History

Below, is an excellent source of research material:

http://essexmuseum.org/archives.htm

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Below, double click to enlarge

   Marigold Plantation 1675, Thomas Bowler

   James Bowler Will

   Information on Marigold Owners over years

The above information is courtesy of Ellen Huppert, one of the owners.

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From the research of Ellen Huppert

Below, double click for map showing location to 1687 Lower Piscataway Church

Source:

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Organized:

• History of Lower Farnham Church (Marigold)

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• Joseph Sawin Ewing, Papers, 1794-1965 (bulk 1950-1965) - [focused upon Essex County]

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• Meriwether Smith

   

MINISTERS

FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.

By BISHOP MEADE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL.  I.

Philadelphia:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.

1891.

ARTICLE XXXV.
Parishes in Essex County.—No. 1. South Farnham.

This parish was erected in 1692. It was called South Farnham to distinguish it from one in Richmond county, on the north side of the Rappahannock, called North Farnham.

There were two churches in this parish, called Upper and Lower Piscataway. The first minister of the parish of whom we have any account was the Rev. Lewis Latane, a Huguenot, who came to this country and settled in this parish in the year 1700. He must have taken charge of the parish very soon after his arrival, as a letter from Governor Spottswood to the vestry of South Farnham—found among his papers, and bearing date 17th December, 1716—speaks of Mr. Latane as having been the minister of the parish for nearly sixteen years. This letter is in relation to an attempt on the part of the vestry to displace Mr. Latane, and severely reprehends their conduct, and threatens to interpose the authority of the Governor if persisted in. It must have been abandoned, as appears from the journal of a Mr. John Fontaine, who, travelling from Williamsburg through this region of country, heard Mr. Latane preach at the parish church, as he called it, in 1717, and speaks of his sermon and himself in high terms of commendation. This was the year after the date of the letter referred to. Mr. Latane seems to have been a quiet man, moving on in the even tenor of his way, but feeling keenly the injustice done him by his vestry. The opposition to him was not on the ground of immorality or ministerial unfaithfulness or inefficiency, but on account of his dialect, to which Mr. Latane thought they ought now to have become accustomed. He felt aggrieved that, after preaching for them so many years, the objection should be made at so late a day. An anecdote connected with this matter is related of him, which seems to be characteristic of the man. He was riding with one of his parishioners, when the subject of his removal was talked over by them. The other expressed his sorrow, but thought it better on the ground that Mr. Latane's sermons were rendered unintelligible by his foreign brogue. Before separating they came to the minister's gate. " Go by," he said, "and get something to drink;" which was readily agreed to. This he said to prove him. " Now," said the minister, " you can readily understand me when I tempt you to do wrong, but you can't understand me when I counsel you to do right."

How long he continued to officiate in the parish church cannot be ascertained. No records of the parish pertaining to the church are to be found, even after diligent inquisition made. The proceedings of the vestry of South Farnham, in relation to the work of processioners who were appointed by the vestry under authority and by direction of the court of Essex, have been found; but they only show who were the ministers and who the vestrymen of the parish at each meeting for that business. The first meeting was held in 1739, when the Rev. William Philips was present. Nothing but the name of this person can be gathered from this or any other source. He is mentioned as being present at subsequent meetings up to 1744.

