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THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 TRURO PARISH 
 
 IN VIRGINIA [nsZ'ltoi\ 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. PHILIP SLAUGHTER, D D. 
 
 Edited 
 
 JFith Notes and Addenda 
 
 By REV. EDWARD L. GOODWIN 
 
 Historiographer of the 'Diocese of Virginia 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
•j Two 0'-;;<es Resjfeived 
 
 h?H 28 1908 
 i /9SS~03 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 
 
 Published January, 1908 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Printed in U. S. A. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 POHICK CHURCH Frontispiece 
 
 THE OLD VESTRY BOOK Facing Page 34 
 
 PAYNES CHURCH, 1768-1862 " " 50 
 
 ORIGINAL PLAN OF POHICK CHURCH " " 82 
 POHICK CHURCH IN THE OLDEN 
 
 TIME " " 136 
 
Introduction 
 
 When the English colonists made their first per- 
 manent settlement on the shores of Virginia they 
 came to establish themselves as an English people 
 in America. They did not emigrate for purposes 
 of robbery, nor yet to escape conditions which 
 were not to their liking at home, but they brought 
 with them all they could of the old England, in- 
 cluding, as a matter of course, the English Church 
 and English law, ecclesiastical and civil. They 
 brought, too, as the event was to prove, the Eng- 
 lish genius for adapting old forms of government 
 to new conditions of life. Thus in process of time 
 the Parish and the Vestry in Virginia became 
 quite different from the same institutions in the 
 old country, though still based upon the broad 
 sanctions of the ecclesiastical law of England. The 
 Parish was established and its bounds were fixed 
 not by tradition, bu^ by statute, and the Vestry, 
 from an annual meeting of all the ratepayers to 
 choose Churchwardens and discuss parochial af- 
 fairs, became practically a close corporation of 
 twelve of "The most able and discreet persons" in 
 the Parish. These divided with the County Court 
 the responsibility of local government, having as 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 their especial charge the maintenance of religion 
 and the oversight of all things pertaining thereto 
 in the domain of charity and morals. These Ves- 
 trymen were described by Jefferson as being 
 ''Usually the most discreet farmers, so distributed 
 through their Parish that every part of it may 
 be under the eye of some one of them. They are 
 well acquainted with the details and economy of 
 private life, and they find sufficient inducements 
 to execute their charge well in their philanthropy, 
 in the approbation of their neighbors, and the dis- 
 tinction which that gives them." 
 
 No Parish in the Colony had a V^estry more dis- 
 tinguished in its personnel, or more fully qualified 
 for their positions, than the Parish of Truro. Of 
 its earlier members indeed little has come down to 
 us but their names inscribed on almost every page 
 of the scant records remaining to tell of the settle- 
 ment of these upper reaches of the "Northern 
 Neck," and the establishment of religion and civi- 
 lization in what was then but a wilderness. But 
 later her Vestrymen are found ranking among the 
 first gentlemen of Virginia in position and influ- 
 ence. Eleven of them sat at various times in the 
 House of Burgesses. Two of them, the Fairfaxes, 
 were members of "His Majesty's Council for Vir- 
 ginia." Another of her Vestrymen was George 
 Mason, one of the first among the founders of 
 the State and the great political thinkers of his 
 age; while still another was declared to be the 
 
 ii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 "Greatest man of any age," the imperial George 
 Washington. 
 
 These men, however exalted their native genius, 
 had and needed to have their period of training, 
 that their characters might be matured on lines 
 of piety and righteousness, their opinions formed 
 in full view of the needs and capacities of their 
 people, and their abilities ripened in the fields of 
 practical experience. They received this training 
 in part as Parish Vestrymen. It was no mean 
 school in which to learn the rudiments of popular 
 government, the foundations of human rights, or 
 the reconciliation of diverse policies. 
 
 The Vestry Records of Truro Parish have there- 
 fore a value quite unique as the sole and absolutely 
 authentic record of the parochial administration 
 and government of these great men. The affairs 
 which occupied their attention seem small indeed 
 as compared with those which afterward demanded 
 the consecration of their powers, but they brought 
 to them the same practical wisdom, scrupulous 
 justice and exact attention to detail which char- 
 acterized them later as master workmen in making 
 the history and building the liberties of a nation. 
 
 For the recovery and preservation of these 
 records we are indebted to the late Reverend 
 Doctor Philip Slaughter, Clergyman,- Genealogist, 
 Antiquarian and Historian, whose name will long 
 be held in affectionate remembrance in Virginia. 
 He was the author of no large work, but his his- 
 
 iii 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 tories of St. George's, Bristol, and St. Mark's 
 Parishes, and very many pamphlets, articles and 
 published addresses, combine to form a great con- 
 tribution to the historical collections of his native 
 State, and an enduring monument to his memory. 
 A few years before his death he was so fortunate 
 as to discover the whereabouts of the old Vestry- 
 Book of Truro Parish which had been lost to sight 
 for three-quarters of a century, and did not rest 
 until it came into his possession. He afterwards 
 committed it to the Vestry of Pohick Church, ac- 
 cepting only the small sum in return which it had 
 cost him to acquire it, but not before he had com- 
 piled from its time-worn pages the History of 
 Truro Parish which is here presented to the 
 reader. It was almost his last literary labor, and 
 indeed the infirmities of age forbade his giving the 
 work of his amanuenses his final revision and cor- 
 rections. The incomplete manuscript was en- 
 trusted to the Rev. Dr. Samuel A. Wallis, then 
 Rector of Pohick, to be published when the means 
 for doing so should be forthcoming. 
 
 At the request of Dr. Wallis I have prepared the 
 history for publication. The manuscript has been 
 wholly re-written; more copious extracts from the 
 records of the Vestry have been incorporated, so 
 that it now includes all that is of general value in 
 the Vestry-Book, the language and spelling of 
 which have been preserved; a few errors and over- 
 sights have been found and corrected; and in one 
 
 iv 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 place, for reasons noted in the text, a number of 
 pages of my own have been inserted in lieu of the 
 author's. With these exceptions the continuous 
 narrative is as nearly as possible as Dr. Slaughter 
 wrote it. My own additions otherwise appear in 
 the form of foot-notes and addenda. ^ 
 
 EDWARD L. GOODWIN. 
 
 The Rectory, 
 
 Fairfax, Virginia. 
 
The Genesis of Truro Parish 
 
 Among the prominent features in the physiog- 
 nomy of Eastern Virginia are the great rivers 
 which run from the blue mountains and pour their 
 streams into the bosom of the "Mother of 
 Waters/' as the Indians called the Chesapeake 
 Bay. Along these rivers, which were then the 
 only roads, the first settlers penetrated the wilder- 
 ness. This explains the seeming anomaly, that 
 the first Parishes and counties often included both 
 sides of broad rivers, it being easier to go to Court 
 and to Church by water, than through forests by 
 what were called in those days "bridle paths." 
 Hence Parishes were often sixty or more miles 
 long and of little breadth. The space between the 
 rivers was called "Necks." Among the most his- 
 toric of these was the Northern Neck, which in- 
 cluded all the land between the Potomac and the 
 Rappahannock rivers from their head springs to 
 the Chesapeake Bay. This was the princely plan- 
 tation of Lord Fairfax. Within this territory were 
 the seats of the Fairfaxes, Washingtons, Masons, 
 McCartys, Fitzhughs, Brents, Alexanders, Lew- 
 ises, Mercers, Daniels, Carters, Dades, Stuarts, 
 Corbins, Tayloes, Steptoes, Newtons, Browns, 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Lees, Thorntons, Balls, Smiths, and other leading 
 families too many to mention, who dispensed an 
 elegant hospitality at Northumberland House, 
 Nomini, Stratford, Chantilly, Mount Airy, Sabine 
 Hall, Bedford, Albion, Cedar Grove, Boscobel, 
 Richland, Marleborough, Woodstock, Gunston, 
 Belvoir, Woodlawn, Mount Vernon, etc. Begin- 
 ning at Lancaster, county was taken from county. 
 Parish from Parish, as the population of each 
 passed the frontiers, until in 1730 Prince William 
 was taken from Stafford and King George Coun- 
 ties, above Chappawansick Creek and Deep Run, 
 and along the Potomac, to the "Great Mountains." 
 This became also Hamilton Parish; which Parish, 
 by an Act of the General Assembly passed at the 
 Session of May, 1732, to take effect the first of the 
 following November, was divided into two Par- 
 ishes "By the river Ockoquan, and the Bull Run, 
 (a branch thereof,) and a course from thence to the 
 Indian Thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge of Moun- 
 tains," (Ashby's Gap.) All that part of Prince 
 William lying below the said bounds was to retain 
 the name of Hamilton, "And all that other part of 
 the said county, which lies above those bounds, 
 shall hereafter be called and known by the name 
 of Truro." The Parish was named after the Parish 
 in Cornwall, in England, which is now the Diocese 
 of Truro. 
 
 Such is the genesis of the Parish of Truro, 
 which extended along the Potomac from the 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 mouth of Occoquan to the Blue Ridge, including 
 what are now the Parishes of Truro, Cameron, 
 Fairfax and Shelburne."^' Within this territory 
 there were three churches. Occoquan, William 
 Gunnells, and a chapel ''above Goose Creek." 
 
 The present writer has been so fortunate as to 
 find the old Vestry Book of Truro Parish; so long 
 lost to the public eye that even Bishop Meade 
 said he could ''hear no tidings" of it and was con- 
 strained to construct his sketch of the Parish from 
 such facts and traditions as he could gather from 
 other sources and from his own rich personal 
 knowledge. It is now possible for the first time 
 to authenticate its history by its own records, 
 which are continuous from 1732 to 1785, when the 
 civil functions of the Vestries were devolved by 
 law upon the Overseers of the Poor. This book 
 also contains a record of the proceedings of the 
 Overseers of the Poor from 1787 to 1802, thus 
 handing down the names of persons, many of 
 whom had been Vestrymen of the Church. 
 
 The Vestry Book opens with a recitation of the 
 Act of the General Assemblv instituting: the Par- 
 ish, the election of the Vestry and the proceedings 
 of their first meeting. The Act of Assembly pre- 
 scribed that the Sheriff of the County should sum- 
 mon the freeholders and housekeepers to meet and 
 elect so many of the "most able and discreet per- 
 
 *These are Colonial Parishes. Those of more recent foundation 
 in the same territory are Johns, Upper Truro, McGill, and a part 
 of Meade. 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 sons in the said Parish as shall make up the num- 
 ber of Vestrymen in the said Parish twelve and no 
 more." Which order being complied with, "Five 
 of the Vestrymen elected, to witt, Charles Broad- 
 water, Richard Osborn, John Lewis, Gabriel 
 Adams, and Edward Emms, together with Denis 
 Mc.Carty, John Heryford, and Edward Barry, 
 having- taken the oaths appointed by law, and Sub- 
 scribed to be conformable to the doctrine and dis- 
 cipline of the Church of England, took their 
 places in the Vestry accordingly." The first Vestry 
 met on November 7th, 1732, with the above gen- 
 tlemen present. Edward Barry was nominated for 
 Clerk, and ''the question was put whether the said 
 Barry should enjoy the place or not, which was 
 carried in the said Barry's favour. And he was 
 thereupon sworn, and took his place accordingly." 
 He was ordered to ''provide paper & books for the 
 minutes and orders of this Vestry, and that he be 
 paid for the same at the laying of the next parish 
 levy." John Heryford and Edward Emms were 
 chosen Churchwardens for that year, and "were 
 sworn accordingly." At the next meeting of the 
 Vestry, held March 26, 1733, John Sturman and 
 Giles Tillett were added to the Vestry, and there 
 were present also Francis Aubrey and William 
 Godfrey, not previously mentioned. It was "Or- 
 dered, that the Churchwardens give publick notice 
 to workmen to appear at the next Vestry to be 
 held for this parish to agree for the building of a 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Church at the cross roads near Michael Reagans 
 in this parish." At the meeting on April i6, 1733, 
 Michael Ashford took the oaths and subscribed the 
 test as a Vestryman. An agreement was made 
 with the Rev. Lawrence De Butts to preach three 
 times a month for one year, *'at Occoquan Church, 
 the new Church, or William Gunnell's, and at the 
 Chappell above Goose Creek,* for the sum of 
 eight thousand pounds of tobacco clear of the 
 Warehouse charges and abatements, — And the 
 said De Butts doth further agree to and with the 
 Vestry aforesaid, that in case he fails, or is by the 
 weather prevented to preach at any of the places 
 aforesaid, any of the times aforesaid, tobacco shall 
 only be levied for him in proportion to his service." 
 Mr. De Butts seems to have been a bird of pass- 
 age. From 1 72 1 to about 1728 he was Minister 
 of Washington Parish in Westmoreland County, 
 where he had two churches, and also ofificiated dur- 
 ing the week in the neighboring Parishes of St. 
 
 ♦Occoquan Church, which Dr. Slaughter could not identify, was 
 none other than the old Pohick Church, which stood about two 
 miles from the ferry over the Occoquan at or near Colchester. When 
 this Church was built is not known, but it was first an "Upper 
 Church," or Chapel-of-Ease, in Overwharton Parish. When Ham- 
 ilton Parish was formed, January 1, 1730, it was ordered that the 
 freeholders and housekeepers meet "At the Church above Occoquan 
 ferry" to elect their Vestry, "above" meaning- up the Potomac. 
 When Truro was set apart two years later this Church falls again 
 in a new Parish. After the year 1733 the name Occoquan disap- 
 pears and that of Pohick is substituted. The Church stood until 
 superseded by the new or present Pohick in 1774. 
 
 "William Gunnell's Church" was probably a temporary, or per- 
 haps a rented, building, and may have been situated not far below 
 Difficult Run, as the Gunnells owned land in that vicinity. It dis- 
 appears after the building of the "Church near Michael Reagan's," 
 and may be considered the first Falls Church. The location of the 
 "Chapel above Goose Creek" is not known. It was still unfinished 
 at this time, being completed in 1736. 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Stephen's, Northumberland; Farnham, Richmond 
 County; and Cople, Westmoreland, when they 
 were vacant. In 1731 he was employed in St. 
 Mark's Parish, Culpepper County, at 500 pounds 
 of tobacco a sermon, and now is in Truro for one 
 year.'^ At the expiration of this engagement he 
 seems to have preached eight sermons in the Par- 
 ish, for which he received 245 pounds of tobacco 
 per sermon, and then he disappears from the 
 record, having, we believe, gone to Maryland. 
 
 1733, June 9th, Mr. Richard Blackburn agreed 
 with the Vestry to build a Church at the Cross 
 Roads near Michael Reagan's, ^'Forty feet in 
 length, two and twenty feet wide, and thirteen feet 
 pitch, to be weather boarded, covered, and all the 
 inside work perform'd and done after the same 
 manner the work upon Pohick Church is done, for 
 the sum of thirty-three thousand five hundred 
 pounds of tobacco." William Godfrey and Michael 
 Ashford were ''to take care that the work upon 
 the Church be well and sufficiently done and per- 
 formed."! I2th. October: Jeremiah Bronaugh, 
 
 *Paul Leicester Ford, in "The True George Washington," sup- 
 poses that this Mr. De Butts officiated at the baptism of Washing- 
 ton. It is most improbable that such was the case. George Wash- 
 ington was born in Washington Parish, Westmoreland County, Feb- 
 ruary 11th, 1731-2 (Old style,) and was baptized the third of April 
 following, according to the record in the family Bible. Mr. De 
 Butts had left Westmoreland several years before, and was now 
 officiating in Truro Parish. 
 
 fThis was known as the "Upper Church" until 1757, when the 
 name "Falls Church" is first applied to it in the Vestry Book, prob- 
 ably to distinguish it more clearly from the Church in Alexandria. 
 The Church was apparently built on land to which no title had been 
 acquired, for in 1746 the Church Wardens were directed to pay 
 .John Trammel fifty shillings sterling for two acres of land at the 
 Upper Church, and on the 19th of March of that year Trammel 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 William Peake, John Farguson and Thomas Lewis 
 were chosen Vestrymen in the room of several de- 
 ceased members, and qualified and took their 
 places accordingly. Joseph Johnson was chosen 
 ''Reader at the new Church and the Chapell above 
 Goose Creek," to receive 1300 pounds of tobacco 
 ''provided he does his duty in his office." In the 
 Parish Levy for this year provision is made for 
 2500 pounds of tobacco to Capt. Francis Aubrey 
 towards building the chapel above Goose Creek, 
 and the next year the same amount, and in 1735, 
 4000 pounds for finishing said chapel. . 
 
 1734, nth. May; James Baxter^as chosen a 
 Vestryman and qualified. Ordered that Edward 
 Emms, the upper Churchwarden, give notice to 
 Capt. John Colvill to appear at a Vestry to be held 
 at Pohick Church on the 4th. of June next, to 
 take the oath of a Vestryman, if he shall think fit 
 to accept of the office." Jeremiah Bronaugh, John 
 Farguson and James Baxter were appointed to 
 view the land ofTered for a Glebe by William God- 
 frey, French Mason, William Hall, George Har- 
 rison, and Burr Harrison, and any other land that 
 shall be offered by any other person, and to report 
 to the Vestry. On the 4th. of June John Colvill 
 Gent, was sworn and took his seat as a Vestryman. 
 There is a note on the margin here signed "C. 
 
 made them a deed, now on record at the Clerk's office at Fairfax, 
 conveying- two acres — "where the upper Church now is, to be laid 
 off in such manner as the Vestry shall think proper, to include the 
 said Church, churchyard and spring, and all appurtenances to the 
 said premises." 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 G." (Rev. Charles Green,) in these words: ''Capt. 
 Colvill appears to have been a 13th Vestryman. 
 This is noted because when a Burgess for this 
 County he promoted ye dissokition of the Vestry 
 as illegal, — himself the only illegal Vestryman." 
 John Heryford offered to sell 300 acres of land, 
 "Scituate, Lying and being upon Accotink, and 
 near the plantation of David Jones," for a Glebe, 
 for 12000 pounds of tobacco. It was ordered that 
 the land be laid off at the cost of said Heryford, 
 and that John Sturman provide Deeds of Lease 
 and Release for conveying the land sold to this 
 parish for a Glebe. The Churchwardens were or- 
 dered to receive of Wm. Godfrey 5000 pounds of 
 tobacco he had assumed to pay to this parish for 
 the parish of Hamilton. 
 
 ''At a Vestry held for Truro Parish on the 23d. 
 day of 7ber, 1734, — Whereas John Colvill Gent, 
 one of the members of this Vestry, is in a short 
 time bound for Great Brittain, and hath promised 
 us that he will use his interest to procure a dis- 
 creet and Godly Minister of the Church of Eng- 
 land, to come over and settle in our said parish. 
 And further that he will accommodate any such 
 person with a free passage hither, on board any 
 of his ships, if he is ready to come in any of them, 
 and will accept of the same. We do therefore 
 hereby impower and desire the said John Colvill 
 to negotiate the said affair in our behalf, either by 
 making application to his Grace the Lord Bishop 
 
 8 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of London, or by treating with any gentleman 
 qualified as aforesaid in his private capacity, who 
 shall be willing to come over and settle here. And 
 we do agree to accept of, and provide for him, in 
 as full and ample manner as the law of this Colony 
 directs." Signed by the Churchwardens and the 
 five additional Vestrymen present."^ 
 
 1734. Oct. nth. After the expiration of the 
 year for which the Rev. Mr. De Butts had been 
 employed he seems to have preached occasionally 
 in the Parish, for at a Vestry of this date provision 
 was made for paying him 1970 pounds of tobacco 
 "for preaching eight sermons." Payment was 
 also ordered for Mr. Catesby Cocke for "Clerks 
 Fees," to John Trammell for "grubing a place for 
 the Church," to John Massey for "keeping a house 
 for the minister to preach in," and to the Church- 
 wardens "to buy tarr for the Churches." The 
 salary of "each Reader in this parish" was fixed for 
 the next year at 1000 pounds of tobacco. 
 
 1735. Nov. i8th. "Augustine Washington 
 gent, being this day sworn one of the members of 
 this Vestry, took his place therein accordingly." 
 "C. G." interlines this note : "A. W. a fourteenth 
 Vestryman, father to L. W. the other Burgess 
 when Truro Vestry was dissolved. "f 
 
 ♦Nothing more is found in the Vestry Book in regard to this 
 effort to procure a minister from England. Doubtless it was for- 
 tunate for the Parish that the plan, for some reason, miscarried. 
 
 tFather also of George Washington, who inherited Mount Vernon 
 from his brother, Lawrence Washington, the Burgess here in- 
 dicated. 
 
 9 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO. PARISH 
 
 Payment was ordered to Catesby Cocke, for re- 
 cording deeds and copies of the lists of tithables 
 in the Parish,''' i68 pounds of tobacco; to Edward 
 Barry, Clerk of the Church, (Pohick,) and Vestry, 
 1500 pounds; to Samuel Hull, Clerk of the 
 Chapel above Goose Creek, and Joseph John- 
 son, Clerk of the new Church, 1000 pounds each, 
 and to Oliver Roe, Sexton at Pohick, 300 
 pounds. 
 
 ''At a Vestry held for Truro Parish the 19th. 
 day of August, 1736, — Mr. Charles Green, being 
 recommended to this Vestry by Capt. Augustine 
 Washington as a person qualified to officiate as a 
 Minister of this Parish as soon as he shall receive 
 orders from his Grace the Bishop of London to 
 qualify himself for the same. It is therefore or- 
 dered by this Vestry, that as soon as the said 
 Green has qualified himself as aforesaid, he be re- 
 ceived and entertained as Minister of the said Par- 
 ish. And the said Vestry do humbly recommend 
 the said Charles Green to the Right Honorable 
 Thomas Lord Fairfax for his Letters of recom- 
 mendation and Presentation to his Grace the said 
 
 *A11 male persons of the age of sixteen years or upwards, and 
 also neg-ro, mulatto and Indian women of like age, ("except tribu- 
 tary indians to this government,") were "tithable" or chargeable 
 for county and parish levies. But the Court or Vestry, "for reasons 
 in charity," could excuse indigent persons from payment, and this 
 was frequently done. In 1733 there were 676 tithables in Truro. 
 Ten years later there were 1,372. This Indicates the growth of the 
 population. The Parish Levy varied widely year by year, the aver- 
 age being about 34 pounds of tobacco per poll. 
 
 lO 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Lord Bishop of London to qualify him as afore- 
 said. 
 
 Jeremiah Bronaugh, Church Warden. 
 Denis Mc.Carty WiUm. Godfrey 
 
 August. Washington James Baxter 
 Richd. Osborn Edward Barry 
 
 John Sturman Thos. Lewis." 
 
 October nth. The Vestry met and made the 
 usual appropriations for the officers of the Church 
 and for the support of the poor. They also made 
 a bargain with the Rev. John Holmes to officiate 
 in the Parish, in these words : — ''Ordered that the 
 Revd. Mr. John Holmes be received and enter- 
 tained in this Parish, as Minister thereof; and that 
 he be provided for as the Law directs." Further, 
 it was "Ordered that the Reverend Mr. John 
 Holmes Minister of this Parish preach six times 
 in each year at the Chappell above Goose Creek; 
 and it is also ordered, that the Sundays he preaches 
 at the said Chappell the sermon shall be taken 
 from the new Church." At the bottom of the page 
 is the following note, signed Cha. Green; — *'The 
 Levity of the Members of the Vestry is worth 
 notice, They applyed to Collo. Colvill & entered 
 an order, 23d. Sept. 1734 for him to procure them 
 a Clergyman from England. By the order on the 
 other page they gave Cha. Green a title to the 
 Psh. when ordained, and he had scarcely left the 
 country when they received Mr. John Holmes 
 into the parish as appears by the above order. 
 
 II 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 N. B. Mr. Holmes was an Itinerant Preacher with- 
 out any orders, & reed, contrary to Law." 
 
 This note was made after Mr. Green became 
 Rector of the Parish. The foregoing entries are 
 the only evidence of the connection of Messrs. 
 De Butts and Holmes with the Parish. These 
 facts were unknown to Bishop Meade, who never 
 saw this record. This book also reveals the fact 
 that the Rev. James Keith, of Hamilton Parish, 
 the Grandfather of Chief Justice Marshall, also 
 officiated in this Parish, when it was without a 
 minister. At this very Vestry an order was en- 
 tered to pay the Rev. Mr. James Keith 10,544 
 pounds of tobacco for services rendered. 
 
 On the 1 2th of April, 1737, a long contract with 
 minute specifications is recorded with William 
 Berkeley for building a ''Mansion house" on the 
 Glebe, with kitchen, barn, dairy, meat house, and 
 all other appurtenances to a well furnished coun- 
 try residence. The specifications as to the quality 
 of the timber, the style of the work, etc., would 
 be a suggestive and profitable study for modern 
 Vestrymen. The cost of the buildings was to be 
 36,500 pounds of tobacco. Berkeley's bond, to 
 Jeremiah Bronaugh and Thomas Lewis, Church 
 Wardens, with Lewis Ellzey, Hugh West, George 
 Harrison, and John Minor as bondsmen, and Val. 
 Peyton, Abraham Saintclare and Joseph Cash as 
 witnesses, is also recorded in the Vestry Book. At 
 the same time an agreement was made with John 
 
 12 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Summers to ''pale in the yard about the new 
 Church after the same manner the yard about the 
 Church at Pohick is paled in, (only the pails to be 
 sawed,) to make good and sufficient shutters for 
 the windows of the said Church, and to make and 
 erect two good and substantial horse blocks," for 
 3000 pounds of tobacco. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Green, M. D., 
 
 The First Regular Rector 
 
 OF Truro Parish. 
 
 The Vestry which met on the 13th of August, 
 1737, was the first which was held under the aus- 
 pices of a regular Rector, and the following pro- 
 ceedings were entered on the minutes: 
 
 "Whereas at a Vestry held for this Parish on 
 the nineteenth day of August one thousand seven 
 hundred and thirty six, the now Reverend Mr. 
 Charles Green was recommended to the Right 
 Honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax, for his presen- 
 tation of the said Green to the Lord Bishop of 
 London for his ordination. And it now appearing 
 to this Vestry, as well by the letter of the Honor- 
 able William Gooch Esqr. Lieutenant Governor 
 of Virginia, as the letter of the Reverend Mr. 
 James Blair Commissary, that the said Green is 
 regularly and legally ordained. It is therefore 
 ordered by this Vestry, that the said Green be 
 received into, and entertained as Minister of, this 
 
 13 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 parish; and that he be provided for, as the laws of 
 this Colony direct."* 
 
 This being passed there is noted as 'Tresent, 
 the reverend Mr. Charles Green Minister." 
 
 "Ordered, that the Church Wardens place the 
 people that are not already placed, in Pohick and 
 the new Churches, in pews, according to their 
 several ranks and degrees." 
 
 ''Ordered, that the sum of two thousand five 
 hundred pounds of tobacco be yearly levied for 
 the Reverend Mr. Charles Green, until the build- 
 ings that are to be erected upon the Glebe be com- 
 pleated according to agreement made with the 
 undertaker." 
 
 ''Ordered, that the Reverend Mr. Charles 
 Green preach four times in a year only, at the 
 Chappell above Goose Crek. And that the Sun- 
 day he preaches at the said Chappell, the sermon 
 shall be taken from the new Church." 
 
 At a Vestry on the third day of October, 1737, 
 the usual appropriations for the salaries of the 
 minister and other of!icers of the Church, and for 
 the poor and other current expenses of the Parish, 
 
 *The Rev. Mr. Green was a Doctor of Medicine before he took 
 orders, and appears to have practised to some extent afterwards. 
 On at least one occasion he was called in at Mount Vernon, for 
 lack of a regular practitioner, and prescribed for the relief of Mrs. 
 Washington. He was a lar.sre landowner, and his Deeds, in which 
 he is described as Doctor of Physic and Clerk of Truro Parish, are 
 of frequent occurrence in the land records of the County. In his 
 latter years his health appears to have been poor. In his will, pro- 
 bated Aug-ust 19th, 1765, he leaves 3,000 acres of land, lying in 
 Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun, to his wife. He also men- 
 tions certain relatives in Ireland, and advises his wife to return 
 to that country, from which it is supposed that he was an Irish- 
 man. 
 
 14 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 were made, amounting to 38,383 pounds of tobac- 
 co. The Parish Levy was at the rate of 42^^ 
 pounds per Poll. The next year it was 45 pounds. 
 Among the appropriations made were; 
 To the Rev. Charles Green, 
 
 Minister, salary,"^' 16729 lbs. tobacco. 
 
 To Mr. Joseph Blumfield,t to 
 
 be paid Rev. Chas. Green. . 1597 
 To Edward Washington, Sub 
 
 Sheriff, per account 300 
 
 To Francis Aubrey gent, for 
 finding books for the Chap- 
 pell 200 " 
 
 To buy ornaments for the 
 Churches and books for the 
 Chappell, and Plate for 
 
 Communion 8000 
 
 To Mr. Richard Osborn for 
 
 taring the Churches, &c.... iioo " 
 To Edward Emms for sali- 
 vating James Boilstone . . . . 1000 
 The Readers at the churches received their 
 usual 1000 pounds, and the Sextons 500. A com- 
 
 *The Ministers salary was fixed by the law of 1696 at 16,000 
 pounds of tobacco. In 1727 the "cask" was added, for which an 
 addition of eight per cent, was allowed; though for some reason in 
 Truro only four per cent, was added for cask, and Mr. Green's sal- 
 ary after this time was 16,640 pounds, until in 1748 an additional 
 four per cent, was allowed for "shrinkag-e." Thereafter the salary 
 was 17,280 pounds, with, of course, the Glebe and buildings de- 
 manded by law. The value of a Minister's "Living" depended not 
 a little on the quality of the tobacco raised in his Parish. Com- 
 missary Blair used to distinguish between "Sweet-scented" and 
 "Oronoco" Parishes. 
 
 fThe Rev. Mr. Blumfield, who seems to have performed occa- 
 sional ministerial services in the parish before the arrival of Mr. 
 Green. 
 
 15 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 mission of 6 per cent, was paid for collecting the 
 levy. 
 
 ''Whereas the Rev. Charles Green hath this day 
 agreed with the Vestry to take the tobacco levied 
 to purchase books for the Chappell above Goose 
 Creek and ornaments for the Churches, at the 
 rate of eleven shillings current money per hun- 
 dred. He by the said agreement obliging himself 
 to find and provide the said books and ornaments, 
 being allowed fifty per cent, upon the first cost in 
 accounting with the Church Wardens. It is or- 
 dered that the collector pay to the said Green the 
 sum of 8000 pounds of tobacco, it being the quan- 
 tity this day levied for the purpose aforesaid." Mr. 
 Green also contracted to build the addition to the 
 Glebe house for the sum appropriated. 
 
 Among the offices of the Church Wardens was 
 the duty of binding orphan and other indigent 
 children as Apprentices; and ten pages of the Ves- 
 try Book at this period are filled with Indentures. 
 Their specifications in regard to the duties and 
 morals of those apprenticed, their being taught to 
 read English and the "Art and mystery" of shoe- 
 making, or of a Carpenter, or Cooper, etc., are 
 curious illustrations of the times. 
 
 At a Vestry held 6th. of October, 1740, a peti- 
 tion was presented from William Fairfax Esqr. 
 Catesby Cocke, Gent, and Charles Green, Doctor 
 of Physick, ''setting forth that the Church at 
 Pohick is too small to admit of a commodious re- 
 
 16 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ception for the parishioners who resort to divine 
 services at the said Church, and praying that they 
 may be admitted to build a Gallery at the West 
 end of the said Church for the reception and more 
 easie accommodation of themselves and their fami- 
 lies, and that the same may be erected at their 
 own proper cost. It is ordered that they may 
 have liberty to erect the same, so that it does dis- 
 commode the lights of the Church, or interfere 
 with any other conveniency thereto belonging." 
 ''Col. John Colvill is appointed and chosen Church 
 Warden in the room of Thomas Lewis." 
 
