University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VI.

EPISCOPAL.

By the old law of Virginia, the Anglican, or Episcopal,
was recognized as the Church of the State. The territory of
the State was divided into parishes for ecclesiastical government,
just as it was divided into counties for civil government.
The officers of the parishes were styled vestrymen,
twelve honest and discreet men for each, originally elected
by the freeholders of the parish, and vacancies afterwards
occurring to be filled by themselves. They had charge of
the erection and preservation of the church buildings, the
choosing of the rectors, and the care of the poor. The two
parishes which Albemarle contained were Fredericksville in
the north, and St. Anne's in the south. The dividing line
between them was the Three Notched Road, entering the
present limits of the county near Boyd's Tavern, and running
to Woods's Gap. Before the formation of the county, the
scattered inhabitants of the southern part, being still in
Goochland and the parish of St. James Northam, were the
objects of the spiritual care of Rev. Anthony Gavin. He
was the rector of that parish from about 1736 until his death
in 1749. From the description of him given by Bishop
Meade, and a letter of his quoted by him, he was evidently
a man of devoted industry and zeal. Though his residence
was in the neighborhood of Dover Mills, and the present
bounds of Goochland afford a large field of labor and travel,
yet he made frequent visits to the people living "up in the
mountains." In these remote parts he had seven places of
service, and in his journeys within the space of two years had
forded the North and South Rivers, that is, the Rivanna and
the James, nineteen times.

In St. Anne's parish two churches were built in early
times, the Church on Ballenger's Creek and the Forge
Church. The former is still standing, and has been altered

and occupied as a private residence. It is situated near the
creek, between the road from Warren to Howardsville, and
that passing through Porter's Precinct. The Forge Church
stood on the north side of the Hardware River, about a mile
or two below Carter's Bridge. From an act of the Legislature
passed in 1777, directing the Sheriff to summon the
freeholders of the parish to meet "at the new church on
Hardware," to elect a new vestry, it is inferred that it was
built but a short time before. Bishop Meade describes a
service held in it with Bishop Moore, not long after the latter
came to Virginia, which must have been about 1814; and
the account he gives of its dismantled condition, and the
open crevices through which wind and rain were wont to
drive, touches the heart with its pathos. At a meeting of
the Convention in Charlottesville in 1822, they adjourned to
meet at the Forge Church on Friday, and at Walker's on
Saturday. The Forge Church was still standing a few years
ago, but reduced to ignoble uses. Converted into a barn,
and filled with the fodder, in some way it caught fire, and
burned to the ground. The glebe of St. Anne's was bought
from William Harris in 1751 by Samuel Jordan and Patrick
Napier, Church Wardens of the parish. It consisted of four
hundred acres, and was located on the south fork of Totier
Creek, where it is crossed by the road from Scottsville to
Howardsville. After the glebes were declared public property,
it was sold in 1779 by Thomas Napier, George Thompson
and John Harris as Commissioners, to Joseph Cabell.
He gave it to his daughter Mrs. Breckinridge, and it was the
residence of her husband till his removal to Kentucky in
1793. The proceeds of the place, as well as of all the glebes
of the county, were eventually applied to the erection of the
University buildings.

The first rector of St. Anne's was Rev. Robert Rose. His
residence was in what became Amherst County, not far
from New Glasgow, but he occasionally preached in the
churches in Albemarle. He was succeeded by Rev. William
Camp, who in a short time went west, and was killed by the
Indians near Vincennes. He was followed by Rev. John

