
and sperm candles, in little tin sticks, were attached by nails
to the gallery columns and elsewhere. Neither before this
time had there been a vestry-room, for Parson Hart, so Dr.
Walker reports to us, wore only the black gown and robed and
unrobed in the parsonage. But as the use of the surplice, in
Dr. Walker's opinion, was introduced by Mr. Lee, so also in
his judgment was the robing room placed under the gallery
in the west end of the original church during the same ministry.
It was at best only ten feet square, and made by a
slight partition.

But the question of a new church in another location,
which had been agitated ever since 1807, now loomed up
again. This time determined and energetic spirits backed up
the enterprise, and they were led by the rector. Their project
was to go down into the Valley below the hill and either
build a new edifice or buy the Presbyterian church, that in
1825 had been erected on the south side of Grace street between
Seventeenth and Eighteenth, and that was known, from
the peculiar shape of the ornament on the apex of its spire,
as "The Pine Apple Church."

A church quarrel was the result. Bishop Moore mediated
as arbitrator. He says in a letter, entered on the minutes
December 31, 1829, that to his knowledge the expediency of
building a church below Richmond Hill had been the subject
of consideration for several years past, and before the Rev.
Mr. Lee was appointed rector. The Bishop furthermore declares
that the course of conduct pursued by the rector, wardens
and a part of the Vestry, as proved before him, did not
show that they, or any of them, used unfair means to effect
that object, or that they knew, if such be the fact, that such
a measure was against the wishes of a majority of the congregation.
"But," said the Bishop also, "I am equally well
satisfied that the building of a new church at this time is
highly inexpedient and unadvisable, owing to the present
divided state of the congregation."

The issue of the controversy was that December 31st of

1829 the rector resigned; his followers purchased the "Pine
Apple Church"; and they and he established there the congregation
now known as Christ Church. A strenuous effort was
systematically made to prevent the admission of Christ
Church into union with the Convention. But its application
was granted by a vote of 56 to 2. It is a happy thing that
the Mother Church and this one of her oldest daughters,
though they parted on hard terms, are now the warmest and
most helpful of neighbors.

After Mr. Lee's failing health had compelled him to resign
Christ's Church, he founded the Southern Churchman, and
continued to edit it even on his death bed. He was a great
helper to Bishop Moore, and won many friends besides the
Bishop by his amiable qualities and zealous piety.

It is to be noted in passing that there were at the time of
this dissension 46 pews in St. John's Church. This would
not have been possible, unless there had been some previous
addition to the Church where the present nave now stands.

A band of devoted adherents was left at St. John's. Though
few in number, they were indomitable in pluck and strong in
influence. They requested the Bishop to officiate or to secure
a supply of the pulpit during the vacancy. They determined
at once to alter and repair the church. It was in all
probability at this time that the nave was increased to its
present size of 45 feet width and 39 feet depth. Two aisles
were also introduced instead of the former central one. The
galleries on each side of the nave were removed, and only the
one in the rear of the nave, for the organ and choir, and that
at the west of the original church, for the colored people, were
retained. Instead of the single entrance in the centre, two
front doors were introduced. The belfry over the west end
of the original building came down, to be replaced, in the first
half of the decade of 1830, by a tower and bell.

Mr. P. R. Carrington finds in the proceedings of the "Female
Charitable Association of St. John's," pp. 37 and 38, at
a meeting held July 8, 1830, the following minute: "Resolved,
That the sum of $100 of the funds of the Society be
appropriated to the purchase of a bell for St. John's Church,
Henrico Parish, and that the treasurer be authorized to pay
the same so soon as the bell is purchased."

It is possible that the former bell is now over the public
school building in Martinsville, Henry county, Va. It was
purchased of a Richmond firm in 1831, by a citizen of that
town, and presented by him to the authorities for the present
purpose. The tradition is that, when sold, it was represented
as having hung in St. John's tower, in Richmond, and as having
been discarded because of a crack. It is described as a
small cracked bell, its tone thereby affected, evidently of last
century work, of superior metal, and bearing some evidence
of artistic embellishment.