 In 1 74 1 nothing appears on the record but the 
 ordinary routine of laying levies, and making an- 
 nual appropriations for the poor, and the other 
 current expenses of the Parish. 
 
 Institution of Fairfax County 
 
 In 1742 Fairfax County was taken from Prince 
 WilHam, and the boundary lines of Truro Parish 
 and of the new county coincided.* 
 
 *The Act forming the new County, "Consisting' of the Parish of 
 Truro," (including what are now Loudoun and Alexandria Counties, 
 as well as Fairfax,) took effect December 1st, 1742. (Hening, V, 
 207.) The first Court-House was established on "Freedom Hill," a 
 mile or two north of the present village of Vienna, on land deeded 
 to the County by William Fairfax. Probably that was then near 
 the center of population. In 1754 the Court-House was moved to 
 Alexandria, and on July 1st, 1757. Loudoun County was cut off from 
 Fairfax. An Act of Assembly was passed December 4, 1789. direct- 
 ing two acres of land to be purchased and the county buildings to 
 be erected "Within one mile of the cross roads, near Price's Or- 
 dinar5%" that being near the center of the County. But it was not 
 until 1801 that the present Court-House was completed, on land 
 deeded by Richard Ratcliffe, and the Court removed. The village 
 which slowly grew up at tlie County seat received the name of 
 
 17 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Among the duties of the Vestries was the 
 appointment every four years of reputable Free- 
 holders to "perambulate" the Parish, — going 
 around the plantations and renewing the land- 
 marks. This was called ''Processioning."'^ To 
 this end the Parish was divided into precincts, like 
 our modern Townships. These are reproduced 
 because they throw light upon the geography and 
 population of the precincts at the time of the sev- 
 eral processionings, and also because the Proces- 
 sioners named owned land within their several 
 precincts at that date, and their names and locali- 
 ,ties are thus prescribed. 
 
 At a Vestry held the 8th of August, 1743, for 
 appointing Processioners, etc. ''Pursuant to an 
 order of Fairfax County Court the Vestry pro- 
 ceeded and laid off the said Parish into precincts 
 and appointed Processioners in manner following : 
 
 "Ordered, that Richard Simpson and Thos. 
 Ford procession all the pattented lands that tye 
 
 Providence, while the County seat of Culpeper County was known 
 as Fairfax. The old Virginia habit of calling the County seat 
 "The Court-House" prevailed, however, and both villages lost their 
 names, until finally, aided by the mandate of the Post Office De- 
 partment, "Culpeper Court-House" became "Culpeper" and "Fair- 
 fax Court-House" has now become "Fairfax." 
 
 *This was a revival in Virginia, in about the year 1662, of an 
 old English and Scottish custom which had already fallen into dis- 
 use in the old country. Processionings were required every four 
 years. Originally the Vestries had only to mark out the precincts, 
 and appoint the days, between Easter and "Whitsunday, for the 
 processioning, which was performed by the parties interested, but 
 after 1705 they had also to "appoint at least two intelligent honest 
 freeholders of each precinct to see such processioning performed, 
 to take and return to the Vestry an account of every persons land 
 they shall procession, and of the persons present at the same." 
 These accounts were to be carefully recorded and preserved by the 
 Vestry in books specially provided. Three processionings fixed the 
 bounds of lands beyond dispute. 
 
 i8 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 between Occoquan and Pohick on the upper side 
 of the Ox road, and between that and Occoquan 
 as far up as Popes head, and that they perform the 
 same sometime in the month of October or No- 
 vember next, and report their proceedings accord- 
 ing to Law." In hke manner it was ordered, that 
 WilHam Champneys and Francis Cofer procession 
 between Occoquan and Pohick, and on the lower 
 side of the Ox road, as far up as the head branches 
 of Popes head; that John Manley and John Brown 
 procession between Pohick and Doegs Creek, 
 from the head branches of Pohick by Col. Fitz- 
 hughs RolHng road, to the head of Doegs Run; 
 that Zephaniah Wade and Sampson Darrell pro- 
 cession between Doegs Run and Great Hunting 
 Creek; that Daniel French Senior and John Glad- 
 din procession between Great Hunting Creek and 
 Pimmetts Run; that James Robertson and Guy 
 Broadwater procession between Pimmetts Run 
 and Difficult Run; that John Trammell and John 
 Harle procession between Difficult Run and Broad 
 Run; that Anthony Hampton and William Moore 
 procession between Broad Run and the south side 
 of Goose Creek as far as the fork of Little River; 
 that Philip Noland and John Lasswell procession 
 between Goose Creek and Limestone Run as far 
 as the fork of Little River; that Amos Janney and 
 William Hailing procession between Limestone 
 Run and the south branch of Kitoctan; ''Between 
 the south fork of Kitoctan and Williams Gap, no 
 
 19 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 freeholder in this precinct. Between WilHams 
 Gap, Ashbys Gap, the county Hne, and Goose 
 Creek, to the Beaver Dam, and back to the Gap. 
 No freeholder in this precinct. Between the 
 Beaver Dam and the north east fork of Goose 
 Creek. No freeholder in this precinct." — that 
 Lovel Jackson and Jacob Lasswell procession be- 
 tween the north east and north west forks of Goose 
 Creek; that John Middleton and Edward Hews 
 procession between Little River and Goose Creek; 
 that William West and William Hall Junior pro- 
 cession between Little River and Walnut Cabbin 
 branch; that George Adams and Daniel, Diskin 
 procession between Walnut Cabbin branch, Broad 
 run and Cub run; that William Berkley and Vin- 
 cent Lewis procession between Cub run and Popes 
 head. "Ordered, that the Processioners, accord- 
 ing to their judgement, shape a line from the head 
 of one branch to the head of another; and that if 
 any persons land crosses any of the natural boun- 
 darys mentioned, the first set of Processioners are 
 to go round the land." 
 
 Vestry Dissolved, and a New Vestry 
 Elected 
 
 In 1744 it was represented to the General As- 
 sembly that divers members of the Vestry of Truro 
 Parish were not able to read or write, and were 
 not otherwise qualified. The Vestry was dissolved 
 
 20 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 by an Act of Assembly, and the Sheriff of the 
 County was ordered to call a meeting of the free- 
 holders and housekeepers to choose a new Vestry 
 of the "most able and discreet persons in the Par- 
 ish." In obedience to this order the following 
 persons were chosen to compose the new Vestry, 
 viz: 
 
 Capt. John West Capt. Richard Osborn 
 
 Capt. Lewis Ellzey Mr. Daniel French 
 
 Mr. John Sturman Mr. Edward Emms 
 
 Capt. John Minor Mr. Robert Boggess 
 
 Mr. Hugh West Colo. John Colvill 
 
 Mr. Andrew Hutchinson Mr. Charles Broadwater. 
 
 These persons, having taken the oaths required 
 by law to be taken, subscribed the test, and to be 
 conformable to Doctrine and Discipline of the 
 Church of England, were sworn Vestrymen of the 
 Parish of Truro.* 
 
 Bishop Meade expresses surprise at this dissolu- 
 tion in view of the number of intelligent men in 
 the Parish, and supposes that it must have taken 
 place elsewhere. But the Rev. Charles Green 
 made a note in the Vestry Book which explains 
 the proceeding. He says that "One of the causes 
 assigned for the dissolution of the Vestry was that 
 
 ♦These political oaths were three in number, and the third was 
 quite long. They were oaths of allegiance and of abjuration of 
 Popery and of the Pretender, etc., and were required of all Civil 
 and Military officers by the laws of England and of Virginia. They 
 may be seen in Bp. Meade's "Old Churches, Ministers and Families 
 of Virginia," Vol. II, p. 41. It seems to have required as many as 
 six oaths and subscriptions properly to qualify a Vestryman in those 
 days. 
 
 21 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 several of them were illiterate. There was but one 
 of them illiterate, namely Edward Emms, who was 
 reelected." The truth seems to be that the Dele- 
 gates to the Assembly and other leading men 
 often had Vestries dissolved when they displeased 
 them.* 
 
 John West and Lewis Ellzey were sworn as 
 Church Wardens, and William Henry Terrett was 
 elected Clerk of the Vestry. 
 
 1745, April 15th. Messrs. John West, Hugh 
 West, Hutchinson, French, Boggess and Broad- 
 water were appointed to 'Saew the most con^ 
 venient place between Salisbury plain. Little river 
 and Potomac river for a Chappel of Ease to be 
 built, and to treat with the workmen about the 
 building thereof," and report to the Vestry.f Also 
 
 *The Act of Dissolving the Vestry of Truro was proposed in the 
 House of Burgesses by Lawrence Washington, Esq., Oct. 15, 1744. 
 It will be found in Hening's Statutes, Vol. V, p. 274. The pre- 
 amble states that "many of them were never lawfully chosen or 
 qualified; that several are not able to read or write." "While the 
 charge of illiteracy was doubtless overstated there can be no doubt 
 that some of the Vestrymen were not lawfully chosen; for while 
 the law was very explicit in limiting the number of Vestrymen in 
 a parish to twelve, there were at least sixteen at one time in Truro, 
 and on three occasions thirteen were recorded as being present at 
 a Vestry. 
 
 By an Act of Assembly in 1745 the election of the new Vestry 
 was confirmed, and the said Vestry was established as the legal 
 Vestry of the Parish. Hening, Vol. V, p. 380. 
 
 fThis Church was not built by the Truro Vestry. On October 
 7th of this same year it was "Ordered, that the Church to be built be 
 built at Rocky run instead of the place already appointed, it appear- 
 ing there is no water there, and that the Clerk prepare deeds for Capt. 
 Newton to sign and execute for land for the use of the Church." 
 After this we hear nothing more of it in the Vestry Book, and no 
 tobaccoo was levied in this Parish for its erection. The site se- 
 lected fell in Cameron Parish upon the division in 1749, and that 
 the Church was built immediately thereafter we discover from a 
 fragment of the records of the County Court of Fairfax for that 
 period which escaped destruction. On July 21, 1752, the Court 
 ordered "That Lewis Ellzey, Hugh West jr. James Hamilton, Dem- 
 sie Cairde and James Halley, or any three of them, view and mark 
 «*. way for a road to b« cUared th« most convenient way from 
 
 22 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ordered that Messrs. John West, Ellzey and 
 French view what necessary repairs are wanting 
 at Goose Creek Chapel and agree with workmen 
 therefor; that a gallery be built in the west end of 
 the upper Church and the Church Wardens agree 
 with workmen for the same; and that the Minister 
 make choice of proper persons to ofiliciate as Read- 
 ers at each Church. May 21st it was ordered 
 'That a Church be built at or near the spring nigh 
 Mr. Hutchinsons and the Mountain road," 40 feet 
 "long, 22 feet wide and 13 feet pitch, weather- 
 boarded, shingled, and ''ceiled with quartered 
 plank beaded and plained, — with pulpit, desk, 
 Communion Table, pews, doors, windows and 
 seats after the manner of the upper Church." The 
 Clerk was instructed to prepare deeds for Mr. 
 Hutchinson's conveyance of two acres of land for 
 the Church and churchyard, and articles of agree- 
 ment and bond for Hugh Thomas, who undertakes 
 to build the Church for 24,500 pounds of tobacco, 
 to be finished by the end of October 1746. On 
 October 14th, 1746, John Summers, William 
 Harle and Thomas Darus were appointed "to view 
 the new Church, and to report on oath the state 
 
 Alexandria to Rocky Run Chappell, and report to the Court," On 
 November 21st the same parties were sworn and ordered to open 
 the road. Doubtless this is what is now locally known as the old 
 Braddocks Road; and if a part of Gen. Braddock's force did pass 
 over it in the spring of 1755 they may have found it in such an 
 unfinished condition as to compel them to do further work on it, 
 so giving rise to the tradition that it was opened by Braddoek. 
 The site of the Chapel would seem to have been at or near the 
 point where this road crosses Little Rocky Run, about half a mile 
 east of Centerville. 
 
 23 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 and condition of the work, whether there is an de- 
 ficiency or not." Also it was "Ordered, that the 
 Minister preach eight times in the year at the New 
 Church, and that he do proportion the times 
 equally from each Church."* 
 
 The following items from the accounts current 
 show the payments to the officers of the Churches, 
 etc. : 
 Rev. Charles Green, Salary 
 
 and cask 16,640 lbs. of tobacco 
 
 Clerks at Pohick, Upper 
 
 Church, New Church, 
 
 and Goose Creek, each. . 1200 " '' 
 
 Clerk of the Vestry ...... 500 
 
 Mary Bennit, Sexton at 
 
 the Upper Church 400 
 
 Do. for washing the sur- 
 plice 125 
 
 Philip Howel, Sexton at 
 
 Pohick, and washing 
 
 surplice twice 550 
 
 Hugh West, for account 
 
 book no 
 
 Do. for bringing said 
 
 book from WilHamsburg 50 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 
 (( <( 
 
 *This Church was probably located near the present village of 
 Dranesville. The deed from Hutchinson to the Vestry is on record 
 in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax, dated August 19th, 1745. He con- 
 veys two acres, near the Mountain road, to be laid off at the ex- 
 pense of the Parish, so as to Include the Church Intended and 
 a£;Teed to be built thereon, with a spring, etc. On the division 
 ol the Parish this Church fell in Cameron. 
 
 24 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Dr. Robinson, physick and 
 
 attendance on poor 1200 
 
 Dr. Daniel Hart, per ac- 
 count, for poor 3880 
 
 Various items, relief of the 
 
 poor, one year 4630 
 
 a a 
 
 a li 
 
 a (( 
 
 A Mandamus 
 
 In the proceedings of the Vestry for June, iy47> 
 it is said that a Mandamus was presented to the 
 Vestry in behalf of William Grove; who being ex- 
 amined denied that he knew anything of its being- 
 prosecuted, and also quit all claim to the Clerk's 
 place. This is the first instance of a Mandamus 
 being served on a Vestry that I have met with. It 
 is explained by a note on the margin by the Minis- 
 ter, thus: "William Grove was recommended to 
 me by Capt. Newton as a person capable to be 
 Clerk Etc. but on trial was found not capable. 
 Also he came into the County convicted, though 
 probably he might have behaved well afterward. 
 For these reasons I appointed Wm. Champneys 
 Clerk, which occasioned the Mandamus." 
 
 W^illiam Grove was made Sexton at the new 
 Church. 
 
 In 1748, in addition to the usual items, pay- 
 ments were made to John Graham, Valentine 
 W^ade, Mary Willis, Baldwin Dade, John Carlyle, 
 
 25 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 and William Moore for levies overcharged, and 
 to Dr. John Hunter for services to the poor. 
 
 First Division of Truro Parish 
 
 By an act of the Assembly of October, 1748, it 
 was enacted that from and after the eleventh day 
 of June then next Truro Parish should be divided, 
 "by Difficult Run and its meanders from the mouth 
 to the head thereof, thence by a line to the head 
 of Popes head run, and down the said run to the 
 mouth thereof." All on the lower side of said runs 
 and line to retain the name of Truro, and all on the 
 upper side to be "'one other distinct Parish and 
 called by the name of Cameron.""^' 
 
 Truro w^as now limited to the foregoing metes 
 and bounds; and Cameron Parish had jurisdiction 
 above the said line, with its ow^n Minister and Ves- 
 try. The division transferred 707 tithables to 
 Cameron, leaving 1240 in Truro. Several of the 
 
 *See Hening's Statutes, Vol. VI, pp. 214 and 271. In 1757 Fair- 
 fax County was divided and Loudoun County formed, the line 
 being as follows: "Difficult run, which falls into Patowmack river, 
 and a line to be run from the head of the said run, a straight 
 course, to the mouth of Rocky run;" (Now known as Little Rocky 
 Run, emptying into the Bull Run.) This left a small part of 
 Cameron Parish, lying between Popes Head and the above line, 
 still in Fairfax. By another Act, however, in effect January 1st, 
 1763, this was taken from Cameron and added to Truro, so that 
 the parish and County lines should coincide. (See Hening, Vol. 
 VII, pp. 14 8 and 612.) In 1798 the present line between Fairfax 
 and Loudoun was established, being about eight miles west of the 
 old line; but of course at that date no change was made in the 
 Parish lines by the Legislature, and Cameron again lay partly in 
 Fairfax. This fact was forgotten, however, and when in 1884 a 
 new Parish was formed, almost entirely within the territory of 
 Cameron, it received the name of Upper Truro Parish. 
 
 26 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 old Vestrymen also lived in Cameron. The new 
 Vestry of Truro consisted of, — 
 Hugh West, Abraham Barnes, 
 
 George Mason, Thomas Wren, 
 
 James Hamilton, Robert Boggess 
 
 Charles Broadwater, John Turley, 
 Daniel Mc.Carty, William Peake, 
 
 William Payne, Jeremiah Bronaugh. 
 
 This is the first appearance of the great Author 
 of the Bill of Rights in the Vestry Book. Mr. 
 Bronaugh died within a few months, and was suc- 
 ceeded as Church Warden by Mr. Mason and as 
 Vestryman by John West.* 
 
 February 19, 1749-50, the Vestry agree with 
 Charles Broadwater Gent, to make an addition to 
 the Upper Church, according to plans produced, 
 for 12,000 pounds of tobacco. It was also ordered 
 that the sills and sleepers of Pohick Church be 
 repaired, the north side of the Church newly 
 shingled with poplar or chestnut shingles, that 
 windows be made in the "Justices Pew" and in the 
 "Womens Pew," that the Church be raised and 
 new blocked, and that a Vestry House be built, 
 sixteen feet square, framed and clapboarded, to 
 have "an inside wooden chimney and to be lofted 
 with clapboards." Capt. Daniel McCarty under- 
 takes this work for 5,500 pounds of tobacco, he 
 
 *This was the third Vestry of Truro. We miss henceforward 
 several familiar names, among them our old friends, Edward Emms, 
 Richard Osborn and Andrew Hutchinson, It is very likely that two 
 at least of these would be found on the first Vestry of Cameron. 
 
 27 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 having also the material in the old Vestry House 
 to make what use of he can in building the new. 
 Afterward this work was ordered to be deferred, 
 and two years later the contract, with the addition 
 of a window by the pulpit and making good the 
 pews and fioor, was given to Mr. Daniel French 
 for sixty-three pounds current money. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1751, it was ordered, 'That 
 the Clerk of the Vestry present unto the next 
 Court of Claims and Propositions a petition in the 
 name of the Minister, Churchwardens and Vestry 
 of this Parish to Honour'l. House of Burgesses 
 setting forth the insufficiency and inconveniency 
 of the Glebe land of said Parish in order that an 
 Act of Assembly be obtained for the Vestry to 
 sell the same and buy land more convenient for 
 the same uses, and also to pay the upper Parish of 
 this County their proportion of what the said land 
 may sell for."''' In 1752 an Act of Assembly 
 granted the petition. 
 
 The time for processioning the lands having 
 come again, and the division of the Parish having 
 changed its geography, etc. It was ordered that 
 James Donaldson and John Jenkins procession 
 between Difficult and Pimmetts run, Guy Broad- 
 water and James Robertson between Pimmetts 
 
 ♦From the County Court records, February 8th, 1752. "A peti- 
 tion for selling the Glebe lands in the Parish of Truro and pur- 
 chasing other land more convenient presented and ordered certified 
 to the Assembly." 
 
 For the Act see Hening, VI, 270. It is from this Act that we 
 discover the lines between Truro and Cameron, the Act providing 
 for the division being lost except its title. 
 
 28 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 run and Four Mile run, Edward Masterson and 
 William Gleading between Four Mile run and 
 Hunting- Creek, Sampson Darrell and John Posey 
 between Hunting Creek and Dogue run, Edward 
 Violet and William Ashford between Dogue run 
 and Accotink, Abraham Barnes and Robert Bog- 
 gess between Accotink and Pohick, William Rear- 
 don and John Hereford between Pohick and Oc- 
 coquan to Sandy run, Thomas Ford and Richard 
 Simpson from Sandy run to Popes Head and the 
 branches of Difficult. 
 
 1752. The Glebe was sold at auction and 
 bought by Mr. William Ramsay for fifty pounds 
 current money; and 176 acres of land adjoining 
 the old Glebe was bought of Rev. Charles Green 
 for 13,500 pounds of tobacco. Proposals were in- 
 vited for buildings on the Glebe according to law. 
 the dwelling house to be of brick, to contain in 
 the clear about 1200 feet, of one story and a cellar 
 and convenient rooms and closets; to be advertised 
 in the Gazette and at the several Churches and 
 the Courthouse. In October Mr. Thomas Waite 
 contracted for the dwelling house and other houses 
 on the Glebe for 425 pounds current money, and 
 Rev. Charles Green undertook to do the rest of 
 the building necessary, apparently without com- 
 pensation. 
 
 The Clerk of the Upper Church was directed to 
 "read prayers every intervening Sunday," and was 
 allowed 1200 pounds of tobacco for his salary. 
 
 29 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Alexandria 
 
 1753, June 4th. "On the petition of Capt. John 
 West ordered that the Rev. Mr. Charles Green do 
 preach every third Sunday at the Town of Alex- 
 andria." This is the first time Alexandria is men- 
 tioned in this record, and this is probably the date 
 of the first Chlrch services there. Hitherto it has 
 not been supposed that there had been Church ser- 
 vice at Alexandria before 1762. It is not generally 
 known that the site of Alexandria was included in 
 a grant of land, (6,000 acres,) extending from 
 Hunting Creek to the Little Falls, from Sir Wil- 
 liam Berkeley to Robert Howson. In October, 
 1669, Howson, for six hogsheads of tobacco, con- 
 veyed these lands to John Alexander, who, with 
 his brothers Robert and Gerard, had emigrated 
 from Scotland. (See Dinwiddle Papers, Vol. I, p. 
 89.) There had been for some years warehouses 
 at Pohick, Hunting Creek, and at Thomas Lee's 
 land at the Falls, when, in 1748, a town named 
 Alexandria was established by Act of Assembly 
 at Hunting Creek Warehouse, sometimes called 
 Belle-Haven. 
 
 In 1754 there is mention of the payment of 100 
 pounds of tobacco to Capt. John West for ''part 
 of building the desk at Alexandria." And in 1756 
 the Churchwardens are ordered "to have seats 
 made for the Church at Alexandria."* 
 
 •strange to say these are the only mentions made in this Ves- 
 try Book of any levy or appropriation for building-, furnishing or 
 
 30 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 Colchester 
 
 As Colchester was a conspicuous feature of 
 Truro Parish it may be well to record here that it 
 was established as a Town by Act of Assembly in 
 1753-4 on 25 acres of land belonging to Peter 
 Wagener, as being 'Very convenient for trade, and 
 greatly to the ease of frontier inhabitants." The 
 Trustees and Directors were Peter Wagener, 
 Daniel McCarty, John Barry, William Ellzey, and 
 Edward Washington, all Vestrymen of Truro Par- 
 ish. 
 
 1754. Messrs. George Mason, Daniel McCarty, 
 and Hugh West, who had been appointed to view 
 the buildings on the Glebe as they progressed, 
 made a report, showing the manliness of the times, 
 which some modern Vestries would do well to 
 imitate. They say the bricks are not fit to be 
 used, and that the following notice should be given 
 to Mr. Waite, the undertaker, and his securities: — 
 *'Mr. Waite : The Vestry are of opinion that none 
 of the bricks of the two first kilns are fit to be 
 put into the walls of the Glebe House, but that 
 what is done be pulled down and done with good 
 bricks and that the cellar windows be done with 
 good ring oak or locust: and that in case you begin 
 anew that they will allow you six months further 
 
 repairing a Church in Alexandria; though hereafter the Clerk and 
 the Sexton at Alexandria, are regularly paid as at the other 
 Churches. It is probable therefore that Capt. West and others 
 themselves provided a hall or Chapel for services, even paying in 
 part for building the desk. 
 
 31 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 than the time mentioned in your bond to compleat 
 it." 
 
 ''Ordered, that the King's Attorney do prose- 
 cute for this Parish." 
 
 The Hon. William Fairfax was appointed Ves- 
 tryman in the room of Hugh West, deceased. The 
 Churchwardens were directed to give notice for 
 the impotent people of the Parish to appear before 
 the Vestry the following May, and also any person 
 who will undertake to board them. 
 
 September, 1755. The time for processioning 
 land recurs, and some of the details are given be- 
 cause they throw light on the history of the Par- 
 ish. David Piper, John Hereford, and Marielles 
 Littlejohn are to procession the several tracts of 
 land that have their beginnings between Occo- 
 quan, Potomac river, Accotink run and the road 
 that leads from Hunting Creek through the Glebe 
 land to Occoquan. John Peak, Daniel French, 
 John Posey, and Abednego Adams, between Ac- 
 cotink, Potomac river. Hunting Creek and the 
 road that leads from Hunting Creek through the 
 Glebe land. John Dalton, Thomas Harrison, John 
 Hunter, and Nathaniel Smith, between Hunting 
 Creek, Potomac river, and the road that leads from 
 Awbreys ferry to the upper Church and the road 
 that leads from Cameron to the said Church. Guy 
 Broadwater, James Robertson and James Donald- 
 son, between the road that leads from Awbreys 
 ferry to the upper Church and the road from up- 
 
 32 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 per Church to Difficult run, and then down the 
 run to Potomac river, and then down the river to 
 iVwbreys ferry. Lewis Ellzey, James Hawley, 
 WilHam Adams, and John RatcHff, between the 
 road that leads from Cameron to Difficult run, 
 and up the run and Parish line till the line comes 
 to the road that leads from Cameron by Capt. 
 Lewis Ellzeys, and so down the said road to Cam- 
 eron. Thomas Shaw, Presley Cox, James Jugo 
 Dozier, Joseph Stephens, Sampson Demevill, and 
 John Hampton between the road that leads from 
 Cameron by Capt. Lewis Ellzeys to the Parish 
 line, and so down the Parish line to Occoquan 
 ferry, and then up the road by the Glebe to Hunt- 
 ing Creek. 
 
 Mrs. Sybil West is paid 1800 pounds of tobacco 
 for elements for the Churches. Wm. Payne and 
 Henry Gunnell chosen Vestrymen in 1756. 
 
 1757. Geo. Wm. Fairfax chosen Vestryman in 
 the room of his father, Hon. William Fairfax, de- 
 ceased.* Several parties were paid for attendance 
 as witnesses in Churchwardens suit against Cole. 
 
 1758. John West jun. becomes Clerk of the 
 Vestry. George Mason, John West and Daniel 
 
 ♦William Fairfax was a cousin of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Pro- 
 prietor of the Northern Neck, and his agent in Virginia until he 
 himself came over. He was a Burgess from Prince William Co. 
 from 1742 until 1744, when he became a member of the Governor's 
 Council. George William Fairfax was a Burgess from Frederick 
 Co. from 1752 to 1755, and from Fairfax, 1756-58. He also became 
 a member of the Council in 1768. He was a half brother of the 
 Rev, Bryan, Lord Fairfax, afterward Rector of Christ Church, 
 Alexandria. 
 
 33 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 McCarty to examine the Parish papers and report 
 to the next Vestry. 
 
 1759. Mr. Waite, "tho' often admonished," 
 having failed in doing his work at the Glebe build- 
 ings according to agreement, the Vestry take steps 
 to annul his contract. William Bucklands finally 
 completes the work and is paid the balance due 
 Waite. Processioners were again appointed, be- 
 ing generally those who had served before. 
 
 1760 and 1 76 1. We have only the usual routine 
 Parish items and appropriations for salaries, main- 
 tenance of the poor, Physicians and Lawyers 
 fees, etc. Mrs. Sybil West's account for elements 
 for the Holy Communion is about iioo pounds of 
 tobacco annually. 
 
 George Washington, Vestryman 
 
 1762. October 25th. "Ordered, that George 
 Washington Esqr. be chosen and appointed one of 
 the Vestrymen of this Parish in the room of Wil- 
 liam Peake Gent, deceased."''' 
 
 The Falls Church 
 
 ''At a Vestry held at the Falls Church March 
 28th, 1763. Present, Henry Gunnell, William 
 Payne jun. Church Wardens, John West, William 
 Payne (sen.) Chas. Broadwater, Thos. Wren, 
 
 *From the Records of the County Court of Fairfax, February 
 15th, 1763: "George Washington Esqr. took the oaths according to 
 I^aw repeated and subscribed the Test and subscribed to the Doc- 
 trine and Discipline of the Church of England in order to qualify 
 him to act as a Vestryman of Truro Parish." 
 
 34 
 
,.J^'^f^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'O-a^ 
 
 '/^.-fi<.^/i 
 
 '^i 
 
 
 
 
 .yi^jijo- //oyLtnj^ yi^^'j2^. 
 
 "Nv 
 
 ty"re^f/n/ ./a7> /%^ ',r.^W - W^y^'^y •^' -^/i""-" 
 
 
 ' ty^* a-it_',f^T 
 
 
 t/ic/i *>^^ -»-»»■«» /As' ''^^ 
 
 
 
 /9 
 
 <l/S-**--^ J^/cf^tr-O^ofm^ 
 
 
 a^C^t • C/ cr-*3 -^ -. 
 
 -^ 
 
 ^5^ 
 
 The Old Vestry Book 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Abra. Barnes, Danl. Mc.Carty, Robt. Boggess, and 
 Geo. Washington, Vestrymen, Who being there 
 met to examine into the state of the said Church, 
 greatly in decay and want of repairs, and Hkewise 
 whether the same should be repaired or a new one 
 built, and whether at the same place or removed to 
 a more convenient one; — Resolved it is the 
 opinion of this Vestry that the old Church is 
 rotten and unfit for repair, but that a new Church 
 be built at the same place. Ordered that the 
 Clerk of the Vestry advertise in the Virginia and 
 Maryland Gazettes for workmen to meet at the 
 said Church on the 29th day of August next, if 
 fair, if not the first fair day, to undertake the build- 
 ing a Brick Church to contain 1600 feet on the 
 floor, with a suitable gallery, and bring a plan for 
 the Church and price according to the same." 
 
 There is no record of a meeting in August. 
 Probably no contractors appeared. 
 
 October 3rd. 1763. ''Ordered, that George 
 William Fairfax and George Washington Esqrs. 
 be appointed Church Wardens for the ensuing 
 year." 
 
 "Ordered, that the Vestr}^ meet at Alexandria 
 on the third Tuesday in March next in order to 
 agree with workmen to undertake the building a 
 Church at or near the old Falls Church, and that 
 the Church Wardens advertise the same in the Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland Gazettes to be continued six 
 weeks; and that it will be then expected of each 
 
.'•^^ 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 workmen to produce a plan and estimate of the 
 expense." The Parish Levy called for 30,000 
 pounds of tobacco" towards building the Falls 
 Church, to be sold for cash by the Church War- 
 dens for the highest price they can get." Again 
 there is no record of the meeting appointed for 
 March (1764) being held.* But in the annual Levy 
 laid in October of that year an additional 20,000 
 pounds of tobacco is levied ''for building Churches 
 in the Parish," and ordered to be sold as before. 
 John Barry becomes Clerk of the Vestry. 
 
 Second Division of Truro, and Formation of 
 Fairfax Parish 
 
 [Note by the Editor. — The facts in regard 
 to the division of Truro, and the formation 
 of Fairfax Parish, are not recorded in the Vestry 
 
 •Perhaps the Church Wardens overlooked their charge to adver- 
 tise for contractors until after this Vestry was to have met. But 
 on May 17th, 1764, their advertisement appeared in the Maryland 
 Gazette, a copy of which is preserved in the Library of Congress, 
 and ran for six weeks, as follows: 
 
 "Virginia, Fairfax county, March 20, 1764. 
 
 Notice is hereby given to any Person or Persons, who are will- 
 ing to undertake the Building a Brick Church at the Falls in Truro 
 Parish in the County aforesaid, (to contain 1600 feet superficial 
 Measure, with convenient Galleries,) That on the Third Monday in 
 June next, there will be a meeting of the Vestry, at what is com- 
 monly called the Upper Church; At which Time and Place, any 
 Person or Persons, who will undertake the same, are desired to 
 attend, with their Plans, and Estimate of the Expence, and to 
 give Bond, with good Security, to the Church wardens of the said 
 Parish, for his or their true performance. 
 