An interval of eight years occurs, and the Rev. Alexander Cruden appears in 1752 and continues until 1773. There is no one living in the parish who can remember any thing of Mr. Cruden. Vague tradition represents him as having been a fine preacher in his day. Nothing is known as to his piety. He was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, as is believed, and returned to that country during the Revolutionary War. He must have relinquished his charge two years before the war commenced. There was no minister in the parish from that time till 1792, when the Rev. Andrew Syme, of Glasgow, Scotland, came to the village of Tappahannock as tutor in the family of Dr. John Brockenbrough, and preached in the churches of South Farnham. He received a small salary raised by voluntary contribution. What were the fruits of his ministerial work: whether the scattered sheep were collected and their drooping spirits revived, or the tide of infidelity which was then rising and afterward spread over this region was stayed by his labours, does not appear. Being the first minister after the Revolution, he doubtless had many difficulties to contend with, and his usefulness must have been lessened by his school. He removed from Essex to Petersburg in 1794. More than twenty years elapsed before there were again any regular services in the parish. The Rev. Mr. Mathews, of St. Anne's parish, Essex, the Rev. Mr. Carter, of Drysdale parish, King and Queen county, and the Rev. Mr. Krew, of Middlesex county, officiated in South Farnham for the rites of baptism, marriage, and burial, when sent for by the few remaining followers of the Episcopal Church. When regular services were ngain resumed, it was under the ministry of the Rev. John Reynolds, in 1822, who came to this country from England a Wesleyan Methodist and afterward entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church. He was called by the two parishes of Essex united. The parishes continued so under the ministry of the Rev. J. P. McGuirc, who was called to the rectorship of St. Anne's and South Farnham parishes in 1825. When he resigned, in 1852, the parishes were each able to support its own minister. During the dreary interval in 'the history of the Church in South Farnham parish referred to, the influence of the Church had waned until it seemed almost lost. That it should be revived, humanly viewed, seemed more improbable than that it should become extinct. It was "the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." The few remaining friends were now without minister or temple. Both churches in the parish had been destroyed,—one being pulled flown, the other burned. The feeling of hostility to the Church engendered by the establishment under the Colonial Government, and transmitted from generation to generation, was greatly increased in this vicinity by the imprisonment of some of the Dissenting ministers, —a proceeding which was unjustly identified with the Episcopal Church. This feeling, at its height when the influence of the Church was at the lowest, joined with the stronger feeling of rapacity, led, as may be supposed, to wholesale plunder of the churches and church-property. The destruction in this parish has been complete. Nothing is to be found but the durable materials of which the buildings were made. The bricks may be recognised where seen ; but they are nowhere found except in other buildings. The flagstones, too, from the aisles, may be seen in walks and in hearths; but not a whole brick, much less one upon another, nor a piece of timber, is to be seen where the temples of the living God stood. The monuments of the dead were not even spared in the general depredation. These were dragged from their resting-places and made into grindstones, and may still be identified by parts of the original inscriptions.

As mentioned, no vestry-book is to be found belonging to the parish, no Bible, Prayer Book, font, nor Communion-table; and the strange fact can only be accounted for by supposing that they shared one common ruin with the churches.

One of these buildings was preserved from destruction by a worthy old gentleman who is said to have watched, with his servants, night after night, to protect the house of God. When he died, the work of destruction went on, nor ceased till nothing was left to tempt the cupidity of the plunderers. The other was spared, to meet, if possible, a worse fate. The bricks and nails were the most tempting materials in this house; and, as the readiest way to obtain these was to fire the building, this was done accordingly. But the first attempt to burn it was unsuccessful ; the fire, after burning for a time, went out of itself. No one of sensibility could see this house of God as it then stood— charred and blackened by fire, hacked by axes, and otherwise injured by Vandal hands — and not have his feelings deeply moved. But this condition did not suffice the spirit that was bent on its destruction. It stood a short time longer, was again fired, and burned to the ground. It had been a noble structure of the kind, must have been one of the oldest Colonial churches, and, until within a few years of its destruction, had much of venerable grandeur in its appearance. Having, up to the time of its destruction, so far withstood the influence of three natural elements, and a still worse and more cruel in the bosom of man, with no guardians left but the venerable oaks which had watched over it in better days, and were still stretching out their arms toward it as if to afford help in its fallen state, it was an object of peculiar interest. Few indeed must have been the friends then to ask, "Who saw this house in its first glory, and how do ye see it now?" or they had not had so soon to take up the lamentation, " Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste." But there was "a remnant, according to the election of grace," who 'i sighed for the abominations" they could not prevent, mourned over the desolations of Zion, " who took pleasure in her stones, and favoured the dust thereof." They were as the " two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough" left after the vintage. But they were "mothers in Israel," and nourished a seed for the future Church. The glebe belonging to the parish, together with the plate belonging to both churches, was sold, and the fund accruing invested for the support of the parish poor. The fund yields about one thousand dollars per annum. The plate was massive, and sold, at a sacrifice, for some three hundred or four hundred dollars.

