Part 19 (1/2)

The second house was made of brick, but, like the former one, was not large enough to hold the growing congregation. The work was commenced in 1814, the corner stone having been laid that year, with imposing ceremonies. It was completed in the following year, and was reported to the Council in 1816 by Bishop Moore, who stated to that body that he had consecrated a handsome, brick edifice in Fredericksburg and confirmed sixty persons.

In the short s.p.a.ce of thirty-three years it was found that this new, brick house was too small, and so, in 1849, it was removed and the present brick building was erected, which is one of the handsomest church edifices in the State, outside of the large cities. While this house was in the course of erection the church wors.h.i.+pped in the old Methodist church, just back of the park, which was destroyed by fire about 1852. The new church was consecrated and occupied in the Fall of 1849. A few years after its completion it was very much damaged by fire, but it was at once repaired and restored to its former beauty.

TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Trinity Episcopal church, composed of members who withdrew from St.

George's church, and organized with Rev. Dr. E. C. Murdaugh as rector, wors.h.i.+pped for some time in the courthouse, and afterwards in the Hanover-street Methodist church, which had not been used for religious services since the Civil war.[75] With commendable zeal this new congregation went to work, purchased a lot on the south corner of Prince Edward and Hanover streets and erected a handsome house of wors.h.i.+p, which in due time was consecrated to the service of the Lord. The change for the purposes for which this ground was used was indeed radical; it was from theatrical to church purposes. It is said that after the Revolutionary war this lot had on it a large frame house, which was at first intended for an extensive stable, but was converted into a hall for theatrical purposes. Theatrical companies visiting town would sometimes remain for a week exhibiting every night to large audiences of the elite of the town.

The first rector of Trinity church was Dr. Edward C. Murdaugh, who was succeeded by Rev. J. Green Shackelford, Rev. John S. Gibson, Rev. J. S.

Gray, Rev. Edwin Green, Rev. W. V. Reaney and Dr. H. H. Barber, who is now serving the church. Some few years ago the congregation erected a beautiful and commodious rectory near the church building, which adds much to the comfort and convenience of the pastor.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Presbyterian church in Fredericksburg was const.i.tuted in the early part of the nineteenth century. In the year 1806 Rev. Samuel B.

Wilson,[76] a young minister of that denomination, came to town. At that time there were but two Presbyterians in the place. As St. George's church, which had the only house of wors.h.i.+p in town, was without a pastor, Mr. Wilson was invited to preach in that church. This invitation was gladly accepted, and for some time he preached in St. George's church, large congregations attending the services. In a few years Mr. Wilson succeeded in getting together a sufficient number of Presbyterians to organize a church, and a house of wors.h.i.+p was erected in 1810 on the lot where the asylum (at present known as Smithsonia) now stands on Amelia street.

This house was occupied until the present brick building on George street was erected, which was in 1833, and was dedicated on the 26th of July of that year. The old church on Amelia street stood back several yards from the sidewalk and was approached through a gate, near which the bell was suspended on a cross-beam erected on two uprights. In the gallery of the church, where the choir was seated, a large bra.s.s ball was arranged on the principle of a metronome, which marked the time for the singers. Some years after the house on George street was built a comfortable manse was erected on the same street, near the church, for the pastor.

In 1880 the ”Memorial Chapel” was erected just in rear of the present church building, fronting on Princess Ann street and neatly fitted out by Mr. Seth B. French, a Fredericksburg man, then residing in New York city, as a memorial to his daughter Margaretta, who died just as she was entering into womanhood; upon the death of his wife, a few years afterwards, who was the daughter of Judge John M. Herndon, he placed a very beautiful and costly window in the east end of the building as a memorial of her. This house is built of granite, quarried on the old Landram farm, two miles west of Fredericksburg, and is of a superior quality. The Presbyterian house of wors.h.i.+p, like other houses of wors.h.i.+p in town, was dismantled during the Wilderness campaign in 1864 and used by the Federal authorities as a hospital. After the war the Presbyterians had no bell and their church had been sacked by Federal soldiers.

In connection with this condition of things an amusing incident occurred, which was related to us by the perpetrator of the joke, and which is too good to be lost. Just after the war, when the different church buildings had been repaired and fitted up for occupation by the respective congregations, Mr. James McGuire, a prominent member of the Presbyterian church, met Mr. Reuben T. Thom, senior warden of St. George's church, on the corner of the street near the Presbyterian church, St. George's being on the diagonal corner. They engaged in conversation, during which Mr.