 George W. Fairfax < ^, , ^ ,, 
 
 George Washington i Church wardens. 
 
 There is no record of a meeting of the Vestry on the third Mon- 
 day in June, as specified above, and it is probable that this effort 
 to secure a builder to undertake the Church was not successful. 
 The present Falls Church was built a few years later by James 
 Wren. 
 
 36 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Book, and were but imperfectly known to Dr. 
 Slaughter. He was not acquainted with the final 
 Act of Assembly dividing the Parishes, nor had 
 he ever seen the original and complete paper by 
 Gen. Washington giving the result of the various 
 elections of Vestrymen held at this time, which 
 explains, and explains away, the seeming fact that 
 Washington was chosen, contrary to all precedent, 
 if not law, to serve simultaneously on the Vestries 
 of two distinct Parishes. For these reasons Dr. 
 Slaughter's History is, of necessity, at this point, 
 radically imperfect; and the Editor feels that he 
 will but carry out what would be the Author's 
 wish, if it could be expressed, in departing from 
 the manuscript for a few pages, and rewriting this 
 portion of the Parish annals.] 
 
 As early as 1761 a petition was presented to the 
 County Court, and ordered certified to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, praying for a division of Truro 
 Parish. The population of the County was in- 
 creasing rapidly, there was an evident demand for 
 more Churches and more services, while the health 
 of the Rev. Mr. Green was failing. A division was 
 the natural remedy. No action seems to have 
 been taken further however until the year, 1764. 
 In the Journal of the House of Burgesses we read 
 that on November ist of that year "A petition 
 from sundry inhabitants of, the Parish of Truro, in 
 the County of Fairfax praying that the said Parish 
 be divided into two distinct Parishes, was pre- 
 
 37 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 sented to the House and read." It was referred 
 to Messrs, George Johnston and John West, the 
 two Burgesses from Fairfax, to prepare and bring 
 in a Bill agreeable to the prayer of the petitioners. 
 November 3rd. Mr. Johnston presented the Bill 
 for dividing the Parish of Truro, and it was passed 
 on the 6th and agreed to by the Council on the 
 26th. The Act provided that the division should 
 take place from February ist, 1765, the line being 
 — ''by Doeg creek from the mouth thereof to Mr. 
 George Washington's mill, and from thence, by 
 a straight line, to the plantation, of John Munroe, 
 and the same course continued to the line that di- 
 vides the counties of Fairfax and Loudoun." AH 
 between this line and the Potomac .was to be the 
 new Parish of Fairfax. Each Parish was to elect 
 its Vestry, at a time and place appointed by the 
 Sheriff, before the second of, the following April. 
 (See Hening, VIII. 43.) The elections were held 
 in Truro on March 25th and in Fairfax on March 
 28th. 
 
 This division was exceedingly favorable to the 
 new Parish, but naturally it met with small favor 
 in Truro. Not only was she shorn, of much more 
 than half her strength, but the congregation of 
 Pohick, her one remaining Church, was divided, 
 and Mount Vernon, with several other plantations 
 which naturally belonged to this Church both 
 from proximity and association, was now in Fair- 
 fax Parish. Accordingly when the House of Bur- 
 
 38 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 gesses, after a recess of several months, met again 
 in May, we find, under date of May 14, 1765, that 
 "A petition of smidry inhabitants of the Parish of 
 Truro, praying a more ^ equal division of the said 
 Parish, also several petitions in opposition thereto, 
 were presented to the House and read." These 
 were referred to the Committe of Propositions and 
 Grivances, "to examine into ^ the allegations there- 
 of, and report the same with their opinion to the 
 House." Of this Committee Mr. Johnston was a 
 member, as was also George Washington, who at 
 that time represented the County of Frederick, 
 where he was also a large freeholder. On the 
 15th the Committee reported two resolutions. 
 First, that the petition from Truro, complaining 
 of the inequality in the late division, and praying 
 that a new division be made, by a line to begin at 
 Clifton's or Johnson's ferry on the Potomac and to 
 run from thence to the ford over Dogue run, and 
 on by the line that was afterward adopted, was 
 ''reasonable." Second, that so much of the peti- 
 tion from Fairfax Parish in opposition thereto as 
 prays that if the Parishes, be divided it be by other 
 lines as therein set forth was ''also reasonable." 
 The first proposition was rejected, and the Com- 
 mittee ordered to bring in a Bill in accordance 
 with the second resolution. The new Act was 
 presented the same day and recommitted, reported 
 with amendments on the 226., passed the 23d, 
 agreed to by the Council, and was signed by the 
 
 39 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Governor on June ist, so becoming a law on that 
 date. 
 
 The preamble of this Act states that "Whereas it 
 is represented to this present General Assembly 
 that the lines and boundaries whereby the Parish 
 of Truro, in the County of Fairfax, was divided 
 into two distinct Parishes, pursuant to an Act 
 passed for that purpose in the former part of this 
 present session of Assembly, have made a very 
 unequal division of the said Parish, by leaving 
 nearly double the number of tithables in the new 
 Parish of Fairfax than there are in Truro Parish, 
 (sic) Be it therefore enacted &c. That the said Act 
 be, and is hereby repealed, and declared null and 
 void. And he it further enacted, That from and 
 after the ninth day of June next the said Parish 
 of Truro shall be divided into two distinct Par- 
 ishes, in the following manner, that is to say; From 
 the mouth of Little Hunting creek, up the same 
 to the forks thereof; thence up the meanders of 
 the south branch thereof, to the Gum Spring 
 thereon; from thence by a straight line to the ford 
 of Dogue run, where the back road from Colches- 
 ter to Alexandria crosses the said run; and from 
 thence by a straight line to the forks of Difficult." 
 All above said lines to be Fairfax Parish, and all 
 below to retain the name of Truro. New Vestries 
 were to be elected in each Parish before the first 
 of August following. Henry Lee, John Baylis, 
 Foushee Tebbs, Allan Macrae, and William Car, 
 
 40 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 gentlemen, were appointed commissioners to ad- 
 just and divide the cost of the Glebe and improve- 
 ments thereon, and of the Church .plate, and the 
 50,000 pounds of tobacco levied for building 
 Churches and not yet expended, between the two 
 Parishes according to the number of tithables in 
 each at the time of the first division. (See Hening 
 VIII. 157.) A plot and description of the above 
 line, made by the County Surveyor, June 15, 1765, 
 is on record in the Clerk's ofBce of Fairfax County. 
 
 It is evident that Washington himself, and his 
 immense estate at Mount Vernon, was the princi- 
 pal bone of contention between the mother and 
 daughter Parishes. The lines proposed ran, 
 the one on the south, the other on the north, of 
 the estate. The one finally adopted divided it, 
 leaving far the larger part, however, with the man- 
 sion house, in Truro. That he would take an ac- 
 tive interest in the settlement of the question was 
 inevitable, and doubtless his direct agency is to be 
 seen in the compromise petition which found favor 
 with the House of Burgesses and was the basis 
 of their legislation. The Act which was passed 
 may well have been drawn by his own pen. In 
 contrast with the previous Act it is unusually spe- 
 cific in its details, and would seem to indicate the 
 hand of the Surveyor, in its clearly described lines, 
 and of the Church Warden in its accurate enumer- 
 ation of the property and assets of the Parish. 
 
 But ,there is another silent witness to Washing- 
 
 41 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ton's concern in this division. In the Library of 
 Congress there is preserved, among his journals 
 and some other manuscript papers, a single sheet 
 of foolscap written on both sides in his most formal 
 hand, and giving the result, first of the elections 
 of Vestries for the two Parishes held in March, 
 1765, vmder the first Act of Assembly, and then of 
 those held in July of the same year under the pro- 
 visions of the second Act. The first page shows 
 a large preponderance of, voters in Fairfax Parish 
 at the first elections, bearing out the assertion that 
 the first division was very unequal. The second 
 page, with the simple calculation at the bottom, 
 shows the number of voters in the two Parishes 
 at the second election to have been nearly the 
 same; 334 in Fairfax and 313 in Truro. Later the 
 Vestry Book records that the new division gave 
 to Fairfax Parish 10 13 tithables, leaving 962 in 
 Truro. 
 
 This paper shows that at the first election, in 
 March, 1765, Col. Washington was elected a Ves- 
 tryman of the first , Fairfax Parish, he being, for 
 the moment, a resident therein. The life of this 
 Parish was exactly four months, and of this Vestry- 
 elect two months and three days, even if its mem- 
 bers ever qualified or met for organization, of 
 which there is no evidence. In July, Mount Ver- 
 non having, in the meantime, been restored to 
 Truro, Col. Washington was again elected a Ves- 
 
 42 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 tryman of Truro Parish, and was not eligible in 
 any other. 
 
 An accurate copy of this interesting paper, as 
 written by Washington, will be found on the fol- 
 lowing pages, being here published in complete 
 form, it is believed, for the first time. 
 
 43 
 
HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 COPY OF PAPER IN WASHINGTON'S HANDWRITING, NOW IN 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 (First Page.) 
 
 VESTRY CHOSEN FOR TRURO 
 
 PARISH 25th. MARCH 1765 
 
 with the Number of Votes to 
 each. 
 
 Mr. Edward Payne 234 
 
 Colo. Georg-e Mason 210 
 
 Captn. Daniel Mc.Carty ....181 
 Mr. Thos. Withers Coffer ....174 
 
 Mr. William Gardner 169 
 
 Colo. George Wm. Fairfax ..161 
 
 Mr. Alexr. Henderson 158 
 
 Captn. Lewis Ellzey 152 
 
 Mr. Thomison Ellzey 151 
 
 Mr. Thomas Ford 151 
 
 Mr. John Ford 141 
 
 Majr. Peter Wagener 126 
 
 Candidates then rejected 
 
 Doctr. Cookburn 
 Mr. Benja. Grayson 
 Mr. Joshua Furguson 
 Mr. Edward Washington 
 Mr. William Baylis 
 Mr. Henry Boggess 
 Mr. William Linton 
 Mr. Marmaduke Beckwith 
 Mr. John Thompson 
 Mr. Thomas Lucas 
 Mr. George Simpson 
 Mr. Benja. Talbot 
 Mr. Joseph Bennet 
 Mr. John Daniel 
 Mr. John Monroe 
 Mr. James Halley 
 
 VESTRY CHOSEN FOR FAIR- 
 FAX PARISH 28th. MARCH 
 1765 
 
 with the Number of Votes to 
 each 
 
 Colo. John West 340 
 
 Mr. Charles Alexander 309 
 
 Mr. William Payne 304 
 
 Captn. John Dalton 281 
 
 C. Geo. Washington 274 
 
 Majr. Chs. Broadwater 260 
 
 Captn. George Johnston ....254 
 
 Mr. Townsend Dade 252 
 
 Mr. Richd. Sanford 24 7 
 
 Mr. Willm. Adams 244 
 
 Captn. Posey 222 
 
 Mr. Daniel French 221 
 
 Candidates then rejected 
 
 Mr. Thomas Wren 220 
 
 Mr. James Wren 205 
 
 Mr. Edward Blackburn 204 
 
 Mr. John West Junr 199 
 
 Mr. Edward Dulan 199 
 
 Mr, Benja. Sebastian 160 
 
 Mr. James Donaldson 131 
 
 Mr. Henry Gunnel 126 
 
 Mr. John Seal 120 
 
 Mr. Charles Thrift 112 
 
 Captn. Sampson Darrell .... 
 
 44 
 
HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 (Second 
 VESTRY CHOSEN FOR TRURO 
 PARISH 22d. JULY 1765 
 
 with the Number of Votes for 
 each. 
 
 Colo. Geo. Mason 282 
 
 Captn. Edwd. Payne 277 
 
 Colo. Geo. Washington 259 
 
 Captn. John Posey 259 
 
 Captn. Daniel Mc.Carty ....24 
 
 Colo. Geo. W:n. Fairfax 235 
 
 Mr. Alexander Henderson . .231 
 
 Mr. William Gardner 218 
 
 Mr. Thomison EUzey 209 
 
 Mr. Thos. Withers Coffer ... .189 
 
 Mr. Wiliam Lynton 173 
 
 Mr. Thomas Ford 170 
 
 Page.) 
 
 VESTRY CHOSEN FOR FAIR- 
 FAX PARISH 25th. JULY 1765 
 
 with the Number of Votes for 
 each. 
 
 Colo. West 309 
 
 Mr. William Payne ...289 
 
 Mr. William Adams 250 
 
 Captn. John Dalton 247 
 
 Mr. Thos. Wren 227 
 
 Mr. Edward Dulan 228 
 
 Majr. Chs. Broadwater 225 
 
 Mr. Richard Sanford 225 
 
 Mr. Daniel French 21(5 
 
 Mr. Edward Blackburn 210 
 
 Mr. Thos. Shaw 209 
 
 Mr. Townsend Dade 205 
 
 Mr. Henry Boggess 168 
 
 Mr. Joshua Furguson 162 
 
 Mr. Edward Washington . . . .154 
 
 Mr. George Simpson 153 
 
 Majr. Peter Wagener 146 
 
 Mr. Benja. Grayson 139 
 
 Mr. William Baylis 86 
 
 Mr. James Wren 205 
 
 Mr. Charles Alexander 204 
 
 Mr. Robert Alexander 204 
 
 Captn. George Johnston ....183 
 
 Mr. Sampson Darrel 151 
 
 Mr. Benja. Sebastian 15 9 
 
 Mr. Presley Cox 85 
 
 Whole Number of Votes. 
 
 .3756 
 
 Whole Nunxber of Votes. 
 
 .4012 
 
 12/3756/313 Number of Voters 12/4012/334 Number of Voters 
 
 15 41 
 
 36 52 
 
 45 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Jared Sparks, in his Life ,of Washington and 
 also in the Writings of Washington which he 
 edited, not understanding the meaning of this 
 paper nor Washington's obvious purpose in pre- 
 paring it, pubhshed a small part of it only, namely 
 the two lists of Vestrymen elected, the one in Fair- 
 fax Parish on March 28th and the other in Truro 
 Parish on July 22d, in which the name of Wash- 
 ington appears. He thus gave rise to the ground- 
 less tradition, which has been so generally adopted 
 and perpetuated by succeeding writers, that Wash- 
 ington served as a Vestryman in both of these 
 Parishes, and presumably at the same time, though 
 Sparks is careful not to assert this. But had he 
 published the whole paper the error would not 
 have arisen. 
 
 Bishop Meade says he had seen a printed Hst of 
 these Vestries which was supposed to have come 
 from ''A leaf of the old Pohick Vestry Book which 
 had by some means gotten into the Historical So- 
 ciety of New York.'' Dr. Slaughter, at this place, 
 gives this list as "Verified by Mrs. Burton Har- 
 rison, who kindly inspected the missing leaf in the 
 New York Historical Society rooms and sent me 
 a copy of it." This list agrees substantially with 
 that given by Sparks, as do they both, as far as 
 they go, with the original list written by Washing- 
 ton, though both omit the titles before the differ- 
 ent names which Washington, with old-fashioned 
 punctiliousness, was so careful to give. The New 
 
 46 . 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 York list, however, whatever its source, is not from 
 a leaf of the Vestry Book as Bishop Meade un- 
 derstood. 
 
 One frequently , finds the assertion made by 
 careless writers that Washington was a Vestry- 
 man of Pohick, or some other, Church. Such a 
 statement is, of course, inaccurate, and Washing- 
 ton himself would hardly have understood what 
 was meant by it. In his day Vestries in Virginia 
 were confined to Parishes, usually containing two 
 or three Churches. Pohick is the only Church re- 
 maining which stood in, Washington's time in the 
 Parish of which he was a Vestryman. The pres- 
 ent Falls Church and Christ Church, Alexandria, 
 were built in Fairfax Parish soon after its separa- 
 tion from Truro. 
 
 The Vestry chosen for Truro at the March elec- 
 tions held but one meeting. This was on April 
 26, 1765, at the house of Samuel Littlejohn. 
 
 [We now resume the thread of the History as 
 written by Dr. Slaughter.] 
 
 During the current year the Minister of the 
 Parish, the Rev. Charles Green, departed this life. 
 There is no formal notice of his decease in the 
 Vestry Book. It w^as not the custom of the times 
 to pass resolutions on such occasions. It is only 
 referred to in the business items, four months' 
 salary due being ordered paid to his executor. 
 Falls Church and Alexandria were no longer in 
 Truro, so it became possible to have another place 
 
 47 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of worship. Accordingly the Vestry rented from 
 Samuel Littlejohn the tobacco house on his plan- 
 tation^ for one thousand pounds of tobacco a year, 
 until a Church could be built in the upper part of 
 the present Parish, he agreeing to keep it clean 
 and provide water for the congregation. An 
 agreement was made with John Robertson to fit 
 up this house with six benches the length of the 
 house and two at the ends; a reading desk and 
 Communion table, with a small window on each 
 side of the desk; to lay plank on the joists the 
 width of eight feet, with a rail in front, and two 
 broad step ladders, and to stop the eaves; all to 
 be done in the plainest manner, within six months, 
 for 1400 pounds of tobacco. When the house was 
 given up the plank used was to remain for the use 
 of the Parish. 
 
 The Rev. James Scott, of Dettingen Parish, the 
 grandfather of the late Judge Scott, of Fauquier, 
 often ofificiated in Truro in the interval between 
 the Rev. Mr. Green and his successor, Mr. Mas- 
 sey. He received payment altogether for forty 
 sermons, at 332 pounds of tobacco each. The 
 Rev. John Andrews, of Cameron Parish, also 
 preached twice, at the same rate. 
 
 The Vestry, (that elected in July,) had a pro- 
 tracted meeting on the 28th, 29th and 30th of No- 
 vember, 1765, when the accounts between the two 
 Parishes were settled as far as could be done at 
 
 48 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 that time. The settlement is spread upon the min- 
 utes in full, but is uninteresting.* 
 
 It was ordered, That the agreement made with 
 Samuel Littlejohn by the former Vestry be con- 
 tinued; That Elijah Williams be appointed Reader 
 at Littlejohn's, and that he attend there to read 
 Divine Service every Sunday, and that he be paid 
 at the rate of looo pounds of tobacco a year; That 
 Mr. George Johnston be appointed to act as At- 
 torney for the Parish, and that he return a list of 
 all the judgments obtained by him to the Church 
 Wardens by the first of November annually; and 
 That the Vestry meet at Mr. William Gardner's 
 on first Monday in February next to agree with 
 workmen to undertake the building of a brick 
 Church to contain 1600 superficial feet; the Church 
 Wardens to advertise the same in as public a man- 
 ner as may be, and each workman to bring a plan 
 and estimate of expense. George Mason and Ed- 
 Avard Payne were continued as Church Wardens 
 for the next year, and the latter was appointed 
 Collector of the Parish Levy, giving bond and se- 
 curity as was the custom. t John Barry was con- 
 
 •An echo of the contest over the Parish lines is found in two 
 items charged against Truro: "To Mr. Thomizen Ellzey for run- 
 ning the line from Johnson's ferry to the fork of Difficult," and 
 "To Majr. Wagener for copying six lists of tithables in April, 
 1765." 
 
 fThe Levy this year was 60 pounds of tobacco per poll, as 
 against from 20 to 37 pounds for many years before the division. 
 It continued to range at from 60 to SO pounds for six years follow- 
 ing, while Payne's and the new Pohick Churches were being built, 
 after which it gradually fell to about the former average. It is 
 probable that the Vestrymen themselves paid one-half of the tithes 
 of the Parish, Washington and Mason being doubtless the largest 
 ratepayers. 
 
 49 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 tinned as Clerk of the Vestry; and the third Fri- 
 day in November annually was appointed as a 
 day for meeting. 
 
 Payne's Church 
 
 "At a Vestry held for Truro Parish at William 
 Gardner's on the 3rd and 4th days of February, 
 1 766 — 
 
 Present, Mr. Edwd. Payne, C. W. 
 Colo. Geo. Washington Mr. William Gardner 
 Capt. Daniel Mc.Carty Thomas Withers Cofifer 
 Colo. Geo. Wm. Fairfax Wm. Linton & 
 Mr. Alexr. Henderson Thos. Ford 
 
 Vestrymen. 
 Who being there met to enquire the most con- 
 venient place to erect a new Church, and to agree 
 with workmen to build the same. 
 
 "Resolved, that the new Church be built on the 
 middle Ridge near the Ox road, the ground to be 
 laid off by Mr. Edward Payne, Mr. William 
 Gardner, Mr. Thos. Withers Coffer and Mr. 
 Thos. Ford, or any three of them, on the land sup- 
 posed to be belonging to Mr. Thomazen Ellzey, 
 who being present consents to the same. 
 
 "Agreeable to a plan and articles annexed there- 
 to Mr. Edward Payne hath undertaken to build 
 the said Church for the sum of five hundred and 
 seventy-nine pounds Virginia Currency. 
 
 "Ordered that the said Edward Payne do paint 
 
 50 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 the cornish, windows and doors of the said Church 
 and bring in his charge thereof. And that he pay 
 to Mr. John Ayres forty shilHngs for his plan and 
 estimate. 
 
 ''Ordered that Col. Geo. Washington, Capt. 
 Daniel McCarty, Colo. Geo. Wm. Fairfax, Mr. 
 Alex. Henderson and Mr. Thos. Ford, or any 
 three of them, do view and examine the said build- 
 ing from time to time as shall be requisite. 
 
 ''Ordered that 31,549 lb. of tobo. in the hands of 
 the Church Wardens for the year 1764, to wit, 
 George Washington and George Wm. Fairfax 
 Esqrs. be sold to the highest bidder, before the 
 Court House door of this County on the first day 
 of June Court next between the hours of 12 and 
 4, and that pubHck notice be given of the sale." 
 
 "Memorandum of an Agreement made this 
 fourth day of February one thousand seven 
 hundred and sixty six, between the Vestry of Truro 
 Parish in the County of Fairfax and Edward Payne 
 of the Parish of Truro and County aforesaid as fol- 
 lows, vizt. — 
 
 "The said Edward Payne does undertake and 
 agree to build and finish in a Workman like man- 
 ner a Church on the Ox Road, to be placed agree- 
 able to an order of the said Vestry, of the follow- 
 ing Demensions & according to the annexed Plan, 
 to wit, Fifty three and an half feet in length, and 
 thirty feet in breadth in the Clear; the walls to be 
 built of good Bricks, well burnt, of the ordinary 
 
 51 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 size, that is nine Inches long, four and an half In- 
 ches broad, and three Inches thick, the outside 
 Bricks to be laid with Mortar two thirds lime and 
 one third sand, the inside Bricks to be laid with 
 Mortar half lime and half sand. The Corners of 
 the House, the Windows & Doors, to be of rubb xl 
 Brick — The Arches and Pediment heads of t!ie 
 Doors and Windows to be of Bricks rubbed 
 gauged and set in Putty. 
 
 ''The Doors to be made of Pine Plank, two In- 
 ches thick, moulded and raised Pannells on both 
 sides. 
 
 ''The Sashes to be made of Pine Plank, one Inch 
 and three quarters thick, and to have Sixteen 
 lights in each square Sash, of the best crown-Glass, 
 twelve Inches by ten. The Window and Door 
 Cases to be made with double Archatraves. 
 
 "The floors and Gallery to be framed with good 
 Oak, the Roof to be framed with good Poplar — 
 and the Scantling to be of a size and proper Pro- 
 portion to the Building. 
 
 "The Roof to be covered with Inch pine Plank 
 cyphered and lapt, one and an half Inches. And 
 to be Shingled with good Cypress Shingles, twenty 
 Inches in length and to show six Inches. 
 
 "The Cornish to be in Proportion to the hight 
 of the Walls (which are to be twent}^ two feet and 
 an half,) with Dentile Blocks. 
 
 "The floors to be laid with pine Plank, one and 
 an half Inch thick, the lies to be laid with Brick 
 
 52 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Tyles, the Pews to be wainscotted with Pine plank, 
 an Inch and an half thick, double work on each 
 side of the framing and raised pannel on one side. 
 
 ''To have an Altar Piece sixteen feet high & 
 twelve feet wide, and done with wainscot after the 
 Ionic order. The floor of the Communion place 
 to be raised twelve Inches higher than the floor 
 of the house with hand rails and Banisters of black 
 Walnut. 
 
 "The Pulpit, Canopy and reading Desks to be of 
 black walnut. Wainscoted with proper Cornish. 
 
 'The Gallery to be supported by Collums turned 
 & fluted, to come out as far as the second Window 
 at the West end of the Church, to have a Wain- 
 scoted front, and to have four Seats raised one 
 behind and above another. The whole to be done 
 and finished by the first Day of October in the 
 Year one thousand seven hundred and Sixty eight, 
 in sufficient and workmanlike manner, agreeable 
 to the Plan aforesaid. 
 
 'Tn Consideration whereof the said Vestry do 
 agree to pay unto the said Edward Payne the sum 
 of Five hundred and Seventy nine pounds Virginia 
 Currency in manner following to wit, one third 
 part of the said sum to be paid on the first Day 
 of July next — another third part when the Church 
 is covered, and the remaining part when the whole 
 work is compleated and finished. In Witness 
 whereof the said Parties (to wit) the Mem_bers of 
 the said Vestry here Present and the said Edward 
 
 53 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Payne have hereunto interchangeably set their 
 Hands the Day and Year first above written. 
 
 ''The said Edward Payne is also to Ceil, Plaister 
 & Whitewash the inside of the said Church in a 
 proper manner, and to find and put on Locks and 
 Hinges on the Doors & hinges on the Pews &c. 
 "Signed &c. Go. Washington 
 
 in presence of Daniel Mc.Carty 
 
 Lee Massey Go. Wm. Fairfax 
 
 John Barry A. Henderson 
 
 John Tillett William Gardner 
 
 Thos. Withers Coffer 
 William Linton 
 Thos. Ford 
 A true copy Edwd. Payne. 
 
 Test, John Barry, Clk. Vestry." 
 
 The Rev. Lee Massey, Second Rector 
 
 At this same meeting of the Vestry the follow- 
 ing action was taken: ''Whereas Mr. Lee Mas- 
 sey, an Inhabitant of this Parish, having this day 
 offered to supply the place of a Minister therein, 
 and the Vestry being of opinion that he is a person 
 well qualified for the sacred function, have agreed 
 to recommend him to the favour of His Grace the 
 Bishop of London and of the Governor of this 
 Colony, for an Introduction to this said Parish, 
 and to receive him upon his return properly quali- 
 fied to discharge the said office." 
 
 54 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 *Tn consequence of the aforesaid Resolve a 
 Recommendation to his Lordship the Bishop of 
 London, and an address to his Honour the Gover- 
 nor of this Colony in favour of Mr. Lee Massey 
 being made out, are ordered hereafter to be re- 
 corded." 
 
 ''At a Vestry held for Truro Parish in the 
 County of Fairfax and Colony of Virginia, the 
 fourth day of February in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand seven hundred and sixty six. 
 To His Grace the Bishop of London. 
 
 Whereas Mr. Lee Massey purposes to enter into 
 holy Orders and hath applied to this Vestry for 
 their Recommendation to his Grace the Bishop of 
 London and to his Honour the Governor of Vir- 
 ginia and ofYers and engages so soon as he shall 
 be properly Ordained to return to Virginia and 
 receive and accept of this Parish of Truro now 
 vacant by the death of the late Rector, the Rever- 
 end Mr. Charles Green, Provided we will keep the 
 same vacant for him during our right of Patron- 
 age, or the Governor will be pleased to induct him 
 into it, if the Vestry's right of Patronage is ex- 
 pired when he returns. And the said Lee Massey 
 having lived several years amongst us and his 
 moral Character and unexceptionable Life and 
 Conversation being well known to most of us, we 
 beg leave to recommend him to his Grace the 
 Bishop of London as a Person well qualified for 
 the Sacred Function, and also to the Favor of the 
 
 55 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Honourable Francis Fauquier Esqr. Governor of 
 this Colony, and humbly entreat him to induct the 
 said Mr. Lee Massey into this Parish of Truro in 
 case he should return after the expiration of our 
 right of Patronage, On which condition we do 
 hereby agree and oblige ourselves to keep the said 
 Parish vacant accordingly, and to receive and pro- 
 vide for the said Mr. Lee Massey as Rector there- 
 of according to the Laws of this Colony. 
 
 In Testimony whereof we being Vestrymen of 
 the said Parish of Truro, (and all that are now 
 present,) have hereunto set our hands the day and 
 year above written. 
 
 Edwd. Payne Go. Washington 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty Go. Wm. Fairfax 
 
 A. Henderson William Gardner 
 
 Thos. Withers Coffer Thos. Ford 
 
 William Linton 
 
 Copy. John Barry, Clk. Vestr3\ 
 
 Fairfax County, Truro Parish, Feby. 4th, 1766. 
 Sir, 
 
 We the Vestry of Truro Parish 1)eg leave to 
 recommend to yr. Honour's Notice and Favour, 
 the Bearer, Mr. Lee Massey, who has an Intention 
 of entering into holy Orders, provided he can 
 have a certainty of this Parish, and as his Charac- 
 ter and Personal Merit is well known to us, we 
 are very desirous of receiving him, and have given 
 him the best Title in our Power. But it being 
 
 56 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 probable that he cannot return from England 
 while the Parish remains in our disposal, we most 
 earnestly recommend him to your Honour's good 
 offices herein, and if you will be pleased to favour 
 him with an Induction or Presentation to this 
 Parish, in case he returns after the Expiration of 
 our right, we will engage to keep the same vacant 
 for him as long as it is in our power.* An answer 
 will very particularly obHge, — Your Honour's 
 most obedt. humble Servants. — 
 Edwd. Payne Go. Washington 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty Go. Wm. Fairfax 
 
 A. Henderson William Gardner 
 
 Thos. Withers Coffer Thos. Ford 
 
 William Linton 
 To the Hon.ble Francis Fauquier Esqr. Lieut. 
 
 Governor of Virginia. 
 Copy. 
 
 Test John Barry Clk. Vestry. 
 
 At a Vestry held July loth, 1766, there were 
 present as above with the addition of Col. George 
 
 *These letters recall the old contest between the Governors and 
 the Vestries in regard to the right of presentation and the induc- 
 tion of Ministers into the Parishes. The early Governors claimed 
 the right of Patronage as the representatives of the Crown, and in 
 some instances sought to exercise it by forcing unwelcome Ministers 
 upon certain Parishes. But the claim, or at least its enforcement, 
 was vigorously resisted. Many of the Vestries adopted the plan of 
 electing their Ministers year by year, thus avoiding a vacancy but 
 saving the risk of having an inefficient or unworthy Minister sad- 
 dled upon them and drawing his legal salary for life. A law passed 
 in 1748 declared the sole right of presentation to remain in the 
 Vestry for twelve months after a vacancy occurred. After that it 
 was supposed to rest with the Governor. This is the law the Vestry 
 here had in mind. Fortunately the Vestry of Truro was saved 
 from all trouble in respect to their Ministers by being able to choose 
 good men already known to them and sending them to England 
 for orders. 
 
 57 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Mason. Church Warden Edward Payne, who had 
 l)een previously directed to enquire into certain 
 deficiencies in the work ordered done on the Falls 
 Church in 1763, reported that he had applied to 
 the persons formerly appointed to view this work 
 and they had denied having had any orders to view 
 the same and refused to concern themselves. 
 Whereupon it was ordered that Thomas Price 
 view the work and report what deficiencies appear 
 therein, that Mr. Payne attend as representative 
 of this Vestry and request the Fairfax Vestry to 
 appoint a workman and one of their members to 
 attend the view on behalf of their Parish. Tobacco 
 on hand was ordered to be sold at July and August 
 Courts. 
 
 At the regular meeting in November the Parish 
 Levy was laid, amounting to 55,860 pounds of 
 tobacco; of which 35,000 was for "building- 
 Churches.'' Col. George Washington and Mr. 
 William Gardner were appointed Church War- 
 dens for the ensuing year, and were ordered to 
 receive the money due from George Washington, 
 Geo. W^m. Fairfax, Capt. McCarty and William 
 Payne, former Church W^ardens, and pay Edward 
 Payne what was due to him. Mr. Gardner was 
 also appointed Collector. 
 
 1767. February 23d. At a Vestry held this day 
 there were present George Washington Esqr. and 
 Mr. William Gardner, Church Wardens, and 
 Messrs. Mason, Payne, Posey, McCarty, Hender- 
 
 58 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 son, Coffer, Linton, and Thomazen Ellzey. ''Pur- 
 suant to an Act of the General Assembly entitled 
 an Act to empower the Vestry of Truro Parish in 
 the County of Fairfax to sell their Glebe and 
 Church Plate — Ordered that the said Glebe and 
 Church Plate be sold at Public Vendue on Friday 
 the 22d of May next. The sale to be upon the 
 premises, and the Purchaser or Purchasers to be 
 allowed eighteen months credit, giving bond with 
 good security." 
 
 The Church Wardens were ordered to employ 
 a Surveyor to run the lines of the Glebe land and 
 to make a plot thereof. Also to advertise the 
 same wath a proper description of land and im- 
 provements, and the Church plate, in the Virginia 
 and Maryland Gazettes. 
 
 "The Rev. Lee Massey having produced to this 
 Vestry a presentation to the Rectory, Benefice and 
 Cure of this Parish under the hand of Francis Fau- 
 quier Esqr. Lieutenant Governor &c. of Virginia 
 and under the Seal of the Colony, dated January 
 the 14th. 1767, Ordered that the said Lee Massey 
 be accordingly received into this Parish as Min- 
 ister thereof, and be provided for pursuant to the 
 Laws of this Colony." Mr. Massey was also al- 
 lowed ''the Annual Sum of 4000 pounds of tobacco 
 in lieu of a Glebe until one is purchased." 
 
 James Wren and Thomas Price, the workmen 
 appointed to view^ the work done to Falls Church, 
 reported that there appeared to be a deficiency 
 
 59 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 in the work of nine pounds fourteen shillings and 
 sixpence. The Church Wardens were ordered 
 to ''apply to Maj. Charles Broadwater (the Under- 
 taker of the said work) for the said sum and ac- 
 count with the Vestry of Fairfax Parish for their 
 proportion of the same when it is received." 
 
 "Ordered that a Vestry House be built at the 
 new Church of the dimensions and in manner 
 following Vizt. of Brick, twenty by sixteen feet, 
 with a large inside chimney, nine feet pitch from 
 the Foundation, with Brick or Tile floor, covered 
 with Cypress Shingles, Ceiling and Walls Plaist- 
 ered and whitewashed, one pannell Door in the 
 broad side, with a Sash Window with twelve 
 Lights and pannel Shutters opposite. Barge 
 board and Cornis. The Barge boards and Cornis, 
 Door Window and Shutters to be painted, a Lock 
 to the Door. The said House to be furnished with 
 a Table and three Benches, for making which and 
 the Cornis the Undertaker to be allowed a sufft- 
 ciency of Planks out of the Parishes Plank now in 
 Samuel Littlejohn's Tobacco House." All was to 
 be finished by Christmas, and Edward Payne un- 
 dertook the work for Fifty one pounds ten shill- 
 ings, current money. 
 
 The Vestry met again on May 22d., the day of 
 the sale, at the Glebe. Present, Rev. Lee Mas- 
 sey. Minister, George Washington and William 
 Gardner Church Wardens, and Messrs. Mason, 
 Payne, Mc.Cart}^ Posey and Linton. 
 
 60 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 "Mr. Thomazen Ellzey having returned a Plott 
 of a Survey made of the Glebe Land, pursuant to 
 a former order of the Vestry, containing three 
 hundred eighty five Acres and an half only, which 
 said Quantity of Land being exposed to sale to 
 the highest Bidder was purchased by Daniel 
 Mc.Carty Gent, at the price of Three hundred and 
 twenty two pounds Virginia Currency, who gave 
 his Bond with Mr. Richard Chichester his Secur- 
 ity for the same, payable eighteen months hence, 
 to George Washington and William Gardner, 
 Church Wardens, for the Use of this Parish." 
 
 "The Church Plate being also exposed to sale, 
 was purchased by the said Daniel Mc.Carty, at 
 the price of Twenty six pounds, Virginia Cur- 
 rency, for the Use of the Parish." 
 
 The Vestry met again July 25th, 1767. Pres- 
 ent, Col. W^ashington and Mr. Gardner, Church 
 Wardens, and Messrs. Payne, Mc.Carty, Fairfax, 
 Henderson, Ellzey and Linton. George Washing- 
 ton and George William Fairfax exhibited ac- 
 counts of tobacco levied in 1763, and the sale 
 thereof and payments made to Edward Payne. 
 Account received and approved. Mr. Payne ex- 
 hibited similar accounts of tobacco levied in 1765, 
 and of money received by him for building the 
 new Church and the balance still due, which were 
 approved. Tobacco in the hands of William Gard- 
 ner, Collector, ordered sold. Balance due Mr. 
 Payne on second payment for the Church to be 
 
 61 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 paid, and the residue of the money to remain in 
 the Collector's hands, he giving bond with fresh 
 security for its payment when demanded. 
 
 Col. George Mason, Capt. McCarty, Mr. EUzey 
 and Mr. Linton appointed to view^ the new Vestr}' 
 House, and if they receive the same the Collector 
 to pay Mr. Payne the contract price. 
 
 "George William Fairfax Escjr. having con- 
 sented to import for the Use of this Parish (at the 
 Risque of the Parish) two folio Prayer Books and 
 a Quarto Bible, Ordered that upon receipt thereof 
 the Church Wardens for the time being pay him 
 for the same, if they have so much money in their 
 hands." 
 
 Orders for Processioning: — James Halley Sen, 
 and Moses Simpson, between Occoquan, the Ox 
 road and the County line. George Simpson an«i 
 AVilliam Keen, between the Ox road and the Back- 
 lick road from the Parish line down to the road 
 that leads from Cameron by the Glebe to wdiere 
 it crosses Pohic, below Robert Boggess'. Wil- 
 liam Triplett and Joseph Cash, between the Back- 
 lick road, the Parish line, Potowmack river and 
 Pohic Creek. 
 
 On September 28th, 1767, the Vestry met for 
 the fifth time during this fiscal year. Present, 
 Rev. Lee Massey, Washington, Gardner, Mason, 
 Posey, Payne, CofTer, Ellzey and Ford. The min- 
 utes recite several former orders for the sale of 
 tobacco and payments to be made by the Col- 
 
 62 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 lector, none of which had been compHed with ex- 
 cept one sale of 15,000 pounds to Mr. Hector 
 Ross, for which his note was now given to the 
 Church Wardens; it was ordered that Mr. Ross 
 pay Mr. Payne what was due him on the second 
 payment for the Church and for the Vestry House 
 when it should be received by the viewers. And 
 the Collector was to account with the Vestry at 
 its next meeting for the tobacco remaining in his 
 hands. 
 
 The New Pohick Church 
 
 1767. The annual meeting for laying the Par- 
 ish Levy was held November 20th. Present, the 
 entire Vestry. 
 
 ''Resolved, that a Church be built at or as near 
 the Cross Road leading from Hollis's to Pohic 
 Warehouse as water can be had, which resolution 
 was carried by a majority of seven to five." 
 
 Bishop Meade has handed down a tradition as 
 to the part which Washington took in the location 
 of this Church. Although no allusion is made to 
 it in the Vestry Book it is good enough to be 
 true and therefore we reproduce it, as follows : 
 "The Old Pohick Church was a frame building, 
 and occupied a site on the south side of Pohick 
 run, and about two miles from the present site 
 which is on the north side of the run. When it 
 was no longer fit for use, it is said the parishioners 
 
 63 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 were called together to determine on the locaHty 
 of the new Church, when George Mason, the com- 
 patriot of Washington, advocated the old site, 
 pleading that it was the house in which their 
 fathers worshipped, and that the graves of many 
 were around it, while Washington and others ad- 
 vocated a more central and convenient one. The 
 question was left unsettled, and another meeting 
 for its decision appointed. Meanwhile Washing- 
 ton surveyed the neighborhood, and marked the 
 houses and distances on a well-drawn map, and, 
 w^hen the day of decision arrived, met all the ar- 
 guments of his opponent by presenting this paper, 
 and thus carried his point." It was the Vestr}?^, 
 however, and not the parishioners, who fixed oti 
 the site. The old site was nearer to Gunston and 
 the new one nearer Mount Vernon.'^ 
 
 To return to this Vestry meeting : — It was "Or- 
 dered, that Mr. William Grayson be appointed At- 
 torney for this Parish, and that he be paid fees 
 only upon such suits as he obtains judgments for." 
 
 The Collector being still not ready to settle his 
 accounts a special Vestry was appointed to meet 
 in March following to receive from him the to- 
 
 *This story is given by Sparks in his Life of Washington, and 
 is repeated by Lossing and others. The first discussion probably 
 took place at the Vestry held on September 28th, at which time 
 both Mason and Washington were present but four Vestrymen were 
 absent. The question would naturally be deferred until Messrs. 
 Fairfax, Henderson, Mc.Carty and Linton could be heard, and no 
 mention of a fruitless debate would be made on the minutes. The 
 interest taken in the matter, and perhaps the opposition to the 
 new site, is indicated by the full atendance at this Vestry, and by 
 the m.ention m.ade of the vote by which the change in location was 
 adopted. 
 
 64 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 bacco due, and the Clerk was ordered to give his 
 
 securities notice thereof. 
 
 The Parish accounts, to meet which the annual 
 
 Levy was laid, are given in full for this year, Wash- 
 ington having been Church Warden and principal 
 
 administrator of Parish affairs. 
 
 Dr. 
 Tobacco. £. s. d. 
 
 To Rev. Lee Massey's salary.. 17,280 
 
 John Barry, Clk. of Pohic. ... 1,000 
 
 Elijah Williams, do. Little- 
 
 john's 1,000 
 
 Do. for three days extra 
 attendance 60 
 
 Mr. Peter Wagener, Clerk of 
 
 the County 627 
 
 Rev. Lee Massey, in lieu of a 
 
 Glebe 4,000 
 
 Rev. James Scott, for 6 ser- 
 mons 1,992 
 
 Samuel Littlejohn, Sexton, 
 
 &c 1,000 
 
 Charles Wright, Do. at Po- 
 hic 560 
 
 Grafton Kirk for maintg. 
 
 Sarah Jackson 400 
 
 William Cullison, per acct... . 100 
 
 John Hollis, for the board of 
 Dorothy Chesher, from the 
 2%th. of Mav to this date, , 200 
 
 6s 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Samuel Russell for his sup- 
 port, he being allowed to 
 remove to Cameron Parish, 
 his claim to continue 500 
 
 Mr. William Grayson, per acct 600 
 
 Doctr. James Nisbett, per 
 
 acct 8 15 o 
 
 George Washington Esqr. per 
 acct I 13 9 
 
 George Mason Esqr. for find- 
 ing ellaments twice 200 
 
 William Gardner, bal. per acct. 
 as Church Warden, exclu- 
 sive of the Collection acct. 
 that not being settled 500 & 3 12 3 
 
 Robert Loyd, for his support.. 500 
 
 John Hollis, for his support. . 500 
 
 (These were also exempted 
 from paying Levy in fu- 
 ture.) 
 
 Thomazen Ellzey, per acct.. 3 10 8 
 
 John Barry, Clk. Vestry, sal- 
 ary and extra services .... 850 
 
 Charles Wright, for making a 
 
 back and hearth 5 o 
 
 Thomazen Ellzey, for extra 
 
 services 5 o o 
 
 Tobacco for building a 
 
 Church 7,000 
 
 38,169 29 16 o 
 
 66 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 To 6 per Ct. for Collecting 
 
 38,169 lb. of Tobo 2,290 
 
 To a fraction in the Collectors 
 
 hands 254 
 
 40,713 
 Cr. ; 
 
 By 993 Tithables at 41 lbs. of 
 
 Tobacco per Poll 40,713 
 
 Cash accounts due ordered paid out of money 
 in hands of Mr. Hector Ross. John Posey and 
 Thomazen Ellzey appointed Church Wardens for 
 the next year. 
 
 1768. March 5th. Mr. Gardner settled his ac- 
 count by paying 18,011 lbs. of transfer tobacco and 
 25 pounds in cash, which were lodged in the hands 
 of George Mason Esqr. Mr. Gardner to have the 
 privilege of exchanging four hogsheads of his own 
 crop for transfer tobacco, and to redeem the 
 money with 2,101 lbs. of transfer tobacco. 
 
 ''Ordered, that Hector Ross pay out of the 
 money in his hands to George William Fairfax 
 Esqr. the sum of sixteen pounds, seventeen shill- 
 ings current money, agreeable to the account 
 lodged for surplices and books imported by him 
 for the use of the Parish." 
 
 At a Vestry held at the new Church, (Payne's,) 
 September 9th, 1768,"^ to view and examine the 
 
 ♦From Washington's diarj% 1768. "Septr. 9. Proceeded (from 
 Alexandria) to the meeting of our Vestry at the new Church and 
 
 6y 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 work, they found it to be completed according to 
 agreement except the brick pediments over the 
 doors, "And being of opinion that the house can 
 receive no damage from the weather for want of 
 the pediments, and understanding that it is the 
 general desire of the people in this part of the 
 Parish to have the Church received, on account of 
 the great inconvenience they at present suffer for 
 w^ant of it, we do accordingly receive the said 
 Church for the use of the Parish, except the pedi- 
 ments, which the said Edward Payne is still liable 
 for and obliged to finish according to the Articles 
 of Agreement." Col. George Mason was ordered 
 to make to Mr. Payne the last pa3^ment on the 
 Church, and also to pay an account for ''making 
 horse-blocks and benches, clearing the Church- 
 yard, and for some additional work done to the 
 Church over and above his agreement, which we 
 think of service and ornament to the building." 
 Messrs. Ford, Linton and Ellzey "dissented to re- 
 ceiving the Church."* 
 
 lodgd at Captn. Edwd. Paynes." This Church was about seven- 
 teen miles from Alexandria. 
 
 On July 16, 1768, he "Went by Muddy Hole and Doeg Run to 
 the Vestry at Pohick Church stayed there till half after 3 oclock & 
 only 4 members coming returned by Captn. Mc.Cartys and dined 
 there." 
 
 *This Church is hereafter known in the Vestry Book as the 
 Upper Church, but probably from the beginning was popularly 
 known as Payne's Church. It stood on the present road from Fair- 
 fax Court House to Fairfax Station, two and a half miles from 
 the former and one mile from the latter. Its fate was that of many 
 of its contemporaries. After the Revolution it was disused except 
 for pei-haps occasional services. Early in the last century the Bap- 
 tists took possession of it as abandoned property, as the judgments 
 of the Courts allowed them to do, and upon the division in that 
 denomination in 1840 the Jerusalem Baptist Church, (New School,) 
 was organized in the building and continued to use it until 1862. 
 
 68 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 November 28, 1768, — The Levy includes 15,000 
 lbs. of tobacco for building a Church. Daniel 
 Mc.Carty Gent, and Thos. Withers Cofifer ap- 
 pointed Church Wardens. Alex. Henderson and 
 George Mason exhibited accounts of moneys from 
 sales of tobacco which were approved. George 
 Washington was ordered to pay Mr. Henderson 
 eight Pounds, being balance in his hands of the 
 sum received from Major Broadwater for de- 
 ficiency in work done on the Falls Church. Mr. 
 Henderson was also to receive from Capt. 
 Mc.Carty 372 Pounds due on the purchase of the 
 Glebe. William Weston's offer to cover the Ves- 
 try House at Pohick, the V^estry finding the nails, 
 and to keep it always clean and in good order for 
 the purposes of the Vestry, for permission to make 
 use of the said house, was accepted. Edward 
 Payne was authorized to open a window in the 
 west end of the upper Church to give light and 
 air to the gallery, and bring in his account. It 
 was Ordered that the Church to be built be of 
 brick, and contain three thousand square feet from 
 outside to outside; and that the Church Wardens 
 
 other Denominations also held occasional services there. The 
 building remained unaltered, and many of our old citizens remember 
 its ancient interior. In the winter of 1862-63 a large body of Fed- 
 eral troops were encamped in the vicinity, and by them the fine 
 old Church was torn down, brick by brick, and the material used 
 to build chimneys and hearths for their winter quarters. The tomb- 
 stones in the large graveyard perhaps shared the same fate, for 
 only one or two remain, though the yard is full of sunken graves. 
 A small frame Baptist Church now covers part of the site of old 
 Payne's, the foundation lines of which can still be traced. 
 
 The silver Communion service belonging to this Church was 
 given by an old lady living in the neighborhood to the Rev. W. F. 
 Lockwood about the year 1850, and was by him presented to St. 
 John's Church, Centerville, where it is still in use. 
 
 69 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 give notice in the Virginia and Maryland Gazettes 
 for workmen to attend at Pohick on the first Fri- 
 day in March with plans and estimates. 
 
 At a Vestry held March 3d. 1769, 
 
 Present, the Rev. Lee Massey, Minister, 
 Daniel Mc.Carty, 
 Thos. Withers Coffer, 
 
 Church Wardens, 
 
 George Wm. Fairfax Edwd. Payne 
 George Washington Thomazen Ellzey 
 George Mason Wm. Gardner 
 
 Esqrs. Wm. Linton 
 Alex. Henderson Thos. Ford 
 
 Vestrymen. 
 
 "The Vestry having met pursuant to a formei 
 order to let the building of the new Church at 
 Pohic, — Mr. Daniel French undertook the build- 
 ing the new Church at the Cross Roads, for the 
 sum of £877 Virginia Currency." 
 
 ''Ordered, that Mr. Alexander Henderson pay 
 to Mr. James Wren and Mr. WilHam Wait each 
 forty shiUings, out of the money in his hands, for 
 the plans furnished the Vestry."''' Adjourned, 
 
 *This would seem at first g-lance to dispose of the tradition that 
 Washington drew the plans for the present Pohick Church. Loss- 
 ing states, however, that he had before him, when he wrote, the 
 original plan and elevation which Washington drew, and gives a 
 cut of them. But he does not say how he knew them to have 
 been the original plans. Washington was very apt to possess him- 
 self of a copy of such papers. The true story is possibly this: 
 that the plans and specifications adopted were a composite of those 
 
 70 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ''not having completed their business," until April 
 7th. (But no meeting was held on that date.) 
 
 ''At a Vestry held for Truro Parish at the Cross 
 Roads leading from Hollis's to Pohick Warehouse 
 Sepr. 2 1 St. 1769. — 
 
 "A spott was chosen to fix the new Church upon 
 convenient to the said Cross Roads, and agreeable 
 to a former order of the Vestry, bearing date the 
 20th. day of November, 1767. A yard was laid 
 off for the said Church, and a certain quantity of 
 land laid off for the use of the said Parish, for 
 which the said Vestry do agree to pay Daniel 
 French Gent, at the rate of one Guinea per acre, 
 for what the same shall measure. 
 
 "At the same time the said Daniel French, who 
 on the third day of March last undertook to build 
 the Church for the sum of eight hundred seventy 
 and seven Pounds, Current Money of Virginia, 
 agreeable to a plan then exhibited, did execute an 
 
 presented by Mr. Wren, Mr. Wait(e) and perhaps Mr. French who 
 leceived the contract, and were practically drawn up in detail at 
 this prolonged meeting- of the Vestry. In this work Washington 
 would doubtless have a large share. In his journal he mentions 
 this meeting: "Mar. 3d. Went to a Vestry at Pohick Church and 
 returned abt. 11 o'clock at night." The Vestry Book says they ad- 
 journed to April 7th, "Not having completed their business," that 
 is not having drawn and signed the contract. As the Vestry usually 
 met early in the afternoon they had probably given six or seven 
 hours to the work, which would indicate very careful consideration 
 and perhaps some differences of opinion to be reconciled. 
 
 The same general plan was followed in building all four of 
 the Churches erected in Fairfax and Alexandria at about this time. 
 It was quite the usual one of the period, omitting for the sake 
 of economy the tower and the cruciform shape common in the 
 Churches of an earlier date. The tower of Christ Church, Alexan- 
 dria, is of comparatively recent construction, being less than a cen- 
 tury old. The Falls Church was built by Mr. James Wren, and may 
 represent the plan which he submitted to this Vestry. 
 
 71 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 agreement and gave bond for the performance 
 thereof, agreeable to a contract entered into with 
 the Vestry on the said third day of March, and 
 ordered to be ratified and confirmed, by certain 
 instruments in writing on the seventh day of April 
 following, but which for want of a meeting of the 
 Vestry on that day, and the frequent disappoint- 
 ments since, has never been done till now."t 
 
 "Resolved, that the Church Wardens procure 
 from the said Daniel French a proper conveyance 
 of the lot or parcell of land aforementioned." They 
 were also directed to receive from Mr. Henderson 
 the money in his hands due the Parish and pay 
 Mr. French 200 Pounds, the first payment for 
 the new Church. 
 
 A Notable Building Committee 
 
 "Resolved, that the Honble. George Wm. Fair- 
 fax, George Washington & George Mason Esqrs. 
 Captn. Daniel Mc.Carty & Mr. Edward Payne do 
 view and examine the building from time to time, 
 as they or any three of them shall see fitting, to 
 
 t Washington's diary casts some light on these "frequent dis- 
 appointments," and would seem to indicate that they were not 
 wholly accidental. 
 
 (1769) "Apl. 7. Went a fox hunting in the morning' and catchd 
 a dog fox after running him an hour and treeing twice. After this 
 went to an intended meeting of ye Vestry but there was none." 
 
 "July 24. Went to an intended Vestry at ye Cross Roads, but 
 was disappointed of one by Mr. Hendersons refusing to act." Mr. 
 Henderson, living at Colchester, was probably one of the Vestrymen 
 who joined with Col. Mason in opposing the new site for the 
 Church. Is it possible that the art of filibustering was not unknown 
 in those days? 
 
 72 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 whom the undertaker is to give notice when the 
 different materials are ready." 
 
 "Articles of Agreement made the seventh 
 day of April in the year 1769. Between the 
 Vestry of Truro Parish in County of Fairfax, 
 of the one part, and Daniel French of Fairfax 
 Parish in the County aforesaid, Gent, of the other 
 part, as follows, Vizt. The said Daniel French 
 doth undertake and agree to build and finish in a 
 workmanlike manner a Church, near the forks of 
 the roads above Robert Boggess's, to be placed 
 as the Vestry shall hereafter direct, of the follow- 
 ing Dimensions and Materials, to Wit; Sixty six 
 feet in length, and forty five feet and a half in 
 breadth, from out to out, the Walls twenty eight 
 feet high from the foundation, to be built of good 
 bricks well burnt, of the ordinary size, that is, nine 
 inches long, four and a half inches broad, and 
 three inches thick, to be three bricks thick to the 
 Water Table, and two and a half afterwards. The 
 outside bricks to be laid with mortar two thirds 
 lime and one of sand, and the inside with mortar 
 half lime and half sand. The corners of the House, 
 the Pedistals, and Doors with the Pediment heads 
 to be of good white freestone, and the Returns 
 and Arches of the Windows to be of rubbed brick. 
 The Doors to be made of pine plank, two inches 
 thick, moulded and raised pannells on both sides, 
 and the frames thereof to be of pine clear of sap, 
 
 73 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 with locust sills. The Window frames to be of pine 
 clear of sap, with locust sills; the sashes to be made 
 of pine plank one inch and three quarters thick; 
 the Lights to be of the best Crown Glass, eighteen 
 in each Window, eleven inches by nine; the Win- 
 dow and Door Cases to be made with double Arch- 
 atraves; and the lower Windows to have weights 
 and pullies. The frame of the Roof to be of pine, 
 except the King-Posts which are to be of oak; 
 and the scantling to be of a size and proper pro- 
 portion to the building. The Roof to be covered 
 with inch pine plank well seasoned, and cyphered 
 and lapt one inch and a half, and then with cypress 
 shingles twenty inches long, and to show six in- 
 ches. A Modillion Cornice on the outside, and 
 a Cove Cornice on the inside, and the Roof to 
 be framed according to the Plan thereof annexed. 
 
 "The Floors to be framed with good oak clear 
 of sap, and laid with pine plank inch and a half 
 thick, and well seasoned. The Ends of the Sleep- 
 ers next the walls of the House to have at least 
 six inches hold thereof, and their other ends next 
 to the Isles to be supported by flush and entire 
 brick walls or underpinning nine inches thick and 
 of a proper height. The Isles to be laid with flagg- 
 stone, well squared and jointed. 
 
 ^'The Pews to be wainscoted with pine plank 
 an inch and a half thick, well seasoned, to bt '^r- 
 ter-round on both sides, and raised pannal on one 
 
 74 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 side; the seats to be of inch and half pine plank, 
 fourteen inches broad and well supported. The 
 Altar Piece to be twenty feet high and fifteen feet 
 wide, and done with wainscot after the Ionic Order. 
 the floor of the Communion Place to be raised 
 twenty inches higher than the floor of the House, 
 with hand-rails and Banisters of pine, and a Com- 
 munion-Table of Black Walnut of a proper size. 
 The Apostles Creed, the Lords-Prayer, and the 
 ten Commandments to be neatly painted on the 
 Altar-piece in black letters. 
 
 'The Pulpit, Canopy, and reading Desks to be 
 of pine, wainscoted with proper Cornice, and ex- 
 ecuted in the Ionic Order. 
 
 'The inside of the Church to be Ceiled, Plaistered 
 and White-Washed; no Loam or Clay to be used 
 in the Plaistering. The Outside Cornice and all 
 the Wooden- Work on the inside of the House (ex- 
 cept the floors) to be neatly painted of the proper 
 colours. Stone Steps to be put to the Doors, and 
 locks and hinges; and hinges to the Pews, Pulpit 
 and Communion Place. 
 
 'The whole Building to be compleated and fin- 
 ished by the first day of September, which shall 
 be in the year of our Lord, One thousand seven 
 hundred and seventy two, in a sufficient and work- 
 manlike manner, and agreeable to the Plan there- 
 of reunto annexed, except with this Alteration 
 in the West end of it, that instead of the door 
 
 75 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 there shall be a window; and instead of the two 
 windows, there shall be two doors opposite the 
 two Isles. 
 
 "And the said Daniel French doth further agree 
 to build two Horse-Blocks with each two flights 
 of Steps; to fix six benches for the people to sit 
 on under the trees; and to clear and remove all 
 the rubbish and litter from off the Church Lott, 
 so as to fit it for the Reception of the Congrega- 
 tion; and to have those additional works done by 
 the time appointed for the finishing the Church. 
 
 "In Condition of the Premises the Vestry do 
 agree to pay unto the said Daniel French the sum 
 of Eight hundred and seventy seven pounds Cur- 
 rent Money of Virginia in manner following, to 
 wit. Two hundred pounds on the first day of Sep- 
 tember next; Two hundred and twenty-five pounds 
 thirteen shillings and four pence on the first day 
 of September, One thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy; Two hundred and twenty five pounds 
 thirteen shillings and four pence, on the first day 
 of September, One thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy one; and the remaining Two hundred and 
 twenty five pounds thirteen shillings and four 
 pence, on the first day of September, One thou- 
 sand seven hundred and seventy two; at which 
 time the Church is to be finished. 
 
 "In Witness whereof the said Parties, to wit, the 
 Members of the said Vestry here present, and the 
 said Daniel French, have hereunto Interchang- 
 
 76 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ably set their Hands, the Day and Year first above 
 written. 
 
 Signed and Dehvered Danl. French 
 
 in the Presence of — Daniel Mc.Carty; C. W. 
 John Barry Edwd. Payne 
 
 Wm. Triplett Go. Washington 
 
 Go. Wm. Fairfax 
 
 Jno. Posey 
 
 William Gardner 
 
 Tz. Ellzey. 
 
 The next meeting of the Vestry was at Pohick 
 Church, December i, 1769. The Parish Levy 
 provided for the payment, — To Mr. Daniel French 
 for 3 acres and 26 perches of land laid off for the 
 use of the Parish as per Plat, 4 Pounds, 2s. 4d. To 
 Capt. Mc.Carty for advertising the letting of the 
 Church, 18 shillings. For building the Church, 
 &c. 34,900 pounds of Tobacco. Alexander Hen- 
 derson and Thomas Ford appointed Church War- 
 dens. 
 
 "Alexander Henderson, Gent, one of the Church 
 Wardens for the ensuing year, and Augusus Dar- 
 rell, having applied for the Collection of the Par- 
 ish Levy, the said Augustus Darrell is appointed 
 Collector, the Vestry being of opinion that it is 
 improper for any member of the Vestry to be Col- 
 lector of the Parish Levy. And it is ordered that 
 the same be entered on the Records of this Parish; 
 it having been heretofore customary that the 
 
 77 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Church Wardens should have a preference of the 
 collection to any other person." 
 
 Peirce Bayly's account as Collector and Sheriff 
 was approved. It was "Ordered, that William 
 Grayson Esqr. who has heretofore been appointed 
 to prosecute suits for this Parish, be now ap- 
 pointed Attorney in fact for the Parish, and that 
 he receive all Moneys and Tobacco arising from 
 Fines and Judgments, and account with the Ves- 
 try annually for the same, at the laying of the Par- 
 ish Levy."'*' 
 
 1770. Only one Vestry held, on November 28. 
 Parish Levy included 56,330 pounds of tobacco for 
 building the Church and as a fund for purchasing 
 a Glebe. Honble. George WilHam Fairfax Esqr. 
 and Edward Payne, Gent. Church Wardens. Peter 
 Wagener and Martin Cockburn, Gents, are elected 
 Vestrymen in place of William Linton, deceased, 
 and John Posey, removed. (These are the first 
 breaks in the ranks of the Vestrymen elected in 
 July, 1765.) 
 
 1 77 1. July 8th. Messrs. Wagener and Cock- 
 burn subscribed the promise of conformity to the 
 
 *Ainong the duties of the Church Wardens was that of present- 
 ing to the Court of the County persons guilty of gambling, drunken- 
 ness, profanity, Sabbath breaking, failing to attend Church, dis- 
 turbing public worship, and certain other offences against decency 
 and morality. The fines imposed in these cases went to them for 
 the use of the Parish, and are sometimes mentioned in the annual 
 statement, though usuallj^ they would be included in the Wardens 
 accounts which are not given in detail. That the Church Wardens 
 of Truro, Cameron and Fairfax Parishes did not fail in this duty 
 of presenting offenders is abundantly shown in records of the 
 County Court. Presentments were usually made through the Grand 
 Jury, the offender's Parish being designated, but sometimes the 
 Church Wardens themselves are named as prosecutors. 
 
 78 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, 
 and were admitted as members of the Vestry. 
 They, with Mr. Alex. Henderson, were added to 
 those heretofore appointed to view and examine 
 the new Church. Peirce Bayly, Collector, paid 
 in fifty two hogsheads, 52,024 lbs. nett, of crop to- 
 bacco, and four transfer notes, gross 602 lbs. It 
 was ordered to be sold in five lots, and the sale to 
 be advertised in George Town, Alexandria, Dum- 
 fries and Colchester. 6 Pounds, i8s. and 8d. 
 were allowed the Collector for prizing the tobacco. 
 ^'Whereas it appears that the dimensions of the 
 Altar-piece mentioned in the Articles with the Un- 
 dertaker for building the new Church, are not ac- 
 cording to the proportions of Architecture, the 
 Undertaker is authorized and desired to make the 
 same according to the true proportions of the 
 Ionic Order notwithstanding. And the Vestry 
 being of the opinion that the stone coins are coarse 
 grained and rather too soft they desire the same 
 may be painted with white lead and oyle, which 
 they think will make them sufficient. The Vestry 
 are also of opinion that the rub'd bricks at the re- 
 turn of all the windows ought to be painted as 
 near as possible the same colour with the arches, 
 and the Undertaker is desired to do the same ac- 
 cordingly." November 29th. The Levy is laid 
 as usual, and the Collectors and Church Wardens 
 accounts exhibited and approved. Daniel French 
 seems to have died since the last meeting, as pay- 
 
 79 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ments are ordered made to his executor. It is 
 seen later that his executor was Col. George 
 Mason, by whom Pohick Church was completed. 
 Rev. Lee Massey agreed to accept 50 Pounds in 
 money in lieu of a Glebe, instead of the former 
 4,000 lbs. of tobacco. The same Processioners are 
 appointed as four 3^ears before. 
 
