KING WILLIAM COUNTY AND THE PARISHES IN IT.
King William was taken out of King and Queen in 1701. At
that time St. John's parish was the only one in the county. In
1721, St. Margarett's parish was established. A part of this
being in Caroline, when that county was established in the year
1744, St. Margarett's was divided, and that part in Caroline was
called St. Margarett's still, and that in King William called St.
David's, so that the two parishes in King William were henceforth
St. John's and St. David's. In the year 1754, the Rev. Alexander
White, afterward minister in Hanover county, and one of those
who opposed the Two-Penny Act by a lawsuit, was the minister of
St. David's, and Mr. John Robertson of St. John's parish. The
same continued in these parishes in 1758. In the years 1773-7476,
the Rev. Alexander White is still the minister of St. David's,
and the Rev. William Skyren of St. John's. At the first Convention
in 1785, the Rev. William Skyren is still the minister of
St. John's, attended by Mr. Carter Braxton as lay delegate, Mr.
William Temple being the lay delegate from St. David's. In 1786,
the Rev. Mr. Skyren is still in St. John's; Mr. Carter Braxton
the lay delegate from the same, and Mr. Benjamin Temple and
William Spiller from St. David's. In 1787, Mr. Skyren still from
St. John's, and his lay delegates, William D. Claiborne, William
Spiller, and Benjamin Temple, from St. David's. In the year
1790, Rev. Reuben Clopton appears in Convention from St. David's,
with Nathaniel Burwell as lay delegate. There was no
representative from St. John's, the Rev. Mr. Skyren having removed
to Hampton. In 1791, Mr. Clopton is still the minister of
St. David's; also in 1792, with Mr. Nathaniel Burwell as lay delegate.
St. John's is once more represented by Carter Braxton, Jr.
as lay delegate, in 1792. In 1794, St. David's is represented by
Mr. Joseph Guathney as lay delegate, and in the following year
by Mr. Thomas Fox and Mr. William Dabney. In the year 1797,
the Rev. Thomas Hughes and Mr. Benjamin Temple represent St.
David's, and the Rev. John Dunn and Mr. James Ruffin represent
St. John's. In the year 1799, the Rev. Thomas Hughes and Mr.
Thomas Fox represent St. David's, and Mr. Edward Chamberlayne
and John Lord represent St. John's. In the year 1805, the Rev.
Duncan McNaughton and Mr. John Hull represent St. Stephen's
parish, but whether the parish of that name in Northumberland or
King William is not known. This concludes the list of ministers
of King William county, until the Rev. Farley Berkeley was sent
there as missionary, who remained one year.
The Rev. John McGuire, while minister in Essex, often visited
one or more of the old churches in King William, and since his
removal the Rev. Mr. Temple has done the same; but the revival
of the Church in that county is at this time very unpromising, the
old Episcopal families having long since either removed or united
with other denominations.
Of the old churches in King William I have received the following
account:—
"King William has still not less than four old Episcopal churches
First, West Point Church, or St. John's, in the central part of the lower
section. There is neither grove or graveyard now around it. The pulpit
was of the ancient and customary shape,—that of a bottle turned upside
down, the neck of the bottle representing the stem on which the body
was sustained. The stem is said to be still preserved somewhere in the
church. A new and ruder pulpit has been substituted. The second is
called Acquinton Church. It is a large old church, in the form of a cross,
having the aisles paved with flagstones. The third is St. David's, about
ten miles higher up, which is a regular quadrangular building, and is
sometimes called Cattail. Fourth, Mangochick Church, in the upper part
of the county,—which is also quadrangular. All of the churches are said
to be in pretty good preservation. The old high-back pews have in some,
perhaps in all of them, given place to benches, and the Commandments
disappeared, except in two of them, from the walls. They have been regarded
and used as common property for a long time. I have officiated
in two of them. In one of them I found the old pulpit still standing,
though a new one or a kind of stage has been erected in another part
of it, and used, I was informed, by one of two contending parties, who
officiated in the church,—the others still preferring the old pulpit.
