Middlesex County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History .....Christ Church Parish Register 1653-1812 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Guy Potts http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004214 March 14, 2022, 4:03 pm FamilySearch.org The Parish Register Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va 1653-1812 Introduction The section in Virginia comprised within the present county of Middlesex was at first included in Lancaster county and parish. Some time before 1666 that parish was divided into two portions, separated by the Rappahanhock river, and the new parishes were named Lancaster and Pyanketank. In 1666 they were reunited under the name of Lancaster but a few years later again was separated and acquired the organization which they retained through the Colonial period as Christ Church, Lancaster, and Christ Church, Middlesex. The register of the latter is printed in this book. The vestry-book of Christ Church, Middlesex, beginning in 1663 and ending in 1767, which is now preserved at the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alexander County, Va., shows that a Mr. Morris was minister from 1663 to 1666. He was succeeded in 1668 by Rev. John Shepherd, who at the time of his death in 1683, is described by his vestry as "our late worthy minister." In November of that year Major-General Robert Smith, one of the vestry, who had been commissioned to procure a minister, returned from England, bringing with him Rev. Duell Pead. This clergyman served the parish acceptably for seven years and then returned to England, where, it is believed, he became rector of Newland, St. Lawrence, Essex. Rev. Mathew Lidford, Mr.Pead's successor in 1692, only lived about a year, and was in turn followed by Rev. Samuel Gray, a most unworthy minister, who was tried for his life, for causing the death of one of his slaves by a severe whipping. This, it is presumed, caused his resignation or expulsion, as in 1699 the minister was Rev. Robert Yates, who continued until 1703 or 1704, when he returned to England in ill health. He appears to have been esteemed by his vestry, who continued his salary for some time in hope of his return. In 1704 he was succeeded by his son Bartholomew Yates, B. A., Brasenose College, Oxford, 1698, who continued to be the much loved and trusted incumbent, until his death on July 26, 1734. He was also a visitor and professor of William and Mary College. A tomb erected by his parishioners at Christ Church bears testimony to the high regard in which he was held. Rev. John Klug succeeded to Mr. Yates in 1767, and, it is believed, continued until his death in 1795. He is represented to have been a pious and efficient minister. The church now standing in the parish was built in 1712 and succeeded one, on the same spot, which was ordered to be built in 1666. Bishop Meade says of the parish: "This being an early settlement, lying on one of the finest rivers in Virginia, and near the bay, we might expect to find here many of the ancestors of some of the most respectable families of Virginia." The register here printed, was, together with the vestry-book, among those collected by Bishop Meade, and deposited in the Episcopal Theological Seminary, where it now is. The Virginia Society of Colonial Dames is indebted to the trustees of the Seminary for permission to bring the register to Richmond for the purpose of copying. The copy here printed was made by one of the Virginia Dames, Mrs. Sally Nelson Robbins, of Richmond, and compared with the original, and verified by Messrs. Edward W. James and William G. Stanard. The book can be viewed in its entirety at the following link and requires a login to access. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-V38F-6HM3?i=3&cat=374972 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/middlesex/history/other/christch13nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb