COUNTIES AND PARISHES OF BOTETOURT, ROCKINGHAM, ROCKBRIDGE,
GREENBRIER, AND MONTGOMERY.
When Frederick county was first divided from Augusta, the latter
was left with all of Western Virginia beyond the Alleghany Mountains,
then extending to the Pacific Ocean, or, as it was sometimes
said, to the "waters of the Mississippi."
In the year 1769, Botetourt was taken from Augusta, and also
extended westward indefinitely. At a subsequent period Montgomery
was taken from Botetourt. But in the year 1777, Rockingham,
till then part of Augusta, and Rockbridge and Greenbrier,
were cut off from Augusta, Botetourt, and Montgomery. In all
of these, parishes were also established by Act of Assembly. What
was done in them after this is unknown. In Rockingham, probably
before its separation from Augusta, there were, as may be seen in
our article on Augusta, two churches. In Rockbridge, when composed
of parts of Augusta and Botetourt, there may have been a
church or churches, but I have obtained no information of such.
Before this period the Presbyterians had made settlements in this
region, especially about Lexington. On none of our lists of clergy
or records do we find any minister belonging to Rockbridge after
its separation from Augusta and Botetourt. In Montgomery and
Greenbrier parishes and counties, we presume there were none. In
Botetourt parish, (for all the new parishes were called by the same
name with the counties,) we find that the Rev. Adam Smith was the
minister in the years 1774 and 1776. He was the father of Mr.
Alexander Smith, sometimes written Smythe, of Wythe county,
member of Congress, and General in the last war with England.
We know of no other but the Rev. Samuel Gray, who appears on
the journal of 1796, and who died in the parish poor-house, the
miserable victim of drink. In Fincastle there was an Episcopal
church on the spot where the Presbyterian church now stands.
A new church being built there, the Presbyterians worshipped in it,
and were perhaps most active in its erection. By an Act of the
Legislature, the lot of ground on which it stood was given to that
denomination. It was not until the Rev. Mr. Cobbs commenced
his labours in Bedford and extended his visits to Botetourt, that
any hopes were raised, in the breasts of the Episcopalians in that
county, of the establishment of the Church of their fathers and of
their affection.
During the ministry of Mr. Gray, some of the descendants of
Major Burwell, an old vestryman of the church in King William,
had removed to the neighbourhood of Fincastle. General Breckenridge,
and Watts, who had not forgotten the Church of their
forefathers, were also there. Woodville, son of the old minister
of Culpepper, one of the Taylors from Old Mount Airy, in the
Northern Neck, Madison, son of Bishop Madison, and others who
might be mentioned, were there to encourage the effort at establishing
a church. And yet, on my first visit to that county after
my consecration, only one solitary voice was heard in the responses
of our service.
After some years the Rev. Dabney Wharton, from the neighbouring
county, took Orders and entered on the work of resuscitating
or rather establishing the Church there, and during his residence
in the parish did much to effect it. The Rev. W. H. Pendleton
succeeded him for some years, and, though removing for a time to
another, has returned to a portion of his former field. He was
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. McElroy, in 1847. The Rev. George
Wilmer also spent some years there, first as minister to the whole
parish, and then to a portion of it, which was formed into a distinct
parish, now in the county of Roanoke. New churches have been
erected in each portion,—one at Big Lick, in Roanoke, another at
Fincastle, a third at Buchanon. The Rev. Mr. Baker has for some
years been the minister of the two congregations in Fincastle and
Buchanon. The new church at Buchanon deserves a word of
special notice. It is chiefly the result of female enterprise. A
lady well known in Virginia, who occasionally visited it in the
summer season, fleeing from the sultry heat of Richmond, determined
to effect it by collections, far and near, of only twelve and
a half cents from each contributor, and by dint of perseverance,
succeeded in the course of a few years,—at least, so far as to secure
the object. A neat, well-filled brick church is now to be seen at
Buchanon.
Although there was no church in Rockbridge county in former
times, so far as I am informed, I must not omit to mention a most
successful effort of later years. About the year 1839 or 1840, the
Rev. William Bryant, a native of Virginia, and a graduate of West
Point, who had left the army of his country to enter the army of
the Lord and become one of the great company of preachers, was
induced by his friend, and almost brother, as well as fellow-student
at West Point, Colonel Smith, of the Military Institute at Lexington,
to come and seek to establish an Episcopal church at that
place. Difficult as the work seemed to be, and most doubtful the
success of it, especially to one of so meek and quiet a spirit, and
destitute of those popular talents in the pulpit so much called for
in such positions, he nevertheless, in humble dependence on divine
assistance, undertook the task and succeeded far beyond general
expectation. With generous aids from other parts of the State,
and active exertions on the part of the few friends in Lexington,
a handsome brick church has been built and a respectable though
still a small congregation been collected. The Rev. Mr. Bryant
was succeeded by one of our present missionaries to China,—the Rev.
Robert Nelson,—who, pursuing the same judicious course and putting
forth the same efforts with his predecessor, carried on the work
with the same success, until in the providence of God he was called
to a distant field in which he had long desired to labour. The Rev.
William N. Pendleton has now for some years been labouring as his
successor.
Higher up the valley, in what was once Montgomery county and
parish, but is now not only Montgomery, but Wythe, and Washington,
and others, we cannot read or hear of any effort being
made in behalf of establishing the Episcopal Church until within
the last twenty years, when the Rev. Mr. Cofer was sent as missionary
to Abingdon, in Washington county. Some years after his
relinquishment of the station the Rev. James McCabe occupied it,
and during his stay, I believe, a neat but very small brick church
was put up. He was succeeded for two years by the Rev. Mr. Lee.
It has now for some time been without a minister, though we hope
for better times.
As emigration and natural increase of population shall follow
the railroad up this narrow though fertile valley, and whenever the
mountains on either side shall be cleared of their forests, we may
surely hope better things for our Church. Already are there many
interesting families inheriting an attachment to the Church of their
fathers to be found along the great highway leading through this
part of Virginia and the West. At Wytheville the indefatigable
efforts of a mother and daughter have raised a considerable sum of
money for the erection of a church. The tongue hath spoken, the
pen hath written, and hands have laboured, in the cause, and none
of them in vain. A most eligible sight, at great cost, has been
obtained, and perhaps great progress made in the erection of a
church. Other openings, I am told by those who have made recent
missionary visits to this upper valley of Virginia, are likely to
present themselves. The Rev. Frederick Goodwin has just settled
at Wytheville.
