ARTICLE LXXII. Parishes in Frederick County.-No. 2. AFTER the death of Mr. Balmaine, the Rev. Mr. Bryan officiated for a time at Winchester, Bunker's Hill, and Wickliffe, in the capacity of assistant to myself, for a few years. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Robertson as assistant in Winchester alone. After a few years he resigned and went on a mission to Greece. In the year 1827, Christ Church, Winchester, was organized into a separate parish, to be called the parish of Frederick, Winchester, with the Rev. J. E. Jackson, minister. Mr. Jackson was one of three worthy brothers of most respectable parentage in Tutbury, England, all of whom ministered in the Church of Virginia and elsewhere in this country. The Rev. J. E. Jackson was the father of the Rev. William Jackson, who recently died so enviable a death in Norfolk. He was a most diligent and faithful pastor, preaching the true doctrines of the Gospel. Under his careful supervision the present excellent church and parsonage were built. In 1842, he resigned and moved to Kentucky. He was succeeded in 1842 by the Rev. Mr. Rooker, who resigned in 1847. Its present rector, the Rev. Cornelius Walker, succeeded Mr. Rooker. In May, 1834, another division of Frederick parish took place, when Wickliffe, including Berryville, was organized. The Rev. Mr. Jackson had been my assistant in that part of the parish for two years before this. The Rev. Mr. Rice had preceded him in that capacity. The Rev. Mr. Shiraz followed Mr. Jackson. Its next was the Rev. Richard Wilmer, who was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Peterkin. Its present, the Rev. Mr. Whittle. This parish has recently been subdivided, and the Rev. Mr. Powell, who was disappointed during the last year going to China, is the minister of that part which includes Wickliffe Church. Another offshoot was also made from Frederick parish many years since, in the neighbourhood of Middletown, where a parish. was organized and a neat brick church built in the village, under the auspices of the late Strother Jones, the families of Hites, and others. It has had mainly to depend on the occasional services of the ministers in Winchester. The Rev. Mr. Bryant and the Rev. Mr. Irish were each for some time settled among them, and in none in of our congregations have more zeal and liberality been displayed, according to numbers and means. Having thus spoken of the five different divisions of Frederick parish, after itself had been reduced by Acts of Assembly, I proceed to mention the new churches built since the Revolution, in addition to those at Winchester and Middletown, already alluded to. Among the first things done by the vestry of Frederick, after its reorganization in 1787, was the adoption of measures for the building of a stone chapel where it was designed to erect that one which failed, through the disagreement of the people and vestry, just before the Revolution,-viz.: where that called Cunningham's Chapel stood. The land having now come into possession of Colonel Nathaniel Burwell, the same two acres for a church and buryingground, which were offered by Colonel Hugh Nelson before the war, were now given by Colonel Burwell, and the present stone chapel ordered to be built in 1790. At what time it was completed does not appear, but probably in the same year. After the revival of our Church in Virginia commenced, a stone church was built at Wickliffe, Mr. Tredwell Smith and General Thomas Parker being the most active agents. A strenuous effort was made to have it a free church, which I earnestly opposed, and offered to insure from elsewhere as much as was pledged by other than Episcopalians. It was ascertained that not more than fifty dollars, out of the two or three thousand dollars which it cost, would be subscribed by other than Episcopalians, and the plan was dropped. This church was badly executed, and after a time the present excellent one of brick was built under the superintendence of Mr. Jaqueline Smith, and in a great measure at his expense. The ground on which it stood had been given by the family of Williams, who, with their ancestors in the Northern Neck of Virginia, had ever been staunch friends of the Church. After some years the church at Berryville was built on ground given by Mr. John Taylor, who owned the farm of which it was a part. The building of this church was delayed for some years by the attempt to have it placed on some basis which would make it common to all denominations. Effort after effort was made to effect it on this plan, without success. At length, when the friends of the scheme acknowledged its failure, I addressed the congregation in favour of an Episcopal church, and succeeded at In the year 1834, it was found that the old chapel was too small and inconvenient for the increasing congregation, and it was therefore determired to erect another and larger one, in a more central and convenient place, in the vicinity of Millwood, on ground. once. given by Mr. George Burwell, of Carter Hall. Such, however, was the attachment of many to the old chapel that funds for the latter could not be obtained, except on condition of alternate services at the chapel. From year to year these services became less frequent, until at length they are now reduced to an annual pilgrimage, on some summer Sabbath, to this old and much-loved spot, except when services are held for the servants, or death summons the neighbours to add one more to the tenants of the graveyard. * My remarks on the old parish of Frederick, and some of its branches, will be brought to a close by a brief reference to a spot of all others most sacred to many now living as the depository of all that was mortal of those most dear to us,-the burying-ground which lies at the foot of the hill on which still stands the old stone chapel. Ever since its appropriation to this purpose, it has been the graveyard of rich and poor, bond and free, those who lived near it, and the stranger from afar who died near it. It is called the Burwell graveyard, not merely because the land was given by one of that name, but because it is the resting-place of a far greater number bearing that name than any other. It has recently been enlarged and a portion of it divided into lots and the whole enclosed with a strong stone wall. The vestry have also proposed the raising and vesting in stock the sum of one thousand dollars for the perpetual preservation of it and the old chapel which overlooks it. Both of them stand in the immediate angle of two public and much-frequented roads, and the passing traveller may see old and venerable trees overshadowing many tombs, younger ones of perpetual verdure more recently planted, green hillocks, covered with grass and ivy, high headstones and large marble slabs, marking the place of interment and designating the names of those whose remains are beneath, and now and then a pillar, either for young or old, rising above the other memorials. To this place, for more than sixty years, have I been travelling, either borne in the arms of others, or as a mourner, or as officiating minister. To it, at no * The following are the names of the vestrymen of Frederick parish before the division of it took place. It would be too tedious to enumerate all those belonging to the subdivisions down to the present time. In addition to those already menticaed as composing the first vestry after the war, in 1787, are the following:John Woodcock, John Peyton, Edward Smith, Thomas Byrd, Isaac Hite, Jr., Nathaniel Burwell, Warner Washington, Jr., John Page, General Thomas Parker, Robert Page, Matthew Page, Philip Nelson, Robert Carter Burwell, Fairfax Washington, Henry St. George Tucker, Alfred Powell, George Norris, Philip Burwell, G. R. Thompson, Nathaniel Burwell, Jr., Obed Waite, Dabney Carr, Joseph Baldwin, Richard Briarly, Daniel Lee, William B. Page, John W. Page, Strother Jones. VOL. IL-19 |