University of Virginia Library

ARTICLE XLV.

Parishes in Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Charlotte Counties.
Cumberland Parish.

In the year 1745, Lunenburg county and Cumberland parish
were cut off from Brunswick. In the year 1764, Lunenburg county
embraced all that is now Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Charlotte.
There had been, previous to this, three parishes in it,—viz.: Cumberland,
St. James's, and Cornwall. In that year it was divided
into three counties also, commensurate with the above-mentioned
parishes,—Cumberland parish being in Lunenburg, St. James's in
Mecklenburg, and Cornwall in Charlotte. We shall now present
what information we have about the parish of Cumberland, in Lunenburg.
The vestry-book which we have commences in 1746,
just after the parish and county were cut off from Brunswick, and
when they embraced all of Mecklenburg and Charlotte, and that
which was afterward, in 1752, cut off and made Halifax county
and Antrim parish, which, as we shall see, was again divided into
Pittsylvania and Halifax. At the time we commence with Cumberland
parish, it therefore comprehended all the territory which
is now Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Charlotte, Halifax, and Pittsylvania,
to which we may add Henry, Franklin, and Patrick.

In the first year after the establishment of the parish,—viz.:
1746,—the vestry ordered a chapel forty-eight feet by twenty-four
to be built near Reedy Creek. This was near Lunenburg
Court-House. It was consumed by fire between thirty and forty
years since, during the ministry of Rev. Mr. Philips. Committees
also were appointed to select places for a chapel and reading-house,
near Otter River and the Fork of Roanoke; and another
committee the following year for purchasing a site for a chapel on
Little Roanoke. In the year 1748, the following communication
between the vestry and the Governor confirms what I have previously
said as to the relation between vestries and Governors:—

This was signed by Lewis Deloney, Clement Read,[128] William
Howard, Lyddall Bacon, David Stokes, Thomas Bouldin, Abraham
Martin, John Twitty, Matthew Talbot, vestrymen.

It would appear that the vestrymen had not been inactive in the
erection of churches during the two years since entering on their
office, for the contract with Mr. Brunskill, to preach at the four
churches already built, and at another place on South River, and
two others, are determined on this year. Mr. Brunskill remained
but one year; and, if he was the man who so disgraced himself and
the Church in Fauquier soon after this, the vestry did wisely in
their mode of engaging with him. There were three John Brunskills
in the Church of Virginia at this time,—one of whom died in
Amelia. The Rev. George Purdie is the next minister. They
are yet more careful in their contract with him; for, although recommended
by the President of the Council, Mr. Burwell, and Commissary
Dawson, they will only receive him on trial for six months,
and agree with him that either party may dissolve the connection
by giving six months' notice. He remained about eighteen months,
and, having occasion to visit England, resigned his charge. The
vestry, however, speak well of his conduct while he was their minister.
On his return from England, (if he went,) he became in the
following year minister of St. Andrew's in Brunswick, as we have
seen. In the year 1751, the Rev. William Kay, of whom we shall
have more to say in another place, became the minister on a probation

of two years, with the understanding that either party might
be released at the end of one year. Mr. Kay, being a worthy
minister, remained with them until his death in 1755. In 1756, the
Rev. Mr. Barclay became the minister, on the condition that he
or the vestry might dissolve the relation at a moment's warning
After continuing one year and some months, Mr. Barclay resigns,
and recommends to the vestry to give a title to the parish to
Mr. James Craig, student of divinity, in order that he might obtain
Orders,—that being necessary according to the English canons.
They agree to this, as they did a few years after to Mr. Jarratt,
but only on condition of his entering into bond, with proper security,
that he shall not by virtue of this title insist upon being the
minister of this parish if he shall not be found agreeable to the
gentlemen of the vestry and the parishioners, after trial. This
was the common custom of the vestries in Virginia in regard to
those who were only candidates for the ministry and wished to be
able to comply with the canon and obtain Orders. In the year
1759, the Rev. James Craig becomes their minister. About this
time several other chapels are ordered.