 1772. June 5th. The Vestry being of opinion 
 that it would be both ornamental and convenient 
 to have the stone steps at the front door of the 
 Church with three flights in place of only one in 
 front, agreed to have them built in that manner, 
 paying the difference in cost. The Church War- 
 dens were ordered to agree with workmen to have 
 the roof painted. Also for building a Vestry 
 House of brick, twenty four by eighteen feet, nine 
 feet pitch, plank floor, inside chimney and three 
 windows. 
 
 "Ordered, that the six middle pews between the 
 cross Isle and the Communion Table be sold for 
 the benefit of the Parish, (one pew to be set up at 
 a time,) to the highest bidder at the laying of the 
 next Parish Levy, at six months credit, and that 
 the Church Wardens and Vestry conduct the said 
 sale and take proper bonds of the purchasers. And 
 at the same time that the other six pews opposite 
 them, on the other si'des of the long Isles, be also 
 sold to the highest bidder in like manner, or so 
 many of them as will sell for the average price at 
 which the first six pews shall be found to sell." 
 
 <So 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ''The Church Wardens are directed to agree 
 with persons to make such Carved Ornaments on 
 the Altar piece as they shall judge proper, and 
 guilding the letters thereon with Gold Leaf, pre- 
 sented to this Parish by the Honble. George Wm 
 Fairfax and George Washington Esqrs." 
 
 1772. November 20th. Alexander Henderson 
 rendered his account, showing a balance of 460 
 Pounds, 5s. 7d. due the Parish. He is ordered 
 to pay the Executors of Daniel French 225 
 Pounds, 13s. 4d., the last payment on the Church, 
 and several other accounts due. Capt. Daniel 
 Mc.Carty this day paid 330 Pounds, part of his 
 bond for the Glebe land; which was lodged in the 
 hands of Mr. Henderson, out of which he was to 
 pay the proportion due to Fairfax Parish of the 
 money for which the Glebe and Church plate sold, 
 upon order of the Church Wardens who Avere to 
 settle the account thereof with the Vestry of Fair- 
 fax Parish. The sum remaining unappHed was to 
 be left in the hands of Mr. Henderson, he agree- 
 ing to pay interest on 150 Pounds thereof. The 
 yard of the Upper Church was ordered inclosed 
 with posts and rails, the posts to be spHt or sawed 
 locust and the rails sawed. Also the steps and 
 door sills to be repaired. 
 
 'The twelve pews ordered to be sold at the 
 meeting of the last Vestry except the pew No. fif- 
 teen, were this day sold according to the said or- 
 der, to the following persons, at the following 
 
 81 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 prices, Vizt. No. three and No. four adjoining to 
 the south wall of the Church, to Col. George 
 Mason at the price of fourteen Pounds eleven 
 shillings and eight pence each, being the average 
 price at which the six pews first set up between 
 the two long Isles and the Cross Isle sold. No. 
 five adjoining the south wall above and next to 
 front door to Mr. Thos. Withers Cofifer, at the 
 price of fourteen Pounds, thirteen shillings. No. 
 thirteen adjoining the north wall, to Mr. Martin 
 Cockburn, at the price of fifteen Pounds, ten shill- 
 ings. No. fourteen adjoining to the north wall 
 and next above the Rector's pew to Capt. Daniel 
 Mc.Carty at the price of fifteen Pounds, ten shill- 
 ings. No. twenty-one, being one of the six center 
 pews adjoining the south Isle next to the Com- 
 munion Table, to the Honble. George William 
 Fairfax Esqr. at the price of sixteen pounds. No. 
 twenty two and twenty three, two of the center 
 pews adjoining the south Isle, to Mr. Alexander 
 Henderson, Vizt. No. twenty two at the price of 
 thirteen pounds, and No. twenty-three, next to 
 the Cross Isle, at the price of thirteen pounds ten 
 shillings. No. twenty eight, one of the Center 
 pews adjoining the north Isle and next to the 
 Communion Table, to Colo. George Washington 
 at the price of sixteen pounds. No. twenty nine, 
 one of the Center pews adjoining the north Isle, 
 to Mr. Lund Washington, at the price of thirteen 
 pounds ten shillings. No. thirty one of the Cen- 
 
 82 
 

 V 
 
 
 Original Plan of Pohick Church 
 Made From Actual Measurement By Glenn Brown, Architect 
 
 October 19, 1906 
 
.1 . I_' V~Ti .itM /\ciijc. 
 
 
 
 Original Plan of Pohick Church 
 
 Made From Actual Measurement Bj' Glenn Brown, Architect 
 
 October 19, 1906 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ter pews, adjoining the Center Isle and next the 
 Cross Isle, to Mr. Harrison Manley at the price of 
 fifteen pounds, ten shillings. It is ordered that the 
 Church Wardens take the bonds for the use of the 
 Parish, for the above mentioned purchase money, 
 from the several respective purchasers, according 
 to the order at the last Vestry; and that legal 
 Deeds for the said Pews be made and executed 
 by the Vestry to the said Purchasers for their 
 Pews at the next meeting of the Vestry; the said 
 purchasers preparing Deeds for that purpose." 
 
 "Ordered, that the Pew No. fifteen, adjoining 
 to the North Wall of the Church and next above 
 the pulpit, (which was one of the twelve pews or- 
 dered to be sold at the last Vestry, but is not sold,) 
 be reserved for the Rector of this Parish for the 
 Time being and his Family, and is hereby vested 
 in the Rector of the Parish and his successors ac- 
 cordingly." 
 
 1773. June 4th. At a Vestry held for Truro 
 Parish at the new Church at Pohick, — A Trust 
 Deed for the pew above described, to the Rev. 
 Lee Massey ''for the use of himself and his Suc- 
 cessors Rectors of this Parish forever, was this 
 day executed by all the Members present, pur- 
 suant to an order of the Vestry made the 20th. 
 day of November last." 
 
 "It appearing to the Vestry that the two lower 
 pews between the two West doors are erected 
 where the Font ought to be, it is ordered that 
 
 83 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 the said two pews be taken down and the space 
 left open." 
 
 "Upon the Motion of the Honble. George Wil- 
 liam Fairfax Esqr. and Alexander Henderson, 
 Gent, in behalf of themselves and the other pur- 
 chasers of the six upper middle pews above the 
 Cross Isle, leave is granted to the said purchasers 
 to take up the stones in the Isles and to raise the 
 said six pews at their own private expence to the 
 same height above the Isles and exactly in the 
 same manner with the pews next to the Walls, 
 they making good any Damage that may happen 
 in doing the same; and it is also ordered that the 
 eight middle pews below the Cross Isles be raised 
 in the same manner at the expence of the Parish." 
 
 "William Copein having undertaken to make a 
 Stone Font for the Church according to a draught 
 in the 150th. plate in Langleys Designs being the 
 uppermost on the left hand for the price of six 
 pounds he finding himself everything, the Vestry 
 agree to pay him that sum for finishing the same." 
 
 November 22d. The parish Levy was laid and 
 accounts rendered. Alex. Henderson has 218 
 pounds, thirteen shillings and ten pence half penny 
 in his hands belonging to the Parish. He is or- 
 dered to pay William Copein seven pounds, five 
 shillings for a stone Font and Step. George 
 Mason and Edward Payne, Gents, appointed 
 Church Wardens. 
 
 1 1 74. February 15th. "George Mason, Esqr. 
 
 84 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Executor of Daniel French deed. Undertaker of 
 the Church near Pohick, having finished the said 
 Church, tender(ed) the same to this Vestry (con- 
 sisting of six members and the Rector of the Par- 
 ish, besides the said George Mason,) and the said 
 Vestry, being of opinion that the said Church is 
 finished according to agreement do receive the 
 same as far as they have authority to do so, the 
 said George Mason undertaking to finish the 
 Horse Blocks and Benches under the Trees, which 
 was part of the original Agreement of the Under- 
 taker. The said George Mason having produced 
 his account against the Parish for extra work 
 about the Church, the settlement of the same is 
 referred to the next meeting of the Vestry." 
 There were present, Lee Massey, R. T. P.; G. 
 Mason, C. W.; Go. Washington, Daniel Mc.Carty, 
 Alex. Henderson, Tz. Ellzey, Pet. Wagener, Mar- 
 tin Cockburn. 
 
 ''At a Vestry held for Truro Parish at the new 
 Church near Pohick, February the 24th. 1774. 
 
 ''The receiving of the new Church near Pohick 
 by an order of the last Vestry is confirmed, and 
 the Executors of Mr. Daniel French deceased are 
 discharged from their Testators Bond, upon fin- 
 ishing the Horse Blocks and Benches mentioned 
 in the said order. 
 
 "George Mason Esqr. Executor of Daniel 
 French deed, having exhibited an account amount- 
 ing to the sum of one hundred and sixteen pounds 
 
 85 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 nineteen shillings and ten pence halfpenny Curr. 
 Money, for sundrie Alterations in the said Church 
 and other work done thereto not inserted in the 
 Undertakers Articles; the said account being 
 sworn to by Going Lamphier, William Copein and 
 William Bernard Sears was examined and ap- 
 proved; and it is ordered that Mr. Alexander Hen- 
 derson pay him (out of the Parish's money in his 
 hands) the sum of Fifty six pounds sixteen shill- 
 ings and six pence halfpenny, being the balance 
 due on the said account, after deducting the sum 
 of twenty nine pounds three shillings and four 
 pence for the price of two Pews in the said Church 
 ])urchased by the said George Mason, and also 
 thirty one pounds paid him by Capt. Daniel 
 Mc.Carty and Mr. Martin Cockburn for their 
 Pews. 
 
 'The Trust Deed from the Vestry to the Revd. 
 Lee Massey for a Pew in the new Church dated 
 June the 4th. 1773, not having been admitted to 
 Record within the time limited by Law, the same 
 is cancelled, and a new deed executed to him for 
 the same Pew. 
 
 ''Deeds were this day executed by the Vestry 
 to the following Persons Vizt. George William 
 Fairfax, George Mason and George Washington 
 Esqr., Messrs. Daniel Mc.Carty, Alexander Hen- 
 derson, Martin Cockburn, William Triplett, and 
 John Manley Heir at Law of Harrison Manley 
 deed., for the several Pews in the new Church 
 
 86 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 near Pohic bought by them at PubUc Auction the 
 twentieth day of November 1772. The Pew then 
 bought by Mr. Lund Washington being after- 
 wards sold by him to the said George Washing- 
 ton, & the Pew then bought by Mr. Thomas With- 
 ers Coffer being afterwards sold by him to Mr. 
 William Triplett, are conveyed by the Vestry ac- 
 cordingly.* 
 
 ''Ordered, that the Upper Pew in the new 
 Church adjoining the South Wall be appropriated 
 to the Use of the Magistrates and Strangers, and 
 the Pew opposite thereto to the use of their Wives, 
 and the two Pews next below them to be appro- 
 priated to the Vestrymen and Merchants and their 
 Wives in like manner. And it is further ordered 
 that the eight Pews below and adjoining the Cross 
 Isle of the Church be assigned to the use of the 
 most respectable Inhabitants and House Keepers 
 of the Parish, the Men to sit in the four pews next 
 the South Wall, and the Women in the other four 
 next the North Wall. 
 
 ''The Church Wardens having failed to let the 
 building of a Vestry Plouse at the new Church 
 pursuant to a former order of this Vestry, and the 
 Vestry being now of opinion that it will be to the 
 Advantage of the Parish to let the inclosing of the 
 Church Yard together with the building of the 
 said Vestry House, Ordered that the Vestry be 
 
 ♦A copy of the deed for the pews purchased by Washington will 
 be found in the Appendix. 
 
 87 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 called to meet on Fryday the 22d. of April in order 
 to let the building the said Vestry House and in- 
 closing the said Church Yard, which inclosure is 
 to be made of Brick one hundred and sixty feet 
 square from out to out, three feet six inches high 
 at the highest Part of the Ground, two Bricks 
 thick, to go one foot below the surface and to be 
 covered with Cypress Shingles and Painted, to 
 have three Pier Gates. The Church Wardens to 
 advertise the above meeting in the Virginia and 
 Maryland Gazette after the usual Form upon such 
 Occasions. 
 
 ''Ordered that the new Church near Pohic be 
 furnished with a Cushion for the Pulpit and Cloths 
 for the Desks & Communion Table of Crimson 
 Velvett with Gold Fring, and that Colo. George 
 Washington be requested to import the same, as 
 also two Folio Prayer Books covered with blue 
 Turkey Leather with Name of the Parish there- 
 on in Gold Letters, the Demensions of the said 
 Cushion and Cloths being left to Wm. Bernard 
 Sears who is desired to furnish Colo. Washington 
 with proper Patterns at the Expense of the Parish.'"' 
 "Lee Massey, R. T. P. Alex. Henderson 
 G. Mason, C. W. T. Ellzey 
 
 Edwd. Payne, C. W. Thos. W. Coffer 
 G. Washington Thos. Ford 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty Pet. Wagener 
 
 Martin Cockburn. 
 
 "Recorded by John Barry, Clk. V." 
 
 88 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 (The above is an exact copy of the Records of 
 this meeting.)"^ 
 
 The Vestry met again on February 25th. by ad- 
 journment from yesterday. 
 
 "Bonds being taken yesterday from Colo. 
 George Washington for himself, and also as At- 
 torney in Fact for Colo. George William Fairfax 
 now in Brittain, from Mr. Alexander Henderson, 
 Mr. William Triplett, and Mr. Thomas Triplett 
 Executor of Harrison Manley deed, for the pur- 
 chase Money of the Pews bought by them in the 
 new Church near Pohick, the same Bonds were 
 delivered to Colo. George Mason Church Warden 
 to be by him collected and accounted for at the 
 next laying the Levy, he having already received 
 of Capt. Daniel Mc.Carty and Mr. Martin Cock- 
 burn the Price of their Pews purchased at the 
 same time, which together with the Price of his 
 own two Pews are deducted out of his account 
 settled and received yesterday by the Vestry." 
 William Bernard Sears was paid fifty eight pounds 
 
 *This was Washington's last Vestry. He continued a nominal 
 Vestryman ur.til 1782, but from this time his public duties took him 
 from home, frequently at first and afterwards for many years con- 
 tinuously. Under date of July 10, 1783, he writes to his old friend. 
 Georg-e William Fairfax, in London: "I hare not been in the State 
 (Virginia) but once since the 4th. of May, 1775. and that was at 
 the seig-e of York. In going- thither I spent one day st my own 
 house, and in returning I took 3 or 4, without attempting to transact 
 a particle of private business." 
 
 The regularity of Washington's attendance at the meetings of the 
 Vestry is deserving of special notice. During the eleven years of 
 his active service, from February, 1763. to February, 1774, thirty- 
 one "Vestries" were held, at twenty-three of which he is recorded 
 as being present. On the eight occasions when he was absent, as 
 we le^rn from his Diary or other sources, once he was sick In bed, 
 twice the House of Burgesses, of which he was a member, was in 
 session, and three other times certainly, and on the two remaining 
 occasions probably, he was out of the County. 
 
 8g 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 nineteen shillings for carved work done by him in 
 the new Church. William Copein was paid for 
 extra work on the same Church, and Francis Cof- 
 fer for railing the yard and making stone steps at 
 the upper Church, and Gowan Langfier and Wm. 
 Copein for their trouble and attendance in meas- 
 uring the carved work on the Altar piece and Pul- 
 pit, the former thirty, the latter ten, shillings. 
 
 "Ordered that William Bernard Sears gild the 
 Ornaments within the Tabernacle Frames, the 
 Palm Branch and Drapery on the front of the 
 Pulpit, (also the Eggs on the Cornice of the small 
 Frames if the Gold will hold out,) which he agreed 
 to do for three pounds ready money, to be done 
 with the Gold Leaf given to the Parish by Colo. 
 George Washington." 
 
 "The Vestry having reconsidered their order of 
 yesterday directing the Church Yard to be in- 
 closed with Brick, And considering that the ex- 
 pence thereof will be too burthensome to the Par- 
 ish at this time having just finished two expensive 
 Churches, and a Glebe not yet purchased, have 
 changed their opinions, and do accordingly order 
 that (instead of a Brick Wall) the said Church 
 Yard be inclosed with a Post and Rail Fence in 
 the following manner, to wit, with sawed Cedar 
 Posts to go two feet and a half in the ground, to 
 be first burnt, sawed Yellow Pine Rails clear of 
 sap, five feet high from the surface to the top rail. 
 Posts eight feet asunder, the whole to be well 
 
 90 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 payed with turpentine and red paint, with three 
 Pahsadoed Gates painted a Stone Colour with 
 Locks." 
 
 The roof and fence at the Upper Church were 
 ordered painted. 
 
 Capt. Edward Payne resigned as Vestryman, 
 and Mr. Thomas Pollard was chosen in his stead. 
 
 1774. November 24th. The Parish Levy is 
 laid, and accounts audited. George Washington 
 Esqr. and Thomas Pollard Gent, are appointed 
 Church Wardens for the next year. Alex. Hen- 
 derson pays over to Mr. Pollard all money in his 
 hands and is fully discharged of all accounts, and 
 Col. Mason delivers to Mr. Pollard Col. George 
 Washington's Bonds for his own pew and that of 
 Col. Fairfax. Mr. Peter Wagener was chosen a 
 Vestryman in the room of Major Peter Wagener, 
 deceased. 
 
 1775. November 3d. The Levy shows 1363 
 tithables, as against 962 ten years before just after 
 the division. This indicates the growth of the 
 population. Col. Daniel Mc.Carty and Capt. Mar- 
 tin Cockburn were ordered to "take into their 
 possession the books belonging to the Parish 
 lately kept by John Barry, deed." The Revd. Lee 
 Massey was appointed Clerk of the Vestry. Mr. 
 Mason, Col. Mc.Carty, Capt. Cockburn, Capt. Pol- 
 lard, Rev. Mr. Massey and Mr. Henderson were 
 appointed to prepare a plan for the employment of 
 
 91 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 and providing for the poor of the Parish, and re- 
 port to the next Vestry. 
 
 1776. May 6th. At the laying of the last Levy 
 no Collector had been appointed, perhaps because 
 none offered. On this day the Collection was let 
 to the lowest bidder, agreeable to notice given, 
 and was undertaken by William Bayly at nine per 
 Cent. The regular price heretofore had been six 
 per Cent. The Levy was very small, only twenty 
 pounds per Poll. 
 
 1776. November 22d. Mr. Peter Wagener 
 and Mr. Thomazen Ellzey appointed Church War- 
 dens, and ordered to receive from former Wardens 
 all balances due the Parish, including General 
 George Washington's Bond and that of Col. 
 George William Fairfax for which the General is 
 liable, and to pay the several sums due the Parish 
 Claimants charged this day, amounting to 119 
 pounds six shillings and four pence. William 
 Triplett, Edward Ford and Francis Coffer were 
 elected Vestrymen in the room of George William 
 Fairfax Esqr. removed, Thomas Ford deceased, 
 and William Gardner removed. The Church War- 
 dens with Col. Mason and Capt. Cockburn, or any 
 three of them, were appointed to look out for a 
 tract of land suitable for a Glebe, and in case they 
 succeeded were to report to a Vestry to be called 
 for the purpose. The Levy was 30 pounds per 
 Poll, on 1337 tithables. On the following April 
 
 92 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 William Payne the eldest undertook the collection 
 
 at 8 per Cent.* 
 
 1777. October 2d. Deeds of Lease and Release 
 from the Vestry to Col. Daniel Mc.Carty for the 
 old Glebe were acknowledged by the Vestry, and 
 the Church Wardens ordered to receive from Col. 
 Mc.Carty the balance of the purchase money due. 
 "Ordered, that the Church Wardens send Sarah 
 Shelton (a poor child) to Dr. James of St. Mary's 
 County Maryland and employ him to cure her of 
 her present Disorders." 
 
 1777. November 27th. ''William Triplett and 
 Francis Coffer Gent, are appointed Church War- 
 dens or Overseers of the Poor for the ensuing 
 year." The Rev. Lee Massey resigned his ofifice 
 as Clerk of the Vestry, and Francis Adams was 
 
 *A special interest attaches to this levy ^^^ca^^^.^lt was the^as^ 
 
 lirJ.rnt!nlLro% ?e?i.rn ^ JSe' P^ariS ^i'ch'^jrv^^s^Wom 
 MS Time'TusSended '5y Act of Assembly and a"erward abolished 
 entirely. The support of the Clergy was left to be proviaea lor 
 by voluntary contributions. ,, ^ . ^ ^^„„ +1,^ futnro «nit)- 
 
 There is no record of any effort being ^^de for the future sup 
 port of the Rev. Mr. Massey as Minister of this Parish. The dis 
 turbed condition of the times during the Revolution, and the ab- 
 sence of mfnV leading men. may have prevented Or more probabl 
 Mr. Massey wished to retire, for his Grandson, Col. J. T. Stoddert. 
 of Marvland, wrote Bishop Meade that impaired speech was the 
 ?ause of W? celsing to preach. After this he received for one year 
 §SoJoundsot tobacco as Clerk of the Vestry, and then his name 
 disappears from the Records. We are told that he afterwards stud- 
 ied medicine and practised freely among the poor. He had been 
 a pr^cfising lawyer before his ordination to the «V",^«tn'' f ^.^^ 
 would seem that he followed successively what ^er« known as the 
 three learned professions of Law, Divinity and Medicine. He con 
 tinued to live at "Bradley," his plantation on the Occoquan, unti 
 his death in 1814 at the age of eighty-six. A simple stone still 
 
 "'^From'thfs"" toe forward the Records of the Vestry show their 
 business to have been confined to the care ot the poor, for which 
 purpose levies of tobacco were still authorized. "Overseers of the 
 Poor" became an alternate designation for the Church Wardens. 
 
 93 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 appointed in his stead. Tithables 13 16. Levy 15 
 lbs. per Poll. 
 
 1778. No Levy was laid this year, as the Vestry 
 found funds suf^cient in their hands for the main- 
 tenance of the poor for the ensuing year. 
 
 1779. December 8th. Martin Cockburn Gent, 
 having resigned his office as Vestryman Daniel 
 Mc.Carty junior was elected in his stead, and Ed- 
 ward Washington junior was elected in place of 
 Edward Ford who refused to serve. Tithables 
 1350. Levy 12 lbs. per Poll. 
 
 In 1780 no Vestry was held. November 27th, 
 1 78 1, a Levy was laid of 10 lbs. per Poll, on 1442 
 Tithables. Daniel Mc.Carty and Thomazen Ell- 
 zey w^ere appointed Church Wardens or Overseers 
 of the Poor. WilHam Deneale and Cleon Moore 
 were elected Vestrymen in the room of Thomas 
 Withers Cofifer deceased and Daniel Mc.Carty 
 junior who refused to act. 
 
 1782. November 22d. The Vestry met, and 
 Daniel McCarty exhibited an account on oath 
 against the Parish which showed it indebted to him 
 in the sum of twelve pounds eight shillings paper 
 money, which was ordered to be certified. Vestry 
 adjourned until the 24th, but that meeting was 
 not held. 
 
 1784. 23d February. The Vestry met at Col- 
 chester. ''The Vestr)^ of this Parish having ap- 
 pointed meetings at different times for two years 
 last past, and not a majority of the said Vestry 
 
 94 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 meeting to proceed to business; It is now agreed 
 upon and ordered that those of the Vestry who 
 have resigned or removed others be chosen in 
 their stead." 
 
 ''J ohn Gibson, Gent, is elected a Vestryman for 
 this Parish in the room of His Excellency General 
 Washington, who has signified his resignation in 
 a letter to Daniel Mc.Carty, Gent." 
 
 James Waugh was elected in the room of 
 Thomas Pollard, removed. Francis Coffer was 
 desired to let the Vestry know at their next meet- 
 ing whether he would continue to serve or not. 
 
 Peter Wagener and Wilham Deneale were ap- 
 pointed Church Wardens or Overseers of the 
 Poor. A Levy was laid, which included 10,000 
 lbs. of tobacco for the temporary support of such 
 of the poor as are at present unknown, to be laid 
 out by the Church Wardens at their discretion. 
 This they considered ''absolutely necessary on ac- 
 count of the severity of the winter and scarcity of 
 corn." 
 
 Lund Washington was elected a Vestryman the 
 room of Daniel Mc.Carty who now resigned. 
 Present at this meeting: 
 Pet. Wagener, C. W. Alex. Henderson. 
 W. Deneale, C. W. \Wm. Triplett. 
 
 G. Mason. Edward Washington. 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty. Cleon Moore.* 
 
 ♦This meeting of the Vestry, which saw the formal resignation 
 of George "Washington, was the last that w^as attended by three of 
 his friends and old fellow-Vestrymen, George Mason, Daniel Mc- 
 
 95 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 The last meeting of the Vestry under the old 
 Regime was held at Colchester, January 27th, 
 1785. Like the preceding it was occupied solely 
 in providing for the support of the poor, and es- 
 pecially for twelve families who are named. The 
 old Colonial Church, which had been staggering 
 for years under blows inflicted by successive Gen- 
 eral Assemblies was now in the article of death. 
 The leading men who, in the face of popular 
 odium, stood by and attended it in its last hours, 
 must have believed that when released from the 
 coil of the State it would rise from the dust and 
 put on more beautiful garments. 
 
 The new (Christ) Church in Alexandria had 
 been finished about the same time with the new 
 Pohick Church. Washington bought a pew in 
 Christ Church on the day that the Church was 
 turned over to the Vestry by the builders. He 
 gave for Pew number 5, thirty six pounds, ten 
 shillings. That pew has become historical. It 
 was afterwards occupied by Gen. Robert E. Lee, 
 and there are tablets on the walls of the Church 
 in memory of these two heroic characters and de- 
 vout Christians. This historic pew attracts every 
 week streams of pilgrims to Christ Church.* 
 
 Carty and Alexander Henderson. Col. Mason and Capt. Mc.Carty 
 were his seniors in point of service, having served continuously since 
 1749, a period of thirty-five years. Mr. Henderson was first elected 
 on the new Vestry in 1765. The fifth and only remaining member 
 of that Vestry, Mr. Thomazen Ellzey, was present at its last meet- 
 ing two months later, and afterward continued to serve as an Over- 
 seer of the Poor. 
 
 *The pew which General Robert E. Lee rented and regularly- 
 occupied when at Arlington was across the aisle from Washington's 
 pew. 
 
 96 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Washington did not leave Pohick for Christ 
 Church until after the Revolution, when services 
 at the former became few and far between. April, 
 1785, seems to mark the date of his habitual at- 
 tendance at Christ Church. On the 25th of that 
 month he bound himself by a paper of record in 
 the Vestry Book, signed in his well known hand- 
 writing, to pay an annual rent upon his pew. The 
 structure of this bond indicates that it was Wash- 
 ington's composition. The following is a copy 
 of it from the record : 
 
 "We, the subscribers, do hereby agree that the 
 pews we now hold in the Episcopal Church at 
 Alexandria shall be forever charged with an an- 
 
 on a fly leaf of Washington's diary for January, 1773, is the 
 following' memorandum: 
 
 "Sale of the pews in Alexandria Church — to whom — &ca. 
 
 Nos. Purchasers Price 
 
 4 Mr. Townsd. Dade L 28 
 
 5 Colo. G. Washington 36.10 
 
 1 3 Mr. Robt, Adam 30 
 
 14 Mr. Robt. Alexander .- 30.10 
 
 15 Mr. Dalton 20 
 
 18 Mr. Thos. Fleming 21.5 
 
 19 Col. Carlyle 30 
 
 20 Mr. Wm. Ramsey 33 
 
 28 Messrs. Jno. Muir &ca 36.5 
 
 29 Mr. Jno. West Junr 33 
 
 Ij 298.10 
 
 Average price 29.17." 
 
 For some reason the Vestry of Fairfax Parish proposed to set 
 aside the sale of these pews. Washington was informed by Capt. 
 John Dalton when the meeting was to be held to determine the 
 matter, and w^as invited to be present. In his letter to Capt. Dal- 
 ton, dated 15th. February, 1773, he says: "I am obliged to you for 
 the notice you have given me of an intended meeting of your Ves- 
 try on Tuesday next." He explains why he would not come to make 
 his protest in person, and adds: "The right of reclaiming the pews 
 by the Vestry in behalf of the Parish I most clearly deny. As a 
 parishioner I protest against the measure. As a subscriber who 
 meant to lay the foundation of a family pew I shall think myself 
 injured;" etc., etc. 
 
 Washington was a "parishioner" of this parish by virtue of be- 
 ing a freeholder and tithe-payer therein. His protest seems to 
 have had the desired effect, as he remained in possession of his pew. 
 
 97 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 nual rent of five pounds, Virginia money, each; 
 and we hereby promise to pay (each for himself 
 promising to pay) annually, forever, to the Min- 
 ister and Vestry of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in Fairfax Parish, or, if the Parish should 
 be divided, to the Minister and Vestry of the Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church in Alexandria, the said 
 sum of five pounds for each pew for the purpose 
 of supporting the Minister in the said Church. 
 Provided neverthelsss that if any law of this Com- 
 monwealth should hereafter compel us, our heirs, 
 executors and administrators or assigns, to pay 
 to the support of ReHgion, the pew-rent hereby 
 granted shall, in that case, be considered as part 
 of what we, by such law, be required to pay. 
 
 Provided also that each of us pay only in pro- 
 portion to the part we hold of the said pews. 
 
 For the performance of which payments, well 
 and truly to be made forever annually, within six 
 months after demanded, w^e hereby bind ourselves 
 (each for himself separately) our heirs, executors, 
 administrators and assigns, firmty by these pres- 
 ents. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set 
 our hands and seals this 25th day of April in the 
 year of our Lord 1785. 
 
 Witness present at signing and sealing. 
 David Grififith at 
 signing and sealing for (Seal) Philip Alexander. 
 G. Washington, W. Bird Robert Adams. 
 
 T. Herbert & P. Alexander. M. Madden. 
 
 98 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Giles Cooke for T. West. 
 Barr Powell for W. Herbert. 
 
 Geo. Washington (Seal) 
 Gr. Chapman for R. Adams. 
 
 W. Bird (Seal) 
 Robt. Macgill for M. Madden. 
 
 Thos. Herbert (Seal) 
 
 Thomas West (Seal) 
 
 W. Herbert (Seal) 
 And yet Washington occasionally attended Po- 
 hick Church when it was open for Divine Service, 
 as the following item from his Diary proves : 
 
 "Oct. 2d. 1785. Smiday. Went with Fanny 
 Bassett, Burwell Bassett, Dr. Stuart, George A. 
 Washington, Mr. Shaw and Nelly Custis to Po- 
 hick Church to hear a Mr. Thompson preach who 
 returned home with us to dinner, where I found 
 Rev. Mr. Jones, formerly a Chaplain in a Pa. Reg- 
 iment. After we were in bed about eleven o'clock 
 at night, Mr. Houdon (sent from Paris by Mr. 
 Jefferson and Dr. Franklin to take my Bust, in 
 behalf of the State of Virginia, with three young 
 men, assistants, introduced by Mr. Perin a French 
 gentleman of Alexandria) arrived here by water 
 from the latter place. 3d. October. The two Rev- 
 erend gentlemen who dined and lodged here went 
 away after breakfast." This is an illustration of 
 the truth of the statement of his Pastor, Rev. Lee 
 Massey, that Washington never allowed company 
 at Mount Vernon to keep him from Church, and 
 
 99 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 that he was the most punctual and constant at- 
 tendant at Divine Service he had ever known. 
 Mrs. Lewis, (Nelly Custis,) bears a like testimony 
 as to his habit in New York and Philadelphia. As 
 to the time of which we are now speaking she 
 says: "General Washington had a pew in Pohick 
 Church and one in Christ Church, Alexandria. 
 He attended the Church at Alexandria when the 
 weather and roads permitted a ride of ten miles." 
 We have reached the dark age of Truro Parish. 
 There are no records to guide us, and we have 
 to avail ourselves of such side-lights as come from 
 other sources. It is not known definitely when 
 Mr. Massey's ofificial relations with the Parish 
 ceased. Tradition says he was followed by a Mr. 
 Kemp and a Mr. Moscrope, who did not walk 
 Avorthy of their high vocation in several respects. 
 Whether they had any ofificial connection with 
 the Parish, or were merely ''temporary supplies," 
 is not known.* Towards the close of the century, 
 some say in 1798, the eccentric Mason L. Weems 
 appears upon the scene. There is no proof of his 
 precise relations to the Parish. In his popular Life 
 of Washington he calls himself "Late Rector of 
 Mount Vernon Parish," as if he did not know its 
 name. It is certain however that he was ofificiating 
 there about the beginning of this century. Mr. 
 