McGuire appeared to be very much troubled because all the other churches had bells to call their congregations together while the Presbyterians had none. Mr. Thom, kind hearted as he was, sympathized with them very much and undertook to console Mr. McGuire. Seeing Mr. Thom was very much concerned, and casting his eyes up towards St. George's bell, just across the street, his countenance brightening up as if a new idea had struck him, queried: ”Well, Mr. Thom, won't you let the Presbyterians come to church by St. George's bell?” Mr. Thom, being anxious to accommodate the Presbyterians, but feeling that he was not authorized to decide the matter, replied: ”Eh, eh, I have no objection myself, Jimmie, but, but I will lay the matter before the vestry, and will inform you of its action!”

Mr. Wilson served the church as pastor until 1841, when he resigned to accept a professors.h.i.+p in the Union Theological Seminary, then at Hampden-Sidney, in Prince Edward county, Virginia. He was succeeded by Rev. George W. McPhail, D. D., and Rev. A. A. Hodge, D. D. Rev. B. T. Lacy supplied the pulpit for some time prior to the Civil war, but was never the regular pastor of the church. The church has had the following pastors since the war: Rev. Thomas W. Gilmer,[77] Rev. James P. Smith, D. D., Rev.

A. P. Saunders, D. D., Rev. Benjamin W. Mebane, D. D., Rev. John W.

Rosebro, D. D., and Rev. J. H. Henderlite, who is now serving the church.

Governor John L. Marye was a ruling elder of this church for more than forty-seven years, giving faithful and efficient service.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH.

The Baptists came into notice as early as the year 1768, when John Waller, Lewis Craig and James Chiles, three zealous Baptist ministers, were seized by the sheriff of Spotsylvania county, carried before three magistrates in the yard of the church building, on the charge of ”preaching the gospel contrary to law.” They were ordered to jail in Fredericksburg, and, while in jail, preached through the iron gratings of the windows and door to large crowds, who a.s.sembled to see and hear them.[78] It is said as they marched through the streets of the town to jail, in the custody of the officers of the law, followed by a large, noisy crowd jeering at them, they sang that old hymn by Watts, to the tune of Wyndham:

”Broad is the road that leads to death.

And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrow way, With here and there a traveller.”

And as the sweet, solemn notes fell upon the ears of the curious crowd the jeering ceased, and before the hymn was concluded many persons were melted to tears.

The Baptist church of Fredericksburg was organized by Rev. Andrew Broaddus, Sr., the great orator of King and Queen county and later of Caroline county, in the year 1804, who for several years was its pastor.

In 1810 Rev. Robert Baylor Semple, in preparing his ”History of Virginia Baptists,” says of the Fredericksburg church: ”They have no resident pastor, but are supplied by Mr. A. Broaddus, who attends them monthly. If there is any objection to Mr. Broaddus's ministry in this city it is that he is too popular with the irreligious. It may be said of him as was said of Ezekiel: 'Lo! thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do them not.' This remark by no means applies to the church, for, although they hear with much pleasure, they practise with more. It is a young and rising church.”

The first house of wors.h.i.+p erected in town by the Baptists was a small, frame structure built on the ground now occupied by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company as a depot, but before many years had pa.s.sed the congregation had so increased in size the small building was found to be inadequate and a large, brick building was erected on Water street, where s.h.i.+loh church, old site, now stands, and for thirty years or more the church wors.h.i.+pped in that building.

Under the preaching of able and faithful pastors the members.h.i.+p rapidly increased and the congregations became larger, and by the middle of the century the house on Water street was found to be too small to accommodate the increasing attendance. In the year 1854 the present large and commodious brick building was erected on Princess Ann street, mainly through the efforts of Rev. Wm. F. Broaddus,[79] the pastor, J. B.

Benwick, Jr., architect, notwithstanding on a tablet in the front of the church that work is credited to another.

The new house, with a large addition to it about twelve years ago, has proved ample for the church and congregation to the present. Rev. Andrew Broaddus, the first pastor, was succeeded by the following ministers: Rev.

Robert B. Semple, Rev. Carter Braxton, Rev. Mr. James, Rev. John Teasdale, Rev. John M. Waddey, Rev. George F. Adams, Rev. S. C. Smith, Rev. Wm. F.