 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia |  |
ARTICLE XVIII.
Hampton Parish, Elizabeth City County, and Parishes in Warwick.
Until the year 1751 it was called Hampton parish, and on one
of my lists after this; but on the vestry-book beginning in 1751
it is changed to Elizabeth City. Elizabeth City county is one of
the eight original shires of Virginia in the year 1634. It is situated,
as may be seen by looking at the map, just between the
mouths of James and York Rivers. Its compass is so small
and so compact that it does not appear that there was ever an attempt
at building more than one church in it,—that at Hampton,
—unless there may have been one on the Back River portion of it,
of which, however, we have no account. Although the parish and
county of Elizabeth City be comparatively so small,—only eighteen
miles square,—yet are they on many accounts deeply interesting.
Old Point Comfort, which is a part of this county, was, with
the exception of Cape Henry, most probably the first place in
Virginia which was touched by Captain Smith in 1607. In exploring
the county for a suitable settlement, they met (says the
historian Burk) with five of the natives, who invited them to their
town, Kecoughtan or Kichotan, where Hampton now stands. It
was doubtless one of the earliest Indian towns, as it became in
1610 one of the earliest settlements of the Colony. Even before
that, it became a kind of Cape of Good Hope to the Colonists, who
called here on their expeditions up York, Rappahannock, Potomac,
and Nansemond Rivers. It was also the first harbour which Europeans
reached after their long voyages over the Atlantic. Here
they usually stopped, and often proceeded to Jamestown and Williamsburg
by land. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that we
find a church and ministry here at an early period; especially as
this place does not appear to have suffered in the Indian massacre
of 1622, the natives having probably at this time been driven from
this corner of the Colony. We have no vestry-book of more ancient
date than 1751 from whence to draw our facts concerning
the early history of this parish; but the records of the court,
which are equally trustworthy, as far back as the year 1635, have
been preserved in the old clerk's office, and furnish us with some
I am indebted to the researches of the Rev. John McCabe,
late minister of Hampton, for the following facts out of the records
of the court, and which he has embodied in his full and interesting
account of this parish in the Church Review.
In the year 1644 we find the churchwardens presenting to the
court an unworthy female. In the year 1646 we find Nicholas
Brown and William Armistead presenting one of their own body.
In the year 1644 we read of a Rev. Mr. Mallory as performing
service and being remunerated for it. In the next year we read
of a Rev. Justinian Aylmer, who continued to officiate until 1667,
—twenty-three years. In the year 1667 we read of a Rev. Jeremiah
Taylor, who buried a Mr. Nicholas Baker in the new church
of Kichotan, according to a request in the will.
In the same year Mr. Robert Brough, by will, requests that he
may be buried in the old church of Kichotan. In one and the
same year there were an old and a new church standing at Kichotan.
The old one had probably been built many years, and was
going to decay. As there was a law passed in 1621, under the
administration of Sir Thomas Yeardley, that a house of worship
should be erected and a burial-ground set apart on every plantation,
(that is, settlement,) there is reason to believe that there was
one then built at Kichotan, if not before; and that the new one
was built between 1660 and 1667, and that new one is the present
church of St. John's, at Hampton. As to the location of the old
one, Mr. McCabe and some friends settled that point beyond all
dispute. There is an old burial-ground, about a mile from Hampton,
on the Pembroke farm, now the property of John Jones, Esquire,
on which are a number of old gravestones, and where tradition
had located an ancient church. To this Mr. McCabe and his
friends repaired with proper instruments, and, clearing away the
rubbish and digging into the earth, soon found the brick foundation
of the former church; the superstructure having probably been, as
with most other first churches, of wood. Among other interments
in that graveyard are those of John Neville, Vice-Admiral of his
Majesty's fleet in the West Indies, who died in 1697; of Thomas
Curle, born in the year 1640, in Sussex, England, and dying in
1700; also of the Rev. Andrew Thompson, minister of the parish,
who died in 1719, "leaving the character of a sober and religious
man." It seems that the old church had been repaired after the
new one was built, and that it and the burial-ground were preserved
for funeral purposes, (as the old church and graveyard at
county;) but now they are ruins in the midst of a field. From
the examination of records Mr. McCabe concludes that the Rev.
Mr. Mallory was the minister in 1664; how long before is not known.
He was succeeded in 1665 by the Rev. Mr. Aylmer, who in 1667
was followed by the Rev. Jeremiah Taylor. He was a disgrace to
his name and the ministry. For his insolency and misbehaviour
in open court, he was committed to confinement during the court's
pleasure. Again he was presented by the grand jury for drunkenness,
and again for slander. It speaks well for the grand juries
of that day, that they would take cognizance of and punish offences
which are sometimes permitted to pass unnoticed or unpunished
by some church judicatories of our day, of various denominations.
He was succeeded in 1677 by the Rev. John Page, who
left the Colony in 1687. He was no doubt the same of whom we
read as minister of St. Peter's, New Kent, for one year about this
time. He was succeeded by the Rev. Cope Doyley in 1687. In
1712 the Rev. Andrew Thompson became the rector, and died in
1719.[68] In 1731 the Rev. Mr. Fife becomes the minister, and continues
until his death in 1756. He was succeeded by the Rev.