After a few years Mr. Craig thinks of leaving the parish; and
the Rev. Mr. Jarratt, who was about to go to England for Orders,
receives a title on the same condition which had been agreed on
with Mr. Craig. Mr. Craig, however, still continues in the parish
until his death in 1795. He appears to have had the esteem of
the people. A good glebe and glebe-house are prepared for him,
and he was allowed to practise medicine in connection with his
ministry. At one time—about 1790—he appears to have left the
parish, or to have been officiating in some parish or parishes around,
as the vestry pass an order that if he will return to the parish and
preach every Sabbath they will raise sixty pounds for him. Whether
the sixty pounds was raised or not, he appears to have laboured
in his old parish until his death. His ministry was of thirty-five
or thirty-six years' duration in this one parish.

Mr. Craig united the practice of medicine with the duties of
the ministry. Whether it was from the necessity of obtaining a
support for his family, or from charity to the poor, I cannot say.
He prospered in his worldly matters. His glebe was larger and
better than most of those in the State, and he was a better
manager. He had a mill of his own, and during the war it was a
kind of storehouse for public provisions. Tarleton, knowing this,
and that Mr. Craig was a true American and zealous in the cause
of the Revolution, took the mill in his route, and, after he and

his men had feasted on Mr. Craig's good mutton and fed their
horses on his corn, caused all the barrels of flour to be rolled into
the mill-pond and the whole establishment to be burned down.

To Mr. Craig the Rev. John Cameron succeeded. He was one
of four brothers who came from Scotland,—one of them, besides
himself, being in the ministry. The family was ancient and highly
respectable. He was educated in King's College, Aberdeen, was
ordained by the Bishop of Chester in 1770, and came over that year
to Virginia. His first charge was St. James's Church, Mecklenburg.
From thence, in 1784, he went to Petersburg, and, after
spending some years there, removed to Nottoway parish. Mr.
Jarratt, in speaking of the migratory course of the clergy for want
of support after the Revolution, says,—

His new quarters not being in this respect sufficient for his
support, he was obliged to resort to school-keeping, and had a
select classical school, for which, by his scholarship, he was eminently
fitted. He was made Doctor of Divinity by William and
Mary College. If for his strictness he was even then complained
of, how would such a school as his be now endured, by either
parents or children? By nature stern and authoritative, he was
born and educated where the discipline of schools and families
was more than Anglican. It was Caledonian. But he made fine
scholars. There is one at least now alive, who is an instance of
this, and bears testimony to it. His sincere piety and great
uprightness commanded the respect of all, if his stern appearance
and uncompromising strictness prevented a kindlier feeling. I
never saw him but once, and then only for a few hours around a
committee-table at our second Convention in Richmond, and then
received a rebuke from him; and, though it was not for an unpardonable

sin, yet I sincerely thanked him, and have esteemed him
the more for it ever since. The father's piety and integrity have
descended to more than one of his posterity. Judge Duncan
Cameron, of North Carolina, was his son, and educated by him.
Of him it might be said in some good degree, as of Sir Matthew
Hale, "A light saith the Pulpit, a light saith the Bar." Judge
Walker Anderson, of Florida, is his grandson, and was his scholar,
and but for ill health would have been in the ministry. I might
speak of others, but it enters not into my place to enlarge more.

Dr. Cameron continued the minister of Cumberland parish until
his death in 1815. He was buried beside his daughter, Anna M.
Cameron. A tombstone has been erected to their memory by his
son, of whom we have just spoken,—the late Hon. Duncan Cameron,
of North Carolina.

About three or four years after the death of Mr. Cameron, the
Rev. Mr. Philips, of whom I wrote in the article on Hanover, took
charge of this parish and continued in it until his death. During
the interval between the death of Mr. Cameron and the coming of
Mr. Philips, Mr. Ravenscroft, of Mecklenburg, then a candidate
for Orders in Virginia, was recommended by Bishop Moore and
accepted by the vestry as lay reader in the parish.

