Dissolution of St. Paul's Vestry, 1778 - Hanover Co. VA 1778 October 23 Hanover County, Virginia To the Honorable the speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Delegates. The petition of sundry of the Parishioners of the Parish of St. Paul in the County of Hanover, humbly herewith; That none of the present vestry of said parish have been elected by your Petitioners, but act from authority they hold under a form of government very contrary to that which we now have the happiness to have under and which we trust the Guardians of it will take care to preserve to the good people of this commonwealth in its fullest extent. It is with concern that your petitioners find cause to take up any part of your time when matters of such monument as concern the United States of America and this Commonwealth in particular, demands your most serious attention. But hope we shall stand excused by your honorable house when we inform them, that finding the Parish long vestitute of the regular Administration of the Ordinance of Religion, they invited a Clergyman of the Church of England to take upon him the care of their Spiritual concern; which call he was pleased to accept of, and has accordingly faithfully and regularly Officiated in the Parish for several months past to our entire satisfaction; Notwithstanding which, and our having raised an adequate salary for his support, the Vestry in contempt to the choice of the people, have invited another Clergyman to intrude himself into the Parish and have actually inducted him as Rector of the same. This part of proceeding we conceive to be very arbitrary and might be attended with evil consequences in a free state, were men thus allowed to act contrary to the opinions of the people and contrary to that caution used by the assembly in October _____ . Wherein after limiting the former power of Vestries, they have put of a final determination of Religious matters to a future assembly when the opinions of country in general may be better known and have directed that nothing shall be construed to influence these questions of a general assessment or voluntary contribution in any respect whatsoever. There is now in the hands of this vestry a sum of money amounting to between two and three thousand pounds, the interest of which would contribute largely towards supporting a minister and which we are desirous should be at this time applied to that purpose but have reason to doubt of it, as it is in the hands of men who make not the sense of the people there guide, of who we think have not a right to disprove of our property without our consent, as they were not chosen by us. We think it needless to enumerate complaints against men who we conceive, under our present system of Government, have no right to dispose of any part of our property; unless it be such as the law now in being provided for. But should your honorable house be of opinion that what is already advanced is not sufficient to displace them, we are ready to offer farther reasons why they should. We therefore humbly request that the vestry may be dissolved. And if agreeable to the wisdom of the house that an act may passed whereby Vestries may have power to act (blank) years and no longer. And we petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray. There are 411 signatures on this document, of which there are the following; David Goodman Robert Goodman Benjamin Goodman Turner Goodman Submitted by Dave Goodman Baltimore PC Users Group The GOODMAN Family Baltimore County Genealogical Society **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************