Ramsay, who in 1759 purchased from Jacob Eades three
hundred acres of land on the south fork of Totier. It is
judged from his will, which is on record, that he died in
1770. He left his whole estate to his wife Barbara, who the
same year sold the land on Totier to Abraham Eades, Jr., and
bought more than four hundred acres on Hardware, adjoining
the lands of the Carters and Hudsons. This land is
described as being near Scratchface Mountain, which it is
impossible now certainly to identify. Mrs. Ramsay subsequently
sold to John Wilkinson for the Iron Company, was
married to Thomas Richards, and removed to Bedford
County. Rev. Charles Clay, a cousin of Henry Clay, was
the next incumbent. He was an earnest minister, preaching
not only in the churches, but also in private houses and at
the Prison Barracks. He unhappily became involved in
lawsuits both with his vestry and with individuals, and this
occasioned his removal about 1784. He finally settled in
Bedford County, where he died, and by the directions of his
will an immense heap of stones, twenty feet in diameter and
twelve feet high, was piled up upon his grave. Rev. Isaac
Darneille succeeded Mr. Clay. He seems to have lived in
Nelson. Incurring heavy debts, he became a lawyer, and
finally escaping his liabilities as well as forsaking his family,
he went South.

Fredericksville parish at first occupied Louisa County;
but when in 1761 the western portion of Louisa was annexed
to Albemarle, the parish was divided by the county lines, the
part remaining in Louisa receiving the name of Trinity.
Two churches were erected in this parish, one on either side
of the South West Mountain. That on the east side was
first called Belvoir Church, then in common speech Walker's,
but is now known as Grace. When it was first built does
not appear. It already existed in 1769, as in that year John
Walker conveyed to Thomas Walker, Mosias Jones, Isaac
Davis, William Barksdale, Thomas Carr, Nicholas Lewis,
Nicholas Meriwether, John Rodes, Mordecai Hord, Thomas
Jefferson and William Simms, Church Wardens and Vestrymen
of Fredericksville parish, two acres "whereon the

Belvoir Church is situated." The church on the west side of
the mountain was the Buck Mountain Church. It originally
stood on the Buck Mountain Road, west of Earlysville.
The date of its construction is unknown. Bishop Meade
mentions that in 1745 it was determined to build three
churches in the parish, the third to be erected on the Buck
Mountain Road between the mountains. Its first mention
in the records occurs in 1797, when Lucy Mills, Executrix of
David Mills, conveyed to David Michie thirty-three acres,
"whereon the Buck Mountain Church was built." The
edifice, having fallen into disuse, was occupied by the
Baptists in 1801. They held services in it till 1833, when
the Episcopalians, being increased in numbers, asserted their
right, and resumed possession. In subsequent years the
church was rebuilt in Earlysville.

Rev. James Maury became the rector of Fredericksville
parish in 1754, and continued until his death in 1768. He
was succeeded by his son Rev. Matthew Maury, who
served until his death in 1808. Neither of these ministers occupied
the glebe, choosing rather to reside on their own farms.
This glebe on the side east of the mountain, consisting of four
hundred acres, was sold in 1809 to Nathaniel Ragland by
Edward Garland, Stephen Moore and others, who at the time
were acting as Overseers of the Poor. There was also a
glebe on the west side of the mountain, which was situated
between the Burnt Mills and Earlysville, and which was
sold in 1780 by Thomas Johnson and William Simms,
Church Wardens, to Epaphroditus Rhodes.

For many years after the death of Rev. Matthew Maury,
there was no Episcopal preaching in the county except occasionally
by ministers, who in passing held services in the
courthouse in Charlottesville. In 1818 Rev. John P. Bausman
was settled in the neighborhood for a short time. He
was followed by Rev. Frederick W. Hatch in 1820, who
lived in Charlottesville till 1830. He was an active and earnest
minister, and a zealous mason. During his incumbency
the Episcopal Church in town was built. The memory of
the older inhabitants differs in regard to the manner of its

erection, some affirming that it was built solely as an Episcopal
Church, and others as a Union Church. The truth
seems to be that the affair began as a union effort, but that
the house was at last erected as an Episcopal place of worship.
Bishop Meade states, that while the project of a union church
was agitated, it was opposed by Mr. Hatch. An advertisement
appeared in the Central Gazette on January twenty-third,
1824, proposing to purchase a lot for the building of a
church, and it was discontinued on April sixteenth. On
March nineteenth another appeared, inquiring for a lot for
an Episcopal Church. Doubtless the change of plan took
place in the interval between January and March. The
building was commenced that year. As already stated, a
letter dated in March of the ensuing year mentions that the
town contained "a half finished church." After the removal
of Mr. Hatch, and a short period of service by Rev. Zachariah
Mead, Rev. Richard K. Meade, son of the Bishop,
became rector, and the termination of his long pastorate is a
somewhat recent event.

