Holly,
That must have been very frustrating. But year 1799 ALONE should have been a red flag--a period when the Episcopal Church was its lowest point ever and hard a time when they were building NEW ones with new congregations.
Speaking of "facts" in historical research. The article I'm writing on the War of 1812 in Virginia's Northern Neck--just for ONE incident--has so many conflicting statements from the participants themselves and--no surprise--the newspaper accounts. Reports give the number of British casualties from 5 to 260. The number of British barges from 5 to 20. The number of British soldiers from 105 to over 2,000, and time of the battled (Capture of the Dolphin) from 30 minutes to 3 hours. And these are not derivative sources in a technical sense. Even the Captain of the Dolphin wrote at the time that some of crew deserted and rowed ashore, and that he ordered his men to shoot at them. In the same paper is a rebuttal by one of his officers who stated that was a lie, and that the Captain himself had ordered them to go ashore and to come back and get the rest.
So, getting to the bottom of the matter is not only difficult, it is impossible. I will add this because even the official reports are full of contradictions. About the only thing all sources agree on is the the Dolphin and three other schooners with her were all captured.
Craig
On Dec 20, 2012, at 11:16 AM, Holly Mills wrote:
> Thank you, Brent, for reminding all that even seeing something in print is not adequate!
>
> A small Episcopal church in Amherst County has traditionally been dated as 1799 because of the date for gathering subscriptions to put up a new building. Not long after I started here I did some investigation. To me, raising a new building _often_ indicates that there is an established congreation in place. After a couple years I found a 1770 reference to the church--by name--in the papers of Alexander Brown at William & Mary. I have passed on the information to several amateur historians who were writing books about the area, and lo and behold, when the publication comes out, they cite the church as established 1799.
>
> This is by no means the only instance of such a happenstance.... Repetition in any format, be it print or virtual, does not make it a fact.
>
>
> I can't wait to retire and write a history of Amherst County.
>
> Holly Mills Hodges
> Director, Amherst County Museum
> Amherst, 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
|
