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 Bruton Cburcb 
 
 TOtlltamsburg, tDtrgtnia 
 
 Brief Historical Botes 
 
 (|U»& T£. (ft. (R. 6oobtoin, (a. (fit. 
 
 (Rector of QSruton <C0urc$ 
 
 # 1903 * 
 
Gift 
 Author 
 (Person) 
 
 g " 
 
 Mi <\ 
 
The Jamestown Baptismal Font. 
 
 The Silver-Gold^Communion Service, 
 known as the " queen anne set." 
 
preface 
 
 N connection with a larger and more complete 
 Historical Sketch of Bruton Church this brief 
 outline with illustrations has been prepared, 
 at smaller cost, to meet a popular demand. 
 The author earnestly hopes that the circula- 
 tion of this and the larger sketch of the His- 
 tory of the Church will increase the interest of 
 the public in this ancient building, and win for 
 the old Church new friends who will aid in its restora- 
 tion and preservation. 
 
 Bruton Rectory, 
 
 Williamsburg, Va. 
 
 August 14th, 1903. 
 

Hseociattons 
 
 LD Bruton Church has well withstood the 
 /^"\ devastating touch of time. The storms of 
 
 many winters have gone over it, the fierce 
 battles of two great wars have raged near 
 it, and in it have lain the sick and wounded 
 of two armies, and yet it stands to-day 
 just as it stood well nigh two hundred 
 years ago. The Building is consecrated by 
 hallowed associations. It is intimately 
 connected with Virginia's early history. 
 Through its ancient tower entrance passed 
 the Court processions of Colonial days, — 
 the governors with emblazoned emblems, betokening the 
 authority and majesty of old England's Kings and 
 Queens; the Council of State, composed of men whose 
 names will ever live in our nation's history; and the 
 members of the House of Burgesses, the defenders of 
 the liberties of the people. 
 
 Here, in pew officially assigned, elevated from the 
 main floor and richly canopied, sat the proud and im- 
 perious Francis Nicholson, the devoted Edmund Jennings, 
 the dauntless Spottswood, Drysdale, Gooch, Dinwiddie, 
 Fauquier, Norborne Berkeley Lord de Botetourt, and 
 Dunmore. 
 
 Here, as Vestrymen, worshipped the Hon. Daniel 
 Parke; the Hon. John Page, "the immigrant;" Thomas 
 Ludwell, Secretary of State; Sir John Randolph; Peyton 
 Randolph, the King's Attorney and Speaker of the House 
 of Burgesses ; Robert Carter Nicholas, Treasurer of Vir- 
 ginia ; Major Robert Beverly, Attorney, and Clerk of the 
 House of Burgesses, and many others whose names ap- 
 pear in the long list of Vestrymen and upon the pages 
 of the nation's history. 
 
Hasoriattons 
 
 Here once sat the men who first saw the vision of a 
 great free republic of this Western World, and who, at the 
 altar of sacrifice, consecrated their lives to the cause of 
 liberty which they loved — George Wythe, patriot, teach- 
 er, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a 
 vestryman; Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler, 
 and Chief Justice John Marshall, and Edmund Randolph, 
 worshipped here while students in the College of William 
 and Mary ; and most of them in after years while serving 
 the Colony and State. George Mason, Edmund Pendle- 
 ton, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, Bland and 
 Lee, while members of the House of Burgesses ; Patrick 
 Henry while a member of the House and Governor of 
 Virginia (1776), and George Washington, while seeking 
 to win the heart and hand of the beautiful Martha 
 Custis. 
 
 These, and many others, whose names are deathless, 
 have passed within these sacred courts and meekly bowed 
 the knee in supplication to the King of Kings. As we 
 linger in the silence of the Church, they pass before the 
 awakened vision of the mind. They sit, as they did of old, 
 listening to the law of the God of Nations, and to the mes- 
 sage of liberty in the great Gospel of redemption. The 
 walls of the cruciform old building seem to echo again 
 with their voice of prayer and thanksgiving. 
 
 Here the youth of the nation that was to be, dreamed 
 dreams and saw visions which awakened the high and 
 noble aspirations of their lives ; for here they heard the 
 Gospel of Liberty, and engaged in the service of devotion 
 and adoration which rouses the best that is in a man, 
 and inspires him to live and serve for the Glory of his God 
 and the good of his fellowman. 
 
 Here have ministered faithful servants of the most 
 high God. The services have been almost continuous. 
 The College Faculty could always be relied upon to sup- 
 ply ministerial service, and the City of Williamsburg, 
 being the seat of the Colonial Government, created a con- 
 
Hssoctationa 
 
 stant demand for the services and ministrations of the 
 Church. 
 
 The Church was preserved because it was needed. 
 Thus the present building has been longer in continuous 
 use than any other Episcopal Church in America. 
 
 Around the Church, side by side with the peers, war- 
 riors, scholars, and statesmen of the past in their sculp- 
 tured tombs, beneath many mouldering heaps, "the rude 
 forefathers of the hamlet sleep." Some to earthly fame 
 are now unknown, the names of others live, not because 
 they are engraved in marble, but because they helped to 
 make the nation's history great. 
 
 The Old Church, with its historic associations and 
 hallowed memories, is to us an inheritance from the past 
 and a trust for the future. It must be preserved. It must 
 remain to tell its story of the days that are gone to days 
 that may yet be. It belongs, in a sense, to the nation 
 with whose early history it is so intimately associated. 
 It is doubly dear to us to whom it witnesses of the in- 
 fluence of our Church over the lives of the Nation-build- 
 ers, and to whom it speaks of the continuity of our 
 Church's life and liturgy. 
 
 The work of restoration, which has been determined 
 upon, will be done with reverence and with devotion. 
 The exterior will be left unchanged, for change here would 
 mean innovation. The interior, which was changed and 
 distorted, in view of conditions which no longer exists, 
 will be restored to its ancient form, and the whole will be 
 transmitted, under the good providence of God, to pos- 
 terity as it was planned and builded and used by our 
 forefathers. 
 
^ JSruton Gburcb •&*» 
 
 Brief Historical flotes 
 
 N 1632 Middle Plantation (subse- 
 quently Williamsburg) was "laid out 
 and paled in." A Parish bearing 
 this name was created shortly after- 
 wards. 
 
 Zhe Bame of tbe parisb 
 
 The name Bruton was doubtless 
 given to the Parish in honor of 
 Thomas Ludwell, Esq., who, accord- 
 ing to the record inscribed on his 
 tomb-stone at the door of Bruton 
 Church, was born in Bruton in the 
 county of Summerset, England, and 
 departed this life in the year 167S. 
 
 £be first Cburcb ftuifting 
 
 The first Church Building erected on this site was 
 completed in 1683 and was dedicated by the Rev. Row- 
 land Jones, on January 6th, 1684 « being \* epiphany." 
 
 £be present Cburcb Building 
 
 Subsequent to the removal of the House of Burgesses 
 from Jamestown to Williamsburg in 1699, the Old 
 
- 2 
 
 B C 
 
 o z 
 
 3 ► 
 
 — f 
 p .-, 
 
Interior View, 1840-1S 
 
 The Duke of Gloucester Street. 
 
Brief rHatortcal Notes 
 
 Church Building was found to be inadequate for the use 
 of the Parish, and in 1710 a new Church building was 
 determined upon, which was completed in 1715. The 
 two transepts were built and paid for by order of the 
 House of Burgesses. The bricks used in the building were 
 furnished by Alexander Spottswood and Hon. Edmund 
 Jennings "at \* rate of 15 9 per thousand." This building 
 has never been destroyed by fire, and has been contin- 
 uously in use longer than any other Episcopal Church in 
 America. 
 
 Gown Clock flMacefc in (Tburcb Steeple 
 
 On the 14th day of July, 1840, on motion, it was 
 Resolved that the Town authorities have permission to 
 have the Town clock removed to the Church and fixed up 
 therein. 
 
 flDofcern Innovations 
 
 In 1840 the interior of the Church was remodeled; 
 a partition wall was built across the nave, the chancel 
 was removed from the East end of the Church and built 
 out from this wall, the old pulpit was removed and the 
 original form and appearance of the Church destroyed. 
 
 Zbc IRestoration 
 
 At a meeting of the vestry, of the Church, held Satur- 
 day, May 23d, 1903, it was unanimously decided to 
 restore the interior of Old Bruton Church to its original 
 form. The Vestry determined to associate with them- 
 selves, in the restoration of the Church an advisory com- 
 mittee consisting of Rt. Rev. A. M. Randolph, D. D., 
 LL. D., the Rev. Dr. Beverly D. Tucker, Diocese Southern 
 Virginia ; the Rev. J. J. Gravatt, Diocese of Virginia ; the 
 Rev. Dr. Randolph H. McKim, Diocese of Washington ; 
 
10 Brief fitstorical Notca 
 
 the Rev. William R. Huntington, D. D., Diocese of New 
 York, and Mr. J. Frederick Kernochan, of New York City. 
 
 The co-operation of these gentlemen will give assur- 
 ance to the Church at large that the work of restoration 
 will be wisely planned and executed. It is estimated that 
 the proposed restoration will cost about $7,000. It will 
 be impossible for the present members of Braton Church 
 to do this work unaided. We feel assured that the 
 restoration of the Old Church will commend itself to the 
 Church at large, and to all those who revere the past and 
 desire to see the monuments of antiquity preserved. 
 