Mr. Hatch, in addition to his busy ministerial labors,
preaching frequently at Buck Mountain and Walker's as well
as in town, was a school teacher. He erected as his residence
the brick house on the northeast corner of Market and Seventh
Streets, and taught in the one story brick near the east
end of Main, now occupied by William Durrett. A ludicrous
incident is told of him in connection with his celebrating the
rites of matrimony. In performing this useful work, he often
rode miles in the country in every direction. On one occasion
he was called to unite a couple in the Ragged Mountains.
When the ceremony was finished, the groom announced with
some confusion that he was unable to remunerate him for his
trouble. Mr. Hatch, observing a long string of gourds festooned
on the wall of the room, proposed accepting a number
of them. The young man was overjoyed at discharging his
obligation so easily. He cut off a goodly array, and to relieve
the parson from the inconvenience of carrying them, tied
them around his horse's neck. Thus accoutred, he started
on his return. As he approached the top of Vinegar Hill,

the horse took fright at something by the wayside, and set
off at full speed. The clash and rattle of the gourds increased
his panic, and made him dart ahead at a still wilder rate.
Down the hill he dashed, with his rider thrown forwards, and
clinging around his neck with both hands, the gourds all the
while keeping up their discordant clatter. The mad race
continued through the whole length of the street, before the
gaze of the astonished townsmen; nor was the rider released
from his perilous position, until the panting steed drew up
at the stable door. While Mr. Hatch was a resident of
Charlottesville, a son was born to him, who received his
own name, became a distinguished physician, and died a few
years ago in Sacramento, California.

Besides the meeting of the Convention in 1822, it met
again in Charlottesville in 1829, and during its sessions Rev.
William Meade was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.

PRESBYTERIAN.

Presbyterians were settled in the county while it was yet a
part of Goochland. The colony of Scotch Irish who came
over the Blue Ridge in 1734 under the auspices of Michael
Woods, brought with them the faith of their fathers. Among
these were the families of Wallace, Kinkead, Stockton,
McCord and Jameson. Further to the south along the base
of the Ridge were the Morrisons, McCues, Montgomerys,
Reids and Robertsons. These last were the founders of
Rockfish Church, located in the forks of Rockfish River.
About 1746 James McCann, who had patented the land in
1745, conveyed to John Reid, James Robertson and Samuel
Bell one acre and thirty-five poles, for the Rockfish Church,
and for a school for the inhabitants of that vicinity.

Among the families first mentioned two churches were
established. The first was Mountain Plains, which was
built near the confluence of Lickinghole Creek and Mechum's
River, and called after Michael Woods's plantation, and
which still exists as a Baptist Church. The second was the
D. S. Church, which was situated on the southwest face of

the hill, on the summit of which S. W. Caulbeck recently
resided. These communities, and others in Virginia and
North Carolina, received the visits of several Presbyterian
ministers in early times, beginning with that of Rev. James
Anderson in 1738. In 1745 John Woods was sent to the
Presbytery of Donegal in Pennsylvania, to prosecute a call
for the services of Rev. John Hindman in the churches of
Mountain Plains and Rockfish, but his errand seems to have
been unsuccessful. Mr. Hindman was no doubt the same
man who became an Episcopalian, and was the first rector of
Augusta parish, dying there a year or two after entering
upon the office. A call is still extant, dated March 1747, and
signed by fifty-seven persons, which solicited the labors of
Rev. Samuel Black in the church of Mountain Plains, and
among the inhabitants of Ivy Creek. The place of worship
for the people last mentioned was the D. S. Church, which
was probably erected shortly after, as Mr. Black accepted the
call. He was the first Presbyterian preacher who settled in
the county. In 1751 he purchased from Richard Stockton
four hundred acres on both sides of Stockton's Creek, and
there he resided until his death in 1770. Descendants bearing
his name still live on a part of the old place.

