Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History.....Old Glebe Church, 1938 

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"Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 16, No. 157, Fri., Sep. 23, 1938, p. 8 

Anniversary To Be Celebrated Sunday At Driver's Old Glebe Church 

Brown and Bishop Will Take Part in Ceremonies 

CONVENIENT SITE CAUSES SELECTION 

Parish Was Established 96 Years Before Building Present Church 

  By MISS ANNIE MARY AMES 

  DRIVER, Sept. 23. - The 200th anniversary of Old Glebe Church will be 
celebrated here Sunday.  Bishops William A. Brown and Thomas C. Darst will 
take part in the ceremonies. 

  The program is as follows: 11 a.m. administration of Holy Communion by 
Bishop William A. Brown, the Rt. Rev. Thomas C. Darst, Bishop of the Diocese 
of Eastern Carolina and the Rev. E.P. Miner, rector of the church. 

  At 2:30 p.m. there will be evening prayer with an address by Bishop Darst, 
D.D. 

  There will be special music at both services. 

  The Rev. Herbert N. Tucker, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 
Suffolk, will be present, as will members of his choir, who will assist with 
the music. 

  The usual morning services at St. Paul's Church will be omitted. 

  Amplifiers will be installed so that those unable to get in the church may 
hear from outside. 

  The history of Glebe Church plays an important, interesting and romantic 
part in the history of this county. 

  Of course, we know that settlements were being made in Virginia, certainly 
as far back as 1607, and in this county as far back as 1609. 

  The sites of the early places of worship have been lost and may never be 
known.  The houses were at first of logs and perhaps thatch-covered, and were 
crude affairs. 

  By 1642 Nansemond county was divided into three parishes with a church in 
each parish.  The site of the first place of worship on the east side of the 
Nansemond river is not known with any degree of certainty.  Circumstances and 
indications point to Bennett's pasture as the probable site of the first 
church.  The point of land in Bennett's pasture known as "Old Chimneys" is now 
owned by Vernon G. Eberwine. 

  As the population grew away from that point, and to make the church more 
certain, a new church was ordered built on Jordan's Mill Hill in 1737, the 
site of the present Glebe Church, which was completed in 1738. 

  In 1754 the church needed repairing.  At that time the church was built in 
the shape of a cross, as many colonial churches were, such as Bruton Parish in 
Williamsburg and St. Paul's in Norfolk.  In repairing the L's were removed. 

  This church has the distinction of being one of the few self-sustaining 
churches of the country, and has been honored by having men from its 
congregation to serve in every war with the exception of the Spanish-American. 

  The grounds surrounding the church are covered with unmarked graves.  It is 
difficult to excavate without digging into a grave. 

  The communion service, willed to the Lower Parish Church in 1771 by Yeates, 
was used until recently by the Glebe Church.  It was burned in the house of 
R.H. Beamon, son of Dr. R.H. Beamon, of Nansemond county, and is now held by 
the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond. 


[photo, headlined:] 
Where God's Word Has Been Taught 200 Years

[captioned:] 
Old Glebe Observes 200th Birthday 

Here is Glebe Episcopal Church, on Jordan's Mill Hill, near Driver, Nansemond 
county, where Episcopalians will gather Sunday morning to celebrate two 
centuries of service.  Leaders in the celebration will be the Rt. Rev. William 
A. Brown, bishop of the diocese of Eastern Virginia; the Rt. Rev. Thomas C. 
Darst, bishop of the diocese of East Carolina; and the rector of Glebe, the 
Rev. Edward P. Miner.

[photo, captioned:] 
REV. E. P. MINER

[photo, captioned:] 
BISHOP BROWN 

****************************************************************************** 

"Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 16, No. 159, Mon., Sep. 26, 1938, pp. 1 & 6 

OVERFLOW CROWDS ATTEND CHURCH 

Bishop Darst and Bishop Brown Speak at Old Glebe Service 

  Overflow crowds from Suffolk, Nansemond, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and other 
parts of tidewater Virginia yesterday attended the special services 
commemorating the 200th anniversary of Old Glebe Episcopal church near Driver. 
Many Suffolk people took part in the ceremonies, and numbers of others motored 
to Driver to attend the service. 

  At the morning service Bishop William A. Brown, D.D., diocese of Southern 
Virginia, reviewed the history of the church and its long service to the 
community.  He touched briefly on the outstanding events in the history of 
the section in which that church, long known as one of the most important 
congregations in the lower parish, played a big part. 

  Bishop Brown was assisted at the morning service by the Rev. Herbert N. 
Tucker, the Rev. Edward P. Miner, and Bishop Thomas C. Darst of the diocese 
of eastern North Carolina. 

  Bishop Darst speaking at the afternoon service declared that "war and the 
hatred between nations today are causing the chaotic conditions which we are 
experiencing and can only be remedied by the religion of Jesus Christ as it 
should be exemplified in the church today." 

  His subject was what the Church should mean to the World. 

  Between the morning and afternoon programs a luncheon was served on the 
grounds by the ladies of the Glebe Church, assisted by many from St Paul's 
Church in Suffolk. 

  Mrs. Mildred K. Kilby and Marmaduke Woodward sang "Love Divine" from 
Stainers' "The Daughter Of Jarius" at the morning service, and the choir of 
St. Paul's Church assisted the choir of Glebe Church, with Mrs. Charles L. 
Hutchins as accompanist. 


Glebe Episcopal Church, near Driver, 
200th anniversary, 25 Sep 1938, 

Glebe Episcopal Church Cemetery list, an extension of the 
   Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/glebe.txt 

Find a Grave gives a.k.a. Bennett's Creek Church Cemetery, Sleepy Hole, 
   Suffolk.  (Cemetery ID #2371030) 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/history/glebe.txt