University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE XXXVIII.

Parishes in Hanover County.—No. 1. St. Paul's and St. Martin's.

This was separated from New Kent county in the year 1720, and
the parish called St. Paul's. Its first minister was the Rev. Zachariah
Brooke, who was still vicar of Hawkston and Newton in England,
leaving a curate there. In 1724 he informs the Bishop of
London that his parish is sixty miles in length and twelve in width,
(before Louisa county was cut off;) that there were twelve hundred
families in it; two churches and two chapels, at the former of which
he preached on the Sabbaths, and at the latter during the days of
the week; that there were about one hundred communicants at the
churches,—at each church, I suppose, though it is not clear; that
the glebe and glebe-house were only worth the casks,—that is, the
hogsheads in which the tobacco was put up, and which he received
in lieu of them. Of the previous ministers we shall speak when
treating of the parish of New Kent, from which it was divided in
1720. How long Mr. Brooke continued, I cannot ascertain. In
the year 1738, fourteen years later, I find the following letter from
the Rev. Charles Bridges, whose spirit breathes something of that
which animates the present minister of our Mother-Church bearing
the same name. It is addressed to the Bishop of London:—

From this it would seem that he was much interested in the welfare
of the servants, and doubtless made efforts in their behalf, as

others of the clergy (from the reports to the Bishop of London
in 1724) appear to have done, though, it is to be feared, feebly
and with but little success. Many of the coloured children were
baptized, and some of them taught the catechism. How long
Mr. Bridges continued the minister in St. Paul's parish, Hanover,
I cannot say, or who was the minister in the other parish,—St.
Martin's,—for another had, in the year 1726, been cut off from
it by that name; but in the year 1754 we find that the Rev.
Patrick Henry was the minister of St. Paul's, and the Rev. Robert
Barrett of St. Martin's. They continued such until the year 1776.
Indeed, the name of Robert Barrett appears as the minister of St.
Martin's in the year 1785. How long Mr. Henry continued after
1776 does not appear. In the year 1789 the Rev. Peter Nelson,
of the same name, though of a different family, from those who
formed a part of his congregation, was the minister of St. Martin's,
and the Rev. Mr. Talley was minister of St. Paul's. Mr. Nelson,
according to the journal, was minister in 1799, and some time
after that united himself to the Baptist Church. The Rev. Mr.
Talley became a Universalist, and died the death of the drunkard.
The Rev. Mr. Boggs, of Spottsylvania, occasionally officiated in
St. Martin's parish and at the Fork Church after this for some
years; but so low was the condition of the Church, and so few disposed
to respond, that he used to read only such parts as needed
no response, and not all of them. Such was the case in other
parishes also. The Rev. Mr. Hopkins, of Goochland, during a part
of the same destitute period preached in Hollowing Creek Church,
and perhaps Allen's Creek Church. With the commencement of
the resuscitation of the Church in 1812, the hopes of the Episcopalians
in Hanover began to revive. In 1815 the Rev. John
Philips became their pastor. He was an Englishman of the Wesleyan
school, and was ordained for our Church by Bishop Moore.
There were some things so peculiar in the person and character of
Mr. Philips, that they deserve notice. His person was the most
diminutive I ever saw or heard of in the pulpit, but it was remarkable
for its quickness and energy of action. He required to be
elevated on a high block or platform to be seen at all in the pulpit.
When praying in private houses he always knelt in the chair, not
by it. He was very animated in preaching, putting his soul and
voice into his extempore sermons. He was ultra Arminian in doctrine,
and could not tolerate Calvinists. Had he lived in the days
of Calvin, or even later, and possessed the power, he would have
served him as he (Calvin) did Servetus. As it was, he could not
refrain from denouncing such in the most violent and offensive terms,
in private and public, much to the injury of his usefulness and to the
grief of his friends. But he was a faithful and conscientious man,
and urged to repentance and faith and the new spiritual birth in
the most earnest and effectual manner, on the Sabbath and from
house to house. Religion was with him the fixed idea,—the one
thing needful. He could talk of nothing else, for he knew nothing
else, being a child in all other things. Wherever he was, this was
the only theme. Nobody expected any thing else. He never left
a house, though only calling for a few moments, without what he
called a word of prayer. On his visits to Richmond, no matter
into what house he entered, (and he entered many of the gay and
fashionable, as well as of the serious,) he would say at parting, "Let
