University of Virginia Library

MINISTERS OF THE PARISHES OF CHRIST CHURCH AND ST. MARY'S.

We have already stated that the same ministers served both
parishes. Who the first minister or ministers were, we are unable
to state; but upon the vestry-book, whose loss we lament, there
was one whose name and history were too striking to be forgotten.
His name was Andrew Jackson, and, for what cause we know not,
some one wrote his name, and he made his mark, beneath the name
of one of the John Carters. He was not Episcopally ordained, and
this led to a correspondence between the vestry and one of the
Governors of Virginia,—most probably Governor Nicholson,—at a
time when an order came from England that the law requiring all
holding livings in the Church to be Episcopally ordained should
be enforced in Virginia. The vestry remonstrated earnestly with
the Governor against its execution in the case of their minister,
Mr. Jackson. They plead that he had been serving the parish
faithfully for twenty-five years, that he was much esteemed and
beloved, had brought up a large family of children, and laid up
something for them from his industrious culture of the glebe, (then
and now a good farm near the church,) and the people were very
unwilling to part with him. They urged one argument very emphatically,—viz.:
that, by reason of the inferiority of the quality
of tobacco raised in the Northern Neck of Virginia, by comparison
with that in many other parts, it being worth less by twopence per
pound, the parish was not on an equal footing with a large number
elsewhere in procuring suitable ministers, and that, therefore, they
ought to be allowed to retain the one whom they had. What was
the issue of the controversy either did not appear or is not recollected.
My impression is that it took place early in the last century,
and that he was succeeded by the Rev. John Bell, who was certainly
the minister in 1713, and continued so until the year 1743,
when, at his death, the Rev. David Currie succeeded, and continued
until his death in 1792,—nearly fifty years. If such be the case,
then were the people of Lancaster served for more than one hundred
years by three ministers, who were esteemed and loved by them.
In my previous account of the Carter family I have spoken more
particularly of Mr. Currie, whose descendants are numerous and
respectable and have adhered to the Church of their worthy ancestor.
At the death of Mr. Currie, in 1791, the Rev. David Ball
appears for one year on the list of our clerical delegates to the

Convention, and for one only. Whether he was of the large family
of Balls belonging to Lancaster, or whence he came, or whither he
went, I know not. He was followed by a Rev. Mr. Leland and a
Rev. Mr. Page, each for a short time. Of each of these I shall
speak in another place. In 1794, no clerical delegate appears;
but there were two laymen,—Mr. Raleigh Downman and Mr.
William Eustace. From the year 1796 to the year 1805, the Rev.
Daniel McNaughton is on our list as minister of this parish.
James Ball, Martin Shearman, and William Montague appear as
lay delegates. In 1812, Raleigh Downman and J. M. Smith are
lay delegates. In 1813, the Rev. Samuel Low is minister. Between
him and his friends, and Mr. McNaughton, there was for
some time a contest for the parish and the use of the churches.
On one occasion Mr. Low had all the congregation in the churchyard,
and preached from the seat behind a carriage, while Mr.
McNaughton had the pulpit and the empty pews within. They
were both of them such unworthy characters, though in different
ways, that we shall not waste time and words upon them. In the
year 1824, the Rev. Ira Parker, an ignorant and incompetent
minister, took charge of the parish, but soon left it for some other.
After floating about for a few years, he adopted the system of
Swedenborg, and was dismissed from the ministry. In the year
1832, the Rev. Ephraim Adams took charge of the parish and
continued its minister for four years. He was a worthy man, but,
by reason of some peculiarities, unfitted for much usefulness. In
1838, the Rev. Francis McGuire was its minister; and, in 1839,
the Rev. Mr. Bryant, of whom we have spoken elsewhere, succeeded.
In 1844 and 1845, the Rev. Mr. Richmond was its minister. In
1850 and 1851, the Rev. Mr. Nash. In 1853, its present minister,
the Rev. Edmund Withers, took charge of it. Within the last few
years a small church has been built at Kilmarnock, about four
miles from Old Christ Church. It being more convenient to the
majority of the people in that region than the old one, services are
held there alternately. Although but few attend generally at the
old and venerable one, by reason of its inconvenient location, yet
at my recent visit to it, although there were other services near at
hand, one hundred and seventy-five persons might be counted there
on a Sabbath morning. It is somewhat remarkable that Kilmarnock
is the very spot on which the vestry determined to build a
new church nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, deeming it
the most central and convenient place, when Mr. Carter offered to
build one at his own expense, if allowed to locate it nearer to his
residence at Corotoman. Tradition says that the bricks of which
the church is built were brought from England. It is far more
probable that it is true in this case than in most of the other
houses, public or private, of which the same report has come down
to us; for Mr. Carter, having so many vessels from England assigned
to him, may, at little cost, have had English bricks put in
as ballast, and then conveyed in flatboats up the creek, within a
short distance of the place where the church stands. Piles of
stones thus coming from England may yet be seen near the riverbank
at Corotoman, there cast to prevent the waves from depredating
on the bank near his house.

In 1786, Cyrus Griffin is appointed to attend the Episcopal
Convention in Richmond, and James Ball to attend the examination
of the Rev. Edward Jones at the court-house. For what purpose
and of what character that examination was, is not certainly known,
but it is believed to have been a kind of trial under a canon of
Virginia. Thus ends the vestry-book.