University of Virginia Library

THE PRESBYTERIANS

The first record of the Presbyterian church in Caroline county
is given in the Manual of East Hanover Presbytery, in which is
recorded the fact that as early as 1855, an organization was effected
at Bowling Green and the congregation so formed called the
Caroline Presbyterian church.

No definite information of this congregation can be found in
the Minutes of the East Hanover Presbytery of that year, nor
of the year 1885, at which time the church first appears on the
minutes of the General Assembly; but such a congregation did
exist and was ministered to, in part at least, by the Rev. Dr. James
Power Smith, who for many years was pastor of the Presbyterian
church at Fredericksburg.

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This work which for some reason was abandoned was revived
in 1909 by an evangelist of the Synod of Virginia, who conducted
a series of meetings and inaugurated a movement to secure a lot
at Milford and to erect a chapel thereon. This movement was
successful. A lot was secured and a building erected immediately
following the meetings.

A commission of the East Hanover Presbytery met in the
new church building on March 7, 1909 and re-organized the
church, changing the name from the Caroline Presbyterian
church to Milford Presbyterian church and dedicating the new
building.

Since that time the congregation has been served by ministers
from Richmond and Fredericksburg and by students from Union
Theological Seminary at Richmond.