As is so often the case with VA-HIST questions, I do not know enough to give 
an intelligent answer here.  The one example of which I know is Pastor 
Muhlenburg in Woodstock (or maybe it was just up the Valley Pike in 
Strasburg.)  Germans had come down from Pennsylvania and had a strong 
presence in the Valley of Virginia by the middle 1700.s   They wanted their 
own church service (Lutheran), and petioned somebody, probably in 
Williamsburg.  It was agreed that they could, but that the minister must 
also be ordained in the Church of England, so Pastor Muhlenburg went to 
England for a year to pass the Anglican Muster, and returned and conducted 
services, apparently to the satisfaction of all.

A sidelight not related to the question at all, but an interesting piece of 
history.  When the British surrounded Boston in 1775, and the Southern 
Colonies sent troops in support of the New England Troops, Daniel Morgan 
marched his Virginia Militia up there from the Winchester area.  And as a 
prelude, Pastor Muhlenburg had addressed his congregation on Sunday morning, 
winding up his sermon "There is a time to pray and and time to fight, and 
this is a time to fight."  At which point he threw off his ecclestical 
vestaments and appeared in the uniform of a Virginia Militia officer!  The 
story is that that the men in the congregation rose, followed him out of the 
church and thence to Boston.  A closing observation: We don't hear sermons 
like that much any more :-))

Randy Cabell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Kilby" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 9:49 PM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Colonial Tithes and Anglican Church


> Fellow List Members:
>
> A question has arisen on another forum that needs some expert answers. 
> I'll try to be as concise as possible:
>
> 1.  Were German Protetesants ever required to attend services at the 
> established Church of England? Some are saying that since this 
> compulsory, I am of the opinion that they were not, since they had  their 
> own ministers and paid for their minister and churchs.
>
> 2. Were German Protestants required to pay parish levies after the 
> expiration (in this case Spotsylvania County) of their exemptions from 
> "publick" levies.
>
> 3. It is my understanding that there were three types of levies (not 
> including port fees and clerk's fees, and the like:
>
> a) "publick levies" to fund the colonial government
>
> b) county levies to pay for the local county government
>
> c) parish levies to pay for the church and its sundry duties to the 
> community.
>
> I realize that the enabling legislation creating Spotsylvania County  was 
> quite vague on this point, and even more vague on the question of  whether 
> the Germans (in this case First Colony who removed to  Germantown in 
> Fauquier County) were exempt from paying their parish  levies or not. 
> This and many other vagueries in the enabling  legislation led to no end 
> of troubles for Alexander Spotswood. (But he  had only himself to blame, 
> as he was the primary author of the  legislation.)
>
> I am not seeking a rehash of Hening's Statutes at Large, but a deeper  and 
> broader understanding of the items above. Other than having to  attend 
> just one communion service, and various oaths of loyalty, in  order to 
> become Naturalized, I cannot imagine any circumstances under  which the 
> German Protestants would have been required to attend  Anglican Services.
>
> To gives this a broader scope, who else (if anyone) was also exempt  from 
> compulsory church attendance? Quakers, Presbyterians? Or even  broader, a 
> discussion on all taxaton policies of colonial Virginia.
>
> If there is an article that has been written on this topic in more  detail 
> than that provided by the LVA Research Note on this topic, I  would be 
> happy to learn of it.
>
> We are looking at the time frame from 1720 to the Revolution. I  realize 
> laws MAY have changed. The primary question here is the issue  of paying 
> parish levies even if one was not a member of the Anglican  Church.
>
> All help greatly appreciated.
>
> Craig Kilby
> Lancaster, VA
>
> ______________________________________
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions 
> at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> 

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html