About the time of Mr. Black's settlement in Albemarle,
Rev. Samuel Davies commenced his work in Hanover County.
He had at first no little trouble with the State authorities,
whose intervention was invoked by some bigoted ministers
of the establishment under the old repressive laws against
non-conformity. He however boldly and skilfully appealed
to the provisions of the English Act of Toleration, which he
claimed applied to the colonies no less than to the mother
country, and was soon able to pursue his labors without
molestation. He gathered several congregations, reaching
from Hanover through Louisa and Goochland to Charlotte
County. In 1755 the Presbytery of Hanover was formed.
At their first meeting, they received a petition from the people
of Albemarle near Woods's Gap, asking for preaching,
and Mr. Davies himself being appointed spent with them the
second Sunday of March 1756. From that time through a

number of years, they had, besides the services of Mr. Black,
those of Mr. Davies, John Todd, John Brown, John Martin,
Henry Patillo and others. These ministers occasionally
preached to the people on Buck Island at Mr. Lewis's—unquestionably
at Monteagle—to those living between the
Secretary's Ford and the mountains—no doubt in the Charlottesville
courthouse, and at D. S. Church—to those at
North Garden at Mr. Garland's, and to those at the Cove at
George Douglas's.

As years passed on, ministers born and educated in Virginia
were settled in the county. In 1769 Rev. William
Irvin, who had been a pupil at Mr. Todd's school in Louisa,
became pastor of the Cove Church. In 1770 Rev. Samuel
Leake accepted a call to the D. S. Church. The next year
Mr. Irvin extended his labors to Rockfish and Mountain
Plains.

The Presbytery of Hanover convened with considerable
frequency in the churches of the county. It met at Rockfish
in 1772, 1773 and 1775, at the Cove in 1793, 1794, 1799, 1800,
and 1803, and at the D. S. in 1771, 1772, 1775 and 1792.
The last time it met at D. S. was in October 1809, holding
night sessions at the house of John R. Kerr. At that meeting
Rev. Thomas Lumpkin, a young minister, who had taught
school for a short time in the neighborhood, was to have
been ordained, and installed as pastor, but unhappily he had
died the preceding month. The membership of this church
was so much reduced by deaths and removals, that two years
later its organization was dissolved. The ground on which
it stood, and which had been conveyed to the congregation
in 1773 by Joel Terrell, passed into the hands of Jesse
Lewis, who within the memory of some now living removed
the old building. Two meetings of the Presbytery
were held in Walker's Church. The first occurred in 1814,
when they convened at night at the house of Captain Meriwether.
At that time it received under its care John Robertson,
the father of Judge W. J. Robertson, as a candidate for
the ministry. The second meeting took place in 1819, and
night sessions were held at the house of John Rogers. It

met at Mountain Plains in 1778, and for the last time in
October 1828, when they held night sessions at the house of
the elder William Woods, of Beaver Creek.

South Plains Church was established in 1820, as the result
of the labors of Rev. William Armstrong, and Rev. James
C. Wilson. John Kelly, of Charlottesville, was one of its
first elders. A branch of the same church worshipped on the
west side of the South West Mountain at Bethel. It was
not until 1870, that Bethel was set apart as a separate organization.
Rev. Francis Bowman began preaching at South
Plains in 1822, preaching occasionally also at the courthouse.
Under his ministry the first Presbyterian house of
worship in Charlottesville was built in 1827. In that year
the lot on which it stood, on the southeast corner of Market
and Second Streets, was conveyed by James Dinsmore to
John Kelly, James O. Carr, Francis Bowman, Thornton
Rogers, William Woods, Surveyor, Thomas Meriwether and
Dr. John Holt Rice, as trustees of the new congregation. It
was not constituted a distinct organization until 1839, when
it was under the ministry of Dr. William S. White.

