I am particularly interested in Dinwiddie County, last quarter of the
18th Century, there is so little left from there.

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Jan 14, 2007, at 12:39 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> 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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