University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE LV.

Orange County.—St. Thomas Parish.

[The Bishop is indebted for the following communication to the pen and
labours of its present minister, the Rev. Mr. Earnest.]

The county of Orange (embracing St. Mark's parish) was separated
from Spottsylvania in the year 1734. It was "bounden southerly
by the line of Hanover county, northerly by the grant of the
Lord Fairfax, and westerly by the utmost limits of Virginia." In
1740, "for the convenience of the minister and the people," the
parish of St. Mark's was divided. The southerly portion, including
a part of what is now Madison county, was called St. Thomas parish,
and its western limits were somewhat reduced. St. George's parish,
Spottsylvania, of which St. Thomas was a part, had for its western
boundary "the river beyond the high mountains:" the summit of
the Blue Ridge being made the western limit of St. Thomas parish.

Before the days of the Revolution St. Thomas parish had within
its limits three churches,—viz.: The Pine Stake Church, the Middle
or Brick Church, and the Orange Church. The two former have
disappeared entirely,—although both were standing and in tolerably
good keeping within time of memory. The last named, and the
oldest of the three, situated near Ruckersville, a small village about
eighteen miles from Orange Court-House, in what is now the county
of Green, is still standing, though it has long ceased to be used as
a place of worship by an Episcopal congregation. It was for a long
while in the occupancy of the Methodists. The old church, which
is of wood, has undergone so many repairs since the time it was
built, that it is thought, like the old frigate Constitution, little if
any of the original timber is to be found in it. As I passed it
some years since, for the first time, curiosity—rather I may say
veneration for the ancient house of God—led me to stop and take
a near view; but my heart was saddened to see this relic of former
times so far gone into dilapidation as to be wholly unfit for the
sacred purposes for which it was set apart. Here old Major Burton,
a staunch patriot and as staunch a Churchman, who had served his
country in the war of the Revolution, continued for a long while
in the absence of the regular ministry to serve the church as a lay
reader.

This church, though the oldest of these three Colonial churches,
was not the first in point of time that was erected within this parish.
The first church that was built in the parish was situated about ten
miles northwest of Orange Court-House, on a portion of land now
owned by Mr. Robert Brooking. The country adjacent was doubtless
sacred ground with the aborigines long anterior to the discovery
of America; for but a short distance from this "church in
the wilderness," upon the right bank of the Rapidan River, is
yet to be seen an ancient mound, or burial-place of the Indians.
Here, as the waters of this rapid stream lave its banks, there are
often exposed to view the bones of the mighty dead,—bones whose
giant size indicate that a race of men hardy, athletic, and powerful
once inhabited this fertile region.

At what period of time this first "Orange Church" was built, we
have it not in our power exactly to verify. We have been told that
it was frequented as a place of worship by some of the old settlers
as early as 1723. Certain it is, that it was used as such in 1740,—
the year in which St. Thomas was formed into a separate parish.
The winter of this year was noted in this region for its exceedingly
great severity. The degree of cold was so intense that several of
the early planters determined on seeking a more genial climate
farther south, and accordingly purchased lands in North Carolina.
At that time an old Scotch minister of the Episcopal Church,
whose name I have not been able to ascertain, but who it seems was
fond of good cheer and a game of cards, officiated regularly at
this church. He resided with Mr. Benjamin Cave, Sen., a first
settler, whose residence was but a short distance from where the
old church stood. Subsequently, as the settlements advanced westward,
the old church was removed about eight miles distant to the
place where its remains are still standing.

The Middle or Brick Church was situated about three miles southeast
of Orange Court-House, on the old road leading to Fredericksburg,
upon land owned originally by Mr. James Taylor, Sen., a
first settler, and subsequently in possession of his grandson, Mr.
Zachary Taylor, who was the grandfather of the late General
Zachary Taylor, and is now owned by Mr. Erasmus Taylor. We
have not been able to ascertain the year in which the church was
built; but from certain private records in our possession we can
assign the date of its erection somewhere between 1750 and 1758.
This church, like the old Colonial churches generally, was well built
and of durable materials. As late as 1806, time had made but
little impression upon it. But what time failed to accomplish was

reached by the unsparing hand of man. After the Church in
Virginia was divested of her glebes, her houses of worship came to
be regarded by the multitude as "common property." While her
hand was against no man, every man's hand seemed to be against
her. During or shortly before the last war with Great Britain the
work of the church's destruction was begun. Delenda est Carthago
seemed to be the watchword of the ruthless foe. They first commenced
with the roof; this soon yielded to their onset; the rafters
next gave way: the naked, massive walls resisted for a time their
further onslaught, but, nothing daunted, they redoubled their forces
and renewed the attack. The walls fell, and the triumph of the
invaders was complete, as they carried away as so many captives
the vanquished, unresisting bricks. The altar-pieces, (the gift of
Mr. Andrew Shepherd,) executed in gilt letters, and which long
adorned the venerated chancel, were torn from their ancient resting-places,
rent into fragments, and were afterward, though with
no sacrilegious intent, attached as ornamental appendages to some
articles of household furniture.

