University of Virginia Library

Introduction

When the English colonists made their first permanent
settlement on the shores of Virginia they
came to establish themselves as an English people
in America. They did not emigrate for purposes
of robbery, nor yet to escape conditions which
were not to their liking at home, but they brought
with them all they could of the old England, including,
as a matter of course, the English Church
and English law, ecclesiastical and civil. They
brought, too, as the event was to prove, the English
genius for adapting old forms of government
to new conditions of life. Thus in process of time
the Parish and the Vestry in Virginia became
quite different from the same institutions in the
old country, though still based upon the broad
sanctions of the ecclesiastical law of England. The
Parish was established and its bounds were fixed
not by tradition, but by statute, and the Vestry,
from an annual meeting of all the ratepayers to
choose Churchwardens and discuss parochial affairs,
became practically a close corporation of
twelve of "The most able and discreet persons" in
the Parish. These divided with the County Court
the responsibility of local government, having as

their especial charge the maintenance of religion
and the oversight of all things pertaining thereto
in the domain of charity and morals. These Vestrymen
were described by Jefferson as being
"Usually the most discreet farmers, so distributed
through their Parish that every part of it may
be under the eye of some one of them. They are
well acquainted with the details and economy of
private life, and they find sufficient inducements
to execute their charge well in their philanthropy,
in the approbation of their neighbors, and the distinction
which that gives them."

No Parish in the Colony had a Vestry more distinguished
in its personnel, or more fully qualified
for their positions, than the Parish of Truro. Of
its earlier members indeed little has come down to
us but their names inscribed on almost every page
of the scant records remaining to tell of the settlement
of these upper reaches of the "Northern
Neck," and the establishment of religion and civilization
in what was then but a wilderness. But
later her Vestrymen are found ranking among the
first gentlemen of Virginia in position and influence.
Eleven of them sat at various times in the
House of Burgesses. Two of them, the Fairfaxes,
were members of "His Majesty's Council for Virginia."
Another of her Vestrymen was George
Mason, one of the first among the founders of
the State and the great political thinkers of his
age; while still another was declared to be the

"Greatest man of any age," the imperial George
Washington.

These men, however exalted their native genius,
had and needed to have their period of training,
that their characters might be matured on lines
of piety and righteousness, their opinions formed
in full view of the needs and capacities of their
people, and their abilities ripened in the fields of
practical experience. They received this training
in part as Parish Vestrymen. It was no mean
school in which to learn the rudiments of popular
government, the foundations of human rights, or
the reconciliation of diverse policies.

The Vestry Records of Truro Parish have therefore
a value quite unique as the sole and absolutely
authentic record of the parochial administration
and government of these great men. The affairs
which occupied their attention seem small indeed
as compared with those which afterward demanded
the consecration of their powers, but they brought
to them the same practical wisdom, scrupulous
justice and exact attention to detail which characterized
them later as master workmen in making
the history and building the liberties of a nation.

For the recovery and preservation of these
records we are indebted to the late Reverend
Doctor Philip Slaughter, Clergyman, Genealogist,
Antiquarian and Historian, whose name will long
be held in affectionate remembrance in Virginia.
He was the author of no large work, but his histories

of St. George's, Bristol, and St. Mark's
Parishes, and very many pamphlets, articles and
published addresses, combine to form a great contribution
to the historical collections of his native
State, and an enduring monument to his memory.
A few years before his death he was so fortunate
as to discover the whereabouts of the old Vestry-Book
of Truro Parish which had been lost to sight
for three-quarters of a century, and did not rest
until it came into his possession. He afterwards
committed it to the Vestry of Pohick Church, accepting
only the small sum in return which it had
cost him to acquire it, but not before he had compiled
from its time-worn pages the History of
Truro Parish which is here presented to the
reader. It was almost his last literary labor, and
indeed the infirmities of age forbade his giving the
work of his amanuenses his final revision and corrections.
The incomplete manuscript was entrusted
to the Rev. Dr. Samuel A. Wallis, then
Rector of Pohick, to be published when the means
for doing so should be forthcoming.

At the request of Dr. Wallis I have prepared the
history for publication. The manuscript has been
wholly re-written; more copious extracts from the
records of the Vestry have been incorporated, so
that it now includes all that is of general value in
the Vestry-Book, the language and spelling of
which have been preserved; a few errors and oversights
have been found and corrected; and in one

place, for reasons noted in the text, a number of
pages of my own have been inserted in lieu of the
author's. With these exceptions the continuous
narrative is as nearly as possible as Dr. Slaughter
wrote it. My own additions otherwise appear in
the form of foot-notes and addenda.