Thomas Warrington, who died in 1770. The Rev. William Selden
followed and continued until 1783, and was succeeded by the Rev.
William Nixon. It does not appear how long he continued, as
there is no meeting of the vestry from 1786 until 1806,—twenty
years. At that meeting the Rev. George Halson was chosen minister.
About this time also the Rev. Mr. Syme served for a short
period. Twenty years longer elapsed before another meeting of
the vestry occurred, when the Rev. Mark L. Chevers was chosen,
who continued to serve the parish, in connection with the chaplaincy
at Old Point, until 1842 or 1843. In the year 1845 the
Rev. Mr. Bausman became its minister, and in 1850 the Rev. Mr.
McCabe, who continued until the present year, 1856.
Concerning two of the preceding ministers, the Rev. Thomas
Warrington and the Rev. William Selden, there is a transaction
recorded on the vestry-book worthy of special notice, as serving to
illustrate still more the contest between vestries and Governors,
Commissaries, and the Crown. It seems that at the death of the
Rev. Mr. Fife two candidates presented themselves,—the Rev. Mr.
Warrington, who was recommended to the parish by Governor
Gooch, and Mr. William Selden, then a young lawyer, probably of
Hampton, who, disliking his profession, wished to enter the ministry,
and applied for a title to this parish with which to proceed to
the Bishop of London for Orders. The vote in the vestry being
taken, there was a tie between the candidates. At this the Governor
and Commissary were much displeased, and wrote a sharp
letter upbraiding the vestry with despising the authority of the
Crown and the Bishop of London by thus refusing to comply with
the recommendation of their commissioned agents in Virginia,—
that is, themselves,—and again call upon them to receive Mr.
Warrington. The vestry have no meeting for four months, and
then the vote was the same as before. They, however, choose Mr.
Warrington temporarily, and at the end of five months more unanimously
choose him as their minister; and he continued to serve
them faithfully and acceptably until his death, thirteen years after,
in 1770. At his death Mr. Selden is again an applicant for the
parish, is elected, and goes to London for Orders, which he obtains
that same year, and continues to be an acceptable minister until
1783, when he resigned on account of ill-health, and soon after
died. For an account of him and his descendants, I refer to a
note in my second article on Henrico; though I am unable to reconcile
the date of his birth, as there given, with the date of his
application to the vestry, and think there must be a mistake on
the part of my informant.
Of the Rev. Mr. Warrington I have information in other documents,
showing him to have been a fearless, upright man, and
while reading of him have been reminded of his brave and patriotic
grandson, Commodore Louis Warrington.[69]
To the above I add a passage from the article of Mr. McCabe,
which had escaped my notice while preparing the above:—
"The vestry-book here is defaced for some years, owing, we presume, to
the fact that in the change of the Church from that of England to the
in 1787, and the first Convention in Philadelphia, July 28,
1789, with Bishops of our own presiding, this parish did not procure a
minister during that period. A tomb has recently been erected, from
which we infer that the Rev. Mr. Skyren was probably the first minister
after the Revolution. The inscription on the tomb reads as follows:—
`Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Henry Skyren, rector of Elizabeth
City parish. Born in Whitehaven, England, anno domini 1729. Died
in Hampton, Virginia, A.D. 1795. This monument is erected by his
surviving children, Elizabeth Temple and John Spottswood Skyren.' "
The following inscription, on a stone near the east entrance to
the church, will show that very soon after the change spoken of
above, the parish was supplied with regular services:—"Sacred to
the memory of the Rev. John Jones Spooner, rector of the church
in Elizabeth City county, who departed this life September 15th,
1799, aged forty-two years." And then, to the right of the door
entering from the east, another, bearing the following:—"Departed
this life January 17th, 1806, the Rev. Benjamin Brown, rector of
Elizabeth City parish, aged thirty-nine years."
Another extract also I take the liberty of making:—
"During the last war with Great Britain, Hampton was sacked, its
inhabitants pillaged, one of its aged citizens, sick and infirm, wantonly
murdered in the arms of his wife, and other crimes committed by hireling
soldiers and by brutalized officers, over which the chaste historian must
draw a veil. The Church of God itself was not spared during the saturnalia
of lust and violence. His temple was profaned and his altars
desecrated. What British ruthlessness had left scattered and prostrate
was soon looked upon with neglect. The moles and bats held their revels
undisturbed within its once hallowed courts, and the obscene owl nestled
and brought forth in the ark of the covenant. The church in which our
fathers worshipped stabled the horse and stalled the ox. The very tomb
of the dead, sacred in all lands, became a slaughter-ground of the butcher,
and an arena for pugilistic contests. A few faithful ones wept when they
remembered Zion in her day of prosperity and beheld her in her hour of
homeless travail, and uttered their cry, `How long, oh Lord, how long?' "
The following preamble, accompanying a subscription, tells the
story of her woes, and breathes the language of returning hope:—
"Whereas, from a variety of circumstances, the Episcopal Church in the
town of Hampton is in a state of dilapidation, and will ere long moulder
into ruins unless some friendly hand be extended to its relief, and, in the
opinion of the vestry, the only method that can be pursued to accomplish
the laudable design of restoring it to the order in which our forefathers
bequeathed it to their children, is to resort to subscription, they do
earnestly solicit pecuniary aid from all its friends, in a full belief that our
appeal will not be made in vain. And, hoping that God will put it into
the hearts of the people to be benevolently disposed toward our long-neglected
Zion," &c.
A committee was appointed to take counsel with Bishop Moore
as to the best method of raising funds for the purpose. The subscription-paper
was circulated, not merely in Hampton, but sent
to some whose fathers had once worshipped in the old house, and
the desired object was attained. Among the subscribers we notice
Commodore Warrington for fifty dollars; Commodore James Barron,
one hundred; the latter, as well as his brother, who was also a
commodore in the American navy, having been born in the parish.
Funds being raised, the church was thoroughly repaired. It
was consecrated by Bishop Moore on Friday, the 8th of January,
1830, and is now one of the most interesting and comfortable
places of worship in Virginia.
A list of the vestrymen from 1751 to 1826 will close our notice
of this parish:—
Mr. Booth Armistead, George Wray, William Armistead, Henry King,
Wilson Miles Cary, William Mallory, William Wager, Jas. Wallace, John
Tabb, Joseph Selden, Miles King, Cary Selden, Warlock Westwood,
Merit Sweny, Robert Armistead, John Allen, Anthony Tucker, Baldwin
Armistead, William Parsons, John Moore, Jacob Walker, Thomas
Latimer, James Wallace, William Latimer, William Armistead, Booth
Armistead, Wilson Miles Cary, William Mallory, Joseph Selden, Miles
King, Robert Bright, William Brough, Thomas Allen, Robert Armistead,
John Cowper, James Latimer, Thomas Watts, Samuel Watts, Miles Cary,
William Loury, Benjamin Philips, William Armistead, Thomas Latimer,
Robert Lively, John Cary, Dr. Wm Hope, J. W. Jones, Westwood T.
Armistead, Col. G. A. Cary, Capt. T. Hope, Capt. J. Herbert, Dr. R. G.
Banks, Capt. John F. Wray, Richard C. Servant, Samuel Dewbre.
The last-named vestryman but one—Mr. Richard B. Servant—
was for many years, and to the close of the vestry-book, the secretary
of the vestry. It has now been many years since he left
Virginia and moved to Illinois, which was once a county of Virginia,
made so for special purposes, at a time when Virginia's
western boundary was the Eastern Ocean, and embraced even
modern California, at least in theory or by royal grant. Mr. Servant,
as may be seen by the following letter, has not forgotten the
old State and Church of Virginia:—
I have read with deep and filial
interest your reminiscenses published in the Southern Churchman, and I
send you a memorandum, hastily made from recollection. I have no
disposition to have my name appear in print, but if you have not already
all the information that you may desire in regard to Elizabeth City parish
and the old church at Hampton, you may use such parts of the following
memorandum as may suit you:—
" `I think that the record will show that Parson Brown was the last
settled minister, and I think his immediate predecessor was Parson Simms,
said to be the best reader in the diocese, but a great "fox-hunter;" and, to
the best of my recollection, Parson George Halson, who was also principal
of the Hampton Academy, was the incumbent,—whether regular or not I
am not sure, but the record will explain. He officiated until the war of
1812. During the interval between Parson Brown and the war, the
framework of the tower, which stood on the west end of the church, became
so decayed that the "Old Queen Anne Bell" had to be taken down
and was placed in the angle made by the church and the tower. From
that position it was removed, by the order of Major Crutchfield, who commanded
the troops encamped on Little England Farm, to the "guardhouse"
of that encampment, and a short time after the tongue became
loose, an axe was used to strike the hour, and the bell cracked. We had
it recast about the year 1825. It was probably the best bell in the Colony.
" `After the British troops evacuated Hampton, on, I think, the 27th of
June, 1813, I, then a boy twelve years old, went into town; and the first
thing that attracted my attention was, that the enemy had used the
churchyard, where the last mortal remains of my ancestors for one hundred
and fifty years or more had been deposited, for slaughtering cattle,
and the walls were smoked in numerous paces where they had made fires
with which to cook their provisions. The venerable old church was also
![illustration](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:190140/full/!1600,1600/0/default.jpg")
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, HAMPTON, VA.
barrack.
" `From this time until about the year 1824, the church and the walls
surrounding it were rapidly going to decay,—the church a common shelter
for horses, cattle, and hogs, and was profaned by men and boys also. I
had often said to my dear sainted mother, that if I lived to be a man I
would stir up the people to repair the old church and walls. In the year
1822 or 1823, just as I was arriving to manhood, an incident occurred
which I shall never forget. Mrs. Jane Hope, eldest daughter of the late
Commodore James Barron, was spending the evening with my mother,
(who resided on the lot adjoining, west of the church,) and she proposed
a visit to the graves of our ancestors; and, while standing at the front
door of the church, within a foot of the graves of my ancestors, she remarked
to me, "Cousin, if I were a man I would have these walls built
up." Her words were like electricity, and from that moment my determination
was fixed. The very next day I called on the late Westwood Armistead,
Dr. William Hope, Captain Robert Lively, and Colonel Wilson W.