Amidst the general destruction of the property of the church,
even the ancient Communion-plate, belonging to the parish, came
to be regarded as common property. This plate, consisting of a
massive silver cup and paten, with the name of the parish engraved
thereupon, was, as we learn, the gift of a few pious communicants
about a century since, among whom were Mrs. Frances Madison,
grandmother of the President, and Mrs. James Taylor, mother of
the late Mr. Robert Taylor, and Mrs. Balmaine. It has been only
by the exercise of vigilance that this solitary remnant of the old
church's property has been rescued and handed down in a state
of perfect preservation, for the present use of St. Thomas's Church.

The time of the erection of the Pine Stake Church is, like that
of the other two, involved in obscurity. It is probable that it was
built about the same time as the Middle or Brick Church. It
was situated near Mountain Run, about fifteen miles northeast of
Orange Court-House, on lands originally taken up by Mr. Francis
Taliafero, Sen. It continued to be used as a place of worship by
an Episcopal congregation in the early part of the present century,
and was standing at least as late as the year 1813. During the
war of the Revolution a Mr. Leland, a Baptist preacher, who was
a man of considerable notoriety in these parts at that period, applied
to the vestry for the use of this church. The following letter
from the father of President Madison, who was at the time a
member of the vestry, written in a clear, bold hand, (the original of

which we have in our possession,) answers his application, and at
the same time throws no little light upon the rights and privileges
of the Church as they stood at that time:—

At a later period, ministers of other denominations had free
access to these old Colonial churches, and used and occupied them not
so much by courtesy as of common right. The Old Orange Church
was for a long while in the exclusive use of another denomination
of Christians, and the Middle Church was for some time, as was
also Walker's Church in Albemarle, alternately occupied by the
Rev. Matthew Maury and the blind Presbyterian preacher. The
latter came to this part of Virginia at a period of great depression in
the Episcopal Church, and a house of worship was erected for him
near Gordonsville, in this county, to which, however, he did not confine
his ministrations. It was here, probably on his way from
Albemarle to Orange Court, that Mr. Wirt was furnished with a
theme which has given as much notoriety to himself as to the
preacher. Before this Mr. Waddell laboured among his people in
comparative obscurity. His fame as a preacher was little known,
even in his own immediate vicinity, until after the appearance of
Mr. Wirt's celebrated letter in the British Spy. His congregations,
which previously had been very small, now became large to overflowing.

[OMITTED] from a distance far beyond the usual limit of
attendance upon divine worship in those days—some on foot, some
on horseback, some in "every kind of conveyance"—flocked to hear
the famous blind preacher. Without meaning to detract aught
from his fame as a preacher, we have no doubt, if we may form
an opinion from the representation of persons who knew him well
and heard him often, that his discourse on the occasion referred to
owes not a little of its surpassing beauty and effectiveness to the
brilliant imagination and fine descriptive powers of the author of
the British Spy.

Turning now from the old Colonial churches to the clergy who
ministered in this parish in former times, we find ourselves, in the
absence of vestry-books and other ancient records, somewhat at a
loss to reproduce in exact chronological order their names and the
period of their service. "The memory of man," and some private
records in our possession, must furnish all the data upon which we
can proceed in this regard. The old Scotch minister to whom we
have already referred, who resided near and preached at the first
Orange Church as early as 1740, is the first in the order of time
of whom we can obtain any information; and even his name is
passed into oblivion. In 1753, the name of the Rev. Mungo
Marshall appears for the first time in connection with this parish,
though it is probable he took charge of the same at an earlier
period. He continued to reside here until the time of his death,
which took place either in 1757 or 1758. We find it on record in
the clerk's office of this county, that letters of administration upon
his estate were taken out in the latter year. He was buried in
the churchyard attached to the Old Brick Church, but for a long
while no stone or other memento distinguished the place of his
interment. At length, many years after his death, a connection
of his bequeathed a certain sum, upon condition that his
legatee was not to receive it until he had first placed a tombstone
over the remains of the Rev. Mungo Marshall. In due time
thereafter this was done. But it was not long permitted to designate
the quiet resting-place of the dead. When the work of
destruction commenced upon the church, the despoilers did not
overlook the churchyard. The graves of the departed, and the
monuments sacred to their memory, were not sacred in their eyes.
The tombstones were borne off by their sacrilegious hands and appropriated
to common and unhallowed uses. That which covered
the remains of this man of God was used first to grind paints

upon, and afterward served in a tannery for the purpose of dressing
hides.

In 1760, we find the Rev. William Giberne officiating in this
parish. Whether he was removed by death or otherwise we cannot
ascertain; but his residence here was a brief one;[17] for at the close
of the year 1761, the Rev. James Marye, Jr., having just entered
into Orders, commenced his ministry in Orange. His first recorded
official act to which we are able to refer was his preaching the
funeral sermon of the paternal grandmother of President Madison.
We find in the family record of her son (James Madison, Sen.) the
following entry:—"Frances, wife of Ambrose Madison, departed
this life October 25, 1761, and was interred the Sunday following,
(at Montpelier in Orange.) Her funeral sermon was preached on
Wednesday the 30th of December following, by the Rev. Mr. James
Marye, Jr., on Revelations xiv. 13." Mr. Marye was a worthy
exception to a class of clergy that obtained in Virginia in olden
time. So far as we can learn, he was a man of evangelical views
and sincere piety. We have seen a manuscript sermon of his on
the religious training of children, which would do honour to the
head and heart of any clergyman, and whose evangelical tone and
spirit might well commend it to every pious parent and every enlightened
Christian. He remained in charge of this parish about
six years. Upon the death of his father, (the Rev. James Marye,
Sen.,) who was the minister of St. George's parish, Spottsylvania,
for thirty-one years, he was chosen to supply his place,—an unmistakable
evidence of the high regard in which both father and son
were held by the parishioners of St. George's. The Rev. Mr. Marye
is the first minister in St. Thomas parish whose residence we can
with any degree of certainty fix at the glebe. This farm, after
passing through various hands since it ceased to be the property
of the Church, is now by a singular coincidence in possession of
one of his lineal descendants, Robert B. Marye, Esq.

The Rev. Thomas Martin succeeded Mr. Marye in 1767-68. He
was a young man of merit. He came with his mother and sister
to reside at the glebe; but his residence was of short duration.
Death removed him from the scene of his labours and his usefulness
not long after he entered upon the duties of the parish. He was
followed by the Rev. John Barnett. His name occurs officially in
1771. But his connection with the parish was also of brief duration,

for in 1774 the Rev. John Wingate was the minister, and is
the last of the ante-Revolutionary clergy whose name occurs.
Whether he continued in charge of the parish during the war we
have no means to verify; but circumstances justify the conclusion
that, like some others of the old Colonial clergy, he surrendered
his charge at the commencement of hostilities between the Colonies
and the mother-country.

A period of sad depression dates from this time. For the long
interval between 1774 and 1797, (twenty-three years,) the parish
seems to be without a minister. The occasional services that were
rendered by the Rev. Matthew Maury, of Albemarle, during the
latter part of this interval, are, so far as we can see, the only ones
performed by any clergyman. Mr. William Moore, a man of note
in the parish at this time, a good old Churchman and an excellent
reader, was generally called upon on funeral occasions to read the
burial service. In the first Convention of the Church in Virginia,
held in 1785, we find St. Thomas parish, though without a minister,
not without a representative. Mr. Thomas Barbour (father
of the late Governor and of the late Judge Barbour) appeared as
the delegate. In the following year the parish is again represented
by Mr. Barbour, in connection with Mr. William Moore. In 1790,
Thomas Barbour and J. Daniel are the delegates. In 1793, the
parish is again represented by Thomas Barbour. In 1797, we find
the Rev. Charles O'Niel the clerical and William Moore the lay
delegate. The Rev. Mr. O'Niel took charge of the parish in the
latter year, and remained until 1800. He resided first near the
Pine Stake Church, and preached at that church during his residence
in Orange. He afterward removed to the upper part of the
county, where, as well as at his former residence, he taught school
in connection with his parochial duties. The late Judge Barbour
was one of his pupils. Mr. O'Niel was an Irishman, and a man
of ardent temperament and of ardent temper. We have often
heard him spoken of by elderly persons, but more as a teacher
than as a preacher. He was of that class of teachers that adopted
not only the theory, but the practice also, of the old régime, as the
best for the government of boys. Flogging was a main ingredient
in the practice of his system. He had a summary method of reducing
and gentling a refractory youth. Mounting him upon the
back of an athletic negro man, whom he seems to have kept for
the purpose, the culprit was pinioned hand and foot as in a vice,
and, with the unsparing application of the rod to his defenceless
back, was taught the lesson, if not the doctrine, of passive obedience.