us have a word of prayer;" and then, kneeling in a chair, would offer
up a most fervent and special prayer for the members of the same.
Of course, there were those who amused themselves at this novel
mode of proceeding, but there were those who felt it in their hearts,
and if the old man caused smiles in some, he drew tears and sighs
from others. The old and the young in Hanover felt the power
of his ministry. They who embraced religion as presented by him
embraced it as the power of God to the salvation of the soul. His
converts were genuine, faithful, true-hearted ones. They saw his
defects, but felt and imitated his virtues. They saw that there was
such a thing as being entirely taken up with the service of God.
During the few years he spent in the parish an entire change took
place there, the effects of which are felt to this day. The manner
of his death, which took place after his removal to Lunenburg, was
as remarkable as that of his life. While riding in a plain conveyance
with Mrs. Philips, who always drove him about, as she did
many other things for him, he expired without her knowledge,
until, stopping at a tavern to water the horse which carried them,
it was discovered that he was sitting by her side a lifeless corpse.
Although it would be great folly for all ministers to copy after
the example of Mr. Philips in all things, yet it would be well for
us all to be ever seeking after his entire devotedness of spirit to
the work of our calling. It is this spirit which insures the favour
both of God and man, and makes those of humblest talents able
ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit.
Mr. Philips was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wydown, who continued
two or three years, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Barns,
who, after labouring two years, was obliged to desist from ill health.
To him succeeded the Rev. Mr. Cook, who was the minister from
1825 to 1834. The next was the Rev. Mr. Bowers, whose ministry,
commencing soon after the resignation of Mr. Cook, continued
until a few years since. The present minister is the Rev. Horace
Stringfellow. There being no remnant left of the old vestry-book
of this parish, I am unable to furnish a list of those who in its
earlier days took the most active part in its concerns, and whose
families composed its congregations. I can only speak of some few
from my own recollection and knowledge. In my first visits to the
parish, the aged forms of old Captains Shephard and Price presented
themselves as the last of a race of old lovers of our communion.
Their memory is held in high esteem, and many of their
descendants honour them by adhering to the Church of their ancestors.
Dr. Carter Berkeley, whose name may be so often seen on
the Convention journals of the last and present century, and also
on those of our General Convention, is too well remembered to be
more than mentioned. Of his mother, of Airwell, a descendant of
the Carters, inheriting all their devotion to the Church, one circumstance
is too interesting to be omitted. Airwell, the family
seat of the Berkeleys, was the place where the communion-plate
was kept. After the death of Mr. Berkeley, and death or resignation
of the minister, by which, under the law, the glebes were
forfeited, the overseers of the poor wished to do what was done in
some other parishes,—viz.: bring the sacred vessels under the operation
of that act, but which in other parishes was scorned to be
done. Those in Hanover, however, well knowing not only the
pious attachment of Mrs. Berkeley to every thing belonging to the
Church, but that she was a lady of dignity, firmness, and authority,
instead of appearing in person to demand the plate, sent an embassy
to her for the purpose, through whom she returned this answer:—"Tell
the gentlemen to come and take them." They never
came, and the vessels are now in use on every communion-day, in
St. Martin's parish, Hanover. I cannot forbear remarking that
there is no part of the conduct of the opponents of the Episcopal
Church which appears so unamiable and unjustifiable as that in
regard to the Church plate. It was almost always a private donation,
as the vestry-books and the inscriptions show, and even if it
had not been, the framers and supporters of the law would have
felt themselves insulted, if the insinuation had been made at the
time of its passage that such an application of it would be made.
But numerous instances have occurred in which such application
has been made, while too many have been the cases where individuals
have seized upon them and made way with them for their
private benefit. Returning from this digression, I would add to
the list of true friends of religion and our Church the families of
the Fontaines, descendants of the good old Huguenot of whom I
have yet to speak; of the Nelsons, connected with the minister of
whom I have already spoken, but who did not follow his example;
of the Morrises, the Wickams, Taylors, Winstons, Pollards, Robinsons,
Pages, Prices, Shepherds, and others.