Jones; and the result of our interview was, that we should prepare a subscription-paper
to have the wall around the old graveyard repaired, little
thinking then that the repairs of the "old church" would follow. I commenced
on the same day, and, after raising all that I could in the parish,
proceeded to Norfolk, and with the assistance of Commodores Barron
and Warrington, (the grandfather of the latter having been one of the
ministers of the church,) Miles King, late Navy Agent, and Dr. William
Selden, whose ancestors were buried in the old churchyard, Judge Strange,
of North Carolina, who also had a relative buried there, and subscribed
liberally, raised a sufficient sum to repair the walls around the graveyard,
which in a short time were completed, and a substantial wrought-iron
gate placed at the entrance.
" `About the year 1824 or 1825, (the record will show,) a meeting of
the friends of the church was called, a vestry elected, and an effort made
to repair the church, which, with the assistance of our friends at Norfolk,
was successful beyond our most sanguine anticipations. A short time
after, the Rev. Mark L. Chevers was elected rector: of this, however,
and what has followed, the record will show.
" `When we undertook to repair the church there was nothing standing
but the bare walls and a leaky roof,—not a vestige of doors, windows, or
floors. In order to give an impetus to our proceedings, we prevailed upon
good old Bishop Moore to pay us a visit, and, to make his visit the more
effective, we had the accumulated filth cleansed out, and the old walls,
after a lapse of many years, resounded with prayer and praise. I sat on
the bare tiles; but what a seat, and what a day! It was manifest to all
that "the glory of the Lord filled the house." Dr. Ducachet occasionally
came over to preach for us, and at every visit the remark was that "some
more nails were driven into the church."
" `Upon the election of the vestry there was not a vestige of the church-furniture
to be found. We, however, succeeded in finding the old vestry-book,
which had been carefully preserved by the late Samuel Watts, or,
as he was more familiarly called, "Uncle Sammy."
" `I doubt very much whether, upon the reorganization and resuscitation
of the parish, there were a half-dozen Prayer Books in the parish.'
"You will see that I have written the foregoing just as circumstances
you can use it.
"Your brother in Christ,
Point Comfort, more than one hundred and eighty years ago, and since
that time there has not been a Dissenter in the family. Do you ask how
this happened, when the church had sunk so low that there was scarcely
any to do it reverence? I answer, the habitual use of the Prayer Book
and FAMILY PRAYERS. My father died when I was sixteen years old,
and my mother had an aversion to leading in prayer, but she insisted
that I should do so, and our family were kept together in the `one fold'
by means of FAMILY PRAYER."
PARISH OF WARWICK.
Of this we can say but little. The county was one of the eight
original shires in 1634. It is a small county on the lower part of
James River, lying alongside of Elizabeth City and York counties.
Of course it became a parish and county at the same time, and
they have always been known by the same names. The first
information we have of its ministers is in 1754, when the Rev.
Roscoe Cole had charge of the parish. In the year 1758 the Rev.
Thomas Davis was minister. In the years 1773, 1774, and 1776,
the Rev. William Hubard was there. In the year 1785 the Rev.
William Bland, of whom we have already written, was in the Convention
which organized the diocese, with Mr. Richard Cary as
his lay delegate. The Carys were a very ancient and most respectable
family in that part of Virginia. It is our purpose to
visit their ancient seat and the Clerk's Office of the county, in the
hope of finding something worth adding to this meagre account;
and, in the mean while, would be thankful to any member of the
family for some account of it.[70]
We enlarge our notices of Warwick a little by the following account of the
Digges, some of whom lived in it. The family of Digges is most ancient and
honourable. Virginians and Episcopalians need not wish to go further back than
to the Hon. Dudley Digges, one of the most active members of that most noble and
Christian association, the London Company,—far more of a missionary institution
than any of that day. The minutes of the London Company show him to have
ever been at his post in the meetings of the committee, with such men as the Earl
of Southampton, the Ferrars, and others. Mr. Burk, after speaking the praises
of this Company for purity of morals, for noble motives, and even a tolerant spirit
of religion, which was high commendation from an infidel as he was, then extols
its literary character,—representing Southampton as the friend of Shakspeare, and
George Sandys, the Company's Treasurer in Virginia, as translating Ovid in the
wilds of Virginia,—concluding thus:—"Sir Edwin Sandys, Sir Dudley Digges, Sir
John Saville, with several other members of the London Company, were considered
the most elegant scholars and the most eloquent speakers in the nation." The name
of Digges was soon transferred to Virginia. We read of Digges's Hundred among
the early settlements on James River. We read in 1654 of Edward Digges made
one of the Council, and so approving himself in that office as to be called to preside
over the Colony; and then, at the expiration of his term, to be requested to continue
in it as long as he continued in the country, with other marks of distinction.