 We are anxious to have this work completed before 
 1907, when the Ter-centenary of the landing at James- 
 town will be celebrated. This date practically marks the 
 two-hundredth anniversary of the present building. Con- 
 tributions made for this purpose will be used for the resto- 
 ration and preservation of this ancient Temple of our 
 forefathers. 
 
 Communion Silver 
 
 The Church has at present three sets of Communion 
 Silver, which on account of their sacred associations and 
 antiquity are highly prized and carefully preserved. The 
 following description of this plate is taken from a book 
 entitled "Old Plate," published by the Gorham Manufac- 
 turing Co., New York, 1888, pp. 210-212 : 
 
 Zbc Jamestown (Tburcb Service 
 
 CHALICE, H 10% in. PATEN, Dia 7 in. One 
 mark, I <H, oval object below, plain shield. 
 
 Inscription on each : JVItxe no * ^dy tbinges with pro- 
 fane* 6x dono franctsct Momsoti, Hmrigcri* Hrnio Dorn* 
 
 f66l« This maker's mark is on the celebrated cup form- 
 erly belonging to the Blacksmith's Company, London, 
 1655, and purchased at the Dexter sale for no less a sum 
 *Francis Morrison was at this time acting Governor of the Colonyv 
 
Brief fiistorical JSotea 11 
 
 than £378, and it is also found in a shaped shield on the 
 copper plate preserved at Goldsmith's Hall 1675-1697. 
 
 ALMS BASIN, Dia 9% in. Four marks: 1, Lion pas- 
 sant; 2, Leopard's Head, crowned; 3, Small Roman a, 
 London 1739: 4, maker's mark, T. F. (Thomas Farren). 
 Inscription: for the use of Jamca City parish Church. 
 This service has been in use in Bruton Church since the 
 Church at Jamestown was abandoned. (Illustration p. 
 10.) 
 
 Cbrtst Cburcb, Bruton fl>arisb 
 
 Two-handled CUP AND COVER, gilt H 3% in. ; Dia. 
 4*4, in. Four marks: Lion passant; 2, Leopard's Head, 
 crowned ; 3, black letter small i London 1686; 4, maker's 
 mark P-F), crown and two ermine spots above, crescent 
 below, shaped escutcheon, Peeter Harache. This maker's 
 mark is also to be found on the copper plate preserved at 
 Goldsmith's Hall. 
 
 PATEN, Dia 5% in. Four marks: 1, Lion passant; 
 2, Leopard's Head, crowned ; 3, small Roman b, London 
 
 v, 
 
 1737; 4, maker's mark R« 6. (Richard Gurney and Co.) 
 
 C 
 The cup is beautifully chased and embellished with 
 applique leaves and bears private arms, the Paten is of 
 less delicate workmanship. (Illustration p. 2.) 
 
 Gbe Iking George Service 
 
 FLAGON, H 10y 2 in. CHALICE, H 10 in. ALMS 
 BASIN, Dia 10 in. Four marks on Flagon: 1, Lion pas- 
 sant; 2, Leopard's Head, crowned; 3, Old English capi- 
 tal L London 1766; 4, maker's mark "C-1% crowned 
 (Thos. Heming). 
 
 On Chalice the maker's mark is wanting, and the 
 date letter is an old Old English jf|, London 1764, there 
 
 LofC. 
 
12 Brief historical JVotes 
 
 are no marks on the Alms Basin. All engraved with the 
 Royal Arms between the initials <5 I I I R, with motto 
 "fioni soit qui mal y pense." 
 
 Plate of the same date and by the same maker is at 
 Trinity Church, New York. (Illustration p. 12.) 
 
 These services of communion silver, when not in use, 
 are kept in a fire-proof vault in a building of the Eastern 
 State Hospital. 
 
 Zbe font 
 
 According to tradition the Font in Bruton Church 
 was used in the Church at Jamestown, and was brought 
 from that place when the House of Burgesses was moved 
 to Williamsburg, in 1699. 
 
 Font Stones 
 
 In the Calendar of State Papers Vol. I, page 35, there 
 is the following record relating to the importation of 
 Font Stones : 
 
 "One order more, fame date (Hpril io, 1692), concern- 
 ing font stones at "CindaU's point, Mr. Robt. Read one, 
 Capt. Cborp one, & by Capt. Cborp's Information to my 
 Cinder Sberif, Capt. ffra, Page one, Capt. Barnes Hrcber, 
 one & y* ye Stone in Brougbton, p'ifb Cburcb is ye fame, & 
 yt Capt. Page gave bis Receipt for tbem, but to wbome be 
 Knows not." 
 
