The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia Part 19

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 worshipped 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, worshipped 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 worship, 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 worship 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 worship 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 worship, like other houses of worship 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 professorship 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 worship 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 Shiloh church, old site, now stands, and for thirty years or more the church worshipped in that building.

Under the preaching of able and faithful pastors the membership 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.

Broaddus, D. D., Rev. Wm. H. Williams, Rev. Thomas S. Dunaway, D. D., Rev.

Jacob S. Dill, D. D., and Rev. R. Aubrey Williams, who is now serving the church. Dr. Dunaway's pastorate covered a period of thirty-two years, during which he greatly endeared himself to the church and people of the town, and was eminently successful in winning souls and building up the church. The Baptist church has a large and flourishing Sunday school connected with it that has had but four superintendents for sixty-three years. George W. Garnett[80] was superintendent for thirty and Prof. A. B.

Bowering served nearly twenty-three years, S. J. Quinn ten, and B. P.

Willis, having just been elected, has entered upon the work.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

The Methodists, who, for a number of years, were designated as a society, held services in Fredericksburg as early as 1786. For a number of years they held meetings from house to house, and were very active workers. It is not known when the first church or society was formed, or by whom it was organized, but it is known that persons united with that denomination before the dawn of the nineteenth century, and that Father Kobler commenced his ministry here as a local preacher in the year 1789, and continued his labors as such for over half a century. Therefore it may be concluded that the first organization of that denomination in Fredericksburg held its meetings in private houses for more than thirty years.

The first house of worship built by the Methodists in town, that we have any record or tradition of, was erected in 1822, on the lot in rear of Hurkamp park, fronting on George street, and occupied by Colonel E. D.

Cole as a stable and lumber yard. It was then outside of the city limits and was known as Liberty Town. It was a small frame building and was occupied until 1841, when the old church on Hanover street was finished.

The services were then held in the new house and the old frame church building was turned over to the colored Methodists, who occupied it for some time. It was destroyed by fire about 1852.

Some years after occupying the church building on Hanover street, the question of slavery, which had been so vigorously discussed by the denomination North and South, was the theme of discussion in the church at Fredericksburg. The feeling became strong between the parties and increased in intensity until it resulted in a split in the church. One division was known as the Northern Methodist, as its members opposed slavery, while the other division was known as the Southern Methodist, its members favoring slavery. When the difference became so marked and the feeling so bitter, that the parties could not longer worship together, the Southern Methodists withdrew, and held services in the second story of the town hall for some time. The Northern wing remained in the Hanover street house until the beginning of the Civil war.

In the year 1852 the southern division of the church erected a handsome brick building on the south corner of George and Charles streets, where Mr. P. V. D. Conway's residence now stands, in which they worshipped until the war came on, when the sessions of the church were almost suspended.

Since the Civil war the two churches united and occupied the George-street church until about the year 1879, when the old building on Hanover street was torn down and a house of modern architecture erected in its place.

Since that time the new church has been occupied and the George-street building was sold. About fifteen years ago an addition was built in rear of the church for the accommodation of the Sunday school. The church also has a parsonage on the same street, which was donated to it by Rev. John Kobler.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Kenmore," Mansion of Col. Fielding Lewis, who married Betty Washington; now residence of Councilman Clarance R. Howard. (See page 155)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Union House," where Gen. Lafayette was entertained in 1824 by his friend, Mr. Ross. (See page 144)]

In 1843 Rev. John Kobler, widely known as Father Kobler, a citizen of the town, a venerable local preacher of the Methodist church, distinguished for his piety and ability and greatly beloved by all who knew him, died and was buried beneath the pulpit of the Hanover-street church. Prior to his death he wrote his "farewell to the world," which he requested should be read as a part of his funeral service, which was done. The farewell is almost as long as a sermon and is "the very perfume of piety and Christian a.s.surance." 1st. He bids farewell to the ministry of the gospel and all the ordinances of the church of G.o.d. 2nd. He bids farewell to the church in her militant state. 3rd. He bids farewell to the communion of saints.

4th. He bids farewell to prayer. 5th. He bids a final and hearty adieu to temptation and to every species of the Christian warfare. 6th and lastly.

He bids farewell to his Bible. This history of him is given on the first page of the pamphlet: "John Kobler was born 29th of August, 1768; joined the Methodist Episcopal church 6th of December, 1786; was converted 24th of December, 1787; commenced his itinerating ministry 3rd of October, 1789; and died with glory on his lips, July 26th, 1843."

Some ten or twelve years after the death of Father Kobler his devoted and saintly wife followed him to the glory land and she was interred by the side of her husband. When the old building was torn down and the new one erected the sacred dust of these two sleeping saints was left undisturbed, and so under the pulpit of the new church their mortal remains still repose. The present pastor of the church is Rev. W. L. Dolly, a faithful and zealous servant of the Lord.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

About the year 1832 the religious movement, in which Alexander Campbell was the leader, began in Fredericksburg. A number of citizens, adopting the views held by Mr. Campbell, were organized into a Christian or Disciples church. With commendable energy and zeal they went to work, purchased a lot and erected quite a comfortable church building on Main street, between Amelia and Lewis streets. The church prospered until the breaking out of the Civil war, when, like those of the other churches, its members were scattered and church services were suspended.

Several efforts have been made since the war to reorganize the church, but they were unsuccessful until 1897, when Rev. Mr. Rutledge preached here for some days, got the members together and the church was organized. The old building has been remodelled and modernized and is now occupied by the congregation. After the church was reorganized Rev. Cephas Shelburne was called as pastor, and by his energetic labors the membership was very much increased. Mr. Shelburne was succeeded by Rev. F. S. Forrer and he by Rev.

I. L. Chestnutt. The church now has no pastor.

ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH.

The Roman Catholics had no church organization in town until the year 1859. In 1856 Bishop McGill visited Fredericksburg and preached a sermon of great ability and spiritual power, and under his influence a nucleus was formed, out of which the church was organized three years afterwards.

The newly organized church went earnestly to work at once to build a house of worship, and from amounts subscribed by the members and friends in town, and the a.s.sistance they received from abroad, a neat and comfortable brick building was erected on Princess Ann street, between Charlotte and Hanover. A frame parsonage was purchased some years afterwards just below the church building, which was destroyed by fire about the year 1875, after which the present brick parsonage was erected.

The church at different periods has been visited by Bishop Gibbons, now Cardinal, and Bishop Keene, by whom it was greatly strengthened. It has had for pastors since its organization Rev. Fathers Hagan, Donnelson, O'Farrell, Sears, Brady, Becker, Tiernan, Donahoe, Wilson, Kennefick, Demunych and Coleman. Rev. Father Perrig is pastor at this time.

THE COLORED BAPTIST CHURCHES.