University of Virginia Library

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ARTICLE XXI.

Parishes in Accomac.

At the first, as we have seen in the article on Northampton, the
whole of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was called Accowmake;
then changed to Northampton; then divided into Northampton
and Accomac. Soon after this, in the year 1762, the county of
Accomac was divided into two parishes, by a line running from the
bay to the sea, the upper being called Accomac parish, and the
other St. George's. The dividing-line runs about three miles north
of Drummondtown.

From a record in the Clerk's Office in Northampton there is
reason to believe that the church at Pongoteague was built before
the division of the Eastern Shore into two counties, and was the
first erected in Accomac. The next was that which stood a few
miles from Drummondtown, and was, until the year 1819, called
the New Church. At that time the name of St. James's was given
to it. It was subsequently removed to Drummondtown, and now
forms the church in that place. In the year 1724, there were
three churches in the upper parish, (Accomac,) about ten miles
distant from each other. The first minister of whom we read in
this parish was the Rev. William Black, who, in the year 1709-10,
wrote to the Bishop of London that he had taken charge of it,—
that there had been no minister there before for fifteen years. In
the year 1724 he is still the minister; and, in answer to certain
questions by the Bishop of London, writes, that he preaches at
these churches, has two hundred communicants, four or five hundred
families under his charge, instructs the negroes at their masters'
houses, has baptized two hundred of them, catechizes the
children on Sunday from March to September, has no Communion-service
or any thing decent in his church, receives a salary of forty
pounds per annum, (that being the value of his tobacco,) rents his
glebe for twenty shillings per annum, has a school in his parish,
endowed by one Mr. Sanford, of London, and which is still in
existence.[78]

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How long the pious labours of Mr. Black continued after the
year 1724 is not known. In the year 1755, we find, from an old
list of the clergy of Virginia, that the Rev. Arthur Emmerson,
afterward well known in other parishes, was the minister. In the
year 1774, the Rev. William Vere is set down in the Virginia Almanac
as the minister of Accomac parish. He was doubtless the
last minister of this parish. In the year 1785, when the first Con
vention after the Revolution met in Richmond, there was no clerical
delegate from either of the parishes of Accomac. Mr. Jabez Pittis
was the lay delegate from Accomac parish, and Mr. Levin Joynes
and Tully Wise from St. George's.

I conclude this brief notice of the old and decayed parish of
Accomac, in Accomac county, with the following paper, furnished
by my friend, T. R. Joynes, Sr., of that county, touching the
school. The document consists of an extract from the will of Mr.
Sandford, with some remarks by Mr. Joynes:—

"In the will of Samuel Sandford—`sometime of Accomack county, Virginia,
and now being in the city of London, dated the 27th day of March,
1710, in the ninth year of the reign of our sovereign Lady Queen Anne,
over England, alias Great Britain'—there is a very long preamble in the
usual pious style of that age; and, after a number of other devises, he
says, `For the benefit, better learning, and education of poor children,
whose parents are esteemed unable to give them learning, living in the
upper part of Accomack county, in Virginia; that is to say, from Guildford
Creek directly to the seaside, and likewise from Guildford Creek to
the dividing-line parting Virginia from Maryland, the rents and profits,

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(of the three tracts of land therein described, containing together three
thousand four hundred and twenty acres,) authorizing and empowering such
person or persons who are justices of the peace, churchwardens, or of the
vestry for the time being, or the major part of them, being inhabitants of
those aforesaid parts of ye county of Accomack aforesaid, to sett and lett the
aforesaid premises for the better improvement thereof, and for the support
of better learning and better education of poor children; for which uses
the rents and profits thereof is bequeathed and given forever,—hereby
humbly praying the Honourable the Governor of Virginia for the time-being,
with the Honourable Council of State, their care that the lands
by this will given may be appropriated for the uses intended and prescribed.'

"In the will, the testator speaks of his `living' in the county of Gloucester,
from which I infer that he was probably a minister of the Gospel,
who was, at one time, a minister in Accomac, and, at the time of the date
of his will, was a minister in the county of Gloucester, in England.

"T. R. Joynes, Secretary."

From the same source I learn that the churches in Accomac
were—a brick one, at Assawaman, on the seaside; a wooden one,
on the Middle or Wallop's Road, about five miles from the southern
line of the parish; and another of wood, at Pocomoke, near the
Maryland line, called the New Church. None of them now remain,
and very few of the inhabitants of the parish retain any attachment
to the Church of their fathers. About thirty years past, the
overseers of the poor took possession of the Communion-plate, and
sold the same to a silversmith, who intended to melt it up; but,
being advised that it was doubtful whether they had any authority
to sell the plate under the law directing the sale of the glebe-lands,
and there being a tradition that the plate was a private donation,
the sale was rescinded.