The Rev. Charles Taliafero, after an interval of some years,
succeeded Mr. Philips in 1831, and for six years laboured most
diligently and successfully, being the means under God of rousing
up the slumbering energies of the old parish. St. John's Church
was the only one standing in the parish at that time. Reedy Creek
Church had been consumed by fire. Being deserted of worshippers,
it was filled with fodder, and said to have taken fire while some
negroes were playing cards in it by night. Old Flatrock Church
had been disposed of and the proceeds applied to the building of
St. John's. St. Paul's was built during the ministry of the honest
and zealous Mr. Taliafero. At his entrance upon duty there were
only seven regular attending communicants in the parish. During
his brief ministry forty-six were added to the communion. Mr.
Taliafero was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Locke, who has continued
to be the minister until within the last two years. The Rev.
Mr. Henderson is its present rector.

I take from the old vestry-book the following list of vestrymen:—

It will be seen that the name of Buford often occurs on this list.
At one time four of the name were in the same vestry. To Mr.
Thomas Buford, a pious member of the Church, the parish is now,
and has been for a long time, indebted for its ability to support a
minister. About sixty years ago he left an estate to the parish,
which, though badly managed, has rendered effectual aid to the
vestry in the support of a minister.

To the above list I add the first election after the effort at reviving
the Church began:—David Street, Colonel John Street,
William Overton, Roger Atkinson, Thomas Atkinson, James McFarland,
Charles Smith.

ST. JAMES'S PARISH, MECKLENBURG COUNTY.

This parish was separated from Cumberland parish, Lunenburg,
in the year 1761. The county of Mecklenburg was cut off from
Lunenburg in 1764. The City Church, as it is called, is still standing,
being an old frame building with a number of old Episcopal
families around it, who, I trust, will ever be as willing as they are
able to sustain a minister. Where the chapels stood I am unable
to say. There was an old house of worship, in the time of Bishop
Ravenscroft's ministry, called Speed's Church, which I believe was
one of former days. In later days one was built in a more central
place and called St. James's, and then removed to another position,
and then abandoned and sold for the purpose of building one at
Boydton. Another has been built about twelve miles from Boydton
by the name of St. Andrew's, another near the Carolina line
called St. Luke's, and, lastly, one at Clarksville, on the Roanoke.