The glebe was a donation from Rev. Lewis Latane, the first minister of the parish. Had this plea been urged, after proper steps to establish it,—as might have been done in the bar of the sale,—it had no doubt been prevented. The following are th« names of persons who constituted the vestry of South Farnham parish from 1739 to 1779:—

" Hon. Johu Robinson, Captain Nicholas Smith, William Roane, Mr. William Coviugton, Isaac Scandrith, John Vass, Captain William Danger- field, Alexander Parker, Abraham Montague, James Reynolds, Captain Francis Smith, Mr. Henry Young, James Webb, John Clements, John Upshaw, Henry Vass, James Mills, William Montague, William Young, Thomas Roane, Samuel Peachy, .V'crriwether Smith, Archibald Ritchie, John Richards, James Campbell, William Smith, James Edmonson, Newman Brockunbrough, John Beal, John Ediuon*oD.

'' The Rev. Lewis Latane fled from France to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in October, 1685, and remained there until the year 1700. He was ordained Deacon, September 22, and Priest, Oc- t'ber 18, of that year; reached Virginia, March 5, 1701, and took charge of the parish of Soutii Farnham, April 5 of that year. He was married once before he came to this country, and twice afterward. His third wi;e, of whom alone any thing is known, was Miss Mary Dean, a relative and protege of Mr. William Beverley, of Blandfield, in Essex county, and 01 the adjoining parish of St. Anne's. Mr. Latane died in 1732, leaving a widow, and one sou named John, and five daughters. In his will we have the following characteristic trait of him:—' My will is, that whatsoever I am justly indebted to any person be duly paid by my executor; aud whereas Mrs. Phurbe Kater, in her last will and testament, disposed of such things to my daughters C-, P., and 8., as were not in her power to give, my will is that none of my said daughters shall have any of the said legacies paid them. But, if any of them shall be so refractory as to insist on having any of the said legacies paid them, then I give to each of my said daughters twelvepence, iu full of all the legacies hereafter iu this my will to them given aud bequeathed.' "

Faithfully have the descendants of this upright and conscientious man followed the example of his integrity. Perhaps there is no instance to be found in Virginia, where a whole family have been more remarkable for truth and fidelity in all their dealings and character. John, his only surviving son, married a Miss Mary Allen. William, his only surviving son, married a Miss Ann Waring, leaving a large number of sons and daughters. His daughter Lucy, third in descent from Mr. Latane, married Mr. Payne Waring, of Essex, so well known as the zealous and liberal friend of the Church in that county and in the diocese, and father of the present Mrs. Richard Baylor. His son Henry, now seventy- three years of age, has several children who are members of the Church, one of whom is preparing for the ministry. His daughter Mary married Mr. John Temple, one of whose sons is the minister of Old South Farnham parish at this time, and one of whom died at the University in the year 1829, a model of piety and all excellence. A brief tribute is due to his memory. In the year 1829, a most pestilential and fatal disease broke out in the village of Charlottesville and at the University. Nine of the students in the latter fell victims to it, and among them young Temple. Being invited by the authorities of the University to improve that most afflictive dispensation, I prepared and delivered a discourse, which was published. From it I extract the concluding sentences, which will show in what high esteem young Temple was held:—

" Is there upon earth a sight so interesting as that of a young man, at a seat of learning, in the midst of temptation, surrounded by other youths of widely-differing sentiments, yet steadily holding on 'the even tenor of his way.' resisting pleasure, avoiding evil communication, acting from religious principle, and not ashamed to call himself by the name and seal himself with the seal of Christ? Have you seen none such, my young hearers ? Amidst all your voung associates, was there not one who loved his Saviour, one whom you all loved, all esteemed, whom you could not but love and esteem, and who was a witness to the truth of that which I have spoken to-day ?