Thence onward we meet with the name in the lists of vestrymen and Burgesses,
until the period came in our country's history which tried the souls even of the
bravest, when, in 1773, we find the name of Dudley Digges on the first committee
for correspondence with the other Colonies about our grievances; and in 1776 the
names of Dudley Digges and William Digges as members from York with General
Nelson in the great Convention. And ever since that time it has been our happiness
to find that name often enrolled on the lists of vestrymen and communicants of our
Church. One of the descendants of the Digges, who died in 1700, was named
Cole Digges, a man of large property, owning Chilham Castle near York, Bellfield
on York River, between York and Williamsburg, and Denbigh in Warwick. His
sons were Edward, William, and Dudley. Among his grandchildren were William,
who married his cousin Elizabeth, of Denbigh; Dudley, who married his cousin
Louisa: Thomas and Edward moved to Fauquier and had families. One granddaughter
married a Mr. Powell, of Petersburg. Two married Fitzhughs, of Fauquier.
The first wife of the first Dudley was a Miss Armistead; the second, Miss
Wormley, of Rosegill. He had two sons, Cole and Dudley, and several daughters,
one of whom married a Burwell, another a Stratton, of the Eastern Shore, a third
a Digges, and two of them married Nicolsons. The wife of the Rev. Mr. Woodbridge
is daughter of one of the last. One daughter of the first Cole Digges married
Nathaniel Harrison, of Brandon; another, Nathaniel Harrison, of Wakefield.
CHARLES, OR CHARLES RIVER PARISH, YORK COUNTY.
This was separated from York-Hampton parish before the year
1754, but how long we have been unable as yet to ascertain. The
Rev. Thomas Warrington was ordained in 1747 and was its minister
in 1754, and until he went to Hampton in 1756. As I do not
see his name as belonging to any other parish, it is probable that
he entered at once on the ministry in this parish.
The Rev. Joseph Davenport was the minister in 1773, 1774, and
also in 1785. In the last year he appears in the Convention with
Mr. Robert Shield as lay delegate. This is all we can learn as to
the parish of Charles,—so called because on York River, which
was once called Charles River, and because York county was once
called Charles River county.
Before crossing York River to treat of the parishes of Gloucester
and Mathews, it may be well to observe that at an early period
there may be found the names of a number of parishes which once
Charles City, below and above Jamestown and round about Williamsburg;
as, for instance, Southwark, Chiskiack, Middletown,
Harop, Nutmeg and Denbigh, Wilmington, Marston, which were
soon merged into James City, York-Hampton, Bruton, and Westover
parish. Soon after the settlement of the country, when the
Indians abounded and it was dangerous to go far to worship, every
little plantation or settlement in that region was made a parish.
There is one parish, by the name of Westminster, which as yet I
have been unable to locate, and which made a report to the Bishop
of London in 1724. Its communicants only numbered sixteen. I
incline to think it was somewhere on the Chickahominy. Its minister
was the Rev. Mr. Cox.
In accordance with the determination expressed above, I have
visited old Warwick, which, though the least of all shires of Virginia,
was one of the most fruitful nurseries of the families of
Virginia. Its contiguity to James River and Jamestown rendered
it a safe place for early Colonists to settle in. It was probably at
one time, according to its dimensions, the most populous of all the
counties. In evidence of which, I find from an examination of the
records of the Clerk's Office, which extend back to about 1642,
that there were, at one time, not less than eight parishes in Warwick.
Two of these were on Mulberry Island,—one called Stanley
Hundred, and the other Nutmeg Quarter. It is really not an
island, as Jamestown was not an island, though both of them so called.
Mulberry Island joined the mainland in its upper part, and one of
its parishes at least—Stanley Hundred—was at one time connected
with the church at Jamestown, and had much the largest congregation.
The result of my hasty examination of the old and decayed
records at Warwick Court-house, some of which are like the
exhumed volumes from the long-buried towns of the East, and will
scarce bear handling, was the discovery that the following were the
most prominent names in this county in times long since gone
by: — Fauntleroy, Hill, Bushrodd, Ryland, Ballard, Purnell,
Ashton, Clayborne, Cary, Dade, Griffith, Whittaker, Pritchard,
Hurd, Harwood, Bassett, Watkins, Smith, Digges, Dudley, Petit,
Radford, Stephens, Wood, Bradford, Stratton, Glascock, Pattison,
Barber, Allsop, Browninge, Killpatricke, Nowell, Lewellin,
Goodale, Dawson, Cosby, Wythe, Reade, Bolton, Dixon, Langhorne,
Morgan, Fenton, Chisman, Watkins, John, Lang, Parker,
West. No one can look over this list without exclaiming, "What
part of Virginia are not some of the descendants of these first
settlers to be found?[71]
Besides visiting the old court-house and Clerk's Office and jail
(the latter without an inmate) of Warwick county, I went to the
ancient seat of the Coles and Digges, at Denbigh, on James
River, just opposite to Nutmeg Quarter, on Mulberry Island, the
island reaching down to this place and only separated from it by
Warwick River. The ancient house at Denbigh is no more, except
one wing of it, which forms a part of the habitation of the
present owner, Mr. Young, a descendant of one of the old Episcopal
families of Denbigh parish. The settlement at Denbigh was
formerly the seat of the Coles and Digges, who intermarried.
