 | The history of Truro Parish in Virginia, |  |
Zion Church, Truro Parish
This Church, at the county seat of Fairfax
County, was founded in the year 1843 by the Rev.
Richard Templeton Brown. Mr. Brown was at
that time Rector of the Falls Church. In his report
from that Church to the Diocesan Council
of 1843 he makes the following note:
"Fairfax court-house. On the 8th of February
last we had the pleasure of organizing a new congregation
at this very destitute place, and prompt
measures were adopted for the immediate erection
of a plain and substantial Church. The edifice has
been commenced, and, if not entirely finished, will
be used during the present year. Some of the
most influential citizens of the place and neighborhood
are interested in the work; the ladies also
are zealously engaged; and we trust that, by the
blessings of God, the Church at this place will exert
a wide and purifying influence. Communicants
5. Families who will be regularly connected with
the Church, about 12." The services were at first
held in the Court House, but when for some
reason its use was forbidden Mrs. Daniel Rumsey
of "Mount Vinyard," a Baptist lady, declared that
she "could not see the Ark of the Lord refused a
met until the Church was completed.
She was the mother of Mr. William T. Rumsey,
who gave the lot for the Church and was one of
its first Vestrymen. Mr. Brown removed from the
field during the following year, and was succeeded
in a few months by the Rev. William F. Lockwood,
who at first combined the work with that of
St. Stephen's Church, Fauquier, but afterwards resigned
the latter and took charge of the Falls
Church. The Church was completed, and was
consecrated by the Right Rev. William Meade, D.
D., on the 28th of June, 1845, under the name of
Zion Church. It was a frame building, of the
same size as the present Church, and was the first
Church of any kind erected in the village. At this
time there were 14 Communicants. Mr. Lockwood
remained as Rector until 1852 or 1853, when
he removed to Maryland. Under his ministry St.
John's Church, Centerville, was built, and was consecrated
by Bishop John Johns, D. D., July I4th,
1851.
Occasional services were held by the Professors
of the Theological Seminary until the Rev. R. T.
Brown returned to his old charge in 1855, and remained
Rector of Zion Church, in connection with
the Falls and St. John's, until he and the greater
part of his congregation were forced to flee from
their homes in 1861, when Fairfax became involved
in the maelstrom of war. Four years later,
homes, they found only the foundation of their
Church remaining. It had shared the fate of perhaps
a majority of the country churches in that
beautiful section, where they "Made a solitude and
called it peace." Early in the conflict it had been
used as a storehouse for the munitions of war, and
rapidly becoming dilapidated it had been finally
torn down by Union soldiers to provide material
for their winter quarters on a neighboring hillside.
There was no minister until February, 1867,
when the Rev. W. A. Alrich was ordained to the
diaconate and sent to undertake the work of resuscitating
the Church at this point, in connection
with Centerville, and Haymarket in Prince William
County. He found 18 Communicants. Services
were held in the Court House. He reported,
however, "A deep interest manifested in religious
matters, and a willingness to make every sacrifice
for the sake of the Master and his cause. The
people, in their impoverished condition, are
now making an earnest effort to rebuild their
Churches." On December 13th, 1868, Bishop
Whittle visited the congregation and confirmed
fourteen persons in the Court House. He reported
the new Church as being under roof, but
its completion delayed for want of funds, and adds,
"I think there is no congregation in the Diocese
more deserving of help than this, where the people
have shown such a determination to help themselves."
in June, 1869, by the Rev. William M. Dame, who
remained during the year of his diaconate. The
Rev. D. Hanson Boyden succeeded him in the
summer of 1870, and gave the whole of his short
ministry of fifteen months to this Parish. He resigned
on account of failing health on October 1st,
1871, and died less than three months later.
Bishop Johns said of him: "His ministry was short
and emphatic. The distress which his early death
caused to the people whom he served affords affecting
evidence of his personal worth and ministerial
fidelity and usefulness."
The Rev. John McGill took charge during the
summer of 1872. The second Zion Church was
now completed, and being furnished and freed
from debt was consecrated by Bishop Johns on
the 6th of December, 1875. It is a frame building
and was erected on the foundation of the original
Church at a cost of about $2,000. On the day
following its consecration Christ Church at Chantilly
was also consecrated. This, with the Church
at Centerville, which was also rebuilt, though
really in old Cameron Parish, were supposed to
be in Truro and were under the charge of Mr.
