Column: Past Times

Courtesy of the late T. Keister Greer

The Old Chapel Church as it appeared in 1950

KEN LAUTERSTEIN | Special to Laker Weekly

The Old Chapel Church at Snow Creek as it appears today. Vestibules have been added to each end of the building.

Pioneering in early America had an impact on the moral and religious behaviors of many new immigrants. Taming the frontier; obtaining and clearing land; dealing with hostile American Indians; and the lack of basic goods previously taken for granted took its toll on traditional family values and religious life.

Making a living was, in effect, a battle for the preservation of family. As noted by the Rev. Alpheus Potts, "This bred innumerable conflicts and stirred envies, hatreds, and all manner of uncharitableness."

Early church leaders were concerned for the souls of their migrant people. Preachers were recruited and sent out as circuit riders to win souls and create classes for spiritual development.

Spiritual issues were somewhat less of a problem for the Anglican (Church of England) in the southern Piedmont. Before the American Revolution, Anglicanism was the official faith of the Colonies, and as noted by T. Keister Greer in his book "Genesis of a Virginia Frontier," it was "constituted and maintained by its followers by the processes of law as well ... as the House of Burgesses. As the Council formed new counties on the Frontier, co-extensive Episcopal parishes were created by the same enactments."

Parishes were created and supported by taxes. Clergy were installed and their homes (glebes) were furnished for them. Chapels also were provided. However, legislative intent was one matter and the ability to ensure that there were sufficient houses of worship and reasonable means to travel to them were other issues.

In 1752, Halifax County was formed from Lunenburg County, with Antrim Parish its corresponding Anglican unit. Halifax had as its northern boundary the Blackwater River, and thus included only the southern half of what would become Franklin County, along with what are now Halifax, Henry, Patrick and Pittsylvania counties.

Pittsylvania County and Camden Parish were organized together in 1767. Shortly afterward, young James Stevenson of Williamsburg offered himself as minister for the new parish. Since he was just entering the ministry, it was necessary for him to go to London to be ordained by the bishop there. He entered upon his duties as rector of the parish in 1769.

By this time, there had been some settlers in the county for roughly a decade, but no churches were known to have been built. At an early meeting of the Camden Parish, it was ordered that several churches and "Chappells-of-Ease" (smaller places of worship for those who could not travel the longer distances to a larger church) be built.

The actual order read, in part, as follows:

"At a Vestry [committee meeting] held for Camden Parish at Pittsylvania Courthouse the 14th day of July 1769.

Present: John Donelson [Andrew Jackson's father-in-law and builder of the first Iron Works in Rocky Mount]; John Pigg [for whom the Pigg River is named]; Hugh Innes [later a justice on the first Franklin County Court]; Crispen Shelton; George Rowland; John Wilson; Thomas Dillard Jr.; Abraham Shelton; Theophilus Lacy; and William Witcher Vestrymen.

The Rev'd James Stevenson having offered himself as minister of this Parish the 21st day of February last, is received by the Vestry and it is ordered that the usual sallery be paid him From the 21st day of Feby last. (Present James Stevenson).

Ordered that John Donelson, Crispen Shelton, Thomas Dillard Jr. and Abram Shelton do fix on a proper place between Abrahm Sheltons and Thomas Musteen's to let a Church.

Ordered that a Church be built near where the Chappell stands on Snow Creek.

Ordered that a Chappell of Ease be built near to Captain Haman Critz's.

Ordered that a Chappell of Ease be built near to John Wilcoxs place on the Pigg River Road convenient to a good spring.

Ordered that John Donelson, Crispen Shelton, Thomas Dillard, Jr. and Abram Shelton do let to the lowest bidder the building of the church ordered to be built near Tho" Musteens the size to be 24 by 32 feet. A framed house with a clapboard roof a plank floor with a pulpit and desk two doors, five windows in it 12 feet in the pitch with a small table and benches in it."

At a subsequent vestry meeting on Jan. 26, 1770, the accounts for building the above churches and chapels were paid, indicating that the orders for building the churches were immediately carried out.

In addition to six churches, nine other points were designated where the church service was to be read every Sunday. On the Sundays when the minister was to be elsewhere and there were no churches nearby, the service was read by men of the congregation at churches, chapels and in private homes

These men were called lay readers and received 100 pounds of tobacco a year for their work. It was a part of England's plan that religion should be carried to the people.

After serving the parish for a year, Stevenson resigned and was replaced by Lewis Guilliam in 1771. The vestry purchased 588 acres near the Sandy River Church for the new minister's glebe. Stevenson is remembered as being the father of the Honorable Andrew Stevenson, a political leader in Virginia who was elected speaker of the House of Representatives and minister to England.

After the Revolution, persons related to English institutions such as the Anglican Church were considered suspect as Tories, and the Protestant Episcopal Church became the new organization in 1789.

Later, all things became American and the new faiths of the Baptist and Methodist churches were embraced. Glebes were sold and Episcopal houses of worship were used by others; the Olde Chappelle Church became a Primitive Baptist church in 1823.

Greer's research indicated that the Primitive Baptist congregation took very good care of its old church, which has stood in its original location for 241 years on Virginia 627 (Old Chapel Road) a few hundred yards south of Virginia 890 (Snow Creek Road).

In a picture taken in 1950 by Greer, the building appeared remarkably close to its original state, and its dimensions and construction matched the orders given by the vestrymen in 1769. Members of the congregation told Greer that the church was quite old when they first occupied it in 1823, when it was known as the Church near the Old Chapel. Eventually, it became known as the Old Chapel Church.

Statements by neighbors (James Davidson and John Kitts Davidson) noted that members of earlier generations had said the church was once known as the King's House and that it "belonged to the King." Also, it was said that before the Revolution, "a tenth of everything a man made had to go there,' a reference to tithes exacted from all citizens.

Virginia Kelley, the last remaining local member of the Old Chapel congregation, passed away on Nov. 11, 2009 at the age of 95.

This old church and it current congregation continue a centuries-long tradition of maintaining religious institutions and spiritual development in what remains a pristine area near Chestnut Mountain and the Blackwater River.

Sources: "Bicentennial Reflections 1786-1986," Franklin County Bicentennial Commission; "Genesis of a Virginia Frontier," T. Keister Greer, 2005; "The Vestry Book of Camden Parish" Ms. N.E. Clement, contributor; "An Abbreviated History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia (unpublished)," Maude Carter Clement