The Hon. Edward Digges, no doubt, at one time lived at this place
and owned part of Mulberry Island, which may have received its
name from the trees which furnished food for the worms which
were used in the raising of silk, of which operation Mr. Digges was
the great patron, as appears from history and his tombstone. There
is still handed down, in the family residing there, a ball of the raw
material, made at an early period, a portion of which was presented
to me. Within a few miles of Denbigh farm is one of the
ancient seats of the Cary family, and, at the same distance, old
Denbigh Church. I paid a visit to the latter, and found it in a
much better condition than I could have expected. It is in the
parish called Upper Denbigh, there being formerly one called
Lower Denbigh. The present building was erected one hundred
and ten years since; and the weatherboarding was so well done,
and was of such excellent material, that it is still good. The
foundation of an older one is plainly to be traced a short distance
behind it, in the woods which come up to the present church, which
is only a few yards from the main Warwick road leading up and
down the country. There is only one large tombstone there, on
which is the following inscription:—
"Mary Harrison, daughter of the Honble Cole Digges, of his Majesty's
12th, 1744, in her 27th year. She so discharged the several
duties of a wife, mother, daughter, and neighbour, that her relations and
acquaintances might justly esteem their loss insupportable, was it not
chastened with the remembrance that every virtue which adds weight to
their loss augments her reward."
Mrs. Harrison was grandmother of the late George Harrison,
of Lower Brandon, and of Mr. William Harrison, of Upper Brandon,
on James River.[72]
I also visited the site of another old
church in Warwick, in the parish of Martin's Hundred a few
miles from the Grove, the former seat of the Burwells. After
much exploring of the place, now covered with trees and bushes
and leaves, my companion, Mr. Richard Randolph, and myself felt
beneath our feet a tombstone covered with moss and leaves, and,
on clearing them away, deciphered the name of "Samuel Pond,
of Martin's Hundred parish, in the Colony of Va., who departed
this life in the year of our Lord 1694, aged 48." By this discovery
alone have I been able to locate the parish of Martin's Hundred,
so often mentioned in the early history and statutes of Virginia.
A part of this parish may have been in James City county.
The family of Cary owned large tracts of land in this county,
and had two family-seats, well known and much visited in former
days. One of them is near Denbigh. The tombs of a number of
the family are still to be seen there. The other, called Richneck,
is about eight miles off, and higher up the county. The last occupant
bearing the name was Mr. Cary, who moved to Carysbrook,
in Fluvanna county. On visiting this place, and going to
the graveyard where some of the ancestors had been buried, I
found that the brick enclosure had been removed, and even the
bricks underneath the only large tombstone which was there had
been taken away, and used in constructing a steam mill for sawing
up the timber of the plantation. The whole estate, consisting chiefly
fifteen hundred acres, had been sold to persons from a distance,
who were converting it into lumber and wood. What is true of
this is true of many other old settlements in Warwick. Impoverished
by improper culture, and deserted of its former owners, what
was once covered with habitations and people has now returned to
its primeval state, and is dense forest. It is now feeding the steamboats
and furnishing building-materials for our towns. A few
more generations may see it once more in a different condition.
Before leaving this county, it will be interesting to our readers
to have an extract from the Acts of Assembly, in the year 1654,
touching one whose family name is on the list of the early inhabitants
of Warwick, and who may himself have belonged to it at
the time:—
"PUBLIQUE ORDERS OF ASSEMBLY
"Whereas, Col. Edward Hill, unanimously chosen Speaker of this House,
was afterward maliciously reported by William Hatcher to be an atheist
and blasphemer, according to an information exhibited against him the
last Quarter-court, from which the Honourable Governor and Council then
cleared the said Edward Hill, and now certified the same unto the House;
and forasmuch as the said William Hatcher, notwithstanding he had notice
given him of the Governor and Council's pleasure therein, and of the said
Col. Hill being cleared as aforesaid, hath also reported that `the mouth of
this House was a devil,' nominating and meaning thereby the said Right
Worshipfull Col. Edward Hill, it is therefore ordered by this House,
that the said William Hatcher, upon his knees, make an humble acknowledgment
of his offence unto the said Col. Edward Hill and Burgesses of
this Assembly; which accordingly was performed, and then he, the said
Hatcher, was dismissed, paying his fees."
The above shows in what horror an atheist was then held, and
what a reproach it was to have such a one in a public office.
I also promised to examine further into the history of the Digges,
supposing them to belong much more to the county of Warwick than
I find them to have been. Although they intermarried with the
family of Cole, and some of them were Warwick men, yet, for the
most part, they lived in York county. Their two seats, Chilham,
near Yorktown, and Bellfield, some miles higher up the river and
about eight miles from Williamsburg, were both on the river. The
latter is just opposite to Shelly, on the Gloucester side, and was in
the parish first called Chiskiack, and afterward Hampton, until it was
merged into York-Hampton. Captain Smith, in his history of the
Colony at its first establishment, speaks of King Powhatan as being
sometimes with this tribe of Chiskiack Indians. He had only to
cross the river from his residence at or near Shelly to Bellfield,
be in the midst of this tribe. Being informed that Bellfield was
the burial-place of the Digges, I recently spent a night there with
Colonel McCandlish and a part of his family, who met me at this—
which is only their occasional—residence. I found the tombs in
much better order than at most of the old family graveyards.
