In a message dated 1/14/07 10:27:54 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:


> > So records before then would be with the Anglican Church? Here, or in
> > the UK? Or were the records shifted over to the Episcopal Church?
>

As a lifelong Episcopalian and avid historian, maybe I can shed a little
light on this topic.   At least I'll try.

In the beginning and up to the time of the Revolutionary War, everyone not
excepted by Act of the Legislature was required by law to attend the local
Anglican Church and participate in its activities. Those excepted after early 1700
were German sects, French Huguenots, Scotch Irish Presbyterians, and Quakers.


There was, in fact, much contention when the Baptist denomination began
making inroads among Virginia population in the 1760s.   One Baptist Pastor,
Jeremiah Moore of Fairfax County, was arrested and jailed because he "was not
sanctioned by the State as a Minister."  Neither were other Baptist Pastors at this
time.   The story is that after he was arrested, the Reverend Moore stood at
the latticework window of his Alexandria jail cell and began to spread the
Gospel from there.   He attracted such immense crowds, so it is reported, that the
local establishment released him from jail.   Today, Jeremiah Moore is
considered by many to be the Father of the Baptist Church in Northern Virginia and
Washington DC.   His brick home in Vienna VA, built in the late 1700s, has in
recent years been painstakingly disassembled and is in storage while financing
is being acquired to reconstruct it on another site.

In the colonial Anglican Church, territory was divided into Parishes, usually
covering a single county. Local records, especially births, marriages, and
deaths were kept there.   In addition each Parish had Vestry records kept by
local church leaders.   Here the social record of the Parishes may be found; i.e.
payments for care of the poor, ill, and orphaned, church improvements and
supplies, etc.   The Parish also carried out the important ancient British
tradition of "walking the bounds."   This regular process included all owners of
adjoining boundaries who agreed in person, or by approved representative, to the
placement of the boundary marker. The resulting agreements often appear in
Vestry Minutes.   I think that even today, it is against Virginia law to cut down
a "marker tree" or destroy a boundary markers.

Few colonial Parish Registries or Vestry Minutes survived the centuries; but
some   -   specifically in New Kent and Hanover Counties   -   did survive and
are invaluable resources in these counties where county court house records
up to the Civil War period are largely destroyed.   The Parish is New Kent
County was St. Peter's Parish, and in Hanover, St. Paul's Parish.   These records
have been published and, I believe, are also available on the internet.

The modern Episcopal Church is divided into Dioceses who elect their own
Bishops.   Most of the social activities, such as "walking the bounds" were passed
on to local government from the colonial Anglican Church.

Joyce Browning
Fairfax County, Virginia
Email:   [log in to unmask]


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