Earnest efforts have been made to locate the Vestry Book of Fairfax Parish containing information relating to Falls Church after the division of Truro Parish in 1765. This book was in charge of the rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, at the outbreak of the civil war and is supposed to have been lost or destroyed.
A few facts relating to Falls Church have been gathered from an address delivered by the rector of Christ Church in 1873 upon the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the latter church.
The Vestry elected for Fairfax Parish March 28, 1765, consisted of the following: John West, Charles Alexander, William Payne, John Dalton, George Washington, Charles Broadwater, George Johnston, Townsend Dade, Richard Sanford, William Adams, John Posey, Daniel French.
Rev. Townsend Dade, ordained by the Bishop of London in 1765, was the first minister of Christ Church, and it is presumed that as minister of the Parish he also officiated at the Falls Church. His salary was 17,280 pounds of tobacco, and 2,500 pounds were added to this for the deficiency of a glebe. He served as minister until 1778.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Dr. T. M. Talbott]
In November, 1766, the Vestry ordered a levy to be made upon the inhabitants of the parish of 31,185 pounds of tobacco, for the purpose of building two new churches of brick; one at the Falls, the other at Alexandria.
The new brick church which the Vestry decided to erect in place of the old wooden structure was built, according to reliable information, by Mr. James Wren, for about 600 pounds sterling. Bishop Meade states in his book on old churches of Virginia, that a most particular contract was made for him as also for James Parsons, the contractor for the Alexandria church.
The mortar was to be two-thirds lime and one-third sand; the shingles were to be of the best cypress or juniper and three-quarters of an inch thick. The contract for building Falls Church called for a gallery, but this was never put in.
The Alexandria church was begun in 1767 by James Parsons, 600 pounds sterling being the contract price. Parsons failed to complete his contract and the building was finished for an additional sum of 220 pounds sterling by Col. John Carlyle, and formally delivered February 27, 1773.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. C. L. Blanton]
In 1770 a tract of about 500 acres was purchased from Daniel Jennings at 15 shillings per acre, and upon this in 1773 the Fairfax Vestry caused to be erected a glebe house, or rectory, with a dairy, meat house, barn, stable and corn house for 653 pounds sterling.
During the Revolutionary War, Falls Church is said to have been the recruiting headquarters of Col. Charles Broadwater, one of Fairfax"s first patriots.
In 1775 there were in Virginia 95 parishes, 164 churches and chapels, and 91 clergymen. At the conclusion of the war for Independence only 72 parishes remained, and 34 of these had been deprived of ministerial help. Churches and chapels had gone to ruin; soldiers having turned them into barracks or stables.
In 1778 the Rev. Mr. Dade was succeeded as Parish minister by the Rev.
Mr. West, who served for a few months, and he in turn was succeeded by Rev. David Griffith who it is recorded exercised his ministry with fidelity in his Parish, preaching both at Alexandria and at Falls Church from 1780 to 1789. He had been chaplain in the 3rd Virginia Regiment during the revolution and was to the time of his death, in 1789, a close personal friend of Washington.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Geo. W. Hawxhurst]
From 1790 to 1792 Rev. Bryan Fairfax directed the affairs of Fairfax Parish, selecting for his a.s.sistant Rev. Bernard Page. Before the revolution, being an ardent royalist, he endeavored to dissuade from the war with the mother country his friend George Washington whose confidence and esteem he continued to enjoy to the last. Bryan Fairfax was the son of William Fairfax of Belvoir. He was ordained to the ministry in 1786 by Bishop Seabury. His t.i.tle as Eighth Lord Fairfax was confirmed to him by the English House of Lords in 1800.
The civil functions of the Vestry ceased in 1784. Thereafter, in the struggle following the disestablishment, having to depend upon voluntary contributions, many churches succ.u.mbed.
It was about this period, or not long after the death of Dr. Griffith in 1789, that Falls Church was abandoned as a place of worship, fell into a state of dilapidation, and was not used for many years. Chiefly at the expense of Henry Fairfax, grandson of Rev. Bryan Fairfax, formerly its rector, the building was repaired and young Mr. Minor, as a lay reader, organized a congregation of worshippers.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. W. W. Biggs]
In 1827 Bishop Meade visited this church and the description of it in his book "Old Families and Churches of Virginia" will be of interest.