 The tradition in the Parish is that when the James- 
 town font was brought to Williamsburg, the one im- 
 ported in 1692 was given to one of the neighboring 
 Churches. 
 
 Cbe Bell 
 
 The bell which has rung out the years for more than 
 a century and a quarter, has engraved upon it: "The gift 
 
Brief fHstortcal Motes 13 
 
 of James Tarpley to Bruton Parish, 1761." There was 
 a still older bell, which has been referred to, for the vestry, 
 in 1769, entered an order for their contractor, Benjamin 
 Powell, to have the "Old Bell and the materials of the old 
 steeple." The ancient clock still looks down from the 
 steeple, but for many years it has been unmindful of the 
 flight of time. 
 
 ©lb IRccorb Books 
 
 The old Parish Register of the Church is still in the 
 possession of the Vestry. It was found some years ago 
 in a box of papers where it had doubtless been hid for 
 safe keeping during the war. During .this time it was 
 badly mutilated by some person, ignorant of its value. 
 A large number of pages were torn from the front and 
 back of the book. It now contains the records of Bap- 
 tisms from 1739 to May 21st, 1797, and the record of 
 Deaths from April 13th, 1662, to December 18th, 1761. 
 Thus it would appear that pages containing the record of 
 seventy-seven years were torn from the front, and pages 
 containing the record of deaths for thirty-six years were 
 torn from the back. The book that remains has been 
 rebound, and is kept in an iron safe. 
 
 The entries in this Old Parish register prior to 1674, 
 seem to belong to one of the adjacent churches, probably 
 to the one located in Marston Parish, which was united 
 with Middlet own Parish in 1674. The Baptismal record 
 in this book shows with what care the members of the 
 Church provided spiritual ministration for the children 
 of their servants. The illustration given on page 14 
 shows two pages of this ancient record. 
 
 As stated in the introduction, the old vestry book of 
 the Parish was either lost or destroyed during the wars, 
 or was burned with the house of Revd. John McCabe in 
 Hampton. 
 
14 Brief FHstorical Notes 
 
 tablet IFnsibe the Cburcb 
 
 Zbe parfce tablet 
 
 Pkare this Marble lyes 
 ye Rouble Daniel Parke 
 of ve County of Gssex 6sq. who 
 was one of bis Majesties' Counsellors 
 and sometime Secretary of tbe 
 Collony of Virgia* Re dyed ye 6tb of 
 
 Marcb Hnno 1 679. 
 f)is other felicityes ware crowned by 
 bis bappy marridg witb Rebbecha 
 tbe daughter of 6eorge Gvelyn 
 of tbe County of Surry 6sq. She dyed 
 tbe 2d of January Hnno 1672 at Long 
 Ditton in ye County of Surry and 
 
 left behind her 
 
 a most bopefull 
 progeny. 
 
Brief Historical Notes 15 
 
 tombstone ITnsfoe the Cburcb 
 
 Gbe ©rlanfco 3ones tablet 
 
 fiere lies in hope of a Blessed Ressurection 
 the Body of JMi% Orlando lones, 8on of Mr. 
 Rowland 7ones sometime Minister of 
 this parish be was born December ye 3ist 1681 
 and Died 3fune yc 12th 1719 in ye 38th year of bis 
 Hge. be was twice married bis first <Hife was 
 Mrs. Martha Macon Daughter of Mr. Gideon 
 Macon of JSew Kent by whom be left one 
 Son named Lane & one Daughter named 
 frances. f)is Second <Hife was Mrs. Mary 
 3ttilliams daughter of 'jfames Williams 
 of King & Queen who erected this 
 Monument to bis Memory. 
 
16 Brief historical Notes 
 
 tombstone IFnscrtptfons 
 
 flDrs. Bnn Gimson 3ones 
 
 Rerc lies all that the grave can claim of 
 Mrs. Hnn Cimson ^foties 
 Consort of the 
 Rev. Servant 3oncs 
 Born 1 st Sept. 1 787 
 Married 26 Dec. 1 805 
 Baptised 3 Mar, 1822 
 Died 3unc 6, 1 849. 
 
 If woman. ever vet did well 
 If woman ever did cxccll 
 If woman husband ere adored 
 If woman ever loved the Lord 
 If ever faith and f>opc and Love 
 In fiuman flesh did live and move 
 If all the graces ere did meet 
 In her in her they were complete 
 
 My Hnn, my all my Hngcl Sdif c 
 My dearest one my love my life 
 I cannot sigh or say fare well 
 for where thou dwellcst I will dwell. 
 
 U77-251 
 
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