They are very massive. The top-stones, on which the inscriptions
are put, are of what is called ironstone, or black marble, being the
hardest and heaviest stone in England, scarcely less heavy than
iron itself. Nearly all of the old imported tombs are of this kind.
It preserves the inscriptions also much better than any other kind
of stone or marble. The following are the inscriptions:—
I.
"To the memory of Edward Digges, Esquire, sonne of Sir Dudley
Digges, of Chilham, in Kent, Knight and Baronett, Master of the Rolls
in the reign of King Charles the 1st. He departed this life the 15th of
March, 1675, in the 55th year of his age, one of his Majesty's Councill
for this his Colony of Va. A gentleman of most commendable parts and
ingenuity, and the only introducer and promoter of the silk-manufacture
in this Colonie, and in every thing else a pattern worthy of all pious
imitation. He had issue six sonnes and seven daughters by the body of
Elizabeth his wife, who of her conjugal affection hath dedicated to him
this memorial."
II.
This is to the memory of his son Dudley, who married Miss
Cole, of Denbigh:—
"Sub hoc marmore requiescit in pace Dudleus Digges, armiger, Susannæ
Digges juxta depositæ maritus amantissimus. Vir et virtute, et pro sapientia,
vere inclytus, qui hujusce Coloniæ primo Consilioris, dein ad Auditoris
dignitatem, erectus est. Obiit, omnibus desideratus, 27 Januarii,
1710, ætatis suæ 47. Justorum animæ in manu Dei sunt."
Which is thus rendered:—
"Under this marble rests in peace Dudley Digges, gentleman, the most
loving husband of Susannah Digges, buried near him. He was a man
very eminent for virtue and wisdom, who was first raised to the dignity
of Councillor and then Auditor of this Colony. He died, lamented by
all, the 27th of January, 1710, in his forty-seventh year. `The souls of
the righteous are in the hand of God.' "
III. THE TOMB OF HIS WIFE.
"Hic subtus inhumatum corpus Susannæ Digges, filiæ Gulielmi Cole,
armigeri, nec non Dudlei Digges, armigeri, conjugis fidelissimæ, quæ en
hac vita decessit 9th Kal. Decembris, anno salutis 1708. Ætatis suæ 34.
IV.
"This monument was erected by Col. Edward Digges to the memory
many years one of his Majesty's Honble Council for this Colony, and
some time President of the same, died in the 53d year of his age, and in
the year of our Lord 1744.
Enjoying life, yet mindful of his end.
In thee the world an happy meeting saw
Of sprightly humour and religious awe.
Cheerful, not wild; facetious, yet not mad;
Though grave, not sour; though serious, never sad.
Mirth came not, call'd to banish from within
Intruding pangs of unrepented sin;
And thy religion was no studied art
To varnish guilt, but purified the heart.
What less than a felicity most rare
Could spring from such a temper and such care?
Now in the city, taking great delight,
To vote new laws, or old interpret right;
Now crowds and business quitting, to receive
The joys content in solitude can give.
With equal praise thou shone among the great,
And graced the humble pleasures of retreat;
Display'd thy dignity on every scene,
And tempted or betray'd to nothing mean.
Whate'er of mean beneath it lies,
The rest unstain'd is claimed by the skies."
The following extract, from an old will among the records, is worthy of insertion:—
"In
the name of God, Amen: I, Garnett Corbett, of the county of Warwick,
being now sick and weake, but of sound and perfect memory, and knowing not how
soone it may be the pleasure of Almighty God to release mee out of this transitory
world, doe hereby make my last will and testament, in form following,—viz.:—
"First, and principally, I most humbly recommend my soule into the protection
and conservation of my blessed and precious Redeemer, Jesus Christ, with full and
whole trust in him, by his bitter death and passion, to receive salvation."
I ascertained, also, that the last ministers who officiated at Denbigh Church
were the Rev. Mr. Camm, son of the Rev. Commissary Camm, and a Mr. Wood,—
both of them respectable men. They officiated at some other place or places in
Warwick at the same time. The old high-backed pews are still retained. I was
told that after the Episcopal Church had ceased to have services in this church, and
other denominations had taken possession, on the occasion of some protracted and
very exciting meeting, when the old pews seemed to be in the way of promoting a
revival, it was proposed from the pulpit that they be taken away and benches put
in place of them. The measure was about to be carried, when a young man, whose
ancestors had worshipped in the old church as it was, rose up and protested against
it, saying that he would appeal to the law and prevent it."
I am enabled to supply a deficiency in this catalogue, from a letter of the Rev.
James Falconer, who was minister in this parish between the Rev. Mr. Thompson
and the Rev. Mr. Fife. His report to the Bishop of London is, that his parish is
fifty miles in circumference, with three hundred and fifty families; that the owners
were careful to instruct the young negro children and bring them to baptism; that
service is performed every Sunday, and that most of the parishioners attend; that
there were about one hundred communicants; that his salary was about sixty-five
pounds; that there were two public schools in the parish, and one good private one
kept by a Mr. William Fife, a man of good life and conversation. He was doubtless
the person that succeeded him in 1731.
