University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE XLVII.

Parishes in Pittsylvania, Henry, Campbell, and Bedford.—
Camden Parish, Pittsylvania.

The names of this county and parish tell their own origin. Pitt
and Camden are names familiar to the English and American ear.
They were divided from Halifax and Antrim in the year 1767. At
different times, subsequent to this, Henry, Patrick, and Franklin
were taken from Pittsylvania, but no new parishes established,
except in Henry, the Church and State having been separated,
so that the two last of them were, according to Colonial law, in
the parish of Camden, until the Episcopal Convention made other
arrangements. There are no records of the vestry-meetings in this
parish; yet the records of the court show that vestrymen were
regularly elected, and had the same duties assigned them as in
other places. To them were assigned the processioning of lands,
the binding out poor and unfortunate children, and the punishment
of offences against the moral law. Rude as was the state of society,
it is a fact that these officers did sometimes punish certain
violations of the law of God, as Sabbath-breaking, profane swearing,
and incontinence, which now are never noticed. It is also a fact
that the sins of the fathers being visited upon children to the third
and fourth generation, and children's teeth being set on edge by
the eating of sour grapes on the part of their parents, is remarkably
exemplified in the case of the descendants of those who nearly
a century ago were bound out on account of the immorality of
the parents. These descendants, bearing the same name, are
objects of the same action by the overseers of the poor as their
ancestors were by the churchwardens.

As to the ministers of Camden parish before the revival of the
Church in Virginia, we find but one on all our lists. In the year
1774,—seven years after the establishment of the parish,—we find
the name of the Rev. Lewis Guilliam. Would that we could find
it nowhere else! but, alas, on examining the records of the court,
we there find his name, not connected with the registry of baptisms
and marriages, as perhaps none would call on him for these offices,
but with continual petty law-suits, in which he was almost always
the loser. Shame and contempt covered his whole life. He was

a Scotchman, and never married. As to churches, I have heard
of one about twenty miles from the court-house. In the year 1773,
Mr. Richard Chamberlaine, of St. Peter's Church, New Kent, conveyed
to the vestry, for one hundred and sixty pounds, five hundred
and eighty-eight acres of land. On this land the Rev. Mr.
Guilliam lived. One of the vestrymen, to whom the land was
conveyed,—John Donelson,—emigrated to Tennessee, and was
the father of Mrs. General Jackson. The glebe lay on the road
to Henry Court-House, a few miles from "Callands." It doubtless
shared the fate of other glebes. The other vestrymen were John
Pigg, Crispin Shelton, John Wilson, Peter Perkins, Thomas Dillard,
Hugh Innes, Theodoric Lacy, Abram Shelton, George Rowland,
Robert Chandler, and William Witcher.

The descendants of the above, by the same and other names,
are scattered over this and the surrounding counties. There is
one family in the county which has contributed so much to keep
alive the hope of the Church in this parish, in her darkest days,
that I must give it a passing notice. Colonel Isaac Coles, ancestor
of a number of that name in this region, and uncle of those in
Albemarle, married first a Miss Lightfoot, of York, (a maid-servant
of whom, one hundred and ten years old, is still alive and in the
family,) and had one son by her,—Mr. Isaac Coles, of Halifax. His
second wife was a Miss Thompson, from New York, with whom he
became acquainted while member of Congress, and whose sister married
Elbridge Gerry.[1] By this marriage he had a numerous offspring,
who are dispersed through this county and other places. At
a time when the venerable widow, and her daughter Mary, who
married James M. Whittle, were almost the whole Church in that
region, I always made the old mansion in which they lived a
stopping-place and a house of prayer, for the mother had long
been confined to it. The Lord's Supper was always administered
to her. Many baptisms and confirmations of children, and children's
children, have I performed, and happy religious seasons enjoyed
in that "Church in the House."

The mother and the daughter above mentioned were, in person
and character, striking and impressive. Great was the parental
anxiety of the widow and the mother for all her children's welfare,
and tender and faithful was the filial piety of the daughter, who
devoted herself to the comfort of the aged mother. May the
descendants of both of them follow their holy example, and not

only, like them, love and nourish the Church of their ancestors,
but the holy standard of religion which it lifts up on high.

By the exertions of this family, and a few others,—the Smiths
and Slaughters, Millers and Sheltons,—and under the auspices of
the Rev. Mr. Dresser, then minister in Halifax, now at Jubilee
College, in Illinois, a church (St. Andrew's) was built in this part
of the county, and, for a time, hopes were entertained that a permanent
congregation might be established there; but deaths and
removals have disappointed these hopes. In relation to Danville
and the court-house, after a visit from the Rev. Mr. Towles, and
numerous visits from the Rev. Mr. Clark, the services of the Rev.
Mr. Dame were secured in 1840, for the joint purpose of teaching
young females and building up the Church. At his first coming
there were only eight communicants, and they all females, in the
three counties of Pittsylvania, Franklin, and Henry. Since his
ministry, one hundred and twenty have been added, exclusive of
those coming from other parishes. A new church has been built
in Danville, and another at the court-house, since Dr. Dame's
coming, in 1840. He is still the minister of the parish, and will,
I hope, long continue to be so.

HENRY COUNTY, PATRICK PARISH.