" Was young Temple less beloved by you all because young Temple was a Christian, because a portion of his Sabbaths was spent in teaching the young and ignorant, because the Bible was his daily study ? And, when death was sent to summon him away, was he less happy? Which one of you present, now in your own mind hostile to religion and in your conduct furthest removed from it, but would, if called to die, rather be as young Temple was, than as you now are ?"

The following documents explain themselves:—

"At a Council held at the Capitol, the 23d day of January, 1716, present the Governor and Council.

" On reading at this Board a representation from Mr. Commissary Blair, setting forth that the vestry of South Farnham parish, in Essex county, have taken upon them to suspend Mr. Lewis Latane, their minister, from the exercise of his ministerial office, without any previous accusation or conviction of any crime ; and that the said vestry have also prohibited the performance of divine service in the said parish, by causing the church- doors to be shut, and praying the consideration of this therein, and the orderof the vestry for suspending Mr. Latane being also read, it is the unanimous opinion of this Board that the said vestry have no powcT to turn out their minister in the manner they have done; and, therefore, it is ordered that the churchwardens cause the doors of the church to be opened, and that the said Mr. Latane be permitted to exercise his ministerial functions therein, until he be legally tried and convicted of such crime as renders him unworthy to be continued, for which there are proper judicatures to which the said vestry may apply, if they have any thing to charge him with. And it is further resolved, that in case the said vestry shall refuse to pay their minister, in the mean time, his salary due by law, that propei measures be taken for obliging them to do him justice.

"(Copied.) Wm. Robertson, Clerk 'f Council"

Letter of Governor Spottsicood to the Churchwardens and Vestry of South Farnham Parish in Essex.

" Williamsbuho, December 17th, 1716.

"gentlemen :—I'm not a little surprised at the sight of an order of yours, wherein you take upon you to suspend from his office a clergyman who, for near sixteen years, has served as your minister, and that without assigning any manner of reasoo for your so doing. I look upon it that the British subjects in these Plantations ought to conform to the Constitution of their mother-country in all cases whereiu the laws of the several Colonies have not otherwise decided; and, as no vestry in England ever pretended to set themselves up as judges over their ministers, so I know no law of this country that has given such authority to the vestry here. If a clergyman transgresses against the canons of the Church, he is to be tried before a proper judicature; and though in this country there be no Bishops to apply to, yet there is the substitute of the Bishop, who is your diocesan, and who can take cognizance of the offences of the clergy; and I cannot believe there is any vestry here so ignorant but to know that the Governor, for the time-being, has the honour to be intrusted with the power of collating to all benefits, and ought, in reason, to be made acquainted with the crime which unqualifies a clergyman from holding a benefice of which he is once legally possessed. In case of the misbehaviour of your minister, you may be his accusers, but in no case hia judges; but much less are you empowered to turn him out without showing any cause. But your churchwardens, ordering the church to be shut, up, and thereby taking upon them to lay the parish under an interdict, is such an exorbitant act of power, that even the Pope of Rome never pretended to a greater; and if your churchwardens persist in it, they will find themselves involved in greater troubles thau they are aware of.

" By the small number of vestrymen present at the making the late order, and the dissent of several that were, I apprehend the turning out of Mr. Latane, and what has followed on it since, to be the effect of some sudden heat, and therefore I am willing to believe that, upon cooler deliberation in a full vestry, you will think fit to reverse that order, and give your minister the opportunity of a fair trial, if you have any thing to accuse him of, which is what every subject ought to have before he is condemned. But if, contrary to my expectations, you persist in that unwarrantable way you have begun, I recommend to your inquiry what success a vestry who took upon them the like power met with at Kichotan, (Hampton) But I hope, without obliging me to exert that authority his Majesty has intrusted me with, in this case you will rather choose to be reconciled to your minister, which will be more for the quiet of your parish, and much more obliging to,

"Gentlemen, your most humble servant,

A. Spottswood."

A GUIDE TO THE

Joseph Sawin Ewing, Papers, 1794-1965 (bulk 1950-1965)

The Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia
www.lva.virginia.gov/

Processed by: Renee Savits
Date completed: May 4, 2001

Personal Papers Collection, Accession # 31871
Extent: 4.05 cubic feet; 9 boxes; box numbers 1-9

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance:
Gift of John MacDonald Ewing, 1208 Morningside Lane, Alexandria, Virginia, 28 July 1983.

Restrictions:
None

Preferred citation:
Joseph Sawin Ewing, Papers, 1794-1965 (bulk 1950-1965). Accession 31871. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA 23219.

Separations:
One hundred forty one maps were transferred to the Map Collection. These include primarily U.S.G.S. topographic quadrangles and facsimiles of some historical maps. A list of the maps is contained at the end of the container list.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

The Reverend Joseph Sawin Ewing (1899-1965) was born in Illinois and spent a great part of his life in the midwest and west, serving churches in Oregon, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. A 1922 graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary, he returned to Virginia in 1950 as rector of South Farnham Parish, Essex County, Virginia. Residing in Tappahannock, he was active in local historical societies and served as president of the Essex County Historical Society in the early 1960s. He became interested in the history of local Indian tribes and early colonial churches, doing research and field work in both areas, locating early sites through records, maps, and local people. He published articles in Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (1963) and Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (1965).

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

These papers consist of research notes, correspondence, printed items, and published articles documenting Ewing's interests in genealogy and local history of the Old Rappahannock County (Va.) area. The county existed from 1656 to 1692 and covered present day Essex and Richmond counties and parts of other adjoining counties. There are transcripts of court records, correspondence, information on old homes, towns, families, and villages of Old Rappahannock County, extracts from published sources, and other historical information. Ewing also included King and Queen, King George, Lancaster, Middlesex, New Kent, and Westmoreland counties in his researches.

The papers are divided into eight series including, Colonial Church, Correspondence, Indians, Notes, Pioneer Settlements, Research notes for published articles, Rosegill, and Subject files. Ewing's original folder titles have been maintained, along with the original series division. Ewing's method of titling folders appears to have been one of casual notations of content, rather than precise information on materials within the folders. Therefore crosschecking of folders and series is necessary to yield all pertinent information.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Series I: Colonial Church (1794-1961)
This series includes notes, maps, outlines, plats, and published materials used in Ewing's 1961 lecture series on the colonial church in Virginia. Ewing lectured at the Grace Episcopal Church (Alexandria, Va.) and the Abingdon Men's Club (Abingdon, Va.), among other places. Included are notes on Lancaster Parish (Middlesex County, Virginia), South Farnham Parish (Essex County, Virginia), and Upper Piscataway Parish (Old Rappahannock County, Virginia).

Series II: Correspondence (1952-1965)
This series includes correspondence from genealogists researching families in Essex, King and Queen, King George, Lancaster, Middlesex, New Kent, Richmond, and Westmoreland counties, Virginia. Correspondents include Stephen F. Bayne Jr., Laurance S. Brigham, Lawrence L. Brown, George MacLaren Brydon, George H.S. King, Howard McCord, George Carrington Mason, and Peter Quennel.

Series III: Indians (1950-1964)
This series includes correspondence, clippings, maps, notes, and publications Ewing gathered on the Rappahannock Indians. Includes copy of the publication "Indian Sites below the falls of the Rappahannock, Virginia," by David Bushnell, correspondence, newsletters, and quarterly bulletins from the Archeological Society of Virginia, and a paper written by Joseph Ewing, Margaret Ewing, and Helen Rountree entitled, "Indian towns in Virginia's Rappahannock River Valley, 1608-1800." Also includes information on the Mattaponi Indians.

Series IV: Notes
This series contains miscellaneous notes regarding Essex and Richmond counties, Virginia. The folders are labeled according to the source of the information. Folder titles include Essex County land tax lists and order books, Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia records, chancery cases, Colonial Records Project, and the Webb family papers.

Series V: Pioneer settlements
This series includes notes on the neighborhoods resulting from the Lancaster County court order of 6 August 1653, which created Rappahannock County and appointed ten commissioners to oversee the local muster. The order described the muster limits, which included the home plantation of each commissioner. These neighborhoods are numbered by Ewing and listed geographically from the lower end of the north side of the Rappahannock River to the upper section, and from the lower end of the south side of the river to the upper section. Ewing's folder titles have been maintained as well as the original arrangement of the folders after determining the subject's location on the north or south side of the Rappahannock River. Materials within these folders contain general information on land transfers and ownership of a particular piece of land.

Series VI: Research notes for published articles (1963-1965)
This series includes drafts and notes from articles written by Ewing, including "The First Justices in the Rappahannock River and the Formation of Rappahannock County," published in 1963 in the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine (Vol. 13, December 1963, pp. 1182-1194) and "The Correspondence of Archibald McCall and George McCall," published in 1965 in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (Vol. 73, July and October 1965, pp. 312-353, 425-454). Included are notes, footnotes, drafts, and final drafts.

Series VII: Rosegill
This series includes notes, clippings, published materials, maps, and an outline for a paper about the Wormley family plantation of Rosegill in Middlesex County, Virginia.

Series VIII: Subject files
This series contains clippings, notes, maps, and correspondence on a variety of subjects including Bacon's Rebellion, biographies on Henry Fleet and George Washington, highway markers in Essex County, mills, naval officers and collectors of revenue in the rivers, roads and ferries, swamps and creeks, and tobacco.

CONTAINER LIST

Last modified: August 28, 2009

SMITH, Meriwether, a Delegate from Virginia; born at “Bathurst,” near Dunnsville, Essex County, Va., in 1730; completed preparatory studies; was a signer of the Westmoreland Association in 1766; member of Essex Committee on Safety in 1774; member of the House of Burgesses in 1774 and 1775; delegate to the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776; member of the state house of delegates 1776-1778; member of the Continental Congress 1778-1779 and 1781; again a member of the state house of delegates in 1781, 1782, 1785, and 1788; delegate to the state ratification convention in 1788; died at “Marigold,” near Ozeana, Essex County, Va., January 25, 1790; interment on his estate at “Bathurst,” near Dunnsville, Essex County, Va.

SOURCE:  http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000593

President Calvin Coolidge

Address at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
May 15, 1926

It was on the 6th of May, 1776, that there assembled at Williamsburg a convention which was to become historic. It was presided over by Edmund Pendleton, who had opposed the stamp act resolutions of Patrick Henry, but 11 years and the wanton cruelty of the royal governor had made a great change in the public opinion of the Colony and he had become a loyal supporter of independence. He now joined with Patrick Henry and Meriwether Smith in drafting resolutions to be proposed by Thomas Nelson, which refer to our country as "America," and after setting out the grievances that it had endured and "appealing to the Searcher of Hearts for the sincerity of former declarations" and a discussion in which Mason and Madison, to be known to future fame, took part, on the 15th of May, 1776, it

SOURCE:  http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=397; Retrieved 17 August 2009

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http://www.geocities.com/elaineclow/surname/meriwether.html#1

 NOTE:  Information is not guaranteed in terms of accuracy and or scope.  Purchaser should investigate any and all facts and or circumstances or conditions of or about the property and or land use, etc.