The Presbyterian Church of Scottsville was founded in
1827, chiefly through the agency of Rev. Peyton Harrison.
He had settled there as a young lawyer in 1825. Having
been converted by the preaching of Rev. Asahel Nettleton,
he became actively interested in religious work, and rested
not till a church was formed. Shortly after he relinquished
the law, and studied for the ministry. When he became a
preacher, he returned to Scottsville, and was settled as pastor
over the church for a brief period. Dr. William S. White
succeeded him, and continued his labors there until he removed
to Charlottesville.

BAPTIST.

The first Baptist Church in the county was organized in
January 1773. This event took place in Lewis's Meeting
House, which stood on old David Lewis's place, on the elevated
ground south of the Staunton Road, about where the
house of Mrs. Humbert now stands. The church commenced

with a membership of forty-eight persons. George Twyman,
who lived just south of Earlysville, was one of its original
members, and at a meeting held two months later presided
as Moderator. The influence of the Presbyterian polity,
under which doubtless many of the members had grown
up, was apparent in their earliest proceedings. The original
organization was effected by two ministers and an elder, and
at a subequent meeting it was determined that "the feeling
of the church concerning elders and deacons should be made
known." It was several years without a pastor, but was
occasionally supplied by such ministers as John Waller,
and Elijah and Lewis Craig. This church was variously
called by the names of Albemarle, Buck Mountain and Chesnut
Grove. In 1801 they took possession of the old Buck
Mountain Church of the Establishment, which had been
disused by the Episicopalians. When that place of worship
was claimed by its former owners, they removed to the union
church in Earlysville in 1833, and in 1879 erected their present
building about a mile west of that place.

Andrew Tribble was chosen their pastor in 1777, and was
ordained by Lewis Craig and others. How long Mr. Tribble
continued in that relation is not known. He purchased a
farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres a short distance
below the D. S. Tavern, which he sold in 1785, and it is
likely he performed his pastoral duties until that time. William
Woods, distinguished as Baptist Billy, was ordained at
Lewis's Meeting House by Messrs. Tribble and Benjamin
Burgher in 1780, and became the pastor when the work of
Mr. Tribble ceased. In 1798 Mr. Woods became a candidate
for the Legislature; and as the law of Virginia at that time
prohibited a minister from holding a civil office, he relinquished
his ministerial calling at Garrison's Meeting House
in November of that year.

When the church was first formed, it was in the bounds of
Dover Association, which then embraced the whole State.
In 1791 the Albemarle Association was constituted, including
the territory south of the Rapidan, and west of a line running
from Barnett's Ford on the Rappahannock to the mouth

of Byrd Creek on the James. Up to this time eight other
churches had been founded, four of which lay within the
present limits of the county, Totier in 1775, Ballenger's
Creek probably about the same time, Priddy's Creek in 1784,
and Whitesides, now Mount Ed, in 1788. Martin Dawson
became a minister soon after 1774, and preached for many
years at Totier, which was situated near Porter's Precinct,
and was then commonly known as Dawson's Meeting House.
His labors however extended largely over the whole county.
Benjamin Burgher, who lived on the headwaters of Meehum's
River, was for a long period the pastor of Mount Ed. In
1822 he, Benjamin Ficklin and John Goss had advertised to
begin a protracted meeting on a certain day at Mountain
Plains, but on the very day of the appointment Mr. Burgher
rested from his earthly labors. John Goss came to the county
from Madison in 1802.

In 1820 Daniel Davis, Jr., a Baptist minister, preached
occasionally in Charlottesville, sometimes in the courthouse,
and sometimes in a large room of John Burrus. An organization
seems to have existed in town at that date, as Mr.
Davis advertised that he would baptize those who had made
a declaration of their faith to the church. Yet it appears
that the formal establishment of the Charlottesville Church
did not take place till August 1831. On that occasion four
ministers were present, John Goss, Valentine Mason, Reuben
L. Coleman and Charles Wingfield. Dr. Hardin Massie was
appointed its Clerk. In October 1835, Dr. Massie conveyed
to Nimrod Bramham, William Dunkum, Isaac White and
Lewis Teel as trustees, a part of Lot No. Five, on which, it
was stated in the deed, the Baptist Church "stands." In
1853 the Circuit Court granted permission to sell the old
church property, and appointed as trustees for the new church,
William P. Farish, Lewis Sowell, James Lobban, John T.
Randolph, John Simpson, James Alexander and B. C. Flannagan.