 ♦Bishop Meade, from whom this tradition was drawn, had heard 
 that these Ministers "Occasionally ofHciated at Dumfries, Pohick, 
 and perhaps at Centerville,'" (doubtless a slip of the pen for 
 Brentsville). I do not find their names in any lists of the Clergy 
 of that period. 
 
 100 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Davis, a teacher in that section, published a work 
 dedicated to Jefferson, and entitled, ''Four and a 
 Half Years in America." In it he says: "About 
 eight miles from Occoquan Mills is a place of 
 worship called Poheek (sic) Church. Thither I 
 rode on Sunday and joined the congregation of 
 Parson Weems, a Minister of the Episcopal per- 
 suasion, who was cheerful in his mein that he 
 might win men to religion. A Virginian Church- 
 yard on Sunday resembles rather a race-course 
 than a sepulchral ground. The ladies come to it 
 in carriages and the men make their horses fast 
 to the trees. But the steeples of the Virginian 
 Churches are designed not for utility but for or- 
 nament, for the bell is suspended from a tree.f It 
 is also observable that the gate to the Churchyard 
 is ever carefully locked by the Sexton, who retires 
 last. I was confounded on first ; entering the 
 Churchyard at Poheek to hear ''Steed threaten 
 Steed with high and boastful neigh." Nor was I 
 less stunned with the rattling of carriage-wheels, 
 the cracking of whips and the vociferations of the 
 gentlemen to the Negroes who accompanied them. 
 But the discourse of Parson Weems calmed every 
 perturbation, for he preached the great doctrines 
 of Salvation as one who had experienced their 
 power. In his youth Mr. Weems had accompanied 
 some young Americans to London where he pre- 
 pared himself by dilligent study for the profession 
 
 fit is hard to determine what could have suggested this remark, 
 as Pohick Church had neither bell nor steeple. 
 
 lOI 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of the Church. Of the congregation about one 
 half was composed of white people and the other 
 of negroes. Among many of the negroes were to 
 be discovered the most gratifying evidences of 
 sincere piety, an artless simplicity, passionate as- 
 pirations after Christ and an earnest endeavour to 
 do the will of God." 
 
 The light thus thrown by Mr. Davis upon Po- 
 hick Church for one Sunday reveals a very ani- 
 mated and picturesque scene, and one by no means 
 discreditable to Mr. Weems. This single glimpse 
 into the darkness which shrouded Truro Parish 
 is the only authentic tidings we have of it until 
 1812, when the Rev. Charles O'Neill is in charge. 
 We first meet Mr. O'Neill in St. Thomas' Parish, 
 Orange County, where he officiated and taught 
 school in 1 797-1800. He was one of the old-time 
 schoolmasters, (as we have seen in our History of 
 St. Mark's Parish,) who believed in what Hudibras 
 called "Apostolic blows and knocks" more than 
 he did in the Apostolic Succession. His whipping 
 post was the back of a negro man, on which the 
 bad boy was suspended and fliaggellated with hick- 
 ory switches. He taught at Col. Taliaferro's, near 
 Pine Stake Church, and also in Bromfield Parish, 
 Madison County. Judge P. P. Barbour, of the 
 U. S. Supreme Court, and the Hon. Jeremiah Mor- 
 ton and Dr. George Morton were his pupils, and 
 retained a lively impression of his discipline. He 
 also preached and taught school in Hamilton Par- 
 
 102 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ish, Fauquier County, and represented it in Con- 
 vention in 1805. He was likewise in Dettingen 
 Parish, Prince William County. The date of his 
 incumbency in Truro Parish was the time of 
 Bishop Meade's effective ministry at Christ 
 Church, Alexandria. The family at Mount Ver- 
 non were attendants at Christ Church at this time, 
 and some of them were among the first fruits of 
 his ministry there. Mr. Meade was consequently 
 intimate at Mount Vernon, and tells an amusing 
 anecdote of Mr. O'Neill. He says: "The family 
 at Mt. Vernon and at Rippon Lodge (the Black- 
 burns) were fond of him. He, (O'Neill,) always 
 spent his Christmas at Mt. Vernon, and on those 
 occasions was dressed in a full suit of velvet, which 
 Gen. Washington had left behind, and which had 
 been given to Mr. O'Neill. But as General Wash- 
 ington was tall and well proportioned in all his 
 parts, and Mr. O'Neill was peculiarly formed, be- 
 ing of uncommon length of body and brevity of 
 legs, it was difficult to make the clothes of the one, 
 even though altered, sit well on the other." (Mr. 
 O'Neill died, it is thought, in 1813.) 
 
 Judge Bushrod Washington, (the son of John 
 A. and nephew of General Washington,) who in- 
 herited Mt. Vernon, was now living there. He 
 was a devout Communicant of the Church, and at- 
 tended Divine Service in Christ Church, Alexan- 
 dria, which he represented repeatedly in conven- 
 tion. Pie was also a member of the Standing Com- 
 
 103 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 mittee to the end of his life. He married Jane, 
 daughter of Col. Thomas Blackburn, of Rippon 
 Lodge, Prince William County, which was a cen- 
 ter of Episcopal influence. Two of the Misses 
 Blackburn, Jane and Polly, married nephews of 
 General Washington and lived in Jefferson Coun- 
 ty, and one, Judy, married Gustavus Alexander. 
 The first Richard Blackburn married a daughter 
 of the Rev. James Scott, of Overwharton Parish. 
 
 In his Convention Address in 1838 Bishop 
 Meade thus describes a visitation made to Pohick 
 Church, and its condition, in the preceding sum- 
 mer : 
 
 ''My next visit was to Pohick Church, in the 
 vicinity of Mt. Vernon, the seat of General Wash- 
 ington. It was still raining when I approached 
 the house, and found no one there. The wide- 
 open doors invited me to enter, — as they do in- 
 vite, day and night through the year, not only the 
 passing traveller, but every beast of the field and 
 fowl of the air. These latter however seeemed to 
 have reverenced the house of God, since few marks 
 of their pollution were to be seen throughout it. 
 The interior of the house, having been well built, 
 is still good. The chancel. Communion table and 
 tables of the law &c. are still there and in good or- 
 der. The roof only is decaying; and at the time 
 I was there the rain was dropping on these sacred 
 places and on other parts of the house. On the 
 doors of the pews, in gilt letters, are still to be 
 
 104 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 seen the names of the principal Famihes which 
 once occupied them. How could I, while for at 
 least an hour traversing those long aisles, ascend- 
 ing the lofty pulpit, entering the sacred chancel, 
 forbear to ask. And is this the House of God 
 which was built by the Washingtons, the Mc.Car- 
 tys, the Lewises, the Fairfaxes? — the house in 
 which they used to worship the God of our fathers 
 according to the venerable forms of the Episcopal 
 Church, — and some of whose names are still to be 
 seen on the doors of those now deserted pews? 
 Is this also destined to moulder piecemeal away, 
 or, when some signal is given, to become the prey 
 of spoilers, and to be carried hither and thither and 
 applied to every purpose under heaven? 
 
 ''Surely patriotism, or reverence for the greatest 
 of patriots, if not religion, might be effectually 
 appealed to in behalf of this one temple of God. 
 The particular location of it is to be ascribed to 
 Washington, who, being an active member of the 
 Vestry when it was under consideration and in 
 dispute where it should be placed, carefully sur- 
 veyed the whole parish, and, drawing with his 
 own hand an accurate and handsome map of it, 
 showed clearly where the claims of justice and the 
 interests of religion required its erection. 
 
 "It was to this Church that Washington for some 
 years regularly repaired, at a distance of six or 
 seven miles, never permitting any company to pre- 
 vent the regular observance of the Lord's day. 
 
 105 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 And shall it now be permitted to sink into ruin for 
 want of a few hundred dollars to arrest the decay 
 already begun? The families that once wor- 
 shipped there are indeed nearly all gone, and those 
 who remain are not competent to its complete 
 repair. But there are immortal beings all around 
 it, and not far distant from it, who might be for- 
 ever blessed by the word faithfully preached there- 
 in. The poor shall never cease out of any land, 
 and to them the gospel ought to be preached. 
 
 ''For some years past one of the students in our 
 Theological Seminary has acted as lay reader in 
 it, and occasionally a professor has added his ser- 
 vices. Within the last year the Rev. Mr. John- 
 son, residing in the neighbourhood, has performed 
 more frequent duties there. 
 
 ''On the day following I preached to a very con- 
 siderable congregation in this old church, one 
 third of which was made up of coloured persons. 
 The sacrament was then administered to twenty 
 persons." 
 
 Some years later the Bishop wrote : "I am happy 
 to say that this report led the Rev. Mr. Johnson 
 to its use, in a circular, by means of which he 
 raised fifteen hundred dollars, with which a new 
 roof and ceiling and other repairs were put on it, 
 by which it has been preserved from decay and 
 fitted for such occasional services as are performed 
 there. A friend, who has recently visited it, in- 
 forms me that many of the doors of the pews are 
 
 io6 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 gone. Those of George Washington and George 
 Mason are not to be found, — perhaps borne away 
 as relics. Those of George WilHam Fairfax, Mar- 
 tin Cockburn, Daniel Mc.Carty, William Payne, 
 (read Triplett,) and the rector's, are still standing 
 and their names legible." 
 
 lo: 
 
Alexander Henderson 
 
 This gentleman was the son of Rev. Robert 
 Henderson, Minister of Blantyre in Scotland. He 
 came to Virginia in 1756, and settled as a mer- 
 chant in Colchester, in Truro Parish. He married 
 Miss Sallie Moore of Maryland. His son. General 
 Henderson, says that during the Revolution he re- 
 tired to a farm in Fairfax County for fear of fall- 
 ing into the hands of the English, as he had taken 
 a very decided part against the mother-country. 
 He, General Washington and George Mason, 
 were commissioners on the part of Virginia who 
 met with the Maryland commissioners. Stone, 
 Chase and Jenifer, at Mount Vernon on the 28th 
 of March, 1785, made the compact as to the navi- 
 gation and exercise of jurisdiction in the waters of 
 Chesapeake Bay and Pocomoke. Col. Henderson 
 represented Prince William County in the General 
 Assembly in 1798, having in the meantime moved 
 to Dumfries, which had long been one of the chief 
 marts of commerce in Virginia. The late Murray 
 Forbes, of Falmouth, son of Dr. Stirling Forbes, 
 an eminent physician of Dumfries, when a boy be- 
 came one of his clerks, living in his family and 
 sharing his kindness with his sons. Col. Hender- 
 son established a branch of his business in Alex- 
 
 108 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 andria in connection with his cousin and son-in- 
 law, known as "Scotch Sandy." In process of 
 time he sent Mr. Forbes to Alexandria to man- 
 age his share in the firm. When Mr. Forbes had 
 become of age Col. Henderson told him he would 
 like to keep him in his service, as he had con- 
 ducted his business to his satisfaction and to his 
 own credit. But he added, "You should go into 
 business on your own account. Here is a check 
 for $5000 in compensation for your services, and 
 I will give you a letter of credit for $5000 more. 
 Mr. Forbes was overwhelmed with surprise at the 
 proposition, but the Colonel insisted, and Mr. 
 Forbes became the accomplished merchant and 
 gentleman so well known in Falmouth. He 
 cherished a profound homage for Col. Hender- 
 son's memory, and told his eldest son to hold his 
 name, character and lineage, in high respect. Col. 
 Henderson died in 181 5, leaving six sons and four 
 daughters. John, Alexander and James moved to 
 Wood County, West Va. Richard was an emi- 
 nent lawyer of Leesburg. Archibald was Gen. 
 Henderson of the Marine Corps, U. S. A. Thomas 
 was a distinguished Surgeon of the Army, and one 
 of the founders of the Theological Seminary of 
 Virginia. One of his daughters, Sarah, was a de- 
 vout and sweet poetess, and married Gen. Francis 
 H. Smith, the Superintendent of the Virginia Mil- 
 itary Institute. This old Vestryman is now repre- 
 sented in the Parish by one of his lineal descend- 
 
 109 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ants, Mrs. Dr. Nevitt, of Accotink, who, like her 
 great grandfather, worships in the same old Po- 
 hick Church. 
 
 Lund Washington, who became a Vestry- 
 man in 1782, was the son of Townshend Wash- 
 ington and Elizabeth Lund, of Chotank Creek, 
 King George County. Lie was born October i, 
 1737, and died in 1796. In his youth he was a 
 manager of a large estate in Albemarle and 
 Orange. He was then appointed manager of Rav- 
 ensworth in Fairfax by Col. Henry Fitzhugh, of 
 King George. Subsequently he was chosen by 
 General Washington to superintend Mt. Vernon, 
 which he did until 1785. He was a man of great 
 bodily strength and activity, and made money for 
 his employers and for himself. He married his 
 cousin, Betsey Foote. 
 
 Edward Washington was chosen Vestry- 
 man in 1779. Lund AVashington says of him: 
 "Edward Washington lived a few miles from Col- 
 chester when I went there to live in 1786. My 
 uncle, Lawrence Washington and I believed him 
 to be a relative from his strong resemblance to 
 the family." His father was living in 1788, a very 
 old man. 
 
 Dr. Peter Wagener, Vestryman in 1771, 
 was an Englishman, and was Clerk of Stafford 
 County before Fairfax was established. It was on 
 his land that the town of Colchester was founded 
 in 1754, and he was one of the original Trustees 
 
 no 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 with Daniel Mc.Carty, John Barry, WilHam Elzy 
 and Edward Washington. He married a sister of 
 Mr. Speaker Robinson of the House of Burgesses. 
 (1750.) Their daughter Ehzabeth married Rev. 
 Spence Grayson of Dettingen Parish, (1781- 
 1797). Peter Wagener, son of the foregoing, was 
 chosen Vestryman in 1774 to succeed his father 
 who died that year. He was Clerk of Fairfax 
 County, and married a daughter of Daniel Mc- 
 Carty. Their son, Beverly Robinson, married in 
 1790 a daughter of Col. Benjamin Harrison of 
 Prince William County. A daughter of Peter 
 Wagener married Dr. Morton of Colchester, and 
 2d. Col. Porter of Prince William. 
 
 Lawrence Lewis, of Woodlawn, was the 
 son of Col. Fielding Lewis, of Fredericksburg, and 
 his wife Betty, only sister of General Washington. 
 He was born April 4, 1767. Col. Fielding Lewis, 
 by his last will, dated October 19, 1781, devised 
 to his son Lawrence one thousand acres of land 
 in the Count}^ of Frederick, one sixth of his ne- 
 groes and one third of his stock of cattle, horses, 
 &c. When Lawrence had attained the age of 
 twent}^ one he was engaged by his uncle to live at 
 Mt. Vernon and aid him in receiving strangers and 
 entertaining the perpetual flow of company to that 
 hospitable mansion. In his letter Gen. Washing- 
 ton said :— "Your Aunt and I are in the decline of 
 life and are regular in our habits, especially of ris- 
 ing and going to bed. I require some fit person 
 
 1 1 I 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 to ease me of the trouble of entertaining company, 
 particularly of nights, it being my inclination to 
 retire, and, (unless prevented by very particular 
 company,) I always do retire either to bed or to 
 my study, soon after candle light. In taking these 
 duties, which hospitality ahvays obliges me to be- 
 stow upon company, ofif my hands, it would render 
 me a very acceptable service." 
 
 Mt. Vernon was the home of the beautiful Nel- 
 lie Custis, Mrs. Washington's granddaughter, 
 when Lawrence Lewis entered the bower. Two 
 such bright particular stars thus moving in the 
 same orbit, by a mutual attraction soon became 
 one, according to that saying of our quaint old 
 South, — "An invisible hand from Heaven mingles 
 hearts by a strange secret and unaccountable con- 
 junction." 
 
 Gen. Washington in his last will devises two 
 thousand acres of the Mt. Vernon estate to Law- 
 rence Lewis and his wife, Eleanor P. (Custis) Lew- 
 is. The writer has a beautiful plot of this land, 
 with endorsement: "A Plan of a part of Mt. Ver- 
 non lands, N. W. of the road leading from the gum 
 spring on little Hunting Creek to the ford of 
 Dogue Run. Beginning at three red marked oaks 
 on a rising therein, opposite to the old road which 
 formerly passed through the S. end of Muddy Hole 
 farm, including that part of Chaple land which be- 
 longs to the subscriber, as also the Mill and Dis- 
 tillery, showing the slopes, contents and relative 
 
 112 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 situation of every field, lot, meadow, and likewise 
 the shape and contents of every piece of wood- 
 land appertaining thereto; the whole having been 
 laid down by an actual and accurate survey, Sept. 
 20, 1799. 
 
 G. Washington." 
 
 This survey was Washington's work less than 
 three months before his death. 
 
 Col. William Grayson. This gentleman, 
 spoken of in the Records as the Attorney for 
 the Vestry, merits special mention. He was the 
 son of Benjamin Grayson, a wealthy merchant of 
 Colchester, who married Susan Monroe of West- 
 moreland. He was the brother of Rev. Spence 
 Grayson, Rector of Dettingen Parish. William 
 Grayson, born 1736, was educated in England and 
 practiced law in Dumfries. On nth of November, 
 1774, the Independent Company of Cadets was 
 formed in Prince William and chose Grayson their 
 Captain. The motto of the Company, was, ''Aut 
 Liber aut Nullus.'" A Committee consisting of 
 Philip R. F. Lee was sent to wait on Col. Wash- 
 ington and ask him to take command of the Com- 
 pany as Field Officer. To this he assented, and 
 when he took command of the Army he took leave 
 of them in a formal letter. This Company offered 
 to unite with the Fredericksburg Company and 
 march to Williamsburg. 
 
 Grayson was often at Mt. Vernon, as stated in 
 
 113 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Washington's Diary. In August, 1776, Washing- 
 ton appointed him one of his Aids, and he was 
 with him in many campaigns in New Jersey and 
 New York, distinguishing himself by his gallantry 
 at Monmouth, and was in hearing of the spicy 
 colloquy between Gen. Washington and Gen. 
 Charles Lee. Grayson and Lieut. Col. Jones were 
 appointed Colonels of the two new Regiments 
 raised in Virginia. He was put by Washington at 
 the head of a Commission to settle the vexed ques- 
 tions arising out of the capture of Gen. Charles 
 Lee. In 1778 he was made Commissioner on the 
 Board of War. Bishop White used to tell an an- 
 ecdote of the bold and dashing way in which he, 
 at this time, dispersed a mob near his house in 
 Philadelphia. In 1784 he was elected to Congress, 
 and also made a member of a Court for determin- 
 ing a dispute between Massachusetts and New 
 York. In 1778 he was a member of the Virginia 
 Convention to consider the ratification of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, and spoke and voted 
 against it, chiefly upon the ground that the pro- 
 posed Constitution would destroy the rights of the 
 States, and there were no adequate checks against 
 the abuse of power, especially by the President, 
 who was responsible only to his counsellors and 
 partners in crime, the members of the Senate. 
 And yet, though in the minority on this exciting 
 question, he and Richard Henry Lee were chosen 
 the first Senators in Congress from Virginia. He 
 
 114 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 served one session in the Senate, and died on his 
 way to the second, on the 12th of March, 1790, 
 and was buried in the family vault at Belaire in 
 Prince William County. Although Col. Grayson 
 filled so many public trusts with signal ability, he 
 has, from want of a biographer, almost lapsed 
 from history, while other inferior men live in story 
 and song. In person he was six feet high, of a 
 full habit and florid complexion, with black hair 
 and eyes. With his varied culture he was elegant 
 in conversation as he was able in debate. He mar- 
 ried a sister of Gen. Smallwood, of Maryland, and 
 left four sons, William, George, Alfred and Rob- 
 ert, and one daughter, Helen, who married John 
 Carter, of Loudoun, who went to Kentucky, and 
 whose eldest son moved to Tennessee. Robert 
 married Miss Breckenridge, of Kentucky. 
 
 George Johnston. This gentleman, one of 
 the legal advisers of the Vestry, was the son of 
 Dr. James Johnston who migrated to Maryland. 
 The son came to Virginia and settled in Fairfax 
 County, which he represented in the General As- 
 sembly. Patrick Henry's famous resolutions were 
 seconded by Mr. Johnston in a "speech of great 
 eloquence and power." He married Miss Thomp- 
 son, by whom he had two daughters, one of whom 
 married Rev. Lee Massey, of Truro Parish, and 
 the other married Robert Howson Harrison, one 
 of Washington's aids. He married for his second 
 wife Miss Mc.Carty, by whom he had five sons and 
 
 115 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 four daughters. Two of his sons were officers in 
 the Revolution, and a grandson, Major George 
 Johnston, in the Confederate States Army. 
 
 Martin Cockburn, whose name so often ap- 
 pears in the Parish Records, was a native of 
 Jamaica. While travelling in Virginia, in his 
 eighteenth year, with Dr. Cockburn, he became 
 fascinated with Miss Bronaugh. She would not 
 go to Jamaica, and he had to come to Virginia to 
 win the prize. He bought a farm, Springfield, 
 near Gunston, where they lived to a good old age. 
 He was a polished Christian gentleman, much es- 
 teemed by George Mason, as is attested by their 
 correspondence still extant. 
 
 Capt. Cleon Moore, of Colchester, elected 
 Vestryman in 1781, was badly wounded at the 
 battle of Brandywine. He moved to Alexandria 
 in 1800 and was appointed Register of Wills, 
 which office he filled until his death in 1808. 
 He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who was 
 born at Colchester January 8, 1786. His first wife 
 was the daughter of Col. Roger West, of West 
 Grove, Fairfax County. Cleon Moore was the 
 author of Washington's March. He was wont to 
 tell this anecdote of himself, says Mr. Brocket, of 
 the "Lodge of Washington" : 
 
 During the Revolution he was stationed with 
 a squad of men in the Northern Neck, without ra- 
 tions. Chancing to see a flock of geese, belonging 
 to a Mr. Page, he "impressed" them, except a 
 
 116 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 gander, to whose neck he attached a piece of 
 paper, containing nine-pence, with these Hnes : — 
 
 ''My good Mr. Page, 
 
 Be not in a rage. 
 Nor think it a very great wonder; 
 
 We have taken nine geese. 
 
 At a penny apiece, 
 And sent the money home by the gander." 
 
 [End of Dr. Slaughter's Manuscript.] 
 
 117 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Thomas Withers Coffer, born 1713, and a 
 Vestryman of Truro from 1765 to his death/ 
 in 1 781, was a son of Francis Coffer, (born 1683,, 
 died 1740) and Mary Littlejohn Withers, his wife. 
 His seat was at or near the present residence of 
 M. D. Hall, Esq., whose wife is one of his de- 
 scendants; so he was one of the ''upper" Vestry- 
 men, being a neighbor, as neighbors were ac- 
 counted then, of Capt. Payne, Mr. Gardner, Mr. 
 Ford and Mr. Ellzey. His wife was Mary Fargu- 
 son, who was born in 171 5 and died in 1758. Their 
 son Francis Coffer was born in 1748, and was a 
 Vestryman from 1776 to 1785. He married a 
 Miss Gunnell. Thomas Coffer, their son, born 
 1773, was captain of a company from Fairfax in 
 the war of 1812. He married Ann Simpson, and 
 died in 1862, leaving eight children, namely: Wil- 
 liam Coffer, married Miss Harmed, line extinct; 
 Hannah Coffer, married Silas Burke; Jane Coffer, 
 married Levi Burke; Elizabeth Coffer, married 
 George Selectman; Thomas Coffer, married Jane 
 Selectman; Henry Coffer, married Harriett Tay- 
 lor; Joshua Coffer, married Hulda Simpson; Armi- 
 stead Thompson Mason Coffer, died unmarried. 
 The descendants of Hannah, Jane, Henry and 
 Joshua Coffer have restored a pew in Pohick 
 Church in memory of Thomas Withers Coffer. 
 
 Triplett. The will of Francis Triplett of the 
 Parish of Truro is dated October 4th, 1757, and 
 gives the names of his children, Thomas, Wil- 
 
 118 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 liam, Daniel, John, Francis, Mason, Margaret 
 (married Boylston,) and Patty. Of these WiUiani 
 Triplett was a Vestryman of Truro from 1776 
 to 1785, being elected in the room of George Wil- 
 liam Fairfax. He was a man of prominence in 
 his neighborhood, and was among the friends in- 
 vited by Mrs. Washington to the funeral of the 
 General. Thomas Triplett was a trooper in the 
 French and Indian War, March, 1756; and his 
 brother Francis Triplett was in Col. George Wash- 
 ington's regiment in the same war. The latter re- 
 ceived a wound in the arm, for which 55 pounds 
 was granted him by the General Assembly. He 
 was afterward a captain of militia in Fauquier 
 County, a Justice of the Peace and a Vestryman 
 of Leeds Parish. His daughter Ann married 
 Capt. EHas Hord. The Rev. Arnold H. Hord, of 
 Philadelphia, is among her descendants. 
 
 119 
 
Vestrymen and Church Wardens of Truro 
 Parish, i 732-1 785. 
 
 (C. W =Church Warden.) 
 
 Dennis Mc.Carty, 1732-41. 
 John Heryford, 1732-43 died. C. W. 1732-4. 
 Edward Barry, 1732-44. C. W. 1737-44. 
 Charles Broadwater, 1732-33 and 1744-65. C. 
 W. 1750-1, 52-3, 56-7. 
 
 Richard Osborne, 1732-48. C. W. 1747-8. 
 
 John Lewis, 1732-33. 
 
 Gabriel Adams, 1732-33. 
 
 Edward Emms, 1732-48. C. W. 1732-6, 48-9. 
 
 Francis Awbrey, 1733-34. 
 
 William Godfrey, 1733-44. 
 
 John Stiirman, 1733-46. C. W. 1743. 
 
 Giles Tillett, 1733-34. 
 
 Rev. Lawrence De Butts, Minister, 1733-34. 
 
 Michael Ashford, 1733-34. 
 
 Jeremiah Bronaugh, 1733-44, and 1747-50 died. 
 
 C. W. 1734-7. 42-4, 48- 
 
 William Peake, 1733-44, and 1749-62 died. 
 John Fargiison, 1733-44- 
 Thomas Lewis, 1733-44. C. W. 1736-40. 
 James Baxter, 1734-36. 
 
 120 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 John Colvill, 1734-48. C. W. 1740-2. 
 Augustine Washington, 1735-37. 
 Rev. Charles Green, Rector, 1737-64. 
 John Baxter, 1743-44. 
 
 Robert Boggess, 1744-65- C. W. 1748-9. 54-5. 
 59-61. 
 
 Daniel French, 1744-46. 
 
 Andrew Hutchinson, 1744-48. C. W. 1747-8. 
 
 John Minor, 1744-48. C. W. 1746-7. 
 
 Lewis Ellzey, 1744-48, and 1765. C. W. 1744-6. 
 
 John West, 1744-48, and 1750-65. C. W. 1744- 
 
 6, 55-8. 
 
 Hugh West, 1744-54 died. C. W. 1746-7, 48. 
 George Mason, 1749-85. C. W. 1750, 55-6, 
 
 65-6, 73-4. 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty, 1749-84. C. W. 175 1-2, 53-4, 
 
 58-9, 64-5, 68-9, 75-6, 78-9, 81-4. 
 
 John Turley, 1749-56. C. W. 1754-5- 
 James Hamilton, 1749-56. C. W. 1 750-1. 
 William Payne, Sr., 1750-65. C. W. 175 1-2, 
 
 57-8. 
 
 Abraham Barnes, 1750-65. C. W. 1753-4, 
 59-61. 
 
 William Fairfax, 1754-57 died. 
 
 William Payne, Jr., 1756-65. C. W. 1 761-3, 64. 
 
 Henry Gunnell, 1756-65. C. W. 1 761-3. 
 
 George William Fairfax, 1757-76. C. W. 1763- 
 4, 70-1. 
 
 121 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 George Washington, 1762-65, and 1765-84. C. 
 W. 1763-4, 6(^-j, 74-5. 
 
 Edward Payne, 1765-74. C. W. 1765-6, 70-1, 
 
 73-4. 
 
 Thos. Withers Coffer, 1765-84 died. C. W. 
 1768-9, 71-2. 
 
 WiUiam Gardner, 1765-76. C. W. 1766-7. 
 
 Alexander Henderson, 1765-85. C. W. 1769- 
 70, 79-80. 
 
 Thomazen Ellzey, 1765-85. C. W. 1767-8, 72-3, 
 j^-y, 81-4. 
 
 Thomas Ford, 1765-76. C. W. 1769-70. 
 
 John Ford, 1765. 
 
 Peter Wagener, Sr., 1765, 72-74 died. C. W. 
 1771-2. 
 
 WilHam Linton, 1765-70 died. 
 
 John Posey, 1765-70. C. W. 1767-8. 
 
 Rev. Lee Massey, Rector, 1767-77. 
 
 Martin Cockburn, 1770-79. C. W. 1772-3. 
 
 Thomas Pollard, 1774-84. C. W. 1774-6, 78-9. 
 
 Peter Wagener, Jr., 1774-85. C. W. lyy^-^j, 79- 
 80, 84-5. 
 
 William Triplett, 1776-85. C. W. 1777-8. 
 
 Francis Coffer, 1776-85. C. W. 1777-8. 
 
 Edward Washington, 1779-85. 
 
 William Deneale, 1781-85. C. W. 1784-5. 
 
 Cleon Moore, 1781-85. 
 
 John Gibson, 1784-85. 
 
 James Waugh, 1784-85. 
 
 Lund Washington, 1784-85. 
 
 122 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 All Vestries were dissolved at Easter, 1785, by 
 the Act of Assembly by which the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church was incorporated. 
 
 Clerks of the Vestry 
 
 Edward Barry, 1732-44. 
 WilHam Henry Terrett, 1744-56. 
 John West, Jr., 1756-64. 
 John Barry, 1764-75. 
 Rev. Lee Massey, 1775-77. 
 Francis Adams, 1777-79. 
 Peter Wagener, 1781-85. 
 
 Clerks and Lay Readers at the Churches 
 
 Joseph Johnson, New, or Falls, and Goose 
 Creek, 1733-35. 
 
 Edward Barry, Pohick, 1736-39. 
 
 Samuel Hull, Goose Creek, 1736-40. 
 
 John Bowie, Pohick, 1739-41. 
 
 John Richardson, Goose Creek, 1741-45. 
 
 John Barry, Pohick, 1743-75. Also at Alexan- 
 dria, 1759-65; and at the Falls, 1761-65; and at 
 Littlejohns, 1766. 
 
 Walter English, Upper, or Falls, 1743-45. 
 
 John Wybird Dainty, Upper, or Falls, 1745-53; 
 and Alexandria, 1754-57. 
 
 John Allen, Goose Creek, 1745-46. 
 
 123 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 John Moxley, Goose Creek, 1747. 
 
 Thomas Evans, Goose Creek, 1748. 
 
 William Donaldson, Upper, or Falls, 1754-55. 
 
 John Lumley, Upper, or Falls, 1756-58; and 
 Alexandria, 1758. 
 
 Thomas Lewis, Falls, 1759-60. 
 
 Elijah Williams, Littlejohns and Upper, or 
 Payne's, 1766-69. Continued as Reader to 1771- 
 
 Benjamin H. West, Upper, or Payne's, 1769-72. 
 
 Daniel Atkins, Upper, or Payne's, 1772-77; and 
 at Pohick, 1775-77. 
 
 Overseers of the Poor 
 
 The following is a list, in order, of the Overseers 
 of the Poor, who succeeded the Vestries in caring 
 for the poor of the County, and in certain other 
 civil duties, from 1787 to 1802; from their records 
 in the Vestry Book of Truro. Elections of Over- 
 seers were held every three years. 
 
 Peter Wagener Presley Gunnell 
 
 Thomazen Ellzey George Summers 
 
 John Fowler Nicolas Fitzhugh 
 
 John Moss Coleman Brown 
 
 Simon Sommers Rezin Offutt 
 
 George Minor Thomas Darne 
 
 Richard Simpson Daniel Kitchen 
 
 John West William Gunnell, Jr. 
 
 Roger West John Dulin 
 
 124 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Daniel Mc.Carty Francis Coffer 
 
 Thomas Pollard William Violett 
 
 Thomas Gunnell Charles Thrift 
 
 Thompson Mason William Middleton 
 
 Charles Alexander Edward DuUn 
 
 James Wiley James Douglass 
 
 125 
 
Burgesses From Fairfax County 
 
 (Note: Each County was entitled to two Bur- 
 gesses.) 
 
 Lawrence Washington, 1742- 1749. 
 John Colvill, 1744- 1748. 
 Richard Osborne, 1748- 1749. 
 Hugh West, 1 752-1 754. 
 Gerrard Alexander, 1 752-1 755. 
 John West, 1756-1758, and 1761-1765, and 
 1 766- 1 774. 
 
 George William Fairfax, 1756- 1758. 
 George Johnston, 1 758-1 765. 
 George Mason, 1758-1761. 
 George Washington, 1 765-1 775. 
 Charles Broadwater, 1775. 
 
 Delegates to the Conventions 
 1775-1776. 
 
 March 1775. George Washington and Charles 
 Broadwater. 
 
 July 1775. Charles Broadwater and George 
 Mason. 
 
 December 1775. Charles Broadwater. 
 
 126 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 May 1776. John West, Jr., and George Mason. 
 
 George William Fairfax was a Burgess for Fred- 
 erick County, 1752-1755; Hugh West, 1756-1758; 
 and George Washington, 1 758-1 765. Augustine 
 Washington was a Burgess from W^estmoreland. 
 1 754- 1 758; William Fairfax a Burgess for Prince 
 William before his promotion to the Council in 
 1744; and James Hamilton a Burgess for Loudoun 
 for many years prior to 1771. All of those named 
 above, with the exception of Lawrence Washing- 
 ton, Gerrard Alexander and George Johnston, 
 were Vestrymen of Truro Parish. 
 
 This list is gathered from Stanard's ''Virginia 
 Colonial Register," except in the case of Col. John 
 Colvill, whom Stanard supposes to have succeeded 
 William Fairfax as Burgess for Prince William 
 in 1744. But beside the testimony of the Rev. 
 Charles Green that he was "a Burgess for this 
 county" in 1744, the Journal of the House of Bur«^ 
 gesses for that year indicates that he was a mem- 
 ber of the House when the Writ for the election 
 of a successor to Mr. Fairfax was issued. The 
 matter is set at rest, however, by reference to "The 
 Poll for Election of Burgesses for Fairfax County 
 in the year 1744," on record in the Clerk's ofifice. 
 Capt. Lawrence Washington received 152 votes; 
 Col. John Colvill, 151; Capt. Lewis Elzey, loi; 
 and others a smaller number. 
 
 127 
 
LIST OF VOTERS AT AN ELECTION OF 
 
 BURGESSES IN FAIRFAX COUNTY 
 
 IN 1744. 
 
 (Note: — Not all of these voters lived in Fair- 
 fax. An elector could vote in every country in 
 which he owned a freehold of 25 acres of improved 
 land, or 100 acres if unimproved. Each name ap- 
 pears twice on the poll lists, hence the variations 
 in spelling.) 
 
 Benjamin Adams 
 Gabriel Adams 
 Gabriel Adams, Jun. 
 George Adams 
 Garrat Alexander 
 Bryant Aliston 
 John Allan 
 John Ashford 
 Michael Ashford 
 William Ashford 
 Francis Awbrey 
 John Aylatt 
 Robert Baker 
 John Ball 
 Moses Ball 
 William Barker 
 Wm. Barkley, or 
 
 Buckley 
 William Bartlett 
 
 William Barton 
 
 Robt. Bates 
 
 H. Baugus, or Boggess 
 
 John Baxter 
 
 Thomas Beach 
 
 Col. Blackburn 
 
 Robert Boggess 
 
 W. Boylston, or Boilston 
 
 Thos. Bosman 
 
 William Bowling 
 
 Henry Brent 
 
 Chas. Broadwater 
 
 Guy Broadwater 
 
 John Bronaugh 
 
 Jeremiah Bronaugh 
 
 Thomas Brown 
 
 John Canady 
 
 Thos. Carney 
 
 Richard Carpenter 
 
 128 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Job Carter 
 Wm. Champneys 
 Nathaniel Chapman 
 Josias Clapham 
 William Clifton 
 Catesby Cocke 
 John Cockerell 
 Richard Coleman 
 John Colvill --^ 
 Samuel Comer 
 Jadwin Crutcher 
 Balden Dade 
 Townsend Dade 
 James Daniel 
 Sampson Darrell 
 Thomas Darns 
 William Davie 
 John Dickins 
 Robert Dickins 
 Joseph Dickson, or 
 
 Dixon 
 Daniel Diskin, or 
 
 Deskins 
 William Dodd 
 George Dunbarr 
 Blanchr. Duntan 
 Cornelius Eltenger 
 Thomas Ellett 
 John Elliott 
 
 Lewis Ellzey 
 Edward Emms 
 Col. Chas. Ewel(l) 
 Bertram Ewell 
 "Esquire" Fairfax 
 Jeremiah Fairhurst 
 Thomas Falkner 
 John Farguson 
 Thomas Ford 
 George Foster 
 Robert Forster 
 Daniel French Sen. 
 Daniel French (Jun.) 
 Joshua Garrett 
 Owen Gilmore 
 William Gladding 
 John Gladding 
 John Goram 
 Edward Graham 
 John Graham 
 John Grant 
 John Grantum 
 Charles Green 
 Charles Griffin 
 James Grimsley 
 Edward Grymes 
 William Grymes 
 John Guest 
 Henry Gunnell 
 
 129 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 William Gunnel 
 William Gunnel, Jun. 
 William Hairsling 
 William Hall, Sen. 
 William Hall, Jun. 
 Thomas Hall 
 James Halley 
 William Hailing 
 John Hamilton 
 John Hampton 
 William Harle 
 Samuel Harris, Sen. 
 George Harrison 
 Samuel Harrison 
 Daniel Hart 
 John Hartley- 
 John Hartshorne 
 Francis Haugo, or Hago 
 George Hester 
 Robert Hester 
 John Hicherson 
 Jos. Higgerson 
 Thomas Hicks 
 Thomas Hord 
 John Hurst 
 John Husk 
 Andrew Hutchinson 
 Nimrod Hutt 
 Powell Jackson 
 
 Joseph Jacobs 
 Abel Jenny, or Janney 
 Amos Jenny, or Janney 
 Jacob Janney 
 James Jefferey 
 Ezekiel Jenkins 
 James Jenkins 
 John Jenkins 
 WiUiam Jenkins 
 Thomas John 
 James Keith 
 Robert King 
 Richard Kirkland 
 William Kirkland 
 William Kitchen 
 James Koon 
 John Koon 
 Daniel Krouch 
 James Lane 
 Jacob Lawfull 
 Abraham Lay 
 Thomas Lewis 
 Thomas Lewis, Jun. 
 Stephen Lewis 
 Vincent Lewis 
 Abraham Lindsey 
 Moses Linton 
 Jacob Lucas 
 John Lucas 
 
 130 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 John Manley 
 Thomas Marshall 
 John Martin 
 Wm. Meckby, or Mc.B 
 John Meade 
 John Melton 
 John Minor 
 Thomas Monteith 
 William Moore 
 Thomas Moseley 
 Thomas Moxley 
 James Murray 
 John Miisgrove 
 Christopher Neale 
 Anthony Neale 
 Henry Netherton 
 Philip Noland 
 Edward Norton 
 Richard Omohundro 
 Thomas Owsley 
 William Peake 
 Thomas Penson 
 William Perkins 
 Henry Peyton 
 Vail Peyton 
 George Piatt 
 Nathaniel Popejoy 
 Christopher Pritchett 
 Jacob Ramey 
 William Reardon 
 
 Joseph Reid 
 David Richardson 
 James Roberts 
 
 eejohn Roberts, Sen. 
 John Roberts, Jmi. 
 William Roberts 
 James Robinson 
 John Robinson 
 Richard Samford 
 Robert Samford 
 James Sanders, or 
 Saunders 
 
 ,_ Lewis Sanders 
 Edmond Sands 
 William Saunders 
 Thomas Scandall 
 James Scott 
 Benj. Sebastian 
 John Shaddedin 
 William Shortridge 
 Isaac Simmonds 
 Baxter Simpson 
 George Simpson 
 Gilbert Simpson 
 Richard Simpson 
 William Simpson 
 Jacob Smith 
 James Smith 
 Thomas Smith 
 William Smith 
 
 131 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 James Spurr 
 Samuel Stone 
 John Straham 
 William Stribling 
 John Sturman 
 William Stutt 
 Francis Summers 
 Isaac wSummers 
 John Summers 
 George Taylor 
 John Taylor 
 W. H. Terrett 
 David Thomas 
 Daniel Thomas 
 Robert Thomas 
 John Thompson 
 Samuel Tillett 
 Daniel Trammel 
 Garret, or Gerrard, 
 
 Trammel 
 John Trammell 
 William Trammell 
 Francis Triplett 
 James Turley 
 John Turley 
 
 Fielding Turner 
 Michael Valandigam 
 Bond Veal 
 Zepheniah Wade 
 Samuel Warner 
 Lawrence Washington 
 Henry Watson 
 James Waugh 
 Hugh West 
 John West 
 Thomas West 
 Richard Wheeler 
 Thomas Wliitford 
 Francis Wilks 
 Owen Williams 
 Walter Williams 
 William Williams, Sen. 
 William Williams, Jun. 
 Thomas Willis 
 William Winsor 
 Thomas Windsor 
 Thomas Wren 
 William Wright 
 James Wyatt 
 Daniel Young 
 
 132 
 
.-^ 
 
 Deed for Washington's Pew 
 
 The Deeds, nine in number, for the pews sold 
 in Pohick Church, including that for the Minis- 
 ter's pew, are recorded in full in the records of the 
 Clerk's Office of Fairfax County. Bishop Meade 
 says they are probably the first of the kind ever 
 executed in Virginia, as he had met with no hint 
 of any such thing before in all his researches. The 
 Deed for Washington's pews is as follows : 
 
 "This Indenture, made the twenty fourth day 
 of February, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
 sand, seven and seventy four, between the Vestry 
 of Truro Parish, in the County of Fairfax, of the 
 one part, and George Washington, of the same 
 parish and county, Gent : of the other part : Where- 
 as the said Vestry did, on the 5th. Day of June, in 
 the year 1772, order sundry pews in the new 
 Church on the upper side of Pohick to be sold, at 
 the laying of the next Parish Levy, to the highest 
 bidder for the benefit of the Parish; pursuant to 
 which order the said pews were sold accordingly 
 by the Vestry at the laying of the said Parish 
 Levy on the 20th. day of November, in the same 
 year; and the said George Washington, party to 
 these presents, then purchased one certain pew in 
 
 133 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 the said Church for the price of sixteen pounds 
 current money, to wit the pew numbered 28, sit- 
 uate between the two long Isles and adjoining the 
 North Isle and the space before the Communion 
 Table, and a certain Lund Washington, Gent; did 
 at the same time purchase another certain pew in 
 the said Church for the price of thirteen pounds 
 ten shillings, current money, to wit, the pew num- 
 bered 29 situate between the two long Isles and 
 adjoining the North Isle & the first mentioned 
 pew, & whereas the said Lund Washington hath 
 since relinquished and given up all his right and 
 title to the said pew numbered 29 purchased by 
 him as aforesaid unto the said George Washing- 
 ton, as by the proceedings and records of the said 
 Vestry, Reference being thereunto had, may more 
 fully and at large appear. Now this indenture 
 Witnesseth that the said Vestry, for and in con- 
 sideration of the sum of twenty nine pounds ten 
 shillings current money, to them in hand paid, for 
 the use of the said Parish, by the said George 
 Washington, before the sealing and delivery of 
 these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby con- 
 fessed and acknowledged, have granted, bargained 
 and sold, aliened and confirmed, and by these 
 presents do grant, bargain and sell alien and con- 
 firm unto the said George Washington the said 
 two pews in the said new Church lately built on 
 the upper side of Pohick, in the said Parish of 
 Truro and County aforesaid, numbered and sit- 
 
 134 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 uated as above mentioned, To have and to hold 
 the said two pews above described unto the said 
 George Washington, his heirs and assigns, to the 
 only proper use and behoof of him, the said George 
 Washington, his heirs and assigns forever. And 
 the said Vestry, for themselves and their succes- 
 sors (Vestrymen of Truro Parish) do covenant and 
 grant to and with the said George Washington, 
 his heirs and assigns, that he the said George 
 Washington, his heirs and assigns, shall and may 
 forever hereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold 
 and enjoy the said two pews above mentioned and 
 described, without the Lawful Let, Hindrance, In- 
 terruption, or Molestation of any person or per- 
 sons whatsoever. In witness whereof the Vestry 
 now present (being a majority of the Members) 
 have hereunto set their hands and afihxed their 
 seals the day and year first above written. 
 
 Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of 
 Wm. Triplett, Wm. Payne, Jr., John Barry, John 
 Gunnell, Thomas Triplett. 
 
 G. Mason (Seal) 
 Daniel Mc.Carty (Seal) 
 Alex. Henderson (Seal) 
 T. Ellzey (Seal) 
 Thos. Withers Coffer (Seal) 
 Thos. Ford (Seal) 
 Pet: Wagener (Seal) 
 Martin Cockburn. (Seal) 
 
 135 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ''Received this twenty fourth day of February in 
 the year 1774, of the within named George Wash- 
 ington the sum of twenty nine pounds, ten shill- 
 ings, current money, being the consideration men- 
 tioned in the within Deed." 
 
 ''Witness:" (The same signatures as above.) 
 Each Vestryman signed every Deed but his 
 own, Washington's name always being second, ex- 
 cept on the Deed to "George Mason of Gunston 
 Hall," where it is first. 
 
 136 
 
o 
 
 n 
 
 O 
 
 (T! 
 
 H 
 3* 
 
Washington as a Church-Goer 
 
 In a popular work entitled ''The True George 
 Washington," by the late Paul Leicester Ford, the 
 brilliant author devotes a few pages only to a sub- 
 ject which demands a far more accurate and sym- 
 pathetic treatment than is given to it, namely, 
 Washington's religious training and habits. Re- 
 ferring to Washington's services as a Vestryman, 
 it is acknowledged that he was "Quite active in 
 Church affairs ;" but in touching these the author 
 not only repeats all the traditional errors which, 
 for lack of authentic data, have been made by 
 previous writers on this subject, but he falls into 
 a number of new and strange ones, and becomes 
 involved in a most curious labyrinth of inaccura- 
 cies. All these the foregoing pages will correct. 
 
 In discussing Washington's habits in regard to 
 church attendance he first quotes the well known 
 testimony of the Rev. Lee Massey, his pastor and 
 close personal friend, as follows: — "I never knew 
 so constant an attendant at Church as Washing- 
 ton. And his behavior in the house of God was 
 ever so deeply reverential that it produced the 
 happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly 
 assisted me in my pulpit labors. No company ev^r 
 
 137 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 withheld him from Church. I have been at Mount 
 Vernon on Sabbath morning when his breakfast 
 table was filled with guests; but to him they fur- 
 nished no pretext for neglecting his God and los- 
 ing the satisfaction of setting a good example. For 
 instead of staying at home, out of false complais- 
 ance to them, he used constantly to invite them to 
 accompany him." 
 
 The author thereupon expresses the opinion 
 that this was ''Written more with an eye to its in- 
 fluence on others than to its strict accuracy;" and 
 continues, — ''During the time Washington at- 
 tended at Pohick Church he was by no means a 
 strict Church goer. His daily 'Where and How 
 my Time is Spent' enables us to know exactly how 
 often he attended Church, and in the year 1760 
 (?) he went just sixteen times and in 1768 he went 
 fourteeen, these 3^ears being fairly typical of the 
 period 1760-1773." 
 
 As to the veracity of the Rev. Mr. Massey, 
 whose testimony is so summarily set aside as dis- 
 ingenuous, we have the witness of his friends and 
 neighbors, the Vestrymen of his Parish, who, as we 
 have seen, certified over their own signatures to 
 "His moral character and unexceptionable life and 
 conversation." He seems indeed to have been a 
 man of almost super-conscientiousness. He re- 
 tired from the practice of law because, as his 
 grandson. Col. J. T. Stoddert, a gentleman of the 
 highest standing, who remembered him well, 
 
 13S 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 states, ''His conscience would not suffer him 'to 
 make the worse appear the better reason,' and to 
 uphold wrong against right. He tried to follow 
 the lead of Chancellor Wythe, to examine cases 
 placed in his care and to accept the good and re- 
 ject the bad. It proved a failure, and he withdrew 
 from practise. He recommended me to read law," 
 he continues, "but earnestly opposed my pursuing 
 it as a vocation. He was a good judge of charac- 
 ter. He loved virtue and hated vice intensely. 
 His integrity and honour were of the highest or- 
 der, and he detested all meanness and double deal- 
 ing with his whole heart." 
 
 Such was the character borne by Mr. Massey, 
 who certainly had the best opportunity possible to 
 know the facts in the case. And his statement 
 agrees with that of others who, to go no further 
 afield, were members of Washington's household. 
 Mrs. Custis, who spent two years at Mount Ver- 
 non, testifies to "His extraordinary punctuality in 
 attending Church and his reverent behavior there." 
 And his ward, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 of Arlington, wrote of him : "Washington was a 
 strict and decorous observer of the Sabbath. He 
 always attended divine service in the morning, and 
 read a sermon or some portion of the Bible to 
 Mrs. Washington in the afternoon." Mr. Custis 
 is speaking of the period when Washington was 
 President and had opportunity to attend Church 
 regularly. 
 
 139 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Figures standing alone are often seriously mis- 
 leading, and those by which the testimony of Mr. 
 Massey is sought to be impeached need some ex- 
 planation. In the first place it is not quite certain 
 that we can gather from Washington's diary "Ex- 
 actly how often he attended Church." The cus- 
 tomary and habitual is just what is usually omitted 
 from a journal in which the record of a day is com- 
 pressed within the compass of a few lines. A care- 
 ful reading of this diary, kept for some years on 
 the blank pages of interleaved almanacs and after- 
 wards in small note-books, will show that while at 
 home at Mount Vernon it was chiefly a record of 
 the company he entertained, of his visits to his 
 friends, of his surveys, his adventures in the hunt- 
 ing field, etc. On Sundays he would sometimes 
 mention going to Church quite incidentally, and 
 it is seen that for a month or two he attended about 
 as regularly as services were held. Then for two 
 or more months perhaps there will be no mention 
 of Church at all, and no explanation of why he did 
 not attend if he did not. But when, for instance, 
 he ''Dined at Belvior" with such and such guests 
 he might very well have gone to Church on the 
 way, or the neighbors he had to dinner he would 
 quite likely have brought from Church with him. 
 The more usual record for Sundays, however, is 
 "At home all day," or "At home all day alone." 
 This would seem conclusive until we find that it is 
 also a common formula for week days on which 
 
 140 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 there was nothing of special note to record. It 
 may simply mean that he dined at home without 
 company; and especially so if he failed to make the 
 entry on Sunday night but deferred it until he 
 would be at his desk on Monday. Very occasion- 
 ally he gives a reason why he was "prevented from 
 Church." 
 
 But even if we grant that the above estimate of 
 Washington's attendance at Church is substan- 
 tially correct, other considerations must be borne 
 in mind or our conclusions will be wholly at fault. 
 It must be remembered that from 1760 to 1765 
 there was but one minister in the whole of Fair- 
 fax County, and he an old man in failing 
 health. Mr. Green ministered alternately at three 
 Churches, situated at a distance of about nine, te;i, 
 and eighteen miles respectively from Mount Vei- 
 non. This would allow him to preach seventeen 
 or eighteen times in a year at Pohick. After the 
 division of the Parish Mr. Massey had but two 
 Churches ' and could preach twenty-six times a 
 year at each, when the weather, the numerous 
 water courses, and the state of the primitive road- 
 ways through marsh and forest permitted a con- 
 gregation to gather from distances of from five to 
 fifteen miles. Residents of Fairfax can appreciate 
 what eighteen miles, going and coming, in the 
 Mount Vernon "chariot" or even on horseback, 
 must have meant; and can still understand the 
 statement of Mrs. Nellie Custis Lewis that Wash- 
 
 141 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 ington attended Church ''When the weather and 
 roads permitted." Moreover Washington was ab- 
 sent from home for several months of each year, 
 frequently in the wilds of western Virginia or on 
 the Ohio. While visiting relatives in the lower 
 counties he mentions frequently the Churches he 
 attended, probably as interesting memoranda, ard 
 the same was the case when he was in Philadel- 
 phia. At the Berkeley Springs he twice ''attended 
 Church forenoon and afternoon." At Fredericks- 
 burg he "Went to prayers (lay reading) and dined 
 afterwards at Col. Lewis." On hearing that the 
 smallpox had broken out among his servants in 
 Frederick, he starts at once to visit them and 
 "Took Church on my way to Colemans." These 
 and many such references indicate his habit. The 
 argument from silence is never a very safe one, 
 and his frequently omitting to mention going to 
 Church in the regular routine of life at Mount Ver- 
 non does not, we think, prove that he was "By no 
 means a strict Church goer," especially in view of 
 the conditions existing. 
 
 It is interesting to note that twice within two 
 weeks Washington makes record of having stood 
 as Sponsor at the baptism of infants. According to 
 the best evidence we have he was a regular Com- 
 municant during the period under discussion. In 
 1770 and in 1772 he mentions being at Church on 
 Christmas day, which was always a Communion 
 occasion. 
 
 142 
 
The Disestablishment of the Church in 
 
 Virginia 
 
 To one of the old Vestrymen of Truro has been 
 accorded by universal acclaim the title of Father 
 of his Country, chiefly because of his pre-emi- 
 nent leadership in her struggle for Independence. 
 To another of these Vestrymen belongs the title 
 of the Father of Religious Liberty. It is to 
 George Mason that religion in America is indebted 
 for the first clear and certain note proclaiming her 
 right to be free, proceeding not from the bias of 
 the partisan but from the wisdom of profound 
 statesmanship. To him, too, more than to any 
 other, the Church in Virginia owes her emancipa- 
 tion from the bonds of her vassalage to the State; 
 bonds which had been her support once, and on 
 which she still leaned with a woeful persistency, 
 but which had almost crushed out her very Hfe. 
 From the dawn of American independence Mason 
 saw not only the poHtical necessity and the inher- 
 ent justice of the complete separation of the 
 Church from the State, but must have recognized 
 also, with many others, that the existence of the 
 Church of which he was a devoted adherent would 
 ultimately depend upon her being freed from her 
 
 143 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 political dependence and forced to rely upon the 
 voluntary and intelligent support of her own chil- 
 dren. Having adopted these views he pursued 
 them to the end with a consistency and clearness 
 of vision which was rare among his contem- 
 poraries. 
 
 The various Acts of the General Assembly by 
 which the complete disestablishment of the Church 
 was brought about were the following. 
 
 On the 1 2th of June, 1776, the State Conven- 
 tion, composed almost wholly of Churchmen, 
 adopted without a dissenting voice, that famous 
 ''Declaration of Rights" which declared in its con- 
 cluding article ''That religion, or the duty which 
 we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of dis- 
 charging it, can be directed only by reason and 
 conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore 
 all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of 
 religion, according to the dictates of conscience; 
 and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice 
 Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards 
 each other." This "Bill of Rights," as it is usually 
 called, was from the pen of Mason, and while it 
 is quite possible that some in the Convention 
 failed to perceive its full significance, it led, as it 
 was mean to lead, to the withdrawal by the State 
 of all support or supervision of religion. 
 
 The first General Assembly of the Common- 
 wealth under the new Constitution met in Octo- 
 ber, 1776. Among its earliest Acts was the one 
 
 144 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 entitled, "An Act for exempting the different so- 
 cieties of Dissenters from contributing to the sup- 
 port and maintenance of the church as by law es- 
 tabHshed, and its ministers, and for other pur- 
 poses therein mentioned." Mason was Chairman 
 of the Committee which brought in this Act, and 
 it is supposed to have been written by his own 
 hand. The Act is very long, almost every section 
 having its own explanatory preamble. The first 
 section repeals within this Commonwealth all Acts 
 of Parliament directed against dissent or dissent- 
 ers. The second exempts all dissenters from the 
 established Church from all levies, taxes, and im- 
 positions whatever towards supporting and main- 
 taining the said Church or its ministers. The 
 Vestries, however, could still levy on all tithables 
 for arrears in the salaries of ministers, for paro- 
 chial engagements already entered into, and for 
 the poor. Section four contains this important 
 provision : ''That there shall in all time coming be 
 saved and reserved to the use of the Church as by 
 law established the several tracts of Glebe lands 
 already purchased, the churches and chapels al- 
 ready built, — all books, plate, and ornaments, be- 
 longing or appropriated to the use of the said 
 church," and to each parish all private donations 
 which may have been made to it. The next sec- 
 tions reserve for future determination, when the 
 opinion of the country shall be better known, the 
 question whether the support of ministers and 
 
 145 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 teachers of the gospel of the different denomina- 
 tions shall be provided for by a general assessment 
 or be left to volmitary contributions. And be- 
 cause the support of the clergy might fall too heav- 
 ily on the members of the established Church in 
 some parishes under the exemptions allowed dis- 
 senters, they were left to be supported for the 
 present by voluntary contributions, and all acts for 
 the support of the clergy by levies were suspended 
 until the end of the next session of the Assembly. 
 The remaining sections provide for taking lists of 
 tithables. 
 
 The act for the support of the clergy continued 
 to be suspended from time to time by the Assem- 
 bly until the session of October, 1779, when so 
 much of that act, and of every other act, as pro- 
 vided for salaries for the ministers of the Church 
 of England, and authorizing levies for the same, 
 was finally repealed. 
 
 The question between assessments and volun- 
 tary contributions was, however, still undecided. 
 During the session of Assembly beginning Octo- 
 ber, 1784, a measure was introduced known as the 
 Assessment Bill, providing for the legal support of 
 ministers and teachers of religion of all denomina- 
 tions by a general assessment upon the people of 
 the State. It was supported by Edmund Ran- 
 dolph, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John 
 Page, Edmund Pendleton and others, while a de- 
 termined opposition was led by James Madison. 
 
 146 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 When the measure was about to pass Madison suc- 
 ceeded in having the final vote deferred until the 
 next session. In the meantime, at the urgent sug- 
 gestion of Mason, Nicholas and others, he pre- 
 pared the famous ''Memorial and Remonstrance" 
 which was printed and circulated broadcast for sig- 
 natures. Of these it received so many that at the 
 following session of the Assembly the bill was 
 readily defeated, and the principle of the support 
 of religion by voluntary contributions was tacitly 
 adopted. 
 
 Mason was active in circulating the Remon- 
 strance, and among others he sent a copy to Gen- 
 eral Washington, his late fellow Vestryman. 
 Washington wrote him in reply from Mount Ver- 
 non, Oct. 3rd, 1785: "Although no mans senti- 
 ments are more opposed to any kind of restraint 
 upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must 
 confess that I am not amongst the number of 
 those who are so much alarmed at the thought of 
 making people pay toward the support of that 
 which they profess, if of the denomination of Chris- 
 tians, or declare themselves Jews, Mohammedons, 
 or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief." 
 But he thought the bill unfortunate at that time, 
 and that it would be impolitic to make it a law. 
 
 The fight over this measure was one of the most 
 strenuous and persistent that had ever engaged 
 the Virginia Legislature. That it should have 
 been advocated by so many great State.<;men and 
 
 147 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 devoted Churchmen is a surprise to us at this 
 day. The tradition and custom of many centuries 
 was hard to be overcome, and the maintenance of 
 rehgion without the sanction and support of the 
 government in some form was to them an untried 
 experiment, and of very doubtful success. Their 
 opportunism was the child of their fears for re- 
 ligion and the Church. 
 
 But the public sentiment manifested in the re- 
 sponse to the Remonstrance paved the way for 
 the adoption of the Statute of Religious Freedom, 
 inspired by Mason, written by Jefferson, and 
 passed through the efforts of Madison. This bill 
 had been reported in 1779 by the Committee ap- 
 pointed in 1776 for the revisal of the laws, con- 
 sisting of Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, 
 George Mason, Edmund Pendleton, and Thomas 
 Ludwell Lee, all of them old Vestrymen of the 
 Church. Mr. Mason resigned from the Commit- 
 tee on the ground that he was no lawyer, and Mr. 
 Lee died, before the report was made, but not un- 
 til the plan of the work was settled and in a consid- 
 erable degree carried into execution. This act, 
 however, was not passed until 1785. The kernel 
 of this famous bill, the ''first act of religious free- 
 dom that ever passed a legislative assembly on the 
 face of the earth," is contained in the words, — 
 'That no man shall be compelled to frequent or 
 support any religious worship, place, or ministry 
 whatsoever, — but that all men shall be free to pro- 
 
 148 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 fess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion 
 in matters of religion," &c. 
 
 The real disestablishment of the Chmxh had oc- 
 curred a year before in the"Act for Incorporating 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church." This was 
 passed in response to a petition of the Clergy, who, 
 it would appear, desired to be themselves incor- 
 porated. But the Assembly would have none of 
 this, and formed the minister and Vestry of each 
 parish respectively a body corporate and politic, 
 empowered to hold, acquire, and dispose of prop- 
 erty for the use of the Church, and to make rules 
 and orders for managing its temporal affairs. All 
 present vestries were dissolved, and the method 
 of electing the Vestries every three years is pre- 
 scribed. All former acts relating to the powers or 
 duties of vestries or ministers, and all acts touch- 
 ing upon doctrine, discipline, or forms of worship 
 are repealed. The vestries were authorized to reg- 
 ulate all the religious affairs of the Church in Con- 
 vention, to consist of two deputies from each par- 
 ish, of whom the minister, if there was a minister, 
 should be one. This Act was repealed two years 
 later, but not until under its sanction the first Con- 
 vention of the Church met, and the Diocese of 
 Virginia was organized, May i8th, 1785. 
 
 So far the legislation affecting the Church had 
 been guided, and in large part induced, by Her 
 own sons, nourished at her side. Of that which 
 followed another story might be told. The repeal, 
 
 149 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 in 1799, of all laws relating to "the late protestant 
 episcopal church," (sic), the Act of 1802 confiscat- 
 ing the glebes, solemnly saved and reserved for 
 the use of the said Church by two previous Acts of 
 the Assembly, and claiming the right, though for- 
 bearing to exercise it, of confiscating the church 
 buildings also, and the persistent refusal through 
 many years to allow the Church to hold charitable 
 funds or secure incorporation for her educational 
 institutions; these show an animus which we re- 
 joice to believe has almost disappeared, giving 
 way to the sweeter claims of reason and charity. 
 