McGill. In 1884 these Churches, with that at
Herndon and the mission at Clifton, were formed
into a Parish called Upper Truro.
Mr. McGill resigned April 23d, 1878, and was
succeeded by the Rev. Frank Page during the following
Rectory property adjoining the Church was purchased
for $2,600. Mr. Page resigned November
19th, 1889. During the earlier part of his rectorship
he ministered at no less than five Churches,
but after the formation of Upper Truro Parish his
labors were confined to Zion and the Falls
Churches. After his removal the Church remained
vacant until July, 1890, when Mr. J. Cleveland
Hall, formerly a Presbyterian minister, but
now a candidate for orders in the Episcopal
Church, came as a Lay-Reader and continued to
officiate as such until his ordination to the Diaconate
in June, 1891; after which he continued as
minister-in-charge until July, 1892. During the
following year services were held by Mr. W. A.
R. Goodwin, candidate for orders, and other students
from the Theological Seminary. In the
summer of 1893 the Rev. Thomas D. Lewis became
the minister, in connection with Trinity
Church, Manassas; the old partnership with the
Falls Church having been dissolved. Mr. Lewis
remained until May, 1896, when failing health
compelled him to resign. He was followed by the
Rev. W. H. K. Pendleton, who served the same
Churches until early in 1900, when, the work having
outgrown the capacity of a single minister, he
resigned Zion Church and confined his labors to
the neighboring Parish. An alliance was then
formed with the Church of the Holy Comforter at
after some months the Rev. Albert R. Walker became
the Rector. He continued until September,
1902, and was succeeded in June, 1903, by the
Rev. Henry B. Lee, Jr., who remained nine
months. On June 1st, 1904, the Rev. Edward L.
Goodwin became Rector.
The destruction of all the Parish Records during
the war of 1861 makes it impossible to give a list
of the Vestrymen who served prior to that time.
Among the families who formed the congregation
of Zion Church in ante-bellum days were the Bakers,
Balls, Chichesters, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs, Furgussons,
Gunnells, Hunters, Mosses, Ratcliffes,
Ronks, Ryers, Stuarts, Terretts, Towners, Burkes,
Coopers, Loves, Thomases, &c. The gentlemen
of some of these families doubtless formed the Vestry
of those days. Since 1872 the succession of
Vestrymen has been as follows: William T. Rumsey,
Thomas Moore, H. C. Fairfax, Albert Fairfax,
M. D., O. W. Huntt, W. D. McWhorter, M.
D., Joseph Cooper, James M. Love, Daniel McCarty
Chichester, Gen. W. H. F. Lee, E. D. Ficklin,
G. Pat Berkley, J. N. Ballard, John Peabody,
Upton H. Herbert, Washington Terrett, W. P.
Moncure, M. D., Robert E. Lee, Jr., S. Thornton
Terrett, R. Ewell Thornton, Alex. C. Bleight, C.
Vernon Ford, J. Conway Chichester, J. B. Bowman,
R. Walton Moore, Thomas R. Keith, James
P. Machen, Jr., Harry L. Burrows. Of these Mr.
M. Love have served continuously on the Vestry
for thirty-five years, equalling the record of those
veteran Colonial Vestrymen, George Mason and
Daniel Mc.Carty. Besides these the Vestry at
present consists of Messrs. Moncure M. D., R. E.
Lee, Thornton, Bleight, R. W. Moore, Keith, and
Burrows.
Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Truro Parish.
This Chapel, situated one and a half miles
north of Burke's Station, grew out of Sunday
School founded at Ashford school house many
years ago by the Misses Fitzhugh and others,
and continued chiefly by Mrs. Upton H. Herbert,
under the Rectorship of the Rev. Frank
Page. By the earnest efforts of Mrs. Herbert, began
in 1882 and continued through more than a
decade of years, the means were collected and the
Chapel built. It was consecrated by Bishop John
B. Newton, December 1st, 1896. The Rev. S. A.
Wallis, of Pohick Church, held services for a number
of years in the school house and afterward in
the new building. Since 1894 it has been under
the charge of the Rector and Vestry of Zion
Church.
| The history of Truro Parish in Virginia, | |