The grounds also at this time received attention. Dr.
Walker describes their previous condition as one indicating
utter neglect. The old-fashioned flowers were well-nigh hidden
beneath underbrush. Young trees, chiefly peaches and
cherries of the large Blackheart variety, flourished in a sort
of wild abandon. Except in the walks from the main gates,
tall grass and periwinkles abounded. The grave stones of
whole families had disappeared, and the removal of remains
to other cemeteries had begun.

Apropos of interments, Dr. Walker notes that the funeral
processions seldom entered Broad street gate, as is now the
case, because the street itself was short and the gate smaller
than at present; and there was no broad path to it. This was
also the case with the gate near the Brick School-House.
Hence these two gates were not always open. But the gates
at the corner of Grace and Twenty-fifth streets, and on Twenty-fourth
street, were the chief ones, and always open on public
occasions. Broad paths led from them; and by the former
the funeral processions were accustomed to enter. The
Twenty-fourth street gate had been opened by friends of the
Church for the sake of greater convenience, at their own expense,
according to permission of the Vestry granted July 3,
1820.

It seems to have been as late as 1882 when the Cemetery
Committee of the City Council, at the instance of the Vestry,
opened the present brick walk from the Twenty-fourth street
gate to the Church, thence entirely around the Church, and
also down to the Brick School-House.

The Rev. Edward W. Peet, of Hampstead, King George
county, was called to the rectorate of St. John's February 24,

1830. His salary was to be $750 a year, if the pew rents
would yield that amount; and he was also to have the parsonage.
In February Bishop Moore instituted him into the
rectorship of St. John's. This is one of the three institutions
which have occurred in this Diocese up to 1891. It
may be accepted as a sign of quick reconciliation, such as becomes
estranged Christians, that the sermon, at this institution
of his successor, was preached by the Rev. Mr. Lee,
rector of Christ's Church. In 1830 Mr. Peet reported 24
communicants at the Easter Communion. In 1831 he reported
five accessions to the communion. But Christ Church
by that time had 43 communicants. Mr. Peet was hindered
in his work. He was compelled to be absent twenty-one Sundays
through sickness and other causes.

That the people of St. John's in their opposition to the
formation of Christ Church had no idea of blocking all
progress in the parish is evident. The Vestry instructed
the representatives of the parish to use their exertions and
influence to secure for Monumental that independent
union with the Convention which that congregation desired.
The lay deputy from Henrico became himself the patron
of the memorial sent by Monumental congregation to the
Convention. August 2, 1831, a petition was received asking
the sanction of the Vestry to the establishment of a
new Episcopal Church within the Parish of Henrico, to
be located in a convenient situation on Shockoe Hill. Unanimous
consent was given by the rector and vestry. In expressing
it they said that they regarded with pleasure the
prospect of promoting the welfare of the Episcopal Church
within the parish, and did cheerfully assent, provided the
church be located west of the Capitol.

To the Council of 1832 St. John's reported 30 communicants.
Christ Church reported 60, and Monumental 172.

July 25, 1833, the Rev. E. W. Peet resigned. Rev. Robt.
B. Croes, on the 31st of August, accepted the election of the
Vestry. They offered him a salary of $750 per annum, payable
semi-annually, and a house. In the spring of 1833 the
ladies had held a fair. By it they accomplished what would
be considered a remarkably fine result now-a-days: they raised
more than $900. Eight hundred dollars were applied toward

the erection of a tower; $100 toward the purchase of a bell.
This tower was in the shape of a cupola or belfry, open so that
the bell was exposed. It was also under Mr. Croes' ministry,
in 1835, that the brick building in the southwest part of
the church yard, now commonly known as the Brick Schoolhouse
or the Brick Chapel, was erected for the Sunday school
and for a week-day school. Its size was 37 feet by 25 feet.
Its cost was $750. "As to spiritual things," says Mr. Croes,
however, "the officiating minister has thus far met with very
little to encourage his heart."

Mr. Croes had previously been assistant to Bishop Moore
at the Monumental, from 1825 to 1830. In this connection
he was highly spoken of by the Rt. Rev. Rector. His ministry
at St. John's was terminated January 21, 1836. On the
next day the Rev. Wm. H. Hart was recalled from New York
to his former position as rector of St. John's on a salary of
$800 and the parsonage. Mr. Hart seems to have taught
school in Richmond during this as also during his previous
rectorship.