 150 
 
Later History of Pohick Church 
 
 Upon the organization of the Diocese of Vir- 
 ginia in the year 1785 no representative appears 
 in the Convention from Truro Parish, nor does 
 the name of the Parish appear on the Convention 
 journals for more than half a century except once 
 in a Hst of the parishes as divided into Presbyterial 
 Districts. What occasional services, if any, were 
 held in Pohick Church after the death of the Rev. 
 Mr. O'Neill in 1813 we know not, until the si- 
 lence is broken in 1838 by Bishop Meade in the 
 report to the Convention from which extracts 
 have already been given by Dr. Slaughter. To 
 the same Convention the Rev. William P. C. John- 
 son reports, as Rector of Pohick Church, Truro 
 Parish, — "It has been nearly two years since the 
 minister of this Parish first commenced regular 
 services in a Church, which, for a number of years, 
 has resounded the echoes of the beasts of the field, 
 instead of the prayers and praises of rational crea- 
 tures. Owing to the dilapidated condition of the 
 Parish Church his services have hitherto been only 
 occasional. An efifort is now being made to re- 
 store this Church to a comfortable condition, and 
 the hope is entertained that ultimate good may 
 
 151 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 result from religious services in this hitherto 
 moral waste of the Lord's vineyard." In 1841 
 he makes his last report, and adds ''The minister 
 of Truro Parish respectfully reports that the ven- 
 erable Church edifice in which he officiates has 
 been rescued from further decay and dilapida- 
 tion." He makes no mention of the number of 
 Communicants, but during the four years of his 
 ministry there he baptized four white and eighteen 
 colored infants, and officiated at eight marriages 
 and four burials. H^e rendered occasional services 
 at old Aquia Church in Stafford County and in the 
 old Court House at Dumfries in Prince William. 
 He was also employed as a tutor for the children 
 of the last Mrs. George Mason, of Gunston Hall. 
 
 After Mr. Johnson's retirement the Church was 
 sometimes opened for Divine service by Students 
 from the Theological Seminary, with perhaps oc- 
 casional visits from the Professors. The Metho- 
 dists also preached there from time to time. In 
 1 86 1 the Rev. R. T. Brown, of Fairfax C. H. re- 
 ported that he had ''Also taken charge of Pohick 
 Church, near Mount Vernon, with fair prospects 
 of success." But the outbreak of war made his 
 ministry there a short one. 
 
 When the war was over it was found that Pohick 
 had fared comparatively well, for there was left of 
 it the walls, the roof and the ceiling. Of the in- 
 terior woodwork there also remained the original 
 cornice, while the stone font was afterwards dis- 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 covered in a neighboring farmyard where it had 
 been used as a watering trough. Of its rehabiU- 
 tation and consecration Bishop Johns wrote a few 
 months before his death : — 
 
 "October 3d. 1875. I consecrated Pohick 
 Church. Morning service by the Rev. Dr. Pack- 
 ard and the Rev. Dr. Mcllhenny. Sermon by my- 
 self. This venerable building, in the location and 
 erection of which General Washington was so ac- 
 tive, was for many years the Parish Church of the 
 family at Mount Vernon. It was during the late 
 war shamefully damaged by its military invaders, 
 who left it to crumble under the wasting influences 
 of the weather, and to be carried ofT at pleasure 
 by any one who fancied its material for private 
 use. So, after the war of the Revolution, disap- 
 peared the church in which the ''Father of his 
 Country" was said to have been christened, and 
 such seemed to be the doom of the church of his 
 manhood, but its sad condition came to the knowl- 
 edge of a generous Christian gentleman of New 
 York, who enquired, then came and looked, and 
 then never intermitted his efforts till the ruin was 
 thoroughly repaired. A new chancel with all its 
 appropriate furniture and a handsome communion 
 service was provided, a font in front and a con- 
 venient robing room on one side of the chancel 
 and a good pipe organ on the other. The restora- 
 tion was complete, and the large congregation 
 now assembled were gladdened by the presence 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of the benefactor to whose sympathy and services 
 they were so largely indebted, and who was now 
 with them uniting in the consecration of the ven- 
 erable building which he had been the honored 
 agent in rescuing from ruin and preserving for 
 their great benefit and the honour and worship of 
 God. Until an ordained minister can be procured 
 to officiate regularly for this congregation stated 
 services will be rendered by students of the Semi- 
 nary appointed for the purpose." 
 
 In September, 1881, the Rev. Samuel A. Wallis, 
 newly ordained, took charge of Pohick, and from 
 this moment the real revival of its life began. He 
 found but ten Communicants. But his faithful 
 work among the people of a wddely scattered com- 
 munity soon resulted in gathering a large and in- 
 terested congregation, to whom he ministered for 
 thirteen years. A rectory was secured and other 
 parish property added, and the active interest of 
 the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association was en- 
 listed in the church. Mr. Wallis resigned in 1894. 
 Bishop Newton thus speaks of his ministry there : 
 "The history of old Pohick Church for the past 
 thirteen years, its resuscitation and progress, 
 Gpeaks with no uncertain sound in favor of a long 
 and faithful pastorate. When Rev. S. A. Wallis 
 entered upon the work as a Deacon it was one of 
 the least promising fields in the Diocese. He left 
 it, when elected a Professor in the Theological 
 Seminary, with the church building in good con- 
 
 154 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 dition, a comfortable rectory, and the number of 
 Communicants increased tenfold. The Sunday 
 School of nearly one hundred scholars presented 
 a most cheering outlook for the future." 
 
 Mr. Wallis continued his oversight of the con- 
 gregation until the Rev. Henry F. Kloman took 
 charge in the summer of 1895. He remained two 
 years, and was succeeded in October, 1897, by the 
 Rev. Everard Meade, the present beloved Rector. 
 Under him the work, which has long been in con- 
 templation, of a real restoration of the interior of 
 the Church to its original appearance and beauty, 
 has progressed and is in large part completed. The 
 chancel, pulpit and the principal pews are now re- 
 produced as exactly as possible as they were when 
 the Church was received by the Vestry from the 
 hands of Col. George Mason in 1774. The pews 
 in the rear of the building alone remain to be re- 
 stored. In this work the Rector and Vestry have 
 been generously aided by the Mount Vernon As- 
 sociation, the Daughters of the American Revolu- 
 tion, and other patriotic and antiquarian societies, 
 as well as by individuals who have been interested 
 in preserving the sacred memories which cluster 
 around this sturdy old temple of God. The re- 
 opening of the Church after its restoration took 
 place on Advent Sunday, 1906; the sermon being 
 preached by the Rev. Dr.. S. A. Wallis. 
 
 Since the year 1873 the following gentlemen, in 
 order of their election, have served on the Vestry 
 
 155 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of Pohick Church: R. G. Nevitt, T. F. Chapman, 
 Charles Landstreet, Charles Potter, J. H. Clag- 
 gett, J. M. Lewis, Dr. N. B. Nevitt, Seth Kurhling, 
 W. R. Ward, A. C. Landstreet, James HasHp, 
 George Erskine, John Theisz, John K. Nevitt, 
 Harrison H. Dodge, John Landstreet, Joseph 
 Specht, L. G. Reid, Wm. M. Nevitt, R. W. Gail- 
 lard, J. P. H. Mason, Corbin Thompson, L. A. 
 Denty, George N. Milstead, B. F. Nevitt, Dr. W. 
 P. Caton. 
 
 The present Vestry consists of Messrs.. Thomas 
 F. Chapman, WiUiam M. Nevitt, John Landstreet, 
 N. B. Nevitt, M. D., W. P. Caton, M. D., J. P. H. 
 Mason, Harrison H. Dodge, George N. Milstead, 
 B. F. Nevitt, Corbin Thompson, L. A. Denty, and 
 Luther G. Reid. 
 
 Olivet Church; Truro Parish. A Chapel 
 bearing this name was for many years a Mis- 
 sion station in charge of the students of the 
 Theological Seminary of Virginia. This was de- 
 stroyed during the war. A second Chapel was 
 built on the same site, and was consecrated by 
 Bishop Johns, June 2d, 1872. Twenty years later 
 the present Church was built on a different and 
 better site, and was consecrated by Bishop F. M. 
 Whittle, April 4th, 1898. Olivet became con- 
 nected with Pohick in 1881, when the Rev. Mr. 
 Wallis took charge of them, and has since re- 
 mained under the care of the Rector and Vestry 
 
 156 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 of Pohick Church. It is situated near Franconia 
 Station. 
 
 Pohick Chapel. This is a small Chapel, 
 situated about four and a half miles northwest of 
 Pohick Church, to which it belongs. It was built 
 in 1903 through the efforts of the Rev. Everard 
 Meade, and was consecrated by Bishop R. A. Gib- 
 son on October 12th of that year. 
 
 157 
 
ZioN Church, Truro Parish 
 
 This Church, at the county seat of Fairfax 
 County, was founded in the year 1843 by the Rev. 
 Richard Templeton Brown. Mr. Brown was at 
 that time Rector of the Falls Church. In his re- 
 port from that Church to the Diocesan Council 
 of 1843 h^ makes the following note: 
 
 "Fairfax court-house. On the 8th of February 
 last we had the pleasure of organizing a new con- 
 gregation at this very destitute place, and prompt 
 measures were adopted for the immediate erection 
 of a plain and substantial Church. The edifice has 
 been commenced, and, if not entirely finished, will 
 be used during the present year. Some of the 
 most influential citizens of the place and neighbor- 
 hood are interested in the work; the ladies also 
 are zealously engaged; and we trust that, by the 
 blessings of God, the Church at this place will ex- 
 ert a wide and purifying influence. Communicants 
 5. Families who will be regularly connected with 
 the Church, about 12." The services were at first 
 held in the Court House, but when for some 
 reason its use was forbidden Mrs. Daniel Rumsey 
 of "Mount Vinyard," a Baptist lady, declared that 
 she "could not see the Ark of the Lord refused a 
 
 158 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 shelter," and offered her parlor in which the con- 
 gregation met until the Church was completed. 
 She was the mother of Mr. William T. Rumsey, 
 who gave the lot for the Church and was one of 
 its first Vestrymen. Mr. Brown removed from the 
 field during the following year, and was succeeded 
 in a few months by the Rev. William F. Lock- 
 wood, who at first combined the work with that of 
 St. Stephen's Church, Fauquier, but afterwards re- 
 signed the latter and took charge of the Falls 
 Church. The Church was completed, and was 
 consecrated by the Right Rev. William Meade, D. 
 D., on the 28th of June, 1845, under the name of 
 Zion Church. It was a frame building, of the 
 same size as the present Church, and was the first 
 Church of any kind erected in the village. At this 
 time there were 14 Communicants. Mr. Lock- 
 wood remained as Rector until 1852 or 1853, when 
 he removed to Maryland. Under his ministry St. 
 John's Church, Centerville, was built, and was con- 
 secrated by Bishop John Johns, D. D., July 14th, 
 1851. 
 
 Occasional services were held by the Professors 
 of the Theological Seminary until the Rev. R. T. 
 Brown returned to his old charge in 1855, and re- 
 mained Rector of Zion Church, in connection with 
 the Falls and St. John's, until he and the greater 
 part of his congregation were forced to flee from 
 their homes in 1861, when Fairfax became in- 
 volved in the maelstrom of war. Four years later, 
 
 T59 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 when the people returned to their desolated 
 homes, they found only the foundation of their 
 Church remaining. It had shared the fate of per- 
 haps a majority of the country churches in that 
 beautiful section, where they ''Made a solitude and 
 called it peace." Early in the conflict it had been 
 used as a storehouse for the munitions of war, and 
 rapidly becoming dilapidated it had been finally 
 torn down by Union soldiers to provide material 
 for their winter quarters on a neighboring hillside. 
 There was no minister until February, 1867, 
 when the Rev. W. A. Alrich was ordained to the 
 diaconate and sent to undertake the work of re- 
 suscitating the Church at this point, in connection 
 with Centerville, and Haymarket in Prince Wil- 
 liam County. He found 18 Communicants. Ser- 
 vices were held in the Court House. He reported, 
 however, "A deep interest manifested in religious 
 matters, and a willingness to make every sacrifice 
 for the sake of the Master and his cause. The 
 people, in their impoverished condition, are 
 now making an earnest efTort to rebuild their 
 Churches." On December 13th, 1868, Bishop 
 Whittle visited the congregation and confirmed 
 fourteen persons in the Court House. He re- 
 ported the new Church as being under roof, but 
 its completion delayed for want of funds, and adds, 
 "I think there is no congregation in the Diocese 
 more deserving of help than this, where the peo- 
 ple have shown such a determination to help them- 
 
 160 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 selves." Mr. Alrich resigned, and was succeeded 
 in June, 1869, by the Rev. William M. Dame, who 
 remained during the year of his diaconate. The 
 Rev. D. Hanson Boyden succeeded him in the 
 summer of 1870, and gave the whole of his short 
 ministry of fifteen months to this Parish. He re- 
 signed on account of failing health on October ist, 
 1 871, and died less than three months later. 
 Bishop Johns said of him: "His ministry was short 
 and emphatic. The distress which his early death 
 caused to the people whom he served affords af- 
 fecting evidence of his personal worth and minis- 
 terial fidelity and usefulness." 
 
 The Rev. John McGill took charge during the 
 summer of 1872. The second Zion Church was 
 now completed, and being furnished and freed 
 from debt was consecrated by Bishop Johns on 
 the 6th of December, 1875. ^t is a frame build- 
 ing and was erected on the foundation of the orig- 
 inal Church at a cost of about $2,000. On the day 
 following its consecration Christ Church at Chan- 
 tilly was also consecrated. This, with the Church 
 at Centerville, which was also rebuilt, though 
 really in old Cameron Parish, were supposed to 
 be in Truro and were under the charge of Mr. 
 McGill. In 1884 these Churches, with that at 
 Herndon and the mission at Clifton, were formed 
 into a Parish called Upper Truro. 
 
 Mr. McGill resigned April 23d, 1878, and was 
 succeeded by the Rev. Frank Page during the fol- 
 
 161 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 lowing summer. In the year 1882 the present 
 Rectory property adjoming the Church was pur- 
 chased for $2,600. Mr. Page resigned November 
 19th, 1889. During the earher part of his rector- 
 ship he ministered at no less than five Churches, 
 but after the formation of Upper Truro Parish his 
 labors were confined to Zion and the Falls 
 Churches. After his removal the Church re- 
 mained vacant until July, 1890, when Mr. J.Cleve- 
 land Hall, formerly a Presbyterian minister, but 
 now a candidate for orders in the Episcopal 
 Church, came as a Lay-Reader and continued to 
 officiate as such until his ordination to the Diaco- 
 nate in June, 1891; after which he continued as 
 minister-in-charge until July, 1892. During the 
 following year services were held by Mr. W. A. 
 R. Goodwin, candidate for orders, and other stu- 
 dents from the Theological Seminary. In the 
 summer of 1893 the Rev. Thomas D. Lewis be- 
 came the minister, in connection with Trinity 
 Church, Manassas; the old partnership with the 
 Falls Church having been dissolved. Mr. Lewis 
 remained until May, 1896, when failing health 
 compelled him to resign. He was followed by the 
 Rev. W. H. K. Pendleton, who served the same 
 Churches until early in 1900, when, the work hav- 
 ing outgrown the capacity of a single minister, he 
 resigned Zion Church and confined his labors to 
 the neighboring Parish. An alliance was then 
 formed with the Church of the Holy Comforter at 
 
 162 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 Vienna, Fairfax County, now McGill Parish, and 
 after some months the Rev. Albert R. Walker be- 
 came the Rector. He continued until September, 
 1902, and was succeeded in June, 1903, by the 
 Rev. Henry B. Lee, Jr., who remained nine 
 months. On June ist, 1904, the Rev. Edward L. 
 Goodwin became Rector. 
 
 The destruction of all the Parish Records during 
 the war of 1861 makes it impossible to give a list 
 of the Vestrymen who served prior to that time. 
 Among the families who formed the congregation 
 of Zion Church in ante-bellum days were the Bak- 
 ers, Balls, Chichesters, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs, Fur- 
 gussons, Gunnells, Hunters, Mosses, Ratclififes, 
 Ronks, Ryers, Stuarts, Terretts, Towners, Burkes, 
 Coopers, Loves, Thomases, &c. The gentlemen 
 of some of these families doubtless formed the Ves- 
 try of those days. Since 1872 the succession of 
 Vestrymen has been as follows: William T. Rum- 
 sey, Thomas Moore, H. C. Fairfax, Albert Fair- 
 fax, M. D., O. W. Huntt, W. D. McWhorter, M. 
 D., Joseph Cooper, James M. Love, Daniel Mc- 
 Carty Chichester, Gen. W. H. F. Lee, E. D. Fick- 
 lin, G. Pat Berkley, J. N. Ballard, John Peabody, 
 Upton H. Herbert, Washington Terrett, W. P. 
 Moncure, M. D., Robert E. Lee, Jr., S. Thornton 
 Terrett, R. Ewell Thornton, Alex. C. Bleight, C. 
 Vernon Ford, J. Conway Chichester, J. B. Bow- 
 man, R. Walton Moore, Thomas R. Keith, James 
 P. Machen, Jr., Harry L. Burrows. Of these Mr. 
 
 163 
 
THE HISTORY OF TRURO PARISH 
 
 O. W. Huntt, Mr. Joseph Cooper and Mr. James 
 M. Love have served continuously on the Vestry 
 for thirty-five years, equalling the record of those 
 veteran Colonial Vestrymen, George Mason and 
 Daniel Mc.Carty. Besides these the Vestry at 
 present consists of Messrs. Moncure M. D., R. E. 
 Lee, Thornton, Bleight, R. W. Moore, Keith, and 
 Burrows. 
 
 Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Truro Par- 
 ish. This Chapel, situated one and a half miles 
 north of Burke's Station, grew out of Sunday 
 School founded at Ashford school house many 
 years ago by the Misses Fitzhugh and others, 
 and continued chiefly by Mrs. Upton H. Her- 
 bert, under the Rectorship of the Rev. Frank 
 Page. By the earnest efiforts of Mrs. Herbert, be- 
 gan in 1882 and continued through more than a 
 decade of years, the means were collected and the 
 Chapel built. It was consecrated bv Bishop John 
 B. Newton, December ist, 1896. The Rev. S. A. 
 Wallis, of Pohick Church, held services for a num- 
 ber of years in the school house and afterward in 
 the new building. Since 1894 it has been under 
 the charge of the Rector and Vestry of Zion 
 Church. 
 
 164 
 
INDEX 
 
 NOTE: For many Proper Names not found in the 
 Index see under Lists of Vestrymen, Processioners, Voters, 
 etc., and throughout the book. 
 
 Acts of General Assembly, 
 2, 17, 22, 26, 28, 38, 40. 
 
 Adams, Gabriel, 4. 
 
 Alexandria, 30. First Church 
 in, 30. Christ Church, 
 47, 97. 
 
 Alrich, Rev. W. A., 160. 
 
 Andrews, Rev. John, 48. 
 
 Ashford, Michael, 5. 
 
 Assessment Bill, 146. 
 
 Attorneys for Parish, 32, 49, 
 64. 
 
 Aubrey, Francis, 4. 
 
 Barnes, Abraham, 27. 
 
 Barry, Edward, 4. John, 49. 
 
 Baxter, James, 7. 
 
 Bill of Rights, 144. 
 
 Blackburn, Richard, 6. Fam- 
 ily, 103. 
 
 Blumfield, Rev. Joseph, 15. 
 
 Boggess, Robert, 21. 
 
 Books, Ornaments, &c. for 
 Churches, 15, 62, 67, 88. 
 
 Boyden, Rev. D. H., 161. 
 
 Braddock's Road, 23. 
 
 Broadwater, Charles, 4, 27ff. 
 
 Bronaugh, Jeremiah, 4ff. 
 
 Brown, Rev. R. T., 158. 
 
 Burgesses from Fairfax, 
 List of, 126. 
 
 Cameron Parish, 22, 26, 
 161. Churches in, 22, 24. 
 
 Champneys, William, 25. 
 
 Chapel Above Goose Creek, 
 5. 
 
 Church, The Colonial, in 
 
 Virginia, Introduction. De- 
 cay of, 96. Disestablish- 
 ment of, 143. 
 
 Church Plate, 15, 61, 69, 
 145. 
 
 Church Wardens, Duties of, 
 16, 78. List of, 120. Be- 
 come Overseers of the 
 Poor, 93. 
 
 Clerks and Lay Readers, 
 List of, 123. 
 
 Clerks of the Vestry, List 
 of, 123. 
 
 Cockburn, Martin, 78, 116. 
 
 Coffer, Francfis, 92. Thos. 
 Withers, 44ff. Family, 
 118. 
 
 Cocke, Catesby, 9, 16. 
 
 Colchester, 31. 
 
 Colville, Col. John, 7ff., 127. 
 
 Contracts for Church Build- 
 ings, 51, 73. 
 
 Dame, Rev. W. M., 161. 
 
 De Butts, Rev. Lawrence, 5. 
 
 Delegates to State Conven- 
 tion, 1775-6, 126. 
 
 Deneale, William, 94. 
 
 Diocese of Virginia Organ- 
 ized, 149. 
 
 Dranesville, Church near, 
 24. 
 
 Ellzey, Lewis, 21, 127. Thom- 
 azen, 44ff. 
 
 Emms, Edward, 4ff. 
 
 Fairfax County formed, 17. 
 Boundaries changed, 26. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Fairfax Court House, 17, 
 
 158. 
 Fairfax Parisli, 36. Contest 
 
 over lines, 39. Final Act 
 
 establishing, 40. Vestries 
 
 elected, 44-5. 
 Fairfax, George William, 
 
 33ff, 127. 
 
 Lord Thomas, 1, 10. 
 
 William, 32-3, 127. 
 Falls Church, The first, or 
 
 William Gunnell's, 5. The 
 
 second. or "Upper" 
 
 Church, 6ff. The third, 
 
 or present Church, 34ff. 
 Farguson, John, 7. 
 Front in Pohick Church, 84, 
 
 152. 
 Forbes, Murray, 108. 
 Ford, Edward, 92. John, 
 
 44, Thomas, 44ff. 
 Ford, Paul Leicester, quoted, 
 
 6. 137. 
 French, Daniel, 21, 70fE. 
 Gardner, William, 44ff. 
 Gibson, John, 95. 
 Glebe, 8, 12, 28, 29, 31, 61. 
 Glebes, Confiscation of, 150. 
 Godfrey, William, 4. 
 Gold Leaf given by Wash- 
 ington and Fairfax, 81, 90. 
 Good Shepherd, Chapel of 
 
 the, 164. 
 Goodwin, Rev. E. L., 163. 
 Grayson, William, 64. 113. 
 Green, Rev, Charles, 10. 
 
 First Rector, 13ff., 141. 
 Gunnell's, William, Church, 
 
 5. 
 Hall, Rev. C, 162. 
 Hamilton, James, 27. 127. 
 Hamilton Parish, 2. 
 Henderson, Alexander, 44ff., 
 
 108. Family, 109. 
 
 Herbert, Mrs. U. H., 164. 
 Hereford, John, 4ff. 
 Holmes, Rev. John, 11. 
 Holy Communion, Elements 
 
 for, 34, 66. 
 Hutchinson, Andrew, 21ff. 
 Induction, Right of, 57. 
 Johnson, Joseph, 7. 
 Johnson, Rev. W. P. C, 
 
 106. 
 Johnston, George, 38, 49, 
 
 115. 
 Keith, Rev. James, 12. 
 Kloman, Rev. H. F., 155. 
 Lee, Rev. H. B., Jr., 163. 
 Lee, Gen. R. E., his pew in 
 
 Christ Church, Alexandria, 
 
 96. 
 Letters of Recommendation 
 
 and Presentation, 10, 13, 
 
 55, 56, 59. 
 Lewis, John, 4. Lawrence, 
 
 111. Mrs. Nellie Custis,_ 
 100. 112. Thomas, 7.KRev. 
 
 Thomas D., 162. ^ 
 
 Linton, William, 44ff. 
 Littlejohn, Samuel, 47. 
 Lackwood, Rev. William F., 
 
 159. 
 London, Bishop of, 8, 10, 54. 
 Loudoun County formed, 26. 
 Mandamus served on Ves- 
 try, 25. 
 Mason, George, Vestryman 
 
 and Church Warden, 27ff. 
 
 Opposes change of site of 
 
 Pohick, 64. Completes 
 
 Church building, 84-85. 
 
 His pews in, 87. Long 
 
 service on the Vestry, 95- 
 
 96. Father of religious 
 
 liberty, 143. 
 Massey, Rev. Lee. Letters 
 
 in favor of, 55. Second 
 
INDEX 
 
 Rector, 59ff. Retirement, 
 93. Testimony of, as to 
 Washington's attendance 
 at Church, 137. Charac- 
 ter, 138. 
 
 McCarty, Daniel, 27ff. Long 
 service as Vestryman, 95. 
 Daniel, Jr., 94. Dennis, 4. 
 
 McGill, Rev. John, 161. 
 
 McGill Parish, 3, 163. 
 
 Meade, Rev. Everard, 155. 
 
 Meade, Bishop William, 
 quoted, 21, 63, 100, 104. 
 
 Minister, effort to obtain 
 from England, 9. 
 
 Minor, John, 21. 
 
 Moore, Cleon, 94, 116. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 41, 112. 
 
 Northern Neck of Virginia, 
 1. 
 
 Occoquan Church, 5. 
 
 Olivet Church, 156. 
 
 O'Neill, Rev. Charles, 102. 
 
 Orphans hound to trades, 16. 
 
 Osborne, Richard, 4ff. 
 
 Overseers of the Poor, 93. 
 List of, 124. 
 
 Overwharton Parish, 5. 
 
 Page, Rev. Frank, 161. 
 
 Parish Levies, 9, 15, 49, 65. 
 Vestrymen not to collect, 
 77. For support of the 
 church abolished, 93, 146. 
 
 Parishes formed from 
 Truro, 3. 
 
 Payne, Edward, 44ff. Wil- 
 liam, 27. 
 
 Paynes Church, 50. Con- 
 tract for building, 51. 
 Later history and destruc- 
 tion of, 68. 
 
 Peake, William, 7ff. 
 
 Pendleton, Rev. W. H. K., 
 162. 
 
 Pews, assigned according 
 to rank, 14, 27, 87. Sale 
 of, in Pohick Church, 80ff. 
 In Christ Church Alexan- 
 dria, 97. 
 Physicians for the Poor, 25, 
 
 26, 66, 93. 
 Pohick Church, the Old, 5, 
 63. Repairs on, 16, 27. 
 
 Pohick Church, the present, 
 63. Discussion as to site 
 for, 63. Plans for, 70. 
 Contract for, 73. Lot for, 
 71, 77. Details in con- 
 struction of, 79-90. George 
 Mason completes it, 84-5. 
 Pews sold, 83-5, 133. Other 
 pews assigned, 87. Font 
 in, 84. Books and orna- 
 ments for, to be imported 
 by Washington, 88. Wash- 
 ington's attendance at, 
 99. Services after the 
 Revolution, 100. Its de- 
 cay, 104. Efforts at re- 
 suscitation, 106, 151. Con- 
 secration of, 153. Restor- 
 ation now in progress, 
 155. Vestrymen, 156. 
 
 Pohick Chapel, 157. 
 
 Pollard, Thomas, 91. 
 
 Poor, Provision for the, 11, 
 16, 25, 32, &c. 
 
 Posey, John, 44ff. 
 
 Processioning of Lands, 18. 
 
 Processioners and Pre- 
 cincts, Lists of, 18, 28, 32, 
 62. 
 
 Reagan's, Michael, Church 
 near, 6. 
 
 Religious Freedom, Mason's 
 advocacy of, 143. Statute 
 of, 148. 
 
 Rocky Run Chapel, 22. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ross, Hector, 60. 
 
 Rumsey, Wm. T., 159. 
 
 Salaries, of Ministers, 15, 
 93, 97, 145. Of Clerks and 
 Readers, 9, 10, &c. 
 
 Scott, Rev. James, 45. 
 
 Sears, Wm. B., 88. 
 
 Slaughter, Rev. Dr. Philip, 
 Introduction. 
 
 Sparks, Jared, referred to, 
 46, 64. 
 
 Sturman, John, 4ff. 
 
 Terrett, Wm. H., 22. 
 
 Tillett, Giles, 4. 
 
 Tithables, 10, 26, 91. 
 
 Tobacco as currency, 5, &c. 
 
 Tobacco House used as a 
 Chapel, 48. 
 
 Trammel, John, 9. 
 
 Triplett, William, 92. Fam- 
 ily, 119. 
 
 Truro Parish, Genesis of, 1. 
 Old Vestry-Book of, 3. 
 Boundaries of, 2, 26, 
 40. Churches in, 5, 6, 23, 
 50, 63. Division of, first, 
 26; second, 86-42. Decay 
 of on suspension of levies, 
 93ff. Later history of, 
 151. Vestrymen of. In- 
 troduction, 44-45, 120, 156, 
 163. 
 
 Turley, John, 27. 
 
 Upper Truro Parish, 26, 161. 
 
 Vestry House, 27, 60, 69. 
 
 Vestry of Truro, The first, 4. 
 Dissolved by the General 
 Assembly, 20. The sec- 
 ond, 21. Third, 44. Fourth, 
 45. Last Meeting, 96. 
 Of present Churches, 156, 
 163. 
 
 Vestrymen, distinguished. 
 
 Introduction. Training of. 
 Ditto. Lists of, 4, 21, 44, 
 45, 120, 156, 163. Oaths 
 and subscriptions of, 21. 
 Long service of, 95, 164. 
 
 Vestries in Virginia, Intro- 
 duction. Not of Churches 
 but of parishes, 47. Dis- 
 solved, 149. 
 
 Voters, List of, in 1744, 128. 
 
 Wagener, Dr. Peter, 78. 
 Peter, Jr., 91. Family, 110. 
 
 Waite, Thomas, 29ff. 
 
 Wallis, Rev. S. A., Intro- 
 duction. 154. 
 
 [Washington, George, Ves- 
 tryman and Church 
 Warden, 34, 35ff. Bap- 
 tism, 6. Part taken by, 
 toward building Falls 
 Church, 34-6. In division 
 of Parish, 41. Vestryman 
 in only one Parish, 42. 
 His lists of Vestrymen 
 chosen, 1765, 44-45. On 
 two Building Committees 
 for Churches, 51, 72. Ex- 
 tracts from diary of, 67, 
 72, 99, 142. Did he draw 
 plans for Pohick? 70. 
 Choice of site for church, 
 64. Gives gold leaf for 
 gilding, 81, 90. Purchase 
 of pews in Pohick, 82, 87. 
 Gives bond for price of, 
 89. Deed for, 133. Re- 
 quested to import books 
 and hangings for Pohick, 
 88. His Last Vestry, 89. 
 Regularity of attendance 
 at Vestry, 89. Resigna- 
 tion as Vestryman, 95. 
 Buys pew in Christ 
 Church, Alexandria, and 
 
I:N D E X 
 
 was a parishioner there, 
 96-97. His memorandum 
 of sale of pews, 97. Bond 
 for pew rent, 97. Still 
 attended Pohick when ser- 
 vices there, 99. Regu- 
 larity of his attendance at 
 church, 99, 137. Distance 
 from Churches, 141, 
 Stands as Sponsor, 142. 
 Views of, on Assessments 
 for support of Religion, 
 147. 
 
 Washington, Augustine, 9, 
 10. Bushrod, 103. Ed- 
 ward, 15, 110. Lawrence, 
 9, 22. Lund, 95, 110. 
 
 Waugh, John, 95. 
 
 Weems, Rev. Mason L., 100. 
 
 West,, Hugh , 21ff. John, 
 21ff. John, Jr., 33. Mrs. 
 Sybil, 34. 
 
 Wren, James, 70. Thomas, 
 27. 
 
 Zion Church, Fairfax, 158. 
 
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