Accomack-Northampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History - Books .....The Parishes In Accomac County VA 1908
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Book Title: Colonial Churches In The Original Colony Of Virginia

THE PARISHES IN ACCOMAC COUNTY, VA. [Pages 93-97]

Compiled in part from Bishop Meade's "Old Churches, Ministers and Families in
Virginia."

The whole of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was called Accowmake, then changed to
Northampton, then divided into Northampton and Accomac. Soon after this, in the
year 1762, the county of Accomac was divided into two parishes by a line running
from the bay to the sea, the upper being called Accomac Parish, and the other
St. George's. The dividing line runs about three miles north of Drummundtown.

From a record in the clerk's office in Northampton there is reason to believe
that the church at Pongoteague was built before the division of the Eastern
Shore into two counties, and was the first erected in Accomac. The next wasa
that which stood a few miles from Drummondtown, and was, until the year 1819,
called the New Church. At that time the name of St. James' was given to it. It
was subsequently removed to Drummondtown and now forms the church at that place.
In the year 1724 there were three churches in the upper parish (Accomac), about
ten miles distant from each other. The first minister of whom we read in the
parish was the Rev. William Black, who, in the year 1709-10 wrote to the Bishop
of London that he had taken charge of it, that there had been no minister there
before for fifteen years. In the year 1724 he is still the minister, and in
answer to certain questions by the Bishop of London, writes that he preaches at
these churches, has two hundred communicants, four or five hundred families
under his charge, instructs the negroes at their master's houses, has baptized
two hundred of them, catechizes the children on Sunday from March to September,
has no Communion service or anything decent in his church, receives a salary of
forty pounds per annum (that being the value of his tobacco), rents his glebe
for twenty shillings per annum, has a school in his parish, endowed by one Mr.
Sanford, of London, and which is still in existence. 

How long the pious labors of Mr. Black continued after the year 1724 is not
known. In the year 1755 we find, from an old list of the clergy of Virginia,
that the Rev. Arthur Emmerson, afterwards well known in other parishes, was the
minister. In the year 1774 the Rev. William Vere is set down in the Virginia
Almanac as the minister of Accomac Parish. He was doubtless the last minister of
this parish. In the year 1785, when the first Convention after the Revolution
met in Richmond, there was no clerical delegate from either of the parishes of
Accomac. Mr. Jabez Pittis was the lay delegate from Accomac Parish, and Mr.
Levin Joynes and Tully Wise from St. George's.

The churches in Accomac were a brick one, at "Assawaman," on the seaside; a
wooden one on the Middle or Wallop's Road, about five miles from the southern
line of the parish, and another of wood, at Pocomoke, near the Maryland line,
called the New Church. None of them now remain. About thirty years past, says
Bishop Meade, the overseers of the poor took possession of the Communion plate,
and sold the same to a silversmith, who intended to melt it, but being advised
that it was doubtful whether they had any authority to sell the plate under the
law directing the sale of glebe lands, and there being a tradition that the
plate was a private donation, the sale was rescinded.

As to the ministers of St. George's Parish, in Accomac, our records before the
Revolution fail us altogether. It is probable that some of the ministers of
Hungars Parish rendered service here for some time after the division of the
Eastern Shore into the counties of Northampton and Accomac, especially Mr.
Teackle. The Teackle records say that the Rev. Thomas Teackle preached there for
over forty years, and family tradition states that he was the first rector of
St. George's. He died in 1696. This would date the church somewhere about 1656.
In Northampton county records Mr. Teackle is frequently mentioned as "Minister
of ye Upper Parish." He was born in 1624, in Gloucestershire, England, and his
father was slain in the army of Charles I. His son, fleeing from the
persecutions of the Cromwellites, first went to the Bermudas, and thence came to
Northampton at the instigation of his cousin, Colonel Obedience Robins. St.
George's is considered, in the Teackle records, to be the fourth church in
Virginia in point of age. 

The first minister on any of our lists was the Rev. John Lyon, from Rhode
Island, who was in the parish in the year 1774, and continued there during some
time after the war. Being more of the Englishman than the American in his
feelings, his time was very uncomfortable during the Revolutionary struggle;
but, being married into a respectable family, his principles were tolerated and
his person protected. While as a faithful historian, we shall truthfully admit
whatever of Toryism there was among the clergy of Virginia, we shall as
faithfully maintain that there was a large share of noble patriotism in the
clergy of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson declares this most emphatically. No element
was more often invoked in the earlier history of Virginia than the influence of
ministers of the gospel in producing a feeling of resistance to the oppressions
of England, and no class from whom the Henrys, Jeffersons, and patriot
politicians of that day received greater aid in opening the eyes of the people
and preparing them for severance from Great Britain. Mr. Jefferson himself
acknowledges this in his works (Vol. I., pp 5-6).

In the year 1786 the Rev. Theopolus Nugent was present in the Convention as the
rector of St. George's Parish, Accomac. But nothing more is known of him. The
following is a list of the clergymen from the time of Mr. Nugent to the present
day: The Revs. Cave Jones, Ayrs, Reese, Gardiner, Eastburn, Smith, Chase,
Goldsmith, Carpenter, Adams, Bartlett, Winchester, Jonathan Smith, William G.
Jones and Zimmer. 

The Rev. Cave Jones was a native of Virginia, probably a descendant of one of
the three of that name who ministered to the early Church of Virginia. He was a
man of talents and eloquence, which, after some years, attracted attention
beyond the bounds of our State, and led to a call to Trinity church, New York.
He was so popular in that situation as to become a formidable rival to Dr.
Hobart, afterwards Bishop of New York.

Another name in the above list is that of Rev. Mr. Eastburn, worthy of more than
passing notice. James Wallis Eastburn, a brother of Bishop Eastburn, of
Massachusetts, M.A. of Columbia College, of New York, was a native of that
State, and from every account we have of him, must have been one of the most
interesting and talented young men of our country. He was ordained by Bishop
Hobart in October, 1818; commenced his ministry in Accomac county almost
immediately, and after a short but truly glorious ministry of about eight
months, returned broken in health and expeired in December 1819 on his way to
the West Indies. He had only reached the age of twenty-two, but was mature in
mind and a "burning light" in the Church of God. The hymn -- 137 -- beginning,
"Oh, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord," was composed by him at eighteen years of age.

Some years since, the Rev. Ambler Weed, of Richmond, undertook the revival of
the Church in the lower part of St. George's Parish, and by great diligence
caused a new church by the name of St. Michael's to be erected near Belle Haven.
In this and in old Pongoteague church he officiated for some years with great
diligence and self-denial and with some success.

Old Pongoteague, the first house of prayer erected in Accomac, and probably not
much less than two hundred years old (1857), still stands a remarkable monument
of former days, among some old trees, perhaps as ancient as itself. It was a
brick building in the form of a cross, with a bow window in one arm of the cross
and the vestry-room in the other. The floor was of brick and the pews had high
backs. The pulpit was circular, with a flight of steps leading to it. The brick
floor having become uneven, a plank floor was laid over it, and the pew backs
were lowered. The Parish Register was lost, but the old Bible and Prayer Book,
together with the old Communion service, have been preserved. The goblet and
paten, it is believed, were the gift of Queen Anne, and bear this inscription:
"Ye Parish of Accomack."

In 1861 the church was used as a stable by the Federal troops, and at the end of
the war the building was a complete wreck. Thus it remained untenanted for a
number of years, until the Church people of the neighborhood determined to
restore it as a place of worship. After many sacrifices and trials and much hard
work, they succeeded in rebuilding the time-honored and sacred edifice. The arms
of the cross, being cracked and unsafe, were taken down, the main part of the
cross being rebuilt with the old bricks, and services were resumed after an
interval of twenty-five years. The first rector of the restored church was the
Rev. Mr. S. H. WEllman. Since then the Rectors have been as follows: The Revs.
John Anderson, F.M. Burch, John McNabb, Henry L. Derby, Cary Gamble, John S.
Meredith, and W. Cosby Bell. Among its rectors too, was the Rev. Benjamin
Bosworth Smith, who served at its altar in 1819, and was afterwards first Bishop
of Kentucky and Presiding Bishop of the Church in the United States.

I am sorry to be unable to give a list of the ancient vestrymen of Accomac. The
only document of which I have heard from which to derive such list and other
particulars perished during the last year. Would that all the friends, members
and ministers of the Church of Virginia, and any others who have any care for
her past history, would but inquire for such documents, and search for them
among the neglected papers of old family mansions and clerk's offices! How much
might still be rescued from destruction and oblivion which is worthy of
preservation in some permanent form!

In place of a list of vestrymen of the parish, I subjoin the following of the
families which, from the earliest period to the present time, have belonged to
the Episcopal Church in Accomac. It has been furnished me by a friend, with the
qualification that it is imperfect, and that there are others who might be added:
"Bowman, Cropper, Joynes, West, Satchell, Smith, Wise, Finney, Scarbrough,
Robinson, Custis, Bayly, Snead, Parker, Stratton, Bagwell, Andrews, Arbuckle,
Stokely, Poulson, Downing, Bell, Upshur, Paramore, Teagle, Hack, Seymour,
Kellam, etc."

Additional Comments:
Colonial Churches In the Original Colony of Virginia
A Series of Sketches by Especially Qualified Writers
Thirty-Five Illustrations
Second Edition, Revised and Improved
Richmond, Va.
Southern Churchman Company
1908

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