As to the ministers of St. George's parish, in Accomac, our
records before the Revolution fail us altogether. It is probable
that some of the ministers of Hungar's parish rendered service
here for some time after the division of the Eastern Shore into the
counties of Northampton and Accomac, especially Mr. Teackle.
The first minister on any of our lists was the Rev. John Lyon,
from Rhode Island, who was in the parish in the year 1774, and
continued there during and some time after the war. Being more
of the Englishman than the American in his feelings, his time was
very uncomfortable during the Revolutionary struggle; but, being
married into a respectable family, his principles were tolerated and
his person protected. While as a faithful historian we shall truthfully
admit whatever of Toryism there was among the clergy of
Virginia, we shall as faithfully maintain that there was a large
share of noble patriotism in the clergy of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson

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In the year 1786 the Rev. Theopolus Nugent was present in the
Convention as the rector of St. George's parish, Accomac. But
nothing more is known of him. The following is the list of the
clergymen from the time of Mr. Nugent to the present day:—The
Revs. Cave Jones, Ayrs, Reese, Gardiner, Eastburn, Smith, Chase,
Goldsmith, Carpenter, Adams, Bartlett, Winchester, Jonathan
Smith, Wm. G. Jones, and Zimmer. I am not able, at present,
to get the surnames of some of the foregoing. A few remarks
concerning two of the above-mentioned ministers will be acceptable
to the reader. The Rev. Cave Jones was a native of Virginia,
—probably a descendant of one of the three of that name who
ministered in the early Church of Virginia. He was a man of
talents and eloquence, which, after some years, attracted attention
beyond the bounds of our State, and led to a call to Trinity Church,

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The Rev. Mr. Eastburn was from New York, and brother to
Bishop Eastburn of Massachusetts. From every account we have
received of him, whether from New York or Accomac, he must have
been one of the most interesting and talented young men of our
land. He came to Virginia at a time when ample material still
remained in Accomac for the exercise of his pious zeal, and it was
exercised most diligently in all the departments of ministerial duty,
but especially in the instruction of the young by the means of
Sunday-schools. He is still spoken of in the families of Accomac
as that extraordinary young man. The following letter from his
brother, Bishop Manton Eastburn, in answer to one from myself,
furnishes some particulars worthy of being recorded:—

"Newport, R. I., Aug. 25, 1855.

"My dear Bishop:—

Having been at this place during the present
month, your letter of the 16th has only just reached me. Nothing was
published after my dear and distinguished brother's death, except the
poem of `Yamoyden, a Tale of the Wars of King Philip,' which he composed
in company with his friend, Robert C. Sands, and which the latter
edited. I can only say, in a few words, that he was ordained by Bishop
Hobart at the Diocesan Convention of New York, in October, 1818;
commenced his ministry in Accomac county almost immediately; and,
after a short but truly glorious ministry of about eight months, (during
which, as I heard him say, he thought he had been the instrument of the
conversion of seventeen persons,) returned, broken in health, to New
York, and expired in December, 1819, on his passage to St. Croix, W. I.,
to which island, in company with his mother and myself, he was proceeding
for the benefit of his health. He had just reached the age of
twenty-two years; but he was mature in mind, accomplished in attainments
both of ancient and modern learning, and one of the most "burning
lights" in the Church of God I ever knew. I think he left an impression
in Accomac which is not yet effaced.

"Excuse me for this unavoidable delay, and believe me to be

"Faithfully yours,
"In one dear Lord and Saviour,

"Manton Eastburn.

"Rt. Rev. Bishop Meade.

"P.S.—My brother's name was James Wallis Eastburn, M. A., of
Columbia College, New York. He composed, at eighteen years of age,
the beautiful Trinity-Sunday Hymn in our collection, No. 77; beginning,
`Oh, holy, holy, holy Lord,' &c. The `Summer Midnight'—being five
or six stanzas composed at Accomac in June, 1819—is, for beauty and
elevation of thought, and heavenly aspirations after immortality, one of
the most exquisite things in our language. It was published in the New
York Commercial Advertiser soon after its composition.

"His studies for the ministry were pursued for two years with Bishop

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Griswold, at Bristol, R. I. There is a letter of my father's, in relation to
him, in Stone's life of the Bishop."

The Episcopalian cannot but think with melancholy feelings of
the gradual decline, as to numbers, of the Church in Accomac, from
the time of Mr. Black, in 1710, to the present day. Then, in one
parish only—the upper—there were four or five hundred families,
three overflowing churches, and two hundred communicants, with
scarce a Dissenter in it. Now, in both parishes, covering the whole
county, there are only three churches and about fifty communicants.
Other denominations, chiefly the Methodists, have drawn away the
great body of the people from our communion. There are still a
number of very interesting and intelligent families remaining to us,
in which are not only some attached Churchmen, but truly pious
Christians. May God strengthen the things that remain, and grant
us there, as he has done in so many other parts of the State, a
great increase!

It deserves to be mentioned that, some years since, the Rev.
Ambler Weed, of Richmond, undertook the revival of the Church
in the lower part of St. George's parish, and by great diligence
caused a new church, by the name of St. Michael's, to be erected
near Bell Haven. In this and in old Pongoteague Church he
officiated for some years with great diligence and self-denial, and
with some success.

Old Pongoteague—the first house of prayer erected in Accomac,
and probably not much less than two hundred years old—still stands,
a remarkable monument of former days, among some old trees,
perhaps as ancient as itself. It is a brick building in the form of a
cross. Though well-built, and in some parts still firm and unyielding,
yet in others it gives signs of decay and ruin. Breaches in the
walls are apparent, and the rains from above find their way through
its mouldering roof.

I am sorry to be unable to give a list of the ancient vestrymen of
Accomac. The only documents of which I have heard, from which
to derive such list, and other particulars, perished during the last
year. Would that all the friends, members, and ministers of the
Church of Virginia, and any others who have any care for her
past history, would but inquire for such documents, and search for
them among the neglected papers of old family mansions and
clerk's offices! How much might still be rescued from destruction and
oblivion, which is worthy of preservation in some permanent form!

In place of a list of the vestrymen of the parish, I subjoin the
following, of the families which from the earliest period to the

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