Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia [pp. 161-169]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
A MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND ART.
RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER, 1857.
OLD CHIURCHIIES, MINISTERS, AND FAMILIES OF VIRGINIA.*
have been closed to.the inspection of
pes iee o thers,-s rhich inde ed no other person
would h ave known where to look for, -
have been freely offered to our ve nerable
annalist, and have been judicious ly u s ed
by him. Old vestry books, which have
been hid away for generations, have been
brought to light, and have been made to
reveal the names a nd de eds of men who
have been long numbered with the dead,
an d the recollections of whose virtues
and piety had almost entirely vanished.
Elderl y p eople, who had almost given up
in despair the reminiscences of their
early days, and had long ceased to foisu
them on living ears, have been evoked
for aid; and many a delightful memory
has thus been snatched from oblivion.
Tile venerable auth or, in quest o f the
re lies of the past, has not opened the
graves of the departed; but he has3
cleaned those graves of the rubbish
which rested above them, —has deciphered their mouldering inscriptions,-has
put together the fragments ef the marble
with which affection had sought in vain
to protect them from desecration, and
has made them utter important facts and
dates, which had otherwise been unknown. It would have been an interesting spectacle, to contemplate our v-enerable annalist, an, accompanied lay hbi
friends, he visited the ruins of James
Many of the articles composing this
history appeared consecutively in the
columns of the Southern Churchman,
and were read by persons of all denom inations, with unfailing interest. Extracts from them were made in the secular papers; and it is probable that there
is hardly an intelligent reader in the
whole country who has not been delighted with some of the graphic incidents with which these volumes abound.
To all who may have glanced at the articles as they passed through the weekly
pres s, as wel l a s t o others who are interested in the religious and civil history of
Virginia, we take pleasure in saying,
that there is at least one-third of additional matter in these volumes from the
press of Lippincott, and that a copious
appendix, containing much that can
hardly be found elsewhere in print, is
affixed to the end of the second volume.
As Virginians, disconnected from party
or sect, we confess our obligations to the
venerable author of the work before us.
Indeed it seems to us a problem difficult
of solution, how he could find time, in
the midst of his severe ministerial labours, to gather and compile such a vast
array of material as make up his work.
It is clear that no other individual could
have accomplished the same task. Records of private families, which would
, * OLD CHURCHES, MINISTERS, AND FAMILIES OF VIR(;GIN;IA. By BIs@oP MEADE: In tto VQ'o
umes. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1857.
Vol,. XXV-11'
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