However his school may have flourished under his management,
it seems his parish did not, for we look in vain for any fruits
of his parochial labours. Another long interval now occurs in the
history of the parish, without any one to take the regular oversight
of its spiritual interests. The Rev. Matthew Maury again kindly
extended his care to this neglected field, and performed occasional
services in it at least as late as 1806. In 1809-11, we find the Rev.
Hugh Coran Boggs, of Berkeley parish, Spottsylvania, devoting
a portion of his time to Orange. He preached at the Pine Stake
Church and also at the court-house. We have often heard it said,
that when he preached at the latter place he was never known to
use the Liturgy. This may have been owing to the difficulty he
met with in procuring the responses. He may have rightly judged
the lex necessitatis to be a "higher law" and of more stringent
force than any canon or rubric to the contrary. From 1811 to 1815
the parish was again without a minister. In the latter year, the
Rev. William Hawley, coming to reside at Culpepper Court-House,
took charge of St. Thomas parish in connection with St. Stephen's
Church, Culpepper. At the time he commenced his labours in
Orange, the Episcopal Church had wellnigh died out in the county.
But three or four communicants remained in all this region of
country, and some of these were far advanced in age. So entirely
had our time-honoured service gone into desuetude, that when Mr.
Hawley first commenced its use it was listened to as a striking
novelty. Under his ministry there began to appear the dawn of a
brighter day for the Church. Several communicants were added;
some of whom, in the providence of God, still remain with us. In
the autumn of 1816, Bishop Moore made his first visitation of the
parish, preached and administered the Lord's Supper, and also the
rite of Confirmation, in the court-house. This was now our usual—
nay, our only—place of worship. Referring to this visitation, the
Bishop, in his report to the following Convention, says, "My
labours commenced in the county of Orange, at which place I
preached to a large and attentive auditory, celebrated the Lord's
Supper, and administered the rite of Confirmation to a goodly
number." The visit of the good Bishop, as well from its novelty
as its effectiveness, was calculated to make, and did make, a great
impression at the time. It was an event of unusual solemnity, and
is still remembered with lively interest by some who were present.
This was the first Episcopal visitation that had ever been made,
and this the first time the rite of Confirmation had ever been administered,
in the parish. Bishop Madison, it appears, was in the
habit of visiting his relatives at Montpelier, socially, from time to
time, but we learn from undoubted authority that he never visited
the parish in his Episcopal capacity. Among the "goodly number"
confirmed by Bishop Moore on this occasion was the aged mother
of President Madison. She became a communicant at the age of
twenty, and now at the age of fourscore and four she came forward
to ratify her early baptismal vows. Until that day an opportunity
had never presented itself for the reception of this solemn and
sacred rite. The ministry of Mr. Hawley was evidently blessed
during his connection with the parish; but the growing interest in
religion and the Church which now became manifest was checked
at this auspicious period by his removal in 1817 to another field
of labour. In 1820, the Rev. Herbert Marshall came to Culpepper
and devoted some of his time to Orange. This worthy young minister
married the sister of the present Bishop of Kentucky. The
parish was very soon deprived of the benefit of his labours. Death
ended his usefulness not long after he came to this part of the
diocese. For about two years from 1823, the Rev. Frederick
Hatch, of Albemarle, had the oversight of the congregation in
Orange, officiating once a month at the court-house. In the winter
of 1826-27, the Rev. George A. Smith came to reside in Culpepper,
and took charge of St. Thomas parish in connection with St.
Mark's. He continued in charge until 1830, and devoted two
Sundays in the month to the congregation at Orange Court-House.
While it appears the attendance on divine service was good
and the congregations attentive during the time he officiated here,
yet at this period the interests of the parish were at a low ebb.
In his report to Convention in 1828, Mr. Smith says, "There is no
vestry in this parish, and the churches which existed there some
years since have been destroyed." A decided improvement, however,
in the spiritual interests of the congregation took place under
his ministry, and several communicants were added to the Church.
In the early part of August, 1832, the Rev. William G. H. Jones,
coming on a visit, was induced to take up his residence in Orange,
and to undertake the pastoral care of the parish together with
Walker's Church, in Albemarle. Here he met with the Assistant-Bishop
of the diocese, who had an appointment at Orange Court-House
at that time. This was a most auspicious period in the history
of the parish. There was found at the time of his coming a deep
awakening in the hearts of many on the subject of religion; and
this interest was kept alive for some time thereafter. The visit of
Bishop Meade at the time was also most opportune, and was attended
with the happiest effects. In his report to the following
Convention he stated, "From Albemarle I proceeded to Orange
Court-House, where I spent two days in ministering the word and
ordinances to large and deeply-impressed assemblies; on the second
day I administered the rite of Confirmation to seventeen persons,
and the Holy Communion to more than twice that number. A spirit
of earnest inquiry has been awakened among the people of that
place, which will, I trust, lead to glorious results to themselves and
their posterity." Of the communicants added on that occasion,
Mr. Jones, in his first report from St. Thomas parish, says, "Five
were added by Bishop Meade, and twelve by myself." An effort
was now made to reorganize the parish. A vestry was elected—a
body which had not existed in the parish for many years—and
steps were shortly after taken for the building of a church. In
1833, a spacious and eligible lot in the village was selected, and a
neat church-edifice of brick was commenced and completed the following
year, at the cost of three thousand five hundred dollars.
The Rev. Mr. Jones continued in Orange until the summer of
1840.