METHODIST.

The first mention of a Methodist Church in the county
occurred in 1788 in a deed from James Harris to Thomas

Jarman, whereby seventy-five acres on the north side of
Moorman's River were conveyed, surrounding two acres
before given, on which "the Methodist Episcopal Church
stands." This was beyond question the predecessor of
Mount Moriah at Whitehall. The lot on which the latter
was built, three and three-fourths acres, was conveyed in
1834 by Daniel and Hannah Maupin to Jesse P. Key, William
Rodes, Thompson and Horace Brown and David Wiant.
Many years anterior to the date just mentioned this church
was commonly known as Maupin's Meeting House, and was
a favorite place for holding camp meetings. Henry Fry, a
former deputy Clerk of the county, speaks in his autobiography
of Bishop Asbury preaching at an early day at Tandy
Key's, who lived north of the Cove, at the junction of the
Austin Gap and Lynchburg Roads; and in that vicinity,
probably on Key's land, was located a building, which went
by the name of Key's Meeting House, but of which no trace
now remains. In 1795 Henry Austin conveyed a parcel of
land to Thomas Stribling, Samuel Wills, Joseph Hardesty,
Bernis Brown, Daniel Maupin, John Gibson, George Bingham,
William Oliver and Basil Guess, of Orange, for a
church, which was then called Austin's Meeting House, and
is no doubt the same as that now known as Bingham's
Church. In 1808 Bland Ballard donated one-fourth of an
acre for a Methodist Church, which was the old Ivy Creek
Church on the Barracks Road.

The first Methodist preacher on record was Athanasius
Thomas, who was licensed to celebrate the rites of matrimony
in 1793. This gentleman was the purchaser of several small
tracts of land in the vicinity of Mountain Plains Church,
where in all probability he made his home. In 1811 he disposed
of this property, and presumably removed to another
part of the country. Following him were Bernis Brown in
1794, John Gibson in 1797, John Goodman in 1802, and
Jacob Watts in 1806. About the beginning of the century,
there came to the county from Maryland two men, who
although laymen filled the place of local preachers, John B.
Magruder and George Jones. For many years they did a

good work, and exercised a strong influence in behalf of their
own church, and of true religion. In November 1823 a District
Conference met in Charlottesville, of which James Boyd
was President, and Walker Timberlake, Secretary.

The Charlottesville Church was established in 1834. In
June of that year William Hammett purchased from Mary
Wales, and other representatives of Thomas Bell, Lot No.
Fifty-Five, and in the ensuing October conveyed it to Gessner
Harrison, Nathan C. Goodman, Stapleton Sneed, Matthew
and Thomas F. Wingfield, Ebenezer Watts and Thomas
Pace as trustees, for a Methodist Church.

During the twelve years from 1825 to 1837 there was a
great accession of church buildings in the county. In the
first of these years were built the Charlottesville Episcopal
Church, and a Methodist Church near Hammock's Gap; in
1827, the Charlottesville Presbyterian Church; in 1828, Mount
Zion Methodist Church, and Mount Pleasant Methodist, near
Hillsboro; in 1830, the Scottsville Presbyterian Church; in
1831, the Buck Island Methodist Church; in 1832, the Scottsville
and Shiloh Methodist Churches; in 1833, Wesley Chapel,
Earlysville Free Church, and the Charlottesville and Milton
Baptist Churches; in 1834, Bethel Presbyterian, Charlottesville
and Mount Moriah Methodist, and Hardware Baptist
Churches; in 1835, Cross Roads Episcopal Church; in 1836,
Charlottesville Disciples Church; and in 1837, Free Union
Free, and Piney Grove Baptist Churches.