A "gross widow", by the way, is an archaic term that meant an unmarried
woman who has a child.
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 8:32 AM, Lewis Burruss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
> An interesting note in the 1677 parish record of baptisms of Abingdon
> parish, Gloucester Co. Va, is this (abbreviations changed to full words):
> "Thomas, son of Elizabeth White, gross widow, and Dr Daniel, the supposed
> father, was baptized about March 16th"
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 4:51 PM, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]
> > wrote:
>
>> I should have known the discussion would veer off the main topic to
>> slavery,
>> though my main question was about bastard children of ANY color being
>> baptized
>> by the Anglican Church, which I had thought was against canon law. (Paul,
>> I
>> didn't mean to imply I only got that notion from *Tess of the
>> d'Urbervilles*--I
>> just threw that in for some humor.)--Craig Kilby
>>
>> Original email:
>> -----------------
>> From: Jon Kukla [log in to unmask]
>> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 12:47:33 -0500
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
>>
>>
>> There's plenty of evidence of slaves being baptized in reports back to
>> England, both to bishop of London and in the friends of Dr. Bray stuff
>> like
>> that which John Van Horne edited.
>> Maury's letter struck me as kind of self-righteous ... from a guy who
>> had found a nifty way of taking the moral high ground while also
>> delighting
>> in the fact that he was annoying less than favorite parishioners.
>> On a similar note, a long-time pastor friend once commented that it
>> was
>> too easy to succumb to the temptation of preaching hell-fire and brimstone
>> because it was like telling your parishioners to go to hell.
>> Up in Richmond County when the Anglican rector announced that he was
>> going to answer the baptists in a sermon, his service was so well attended
>> that the balcony, where the slaves worshipped, collapsed. In short, the
>> evidence of slave participation in VA's colonial Anglican is there if ya
>> look for it.....
>>
>>
>> Jon Kukla
>> ________________
>> www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 11:28 AM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> > Years ago, Dr. Thomas E. Buckley, SJ, author of the recent excellent
>> > Establishing Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Statute in Virginia
>> > (Charlottesville, 2013), called my attention to a long 10 October 1759
>> > letter in the Patrick Henry Papers at the Library of Congress from James
>> > Maury, rector of Fredericksville Parish, evidently sent to Commissary
>> > Thomas Dawson. Maury described at length the objections that some
>> members
>> > of his parish vestry made after he attempted to baptize some enslaved
>> > children during the regular church service. That indicates, as Craig
>> > mentioned, that children of slaves were sometimes baptized. The
>> vestrymen
>> > did not object to their being baptized, only to their being baptized
>> during
>> > the regular church service along with children of decent white people.
>> >
>> > Brent Tarter
>> > The Library of Virginia
>> > [log in to unmask]
>> >
>> > Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
>> > http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:
>> > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
>> > Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 9:47 AM
>> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> > Subject: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
>> >
>> > Hello all,
>> >
>> > I seem to have been suffering under the illusion ever since reading
>> *Tess
>> > of the Turbervilles* in sophomore English class that the Anglican church
>> > did not allow for the baptism of bastard children.* But in going through
>> > the Christ Church, Middlesex County parish register for the late 1600s
>> and
>> > early 1700s, I see that there are hundreds of bastard child baptisms.
>> These
>> > usually only name the mother. Also of interest are a considerable number
>> of
>> > slave children being baptized, which I also found unusual. So, gentle
>> > readers, where did I go astray regarding canon law in colonial Virginia?
>> >
>> > Craig Kilby
>> >
>> > *Those of you who were forced to read this drivel may recall that Tess
>> > found herself in a family way without benefit of matrimony, and then the
>> > baby died. She then has a nightmare that the devil was tossing the
>> infant
>> > boy around in the flames of hell on his pitchfork. Our teacher, dear
>> Mrs.
>> > Timmons, asked the class what this meant. One wag in class quickly
>> > answered her with, "Burn, Baby, Burn!" She was not amused, but the rest
>> of
>> > the class went into an uproar!
>> >
>> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > mail2web.com What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you?
>> > http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint
>> >
>> > ______________________________________
>> > 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
>> >
>>
>> ______________________________________
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions
>> at
>> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>> mail2web.com What can On Demand Business Solutions do for you?
>> http://link.mail2web.com/Business/SharePoint
>>
>> ______________________________________
>> 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
|