The county of Henry was separated from Pittsylvania in the
year 1776, and the parish of Patrick from Camden in 1778; but no
steps, we believe, were ever taken to build churches and procure
ministers. Our fathers were then in the midst of the war, and
every thing was unfavourable for such an enterprise. Patrick Henry,
after whom both the county and parish were probably called, was
then, I believe, a delegate from this part of the State, having his
abode and much land here. Some of his descendants are here to
this day. Some readers were probably exercising their functions
in private houses in this county, but we hear of no settled pastor.
The first efforts at the establishment of the Church, in later days,
were made by the Rev. Mr. Webb, while a teacher of youth, candidate
for the ministry, and lay reader at Henry Court-House.

He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wade, a native of the
county, and descendant of some whose names have hitherto
appeared among the vestrymen of adjoining parishes. During
his ministry a church has been erected at the court-house, and
the foundation of a promising congregation laid. He occasionally
officiated in Franklin county. No parish was ever established by

law, or otherwise, in either Franklin or Patrick, until of late years,
when one was erected in the former, where there is a prospect of our
having a respectable settlement, as we trust, before many years.

CAMPBELL COUNTY.

Campbell was separated in 1781, just at the close of the war,
when the civil Legislature was ceasing to act for the affairs of the
Church. Nothing is said of a parish. That was reserved for our
Convention at a later period. The first minister in Lynchburg—
the Rev. Amos Tredway—is said to represent Lynchburg parish,
and by that name does it still go. Subsequently, Moore parish is
established in the county. In Lynchburg, the Rev. Franklin G.
Smith succeeded Mr. Tredway, in 1825, and continued for about
fourteen years. The Rev. Thomas Atkinson (now Bishop) succeeded
Mr. Smith, and the Rev. William H. Kinckle, the present
rector, succeeded him in 1844. An excellent brick church was
erected in the time of Mr. Smith, and a larger and much costlier
one in the time of Mr. Kinckle.

In Moore parish, the Rev. Mr. Osgood was the first who taught
school and ministered. Under his care, St. John's Church was
erected. In its loft was his vestry-room and chamber, and, near
at hand, his school-house. The present location of St. John's is
not the same with its original one, it having been found that a
more convenient one might be had a mile off, to which it was moved
on rollers. After the removal of Mr. Osgood to the West,—
where he died,—the Rev. Mr. Tompkins took his place in both
departments for many years, preaching at St. John's, and at
another position some twelve miles off. Since his removal to
Western Virginia, the Rev. Mr. Kinckle, of Lynchburg, has, by
occasional services, kept alive the hopes of our few but zealous
members in that part of the county, sometimes aided by the visits
of the Rev. Mr. Clark, of Halifax, until, during the last year, the
Rev. Mr. Locke, having settled himself at Campbell Court-House,
took charge of both of the congregations, and added to it a new
one at the place of his residence. A church has recently been purchased
and consecrated at that place, and the friends of the Church
in that part of the county are encouraged to hope for better times.

RUSSELL PARISH, BEDFORD COUNTY.

The county of Bedford was separated from Lunenburg in
1753. The parish of Russell was established in it at the same

time. Both were enlarged in the year 1754 by the addition of a
part of Albemarle, then of large extent. The present county of
Campbell was included in the original bounds of the parish of
Russell and county of Bedford.

On our list of clergy for 1754 and 1758, we find no minister
from Bedford. In the years 1773-74-76, we find the Rev. John
Brandon. Doubtless there were ministers there during the twenty
years of which there are no records. Our Conventions under the
independent system, after the Revolution, commenced in 1785
and continued until 1805; but there is no representation, either
clerical or lay, during that period. The first representation from
that region was in the year 1823, when the Rev. Amos Tredway
appears as a delegate from Lynchburg, then in Campbell county.
But Mr. Tredway officiated also at New London, in Bedford, as
had also the Rev. Mr. Dashiel, who had the academy at New
London, though he was never in regular connection with the
diocese.

In the year 1825 the Rev. Nicholas H. Cobbs appears as the
first regular representative from Russell parish. Its revival is to
be ascribed under God to his zealous, and for a long time almost
gratuitous, services, since his support was mainly derived from a
school. Under his ministry St. Stephen's and Trinity Churches
were built, and other positions, as Liberty, and Mr. Wharton's,
occupied, where churches are now to be seen. Mr. Cobbs continued
his indefatigable labours until the year 1835, when he
removed to the University of Virginia, and, after two years'
service as chaplain, returned to Bedford, and continued until 1839,
when he removed to Petersburg. Mr. Cobbs was succeeded, for a
short time, by the Rev. Mr. Doughen, after which the Rev. Mr.
Marbury took charge of the parish, and was succeeded by the
Rev. Mr. Cofer. The Rev. Mr. Kinsolving followed, and, after
some years, was succeeded by the Rev. R. H. Wilmer, the present
minister.

The Rev. Mr. Sale has been for many years occupying other
parts of the county of Bedford, as at St. Thomas's Church, built
under his auspices, at Liberty, at Trinity Church, when separated
from St. Stephen's, and at Pedlar's Church, in Amherst county.
While labouring on a farm and raising a large family, he has
performed the duties of minister for a very small pecuniary compensation.

A new church was built at Liberty, in this county, during
the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Caldwell, who spent some time at

that place after the removal of Mr. Cobbs. After the removal of
Mr. Caldwell the Rev. Mr. Sale took charge of it, and still is its
canonical rector, although the duty of preaching is performed by
the Rev. John Wharton, who has for some years been acting as
sub-deacon. There are now no less than four parishes in that part
of old Russell parish which lay in Bedford county, as now reduced
in its dimensions. No parish register is found to supply a list of
the old vestrymen of this parish.[2]