The first minister of this parish was Mr. John Cameron, of whom

we have recently spoken. He is on our list of clergy from this
parish in 1774-76, the only one we have between 1754 and 1758
and 1785. It is probable that he was minister in Mecklenburg
from his first coming into this country, in the year 1770, until
1784, when he moved to Petersburg; though one of his descendants
informs me that he was living in Charlotte in 1771, where he
married a Miss Nash. He may have settled there first and after
a year or two removed to Mecklenburg. It has generally been
supposed that the Rev. George Micklejohn succeeded to Mr. Cameron,
but I can find no evidence that he ever was the regular
minister of the parish. Although there were Conventions from the
year 1785 to the year 1805, and then from 1812 to the present
time, his name never appears as the minister. He was ordained
for North Carolina by the Bishop of London in 1766, and removed,
no doubt, from thence to Virginia and settled in Mecklenburg. He
had either taught school in Carolina or Virginia before the Revolution,
if that anecdote be true which is related of him,—viz.: that
on being solicited by some of the gentlemen, after the war, to resume
his occupation and take some of their sons, he replied that
"he would have nothing to do with their little American democrats,
for that it was hard enough to manage them before the Revolution,
and now it would be impossible." He lived to a great age, was a
man of peculiar character, and never calculated to be useful in the
ministry. He preached very often in Mecklenburg, but to very
small congregations, not always to two or three, himself and an old
brother Scotchman being on one occasion the whole assembly:
nevertheless, the sermon was preached. He lived some years after
Mr. Ravenscroft's ministry commenced. The latter tells the following
anecdote of him:—On a certain occasion, when he (Mr. R.)
was preaching on the various testimonies to the truth and excellency
of religion, he alluded to the comfort of it to the aged and to their
dying witness to it, and, pointing to old Mr. Micklejohn, who was
present and before him, told the congregation that there was the
testimony of a century to our holy religion, supposing him to have
lived his century; but Mr. M. immediately corrected him, crying
aloud, in broad Scotch, "Naw, naw, mon,—ninety-aught, ninety-aught."
But he outlived a century. Mr. Ravenscroft was the first
minister of the parish after the relinquishment of it by Mr. Cameron
in 1784. He was of an ancient Virginia family, to be found about
Williamsburg and Petersburg, according to the records of the House
of Burgesses and the vestry-books. He himself was related to old
Lady Skipwith, of Mecklenburg. He was educated at Williamsburg.
John Randolph, who was there at the same time, used to
say that his nickname was Mad Jack while there, and that he deserved
it long after by reason of the vehemence of his temper,
speech, and manners. The religion of Christ took strong hold of
him, and made a great change in his views and character, so that
he felt necessity laid upon him to preach the Gospel. He at first
united himself to the Methodists, but, on examination, gave the
preference to the Church of his fathers, and became a lay reader
in Mecklenburg and Lunenburg, producing no little effect by his
most impressive and emphatic manner. In the year 1817 he was
minister of St. James's parish, in which he continued until his
election to the Bishopric of North Carolina. He was succeeded
by the Rev. William Steele, who was followed by the Rev. Francis
McGuire. He continued its minister until obliged to retire from
full duty by reason of ill health, though he still lives in it and
performs some services. The Rev. Mr. Chesley took the place of
Mr. McGuire, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Rodman. It is
now vacant.

Although there is no vestry-book of the church in Mecklenburg
from which to give a list of the early vestrymen from the year
1761, we cannot forbear the mention of a few names of persons well
known to us, who contributed much to its revival after the year
1812. Major John Nelson, son or grandson of old Secretary
Thomas Nelson, of York, settled toward the close of the last
century in Mecklenburg, on the Roanoke. The Rev. Alexander
Hay, of whom we shall read when we come to Halifax county, resided
as teacher in his family. The old man and his numerous
sons entered zealously into measures for the revival of the Church.
Mr. John Nelson, Mr. Robert Nelson, and Major Thomas Nelson,
especially, were the active coadjutors of Mr. Ravenscroft and his
successors in raising up the prostrate Church in Mecklenburg.
The names of all of them are to be seen on the journals of our
State Conventions, and those of two of them on the list of delegates
to the General Convention. Major Thomas Nelson signalized
himself in the last war with England, and was for some time a
member of Congress from his district. He recently died at Columbus,
in Georgia, to which State he removed some years since,
beloved and esteemed by all who knew him. To these I might add
the venerable name of Goode and his descendants, and the Lewises,
Cunninghams, Baskervilles, Alexanders, Colemans, Sturdivants,
Tarrys, Daily, and others.

CORNWALL PARISH, IN THE COUNTY OF CHARLOTTE.

The county of Charlotte was taken from Lunenburg in the year
1764. The parish was separated from Cumberland parish, Lunenburg,
in the year 1755, nine years before. On the list of clergy
for the years 1773, 1774, and 1776, we find the Rev. Thomas
Johnson assigned to this parish. We cannot ascertain that any
other ever was the regular pastor of this parish; but from the
family Bible of old Colonel Carrington, of Charlotte, we ascertain
that the following ministers officiated in baptizing between the
years 1755 and 1762:—The Revs. William Key, John Berkeley,
James Garden, William Craig, and Alexander Hay. Some of them
were certainly ministers of surrounding parishes; some of them may
have been ministers of this.

END OF VOL. I.