The Rev. Mr. Warrington was the grandfather of Commodore Warrington.
From his birth the latter became an object of peculiar interest to a lady in Williamsburg,
whom I am unable to name or identify except that she was the aunt of
a Miss Frances Caines, the intimate friend of Miss Ambler, afterward Mrs. Edward
Carrington, of Richmond, from whose papers I have often quoted. Both the young
ladies had been companions of the mother of young Louis Warrington, and took a
lively interest in him on that account. Miss Caines and Miss Ambler (afterward
Mrs. Carrington) corresponded for a long time after the former returned to England,
as she was only a temporary sojourner in Virginia. The following extracts from
one of Mrs. Carrington's letters to her old friend, Miss C., in 1820, will, I am sure,
be gratifying to my readers, not only on account of what refers to young Warrington,
but what relates to other subjects:—
"At our advanced age, my respected friend, it would seem incredible that a
renewal of intercourse should take place between us. Years have passed since I
have had the pleasure of hearing from you, and but for the visit of my cousin (John
Jaqueline Ambler) to England, I might probably have gone to my grave without
knowing what had become of you. Who can tell but it may be a foretaste of a
reunion in a better world that a merciful God has in store for us? The little book
you presented to my cousin brought to my recollection the one you presented to me
some forty years ago, entitled `Sacred Dramas.' It was a precious gift to me, and
led me to peruse every succeeding work of that excellent author (Miss Hannah
More) with delight, and, I hope, with advantage. What a woman is she! And what
a gift have her writings been even to our remote corner of the world! Whenever
England is brought to my mind, I somehow or other so connect the names of Frances
Caines, Hannah More, and the hallowed spot of Barley Wood, that altogether it
seems a paradise. In one of your last letters you say, `Can it be possible that the
Captain Warrington I have seen announced in the Liverpool papers, as lately arrived
in England with despatches from America, is our dear little Louis?' It was the
same little Louis that we so fondly doted on. His conduct through life has been
distinguished,—has raised him to high standing in our navy,—and no doubt some
future historian will do him ample justice in his naval character. In private life
he has been alike deserving."
Mrs. Carrington then mentions, in proof of his generosity, his dividing a thousand
pounds, which had been left him by the aunt of Miss Caines, with two half-sisters
who were in need. She speaks also of his having married a Miss Cary King,
"a sprightly and amiable girl, an old schoolmate of hers." "They are now living
in great comfort near Norfolk; he holding some office in the navy-yard, and standing
high in the confidence of his country. It has been some years since I saw him,
and on his last visit to Richmond my health was too bad to admit of my inviting
him. It was a visit, however, of great interest to many, and produced an excitement
that is rarely experienced. How would you have felt, my dear friend, had
you seen him hailed as one of the choicest guardians of his country, called by the
united voice of Virginia to receive a splendid sword as a token of her love and
gratitude to him? It is impossible for me to describe the emotions produced in my
mind when I heard every voice united in commendation, and in rapture describe his
modest manliness as he entered the Senate-Hall to receive his merited reward. In
an instant my thoughts flew back to your aunt's room, where you first saw the
lovely boy; and busy recollection carried me still further back,—two years previous,
—when on a visit to Williamsburg I was ushered in to see your aunt, who laid him
on my lap, and in agony left the room."
Mrs. Carrington adds a passage from a projected novel of her aunt Jaqueline, in
which Louis Warrington was to be the hero:—"This must ever be the lot of our
poor clergy,—a scanty subsistence while living, and at their death poverty and
misery is their children's only inheritance." In which, however, we must beg leave
widely to differ from this excellent lady; and must class this sentiment and assertion
among many others in novels, projected or executed, as we believe the descendants
of pious clergymen have many special blessings entailed upon them.
The prayers and example of Commodore Warrington's pious grandfather may have
been among the means appointed of Providence for promoting the future greatness,
and, what is infinitely better, the future piety, of Commodore Warrington. My residence
in Norfolk, as minister of Christ Church, for two years, enabled me to form a
just estimate of his character. Though his station was at the navy-yard in Gosport,
and his residence there, he was a most punctual attendant on the Sabbath in
Christ Church, Norfolk. Mrs. Carrington speaks of the modest manliness, admired
of all, with which he entered the Senate-Chamber to receive the sword which was
voted him by the Legislature of Virginia. I have seen him n every succeeding
Sabbath for the greater part of two years in a much more desirable and honourable
place, when walking up the middle aisle of Christ Church with the same "modest
manliness." There was in him the dignity of the soldier and the modesty of the
Christian blended together. He was not then in full membership with the Church,
though all thought he might with propriety have been. But, even then, his devout
behaviour and respectful use of the Prayer Book was an example to all others. As
through life he had always, so far as I know and believe, been the friend of religion,
and manifested it in those public ways required of naval officers, so, in his latter
days, he sealed that testimony by entering into full communion with the Church of
his choice and of his ancestors.
P.S.—I have since discovered that the lady who patronized Louis Warrington was
Mrs. Riddle, sister of the Rev. Thomas Warrington and great-aunt of Commodore
Warrington.
| Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia | |