LYNCHBURG, VA - CHURCH – English Church ----¤¤¤---- Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, English Church: 1937 Nov. 23 Research made by Susan R. Beardsworth Cemetery Location: On the west side of Court Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Streets Lynchburg, Virginia DATE: About 1765; burned in 1802. OWNERS: The Church of England in Virginia until after 1781, to the State of Virginia in 1802. Earliest deed found on the property is dated September 2, 1814, from John and Mary Lynch to Christopher Anthony for “a half of an acre,” on Court and Tenth Streets, on which reservation is made of “so much of the said lot near the north corner upon which are buried the bodies of Mrs. Warwick, John Brown and William Martin.” The deed goes on to say the property formerly belonged to William Warwick and others.”. DESCRIPTION: The church was a frame building, one story high and eighteen by twenty-four feet wide, and situated in a grove in which was the cemetery; it was bounded by what is now Court, Clay, Tenth and Eleventh Streets. After Court Street was laid out, the bodies in the cemetery were removed to what is now the City Cemetery, however, it is said that apparently a good many bodies were not moved, as several large skeletons were unearthed as foundations were excavated for the present homes. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This little Church was the earliest in the present Corporate Limits of Lynchburg, Virginia, and was always referred to as the English Church. Who built it, and exactly when, has not been determined; evidently this property, along with other which had belonged to the Church, was forfeited to the State, and in 1802, when it burned down, it was being used as a school. The Church of England in Bedford and the surrounding country was served by Rev. Charles (Parson) Clay, and he is thought to have served this little Church also. Two special pews in the little Church are said to have been occupied by Judge Edmund Winston and Major Samuel Scott. After the disestablishment of the Church, Parson Clay refused to preach, because it was a part of his belief that the State and not his parishioners should pay his salary. Rev. Clay came from St. Anne’s Parish, in Albemarle County, Virginia, and established his home in Bedford County, where he married Editha Davies, granddaughter of Nicholas Davies. He died in 1816 and is buried at Ivy Hill, which is a part of his estate, lately owned by Duval Rudford. His grave is marked by a great cairn of rock, said to have been placed there by his sons, at his request, one for each time they had disobeyed him. “Parson” Clay was known in this section as a friend of Jefferson. An interesting incident is related of their first meeting, by Miss Ruth Harly, in the Southern Magazine, of September 1928. It was at Ford’s Tavern, Jefferson’s favorite stopping place between Monticello and Lynchburg, on his trips to and from Poplar Forest. Jefferson was alone, and on alighting from his carriage, was shown into the best room, where a respectable looking stranger was sitting; the latter opened conversation without having the least idea to whom he was talking. He opened his remarks by relating certain mechanical operations which he had recently witnessed, to which Mr. Jefferson replies convinced him that he was talking to an engineer; agriculture was the next topic discussed; he then decided that Jefferson was a farmer. Finally religion was broached, and the clergyman was strongly suspicious that his companion was another minister, but could not discover to what particular belief he subscribed. There was something in Mr. Jefferson’s presence that did not invite personal curiosity, therefore, no “leading questions” were asked; and at ten o’clock he retired. Immediately the clergyman sought the landlord to know who had been his companion. “What,” said he, “don’t you know the Squire? That was Mr. Jefferson.” “Not President Jefferson!” why exclaimed the clergyman, “I tell you that he was neither an atheist nor an irreligous man; one of juster sentiments, I have never met.” The “Parson” being a near neighbor to Poplar Forest, this incident led to a long and intimate friendship, as is testified by letters still in possession of his descendants. In January, 1815, a letter to Rev. Clay, in which Mr. Jefferson disclaims any intention of writing a book on religion, and says: “I not only write nothing on religion, but do not permit myself to speak of it in reasonable society. Having probably said more to you than to any other, because we have had more hours of conversation in duetto during our meetings at The Forest. You have probably heard me say I have taken the moral precepts of Jesus and arranged them in a certain order, but with no thought of their publication. I abuse the Priests, indeed, who have so abused the pure and holy doctrines of their Master. The genuine system of Jesus and the artificial structure they have erected, are as distinct things in my view as light and darkness.....I have placed Him among the greatest reformers of morals, and scourges of priest-craft that have ever existed.” SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Informant: Mrs. J. Odin Clay, the wife of a great, great grandson of Rev. Charles Clay. Thaxton, Virginia. Court Records: Deed Book “B” pages 189 – 315 Clerk’s Office, Lynchburg, Virginia Historical: “Lynchburg and Its People” by Christian. Jones Library, Lynchburg, Virginia “History and Heroic Lynchburg” by Don P. Halsey Jones Library, Lynchburg, Virginia “Lynchburg and Its Neighbors” by Rosa Yancy Jones Library, Lynchburg, Virginia “The Southern Magazine” was published in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1928. On file in Jones Library, Lynchburg, Virginia. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joan Renfrow NOTICE: I have no relationship or further information in regards to this family. ___________________________________________________________________