The next year "the Vestry of Henrico Parish," as it still
styled itself, joined that of Bruton Parish, and probably
others throughout the Diocese, in a rebellion against the Convention.
They refused to send a delegate, because the delegates
were required by the amended constitution to be communicants.
It was asserted by Bruton Vestry that nine-tenths
of the church members were not communicants.

In the fall of 1837 St. James' Church was organized. In
1839 it was admitted into union with the Convention, and
the building consecrated. In the latter year there were more
than 100 adults belonging to St. James' congregation, and
between 30 and 40 communicants. The membership was
composed largely of those who had been attending the Monumental.
But the movement indicates the increase in the
number of Episcopalians in Richmond, and the fact that they
were settling westward of the centre of the city.

In 1842 the communicants of St. John's numbered 31.
The Sunday school had 72 scholars and 12 teachers. There
is a still more certain manifestation of the low ebb to which
affairs had run. At the meeting of the Vestry at which Mr.
Hart's resignation was accepted, an organist was elected to

serve till November 1, 1842, when Mr. Hart was to leave,
"and (to serve) afterwards, if the church is kept up." Parson
Hart died July 28, 1852. But the great lesson taught
by St. John's history is that workers for Christ must have
such faith in their Master that they will never be discouraged.
Knowing that their labor is never in vain in the Lord,
they must be "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord." We must leave Him to decide when the
"due season" for reaping shall have arrived. Meanwhile we
must faint not, neither be weary in well doing. "Yield not
to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against
them."

In its 150 years of history there is record of frequent
occasions when its candle almost sputtered out and of times
when even its own rector advised that the candlestick be removed
from its place. But now St. John's is one of the
strongest and most fruitful congregations in Virginia.

To every sister church now struggling against many odds,
and especially to those country churches whose most able and
faithful supporters are moving away, St. John's message is:
Be true to the loving command of Christ, written in Revelation
2:25: "Tenete donec veniam" ("Hold fast till I come").

The middle of our century marks a favorable turning point
in our history. After consultation with the clergy of the
city, a committee of the Vestry exercised the powers given it
and appointed the Rev. J. H. Morrison, of Buckingham, the
rector. His rectorship lasted from January 26, 1843, till
May 15, 1848. His ministry seems to have been blessed with
a substantial increase to the vineyard, both as to spiritual and
as to material interests. In 1845 he reported to the Convention,
as the fruits of his two and one-third years' ministry, a
growth from 31 to 51 communicants, and an addition of some
eight families. The whole number of families was now about
31. Five hundred and forty dollars had been spent in repairing
and improving the church edifice. The school-house
had been leased, and the proceeds applied to the support of
the Sunday school. The object of the lessee was probably to
use the building for a day school. In 1848, when Mr. Morrison
resigned, the communicants numbered 64, of whom one
was colored. This was a number more than double that reported

at the time of his call to the parish. The correspondence
between him and the Vestry in connection with his resignation
indicates perfect harmony, and evinces mutual regreat
at severing pastoral relations. The Vestry willingly bore
testimony to the ability, zeal and faithfulness with which he
had discharged his duties.

Meanwhile important changes had taken place in the parish
at large. St. Paul's Church had come into being. Its corner-stone
was laid October 10, 1844, and it was consecrated
November 11, 1846. The bulk of the congregation of Monumental,
with its rector, Rev. Dr. Wm. Norwood, migrated to
it in December of 1845. Their motive was to secure a larger
edifice. But the portion of the former congregation remaining
at Monumental invited the congregation of Christ Church
to unite with it in Monumental, under the rector of Christ
Church, the Rev. Geo. Woodbridge.

A few of the former Christ Church people joined St.
John's. This was a practical abandonment of Christ Church.
April 16, 1846, St. Luke's Church had also been consecrated
on the site of the present Clay Street M. E. Church. It was
a building of small dimensions. With lot and fence its cost
was about $2,850. It was intended to be a missionary station
of the Rev. Dr. Bolton. St. Mark's now occupies the
field first opened by St. Luke's.

The Rev. Henry S. Kepler followed Mr. Morrison, and
entered upon his duties about October 10, 1848. In 1850 he
reported communicants—white, 52; colored, 1. Number of
families, 50, embracing 185 individuals. One hundred and
fifteen of these were adults. In the Sunday school were 12
teachers, 4 of whom were male, and 76 scholars, the average
attendance of whom was 65. In 1851, Mr. Kepler reported
contributions to different institutions amounting to $750. A
new bell, 3 feet 2⅞ inches in diameter, cast by Francis Meneely,
in West Troy, in 1850, had been put in, the old one
having been broken in the course of long usage. Extensive
repairs were in progress, which, by the next Convention, he
was able to report completed and paid for. In 1854 he reported
a new furnace put in and paid for. May 2, 1855, a
committee of the vestry was appointed "to apply to the Common
Council of the city of Richmond" "for the protection and

preservation of the burying ground attached to our Church."
Their letter of May 5th calls "attention to the neglected condition
of the old churchyard on Church Hill," and asks them
to "adopt such prompt measures as to (them) may seem advisable
to cause its ruins to be repaired." It refers to an
ordinance passed some three years before, directing "that the
grounds should be laid out in walks, beautified with trees and
other shrubbery, and that a new wall, which the grading of
the street rendered necessary, should be erected on Twenty-fourth
street." Twenty-fifth street it must be, but the records
say "Twenty-fourth." But the whole of the appropriation
then made had been absorbed in the wall.

The result is thus described in the committee's letter: "The
lapse of three more years of neglect has but increased the
desolations which overspread this ancient city of the dead.
There is, perhaps, no spot within our Commonwealth around
which there linger prouder and holier memories than this.
Here the infancy of our great and prosperous country was
rocked by our noble sires; and here, too, sleep the remains of
some of our earliest and most worthy citizens."

"To neglect such a spot is to forfeit our claim as the worthy
descendants of such sires, and to proclaim our shame to
the hundreds of our citizens from other States who annually
visit it as a spot made sacred to them in the story of our
struggles for national independence."

* * * * * * * *

"From this scene of ruin, what impression of us must they
carry with them to their distant homes? Will you not adopt
some prompt and effectual measures to remove this reproach
from the honor of our city?"

It was probably owing to this stirring statement and urgent
appeal that, February 21, 1858, the City Council gave to one
of its committees exclusive authority to give consent to interments
in "this square," and that, on October 24, 1859, it was
fixed that the appointment of the committee should be annually
in December. By an ordinance approved on the 23d
of March, 1886, a result was produced that went far beyond
the best that the petitioners of 1855 could have dreamed of.
Two hundred dollars were appropriated for expenses and
$400 for the pay-roll. It was provided that the committee

should consist of three members of the Common Council and
two of the Board of Aldermen, appointed by the presidents,
respectively. "The committee shall cause to be kept in order
the whole of said enclosure, with gates and steps for passing
through it, and everything within the enclosure and outside
of the church."

"Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the
committee to prevent or interfere with the use of the church
by the congregation thereof." No interments were to be
made without the consent of the committee.

It may be noted here that there was only one interment in
1891, and only twenty up to and including that year since
November 1, 1869.

The present appearance of the grounds is such as to make
the square the most beautiful in Richmond, and to rival any
churchyard the country over. For this condition, so delightful
to members of the congregation and to our citizens generally,
and so highly approved by visitors, the chief praise is
due to the faithful, efficient and courteous sexton and keeper,
Mr. Antoni Graffigna.

In 1856 the tide of spiritual prosperity was high. That
year the rector reported 77 communicants. Two new Sunday
schools had been established; one an infant school of 20
scholars, the other a colored school, in which from 60 to 65
were taught orally by the rector. The old school had been
much increased, and now numbered 17 officers and 102
scholars. But in 1858 had set in again that fatal reaction
which is so often painfully noticeable in church work, as in
all other enterprises. The communicants had dropped to 69;
the two new schools had been abandoned or merged into the
old one; that old one had decreased to 70 scholars and 14
teachers. The only residuum of the fine Sunday school enthusiasm
of two years before was $600 on hand for a new
Sunday school building. And now this project was abandoned.
In lieu of it, on motion of the rector, it was unanimously
determined to build a new church, if subscriptions
sufficient for that purpose could be obtained. By May 5,
1859, probably owing to a depression in the church's financial
affairs, it had been determined only to make an extension of
the church. Even that proposition fell short of execution, in

all likelihood through the resignation, on the 16th of the following
June, 1859, of Mr. Kepler, to become Evangelist of
the Diocese. He and his people parted on excellent terms,
with reciprocal regards and good wishes.

It may have been at this time, or at least at some time between
1857 and 1860, that the east transept door was cut
through, the two east windows closed, the door at the southeast
corner of the old part of the church closed, and the former
aisle to it filled with a pew or pews.

The Vestry still felt sufficiently strong to offer a salary of
$1,200 per annum. October 2, 1859, the Rev. John T.
Points accepted their call, his ministry to begin from November
1st following. He had been a missionary to China.
Then he had labored in New Kent, building in the northern
part of the county what used to be St. James' Church. St.
John's enjoyed during his brief pastorate a delightful revival
of all its best interests. Everything was again fanned up to
splendid zeal. Twenty were confirmed in 1859 and 1860.
There was an additional net gain of ten; the total number of
communicants was 110. The Sunday school numbered 18
teachers, 138 scholars. He died June 10, 1860, in his thirtieth
year, in King William county. A committee of the Vestry
went there to escort his remains home. The Vestry bore
glad witness to his lofty Christian virtues and noble ministerial
labors. The church, by their order, was draped in mourning
for sixty days. A monument "erected by the ladies of St.
John's Church and his Masonic brethren, in grateful remembrance
of his labor of love amongst them," now marks his
resting place in the church yard.

After the death of Mr. Points the Rev. Wm. C. Butler, of
Halifax C. H., was called. He accepted the rectorship, with
a salary of $1,500 and a parsonage, September 17, 1860.
The number of communicants and the size of the Sunday
school were a little increased. But the country was beginning
to suffer the terrible throes of war. In consequence,
the congregation was drained of men and money. Especially
in view of this, the Vestry found that, in their zeal to get a
rector, they had made offers they could not meet. And for
the same reason the rector found he could not support himself.

The vestry insisted upon services on Sunday night and
once on a week day. The rector resented this action as an
encroachment upon his prerogatives. Having also premonitions
of pulmonary trouble, he resigned November 27, 1861.

A committee was appointed to secure temporary services.
The Vestry resolved itself into a committee of the whole to
consult the pew holders as to the choice of a successor. It
fell upon the Rev. Wm. Norwood, D. D. For years, first at
Monumental and then at St. Paul's, he had gone in and out
among the citizens of Richmond and won their unanimous
esteem and affection. He was called March 18, 1862, on
$1,000 a year and the parsonage. He accepted April 5th,
and began his ministrations on Easter day, the third Sunday
in April. It fell to his lot to share with his beloved people
the brunt of the war. Spiritual interests not only held their
own, but increased somewhat. And there was a consequent
material liveliness. A committee was appointed April 6,
1863, to confer with the administrator of the estate of the
donor of the parsonage, Col. Richard Adams, with a view to
selling it and investing the proceeds in bonds or otherwise till
the Vestry could purchase another house or lot. If the project
had been consummated, undoubtedly the proceeds would
have been swept away amid the reverses of the war.

This same year, 1863, the rector stepped out of his vestry
room one Sunday morning to perform divine service, when
the calamitous result of a wind storm met his eye at the
northern or front end of the church. The steeple was prostrate.
Two lower edges of the bell were somewhat scaled
off; but otherwise it was uninjured. The spire was not restored
until about November, in 1866. The plan was drawn
and contributed by Col. Alfred L. Rives, C. E. The cost,
including necessary and incidental repairs, was $1,213, the
funds for which were mostly raised from a fair held in the
basement of Trinity M. E. Church. December 10, 1866,
weekly collections were again resorted to to meet incidental
expenses. The crippled state of the congregation at the
close of the war can be judged from the report of the treasurer,
December 4, 1866. The arrearages in pew rents were
$1,385, of which $365 were available. Though the treasurer
had personally advanced $417.86, there was still due the

rector, on the preceding six months, $348.37 out of the annual
salary of $1,000.

August 17, 1868, Dr. Norwood handed in his resignation,
to take effect October 1st. He had accepted a call to Emmanuel
Church, Henrico country. This was his last charge.
He departed this life July 29, 1887, in the eighty-first year
of his age, venerated by all who knew him.

The Rev. Henry Wall, of Christ Church, West River, Md.,
was elected to fill his place. He accepted and began his
labors October 25th. The parsonage was enlarged and put
into repair. Chiefly by means of a fair held in the Sunday
school room of Trinity M. E. Church, at the corner of Twentieth
and Broad streets, in May, 1869, $647.64 were raised
for its furnishing. The rector's salary was made $1,250.
He reported to the Bishop at the next Council a net increase
of 14 communicants and a total number of 127. The Sunday
school had fallen off from 120 scholars to 109. The
treasurer of the church was authorized by the Vestry to pay
the expenses of the Sunday school. In 1869 and 1870 the
congregation was consulted, and there was a thorough discussion
of the pew system, the free church plan and the
envelope method of raising a revenue. The result was that a
modified form of the pew rent system with the envelope feature
was adopted. The rector's salary was increased to $1,400
from November 1, 1870.

In January of 1871 a joint committee of the Vestry and
the Sunday school was appointed to devise a plan for raising
means to build a new Sunday school house or enlarge the old
one. On the 18th of the following March a committee was
appointed to secure from the City Council permission to
widen and extend the Old School-House. It may be noted
that this building was at this time spoken of as "the lecture"
—or "school-room."

Meanwhile another misfortune had overtaken the congregation.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, in tunnelling
through Church Hill, had undermined the parsonage. The
rector and his family were obliged to move out in the night.
The railroad company behaved handsomely and enabled the
trustees to secure what was at the time a fine property at the
southwest corner of Twentieth and Broad streets, valued at

$6,500. In the first half of 1874, the entrance door on either
side of the tower was closed up, and the base of the tower was
opened, as it appears at present. Thus a vestibule was secured
at a cost of $159.88.

May 29, 1874, the Rev. Jas. W. Shields, son of the late
venerable and esteemed Senior Warden, became the assistant
of St. John's. By his using here the office of a deacon well,
he purchased to himself a good degree. To this estimable
and promising young clergyman, on August 3, 1890, the last
sad rites of mortality were rendered in this church, in which
his ministry had auspiciously begun.

Rev. Dr. Wall resigned July 15, 1875. He was a clergyman
of vigorous mind and ripe scholarship. His sermons
will be remembered by all his hearers as full of grace and
power. He was a native of Ireland and a graduate of Trinity
College, Dublin. His theological education was received
at the Seminary of Virginia. The first year of his ministry
was spent in South Carolina. His last charge was in Kent
county, Md. The interval was chiefly devoted to the Diocese
of Virginia. On account of ill health he retired from the
active ministry about a year before he died. And August 19,
1889, in his 72d year, he passed away among the people to
whom he had last ministered.

During the twenty years preceding 1875, there had been
great advances in the parish at large. Grace Church, under
the rectorship of the Rev. Mr. Baker, had been consecrated
January 14, 1859. July 6, 1860, Emmanuel, Henrico,
under the rectorship of the late Bishop Wilmer, of Alabama,
was consecrated. In 1862 and 1863 St. Philip's had
been erected under the rectorship of Rev. D. F. Sprigg.
In 1866 St. Mark's was reported as organized and as being
built under the rectorship of the Rev. T. G. Dashiell. The
present St. Mark's was erected in 1872 and 1873, and consecrated
June 26, 1880. The former building of St. Mark's
was bought for the colored people, and is now St. Philip's.
In 1868 and 1869 a church was organized by Rev. J. E.
Hammond in an "upper room" in Manchester. The present
Meade Memorial Church was built in 1869 and 1870. Christ
Church congregation had been reorganized by Mr. Dallas
Tucker in 1870 and 1871. By July 12, 1871, a church had

been erected and consecrated. In 1875 Moore Memorial
Chapel of St. James' was reported as built. In 1880 it had
become an independent church with Rev. Dr. Sprigg as rector.
And finally, in 1876, St. Paul's reports the erection of
St. Andrew's, with Rev. Pike Powers in charge. St. Andrew's
was consecrated December 30th following.

In 1875 Dr. Wall was succeeded by the Rev. Alexander
Watson Weddell. He was called from Harrisonburg, Va.,
on $1,400, and the use of the rectory, and accepted to begin
work the second Sunday in September. In 1876, the following
year, he reported to the Bishop at the Council 196 communicants,
28 Sunday school teachers, and 169 scholars. In
the fall of 1875 the sum of $200 was in hand for a new Sunday
school building. The question arose, as it had during
Dr. Wall's ministry, whether to enlarge the old or build a
new school-house. Now also it was debated whether, if a new
school-house was built, it should be within the grounds or
outside the churchyard. Finally it was decided to build a
new school-house within the grounds. The present frame
Sunday school building was the result, September 11, 1876.

February 12, 1877, action was begun looking to the alteration
of the church. This was accomplished. The church
was opened October 21, 1880, after being a month in the
hands of the workmen. Then the gallery at the western end
of the original church and the rooms below it had been removed.
The chancel had been enlarged by a curved recess.
A vestry room, ten by twelve, had been added in the rear of
the chancel. The pulpit had been lowered some 12 or 18
inches, the steps and railing to it from the westerly side and
the sounding board removed. New chancel furniture had
been introduced. More specifically, a square holy table, with
scroll work between its legs, was substituted for the oval
fronted table, which, in turn, was placed in the frame schoolhouse;
and oaken chairs took the place of the two of mahogany
which had been given in the rectorship of Mr. Kepler. The
gallery in the northern end of the nave, which had extended
to the second window from the north, was reduced to its present
dimensions. The organ was cleaned and repaired. The
ceiling of the original church had remained flat all these
years. Now the whole of the church was made to have one

concave ceiling, and a large gas reflector was suspended from
it. Old girders in the roof, which were discovered to have become
weakened by dry-rot, were removed, and new, strong
timbers were substituted. The entire church was renovated
and repainted. By the change 11 new pews were added,
while there was no lessening the number in the present gallery.
The total cost of the improvements was $1,003.65.

May 14, 1877, Dr. Weddell's salary was increased to $1,500
a year. In 1880 two new Sunday schools were started; the
one now known as Calvary Mission, situated then and for
years afterward at the southeast corner of Main and Nineteenth
streets, under the superintendence of Sergeant B. F.
Howard; the other a colored school, (There had been for a
brief period a colored Sunday school during the rectorship of
Rev. H. S. Kepler, in 1855-'56, started by a devoted church
worker, Mrs. James M. Estes, in her kitchen.) A Sunday
school organ and library had been purchased at a total cost of
$332.

It appears in the Council reports of 1881 that St. John's
had 300 communicants and an aggregate Sunday school enrollment
of 423. This indicates the prime of Dr. Weddell's
indefatigable labors and noble gifts. From that time the
strong, brave man, so true and forceful in speech, so boldly
aggressive and perseveringly energetic in action, began to
fail in health. And the machinery of the church began to
falter with the slackened pulsations of that heart which had
been for years the tireless motive power in it all. Arrangements
were made for an assistant in the fall of 1882. The
Rev. Lyman B. Wharton, D. D., first occupied that position
for some three months, from February 26, 1883. Then the
Rev. Francis M. Burch followed, from June 15, 1883. Most
tenderly and generously did the appreciative and affectionate
congregation minister to their pastor's every possible need.
They took advantage of every opportunity to save the life of
their beloved and devoted rector. They sent him to the
balmy, soothing regions of the South; to the bracing air and
the healing waters of our own Virginia mountains. But he
bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. December 6,
1883, after one and a half years of sickness, he commended
his spirit to the Father who gave it.

He rests within the morning shadows of this dear old
shrine, whose truest interests he loved better than life. A
tablet to his memory rests upon the wall to the east of the
chancel, where the loving eyes of his former people may rest
upon it. His monument, erected by this congregation, at a
cost of $456, records his life story in the graphic, telling
words of one of his most intimate lay friends:

The Rev. F. M. Burch resigned the assistantship, to take
effect February 1, 1884. But at the request of the Vestry he
continued his services as minister in charge until April 1,
1884. The vestry, in parting with him, commended him as
a faithful, earnest and loving worker, who, under the most
difficult circumstances of having to take charge of a congregation
without being its rector, labored in and out of season.