"The exercises of the Seminary being over, I next directed my steps to the Falls Church, so called from its vicinity to one of the falls on the Potomac River. It is about eight miles from Alexandria, and the same from Georgetown. It is a large oblong building, and like that near Mount Vernon, has two rows of windows, being doubtless designed for galleries all around, though none were ever put there. It was deserted as a house of worship by Episcopalians about forty years ago. About that period, for the first, and it is believed for the last time, it was visited by Bishop Madison. Since then it has been used by any who were disposed to occupy it as a place of worship, and the doors and windows being open, itself standing on the common highway, it has been entered at pleasure by travellers on the road and animals of every kind. Some years since, the attention of the professors of our Seminary, and of some of the students was drawn towards it, and occasional services performed there.
This led to its partial repair."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. C. C. Walters]
Bishop Meade in this account of his visit to the old church states that he visited the same day an interesting school for young ladies at Capt.
Henry Fairfax"s where he delivered an address to the students. This school was located near Fairfax Court House. Mrs. Chichester, widow of the late Major John H. Chichester and a communicant at the present time of Falls Church, was a pupil of this seminary before the death of Capt.
Fairfax, and recalls the incidents connected with his death in the Mexican War and his burial near the old church door 57 years ago.
From the time Bishop Meade preached in the old church in 1827 to the beginning of the war of 1861 much that might be of interest is lost with the records of the Parish.
The damage to the church by soldiers during the civil war was later repaired at the expense of the United States Government at a cost of about $1,300. None of its ancient furniture has been preserved, the gray stone urn-shaped baptismal font alone remaining.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. J. W. Garner]
The rectors of Falls Church since the civil war have been Bishop Horatio Southgate, Rev. John McGill, Rev. Frank Page, Rev. J. Cleveland Hall, Rev. R. A. Castleman, Rev. Dr. John McGill again, and the present rector Rev. George S. Somerville.
The present vestry book begins November 27, 1873. The vestrymen for the year 1904 are S. D. Tripp, S. W.; J. T. Unverzagt, J. W.; C. A.
Marshall, Wm. E. Parker, A. H. Barbor, E. A. Ballard.
In connection with the name, it may be of interest to state that, previous to the Revolution, there being no bishop in Virginia, church buildings were not consecrated, generally being called after the parish in which situated, or from some other geographical name; hence the New Church, the Upper Church, the Falls Church. The simple name suggesting only its location as first bestowed upon the church near the Falls has now, after the lapse of years, become irrevocably fixed. Around it cl.u.s.ter so many memories of the early days that the name "Falls Church"
must continue unchanged to the last.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Town Sergeant John N. Gibson]
Extracts from Records of Vestry Meetings.
June 10, 1733:
Capt. Francis Aubrey, towards building the chapel above Goose Creek, 2,500 pounds of tobacco.
October 13, 1734:
To Mr. Robt. Blackburn, for his plans for building church, 16,750 pounds of tobacco.
To John Trammell, for grubbing a place for the church, 320 pounds of tobacco.
To Jos. Johnson, to read at the chapels, 1,300 pounds of tobacco.
November 18, 1735:
Jos. Johnson, Clk. of the New Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
Thos. (?) Bennitt, s.e.xton at the New Church, 150 pounds of tobacco.
Oliver Roe, s.e.xton Pohick Church, 300 pounds of tobacco.
August 19, 1736:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish this 19th day of August, 1736; present Jeremiah Bronaugh, Ch. Warden; Denis McCarty, Augustine Washington, Robt. Osborn, John Thurman, Wm. G.o.dfrey, Jas. Baxter, and Thos. Lewis, Vestrymen.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr J. C. Elliott"s Store]
Mr. Cha. Green being recommended to this vestry by Capt. Augustine Washington as a person qualified to officiate as a minister in this parish, as soon as he shall receive orders from His Grace, the Bishop of London, to qualify himself for the same, it is, therefore,
Ordered by this Vestry that as soon as the said Green has qualified himself as aforesaid he be received and entertained as Minister of the said parish, and the said Vestry do humbly recommend said Cha.
Green to the Right Honorable Thos. Lord Fairfax, for his letters of recommendation and presentation to his Grace, the said Lord Bishop of London, to qualify himself as aforesaid.