University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE XLII.

St. James Northam, Goochland County.

Goochland county was cut off from Henrico in 1727. In the
year 1744 the parish of St. James Northam, was restricted to the
north side of the river, and that on the south side was called St.
James Southam, both of them being in Goochland, which still lay
on both sides of the river, and extended from the Louisa line to
Appomattox River. Albemarle county and parish were also in this
year taken from Goochland, by a line from Louisa to the Appomattox.
We shall now speak of the parish of St. James Northam,
in Goochland, on the north of James River. The vestry-book
which we have commences at its division in 1744. How long it
had been supplied with services before this we are unable to ascertain.
The vestry-book begins with stating that, the parish being
divided into three parts, each parish was at liberty to choose its
own minister, and since the Rev. Mr. Gavin, who had been the
minister of the undivided parish, was disliked by many, the vestry
would procure another. To this Mr. Gavin did not agree, but insisted
on choosing this part, and did continue the minister until his
death in 1749. There is no charge brought against the character
of Mr. Gavin, but only that he was not acceptable to many of the
people. The following letter of Mr. Gavin to the Bishop of London
may perhaps throw some light upon the subject:—

From the foregoing it may be inferred that he was a zealous and
laborious man, and very plain in his speech. His views of slavery
were sufficient, if expressed, to make him very unacceptable to many
of his parishioners. It would seem, also, that there had been
ministers in the parish before him, but they confined their labours
to the lower church,—probably that at Dover, nearest to Richmond,
—whereas he extended his to the mountains, at least fifty or sixty
miles farther up.

Immediately after his death the Rev. Mr. Douglass was chosen.

He entered on his duties in 1750. His history and character de
serve some notice, and must be acceptable to his numerous and respectable
descendants. They are gathered chiefly from a large register
of baptisms, funerals, marriages, sermons, &c., interspersed with
other notices, throwing some light upon the peculiarities which distinguished
him. The Rev. William Douglass was from Scotland.
In the year 1735 he married Miss Nicholas Hunter, by whom he
had only one child,—a daughter named Margaret. In the year
1748 or 1749, leaving them behind, he came over as teacher in the
family of Colonel Monroe, of Westmoreland, father of President
Monroe, who was one of his pupils, as was also Mr. Jefferson afterward,
in Goochland. After some time, returning to England, he
was ordained, and brought back his wife and daughter in the year
1750, and in the same year settled himself in Goochland. His
daughter Margaret, whom he always called Peggy, married Mr.
Nicholas Meriwether, of Albemarle, and they were the ancestors
of many of that name in Virginia. He brought with him, or had
sent to him, two nephews from Scotland, whom he adopted, educated,
and called his children. He had a brother named James,
who settled in New York and left a numerous posterity there.
Perhaps some of that name who have ministered in our Church
may be his descendants. A few years since a Mr. George Douglass
and two daughters from this family in New York paid a visit to
Albemarle to see their relatives in that county, when a happy
family meeting occurred. One of the adopted sons of Mr. Douglass
(William) returned to Scotland and inherited a title. The other
(James) went to New York and became a successful merchant.
One of his daughters married James Monroe, (the nephew and
adopted son of President Monroe,) who some years since represented
the city of New York in Congress. After this biographical notice
of himself and family, I return to his register, from which we learn
some things concerning the early history of this parish nowhere
else to be found. He states, as coming to him from good authority,
that the church at Dover was undertaken by Mr. Thomas Mann
Randolph in 1720; that it was finished in 1724 at a cost of fifty-four
thousand nine hundred and ninety pounds of tobacco; that it
was fifty by twenty-four feet in size; that the Rev. Mr. Finnie
was employed during those four years to preach once a month; that
the Rev. Mr. Murdaugh was then received as a minister; that he
was to preach the last Sunday in every month alternately at the
plantation of Mr. Robert Carter, on the south side of James River,
and of Major Bolling, on the north side of James River. We learn,
also, that in the year 1727 the Rev. Mr. Brooke preached once per
month for them; and that in the same year the Rev. Mr. Beckett
was received into the parish as a minister. We learn also, from his
diary kept in this register, that ministers were very scarce in the
surrounding counties, so that Mr. Douglass had much duty to perform
in the way of funerals, marriages, &c. He records one thousand
three hundred and eighty-eight marriages and four thousand
and sixty-nine baptisms. His views of doctrine and ministerial
character may be seen from the favourable notice taken of Turretine,
Doddridge, Walker, Hill, and Whitefield,—also, of Shower's
Sacramental Discourses. In one of Doddridge's works—his Sermons
to Young Men—he has written on a blank leaf these lines to
his children:—

To this I add an extract from a letter to one of his nephews, just
married, not long before his death:—

As to the time in which the churches were completed, with
the exception of that at Dover, it is not easy to determine. The
three churches at which Mr. Douglass officiated were Dover,
Beaver Dam, and Licking Hole. In the year 1777, after a ministry
of twenty-seven years, he resigned his charge, and settled on
a farm in Louisa, where he spent the remainder of his years,
which were not many. In that year the Rev. Mr. Hall was appointed
for twelve months, to be continued or rejected at pleasure
when the time expired. In the year 1781 the Rev. Mr. Hill was
minister. In that year the glebe rented for only five hundredweight
of tobacco. In the year 1787, a tax of three pounds and
ten shillings was levied, or called for, in order to defray the expenses

of the Rev. Mr. Griffith's consecration as Bishop, of which
Mr. Thomas Mann Randolph paid three pounds. So many of the
parishes failed of their contributions that the consecration did not
take place. In the year 1789, the Rev. Mr. Hopkins was chosen
minister, and continued such until his death, in 1807, when the
old vestry-book ceased. All the accounts received of the Rev.
Mr. Hopkins are of the most favourable kind. His first ministerial
years were spent among the Methodists; but in consequence
of some dissensions among them, or their separation from
the Episcopal Church, he entered into the ministry of the latter.
Tradition says that he was ordained by Bishop White, at a time
when the Congress of the United States and the General Convention
of the Episcopal Church were both sitting in Philadelphia:
that, being called on to preach before civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries,
and especially with General Washington full in view, he
was for a time overwhelmed, but roused himself up to boldness
by remembering "that a mightier than Washington was there."
Soon after his ordination he became the minister of Hollowing
Creek and Allen's Creek Churches, in Hanover county, supplying
also the Manakin and Peterville Churches, in Powhatan. In
1787, he became minister of Beaver Dam and Licking Hole
Churches, Dover Church being left out. He died in the seventieth
year of his age, universally esteemed and beloved. He was married
twice, and had eleven children by each wife. His first wife
was a Miss Pollard, the second a Miss Anderson.[125]

After a long and dreary interval of utter destitution, the hopes
and efforts of the few remaining friends and members of the
Church in Goochland and the neighbouring counties were aroused,
in the year 1726, by the missionary labours of the Rev. William
Lee. As to body, Mr. Lee being little more than thin air, or a

light feather, as he galloped over these counties, his horse felt not
the rider on his back; but the people felt the weight and power
of a strong mind and will, and the pressure of a heart and soul
devoted to the love of God and man. He laid the foundation
anew of the churches in Goochland, Powhatan, Amelia, and
Chesterfield, and, like another Allen, lived to see them all supplied
by ministers. His physical power being incompetent to
these itinerant labours, he took charge of the Church of St. John's,
in Richmond, and afterward of that in the Valley, now a missionary
church. His health failing even for this, he devoted himself
to the press, and was the first editor of the Southern Churchman,
establishing it in Richmond. He continued to edit the same until
his part of the work was performed, when lying on a sick-bed, his
proof-sheets corrected, his selections made and editorials written,
while propped up with bolsters and pillows, thus, to the last, spending
and being spent in his Master's service. During his stay in
Richmond, he was as a right hand to Bishop Moore, who not only
loved him for his amiable qualities and zealous piety, but respected
him for his good judgment, which he often consulted.

In April, 1839, the Rev. Mr. Doughen took charge of the
parish, but only continued a short time. He was succeeded, in
the same year, by the Rev. Richard Wilmer, who continued, with
a short interval, until the summer or fall of 1843. In the year
1844, the Rev. Joseph Wilmer took charge of it, and continued
until the year 1849; and he was succeeded by the Rev. Francis
Whittle, who resigned in 1852. The Rev. Mr. Rodman has recently
become its pastor.

The following list of vestrymen is copied from the vestry-book,
beginning in the year 1744. The Christian names are omitted, for
the sake of brevity, except where necessary to distinguish from
those of the same surname:—

To this it is proper to add, that Mr. William Bolling, in the year
1840, presented a house and fifty acres of land to the church for
a parsonage. St. Paul's, a brick church, was built in the same
year, and, being burned down some years since, was rebuilt in
1855.