In January, 1841, the present minister took charge of the parish.
Since that time there have been alternate seasons of prosperity and
adversity in the congregation. Yet, in the face of some discouragements,
both the communion and the congregation have steadily
increased. Mr. Jones, in his last report to Convention from St.
Thomas's Church, gave thirty-four as the number of communicants:
the number now reaches ninety. In 1853, to accommodate the
increasing congregation, the church-edifice was enlarged, and at
the same time both the exterior and interior were much improved.

When we look back at the depressed state to which the parish
was reduced, and compare it with what it now is, we cannot but
exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" and to add, "Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory." If we
except the interval between 1797 and 1800, during which the Rev.
Mr. O'Niel resided in Orange, the parish was without a resident
minister from 1774 to 1832. Nowhere, during the long and dreary
night through which the Church in Virginia was made to pass, was
the darkness more distinctly visible than in Orange. With but
three or four communicants left, and they far advanced in age,—
with her substantial church-edifices, erected in Colonial times,
utterly destroyed,—with the graves of her once honoured servants,
who ministered at her altars, dismantled and insulted,—with her
time-hallowed Liturgy, so dear to every true-hearted Churchman,

gone into disuse and become a novelty in public worship,—with a
parish without an organization and existing only in name, and with
the place of litigation as the only place for the worship of Almighty
God,—the destruction of the Church in Orange seemed wellnigh
complete. But light was made to dawn upon her darkness. By
the mercy of God she has risen again, phœnix-like, from her former
ashes, and is now, in point of numbers, as it respects both her
communion and her congregation, one of the largest of the rural
parishes in Virginia.

During the darkest period of the parish, there were not wanting
a few faithful witnesses. These were identified with the Church
in the time of her prosperity and in the time of her adversity. They
forsook her not because she was down-trodden and depressed; on
the contrary, they loved her more the more she was afflicted, and
clung to her like loving children to a devoted mother. If among
God's ancient people the children were blest for their fathers' sake,
so we may believe the Church in Orange was ultimately blest for
the sake of these devoted servants of the living God. Among
these we deem it proper to notice specially the names of several
individuals, and we can do so now with the more propriety as we
speak of the dead and not of the living. The individuals to whom
we allude were the mother of President Madison, the mother of
Governor and Judge Barbour, Mrs. Frances Burnley, and Mrs.
Jane Howard,—the two last the sisters of Mrs. Lucy Balmaine, of
Winchester. These were all bright ornaments of the religion which
they professed, and the savour of their piety continues to the
present day.

In the absence of vestry-books and other records, I am unable
to furnish the names of the vestry prior to the reorganization of
the parish in 1832. Since that time we find among the vestry the
following:—

The principal families connected with the Church in Orange in
Colonial times were the Barbours, Bells, Burtons, Campbells, Caves,
Chews, Conways, Daniels, Madisons, Moores, Ruckers, Shepherds,
Taylors, Taliaferos, and Whites. Mr. Richard White, who died
some years since at the age of ninety, was the last communicant

connected with the Old Orange Church. With comparatively few
exceptions, the descendants of these respective families continued
to retain their attachment to the Church of their fathers, and some
of them are among its most worthy members.

The following letter has also been received from the same:—