I must also add a few words concerning the widow of General
Nelson. The old lady (who was blind for the last seventeen years
of her life, and who lived a much longer period than that in Hanover)
was an example of the sweetest piety. We have said on a
former occasion that we often administered the Holy Communion to
her and numbers of her descendants in her room, and on one occasion
to more than forty, in that and the passage adjoining, nearly
all of whom were her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
I omitted to mention one constant recipient of the sacrament,—her
old and venerable servant, the only property she had
in the world, for the house in which she lived, humble as it was,
was not her own, and the small funds she annually received were
the interest of a few thousand dollars which at her death belonged
to some kind creditors of General Nelson, who allowed her the use
of it during life. This servant was a member of the Baptist Church,
who thought the rule which forbade intercommunion with others
was more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Having
been taught to read, and reading well, she was a great comfort to
her mistress, and read to her all the best books on religious subjects
as they appeared, during many of the last years of her life. At
her death, she bequeathed to this servant all she had to bequeath,—
her freedom,—well knowing that the whole family would see that
freedom should not become poverty and want to her. There was,
indeed, one small legacy she had been saving; it was twenty dollars,
which was found carefully enfolded, with a direction that it be
given to her minister. In proof of the rigid economy she had
practised, and the strict principle on which she had practised it, it
is not unworthy of being told, that only a few nights before her
death, and when a number of her children and descendants were
sitting around the fire, and supposing she was asleep, the silence
was broken by her saying, "Don't bury me in my new gown,"
to which one of them playfully replied, "Oh, no; don't be troubled:
we will put all the old rags around you that we can find." Her
remains lie buried at the east end of the Old Fork Church in the

midst of a number of the family.[114] As my object is to seek to do
good, by referring to excellent traits in the character of some of
the best members of our Church, I must add a few words concerning
one of the sons of this venerable lady. There are still some
of us remaining who remember old Mr. Francis Nelson as the frequent
delegate from this parish. He married one of the descendants
of the old Mr. Page of whom we have spoken. They had fourteen
children, to whom by good management they contrived to give
respectable educations, though living on a poor Hanover farm.
Unable to afford other conveyance than a farm-wagon with four
mules, his family was punctually at church in that, when the
weather would allow, himself being on horseback. The great secret
of his bringing up such a family on such a farm was, a conscientious
determination to live on its proceeds and never run in
debt. He was himself an example of that self-denial which he required
of his children. If the allowance of tobacco raised on his
own farm and set apart for his own use failed before another crop,
and he had not the money to pay for more, he did without it. If
tea or coffee could not be had for the elder members of the family,
as was often the case, milk served in their stead; if there was not
milk enough for the children, water supplied its place. Thus did
he live and die without debt. And, what is more worthy of notice
than any thing else, all of his fourteen children entered into full
communion with the Church of their parents. I conclude this part
of the article on Hanover by stating that this parish, though small,
has furnished four ministers to the Church,—the Revs. W. N. Pendleton,
Washington Nelson, Robert Nelson, and Farley Berkeley.
It ought to have furnished many more, but I could wish they had
all done as well. In my next, I shall consider what occurred in
this county in relation to the Rev. Samuel Davies, and the establishment
of the Presbyterian Church in the same, with a review
of what is ascribed to the Episcopal Church in the way of intolerance.