First Church of Prince William and Later
White Hall Presbyterian Church
12814 Aden Road near Nokesville, VA 20181
After Church this Sunday Mairi and I left for our weekly Gallivant around the Virginia countryside. Because it was forecasted to rain sometime in the afternoon we decided to stay fairly close to home. If the forecast was as bad as they were saying we would just turn around and head home. Our journey took us down Bristow Road and eventually down onto Aden Road near Nokesville, which is still in Prince William County where we live. As we drove down the road we were able catch a glimpse of a Prince William County Historical Marker and behind it, hidden away, was the Cemetery and the site of where the First Presbyterian Churn Prince William and later White Hall Presbyterian Church had stood. Below are some of the pictures we took and some of the history we were able to glean through our research.
As we delved into researching the history of First Prince William Church it became apparent that this was a Church that faced many challenges before finally closing in 1890. White Hall Presbyterian Church which assumed the building in 1900 faced many of the same problems and finally was dissolved in September of 1910. The building was to stand until falling into disrepair and finally collapsing in the 1940s. As we walked the grounds, we were able to find an outline of the foundation where the Church stood with nothing more to indicate a Church had ever existed on that site.
It all started in 1848 when a group of Presbyterian families moved to the Nokesville area from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The new families made a request of the Presbytery of Winchester to organize a Church in the Nokesville area. The Presbytery of Winchester appointed John M. Henry and George W. McPhail to this task. On September 12, 1850 Mr. Henry reported the organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Prince William County, with 27 members by 1851.
First Prince William Church, Virginia, 1850
From: The Presbytery of Washington City and the churches under its care, By the Reverend J. E. Joseph Everett Nourse, 1819-1889
Before the year 1848 occasional services had been held in private houses in the vicinity of the present settlement of Nokesville by Rev. Dr. Harrison, of the Alexandria Church, and Rev. Mr. Stoddert, of the Winchester Presbytery. In 1848 the families of Messrs. Hornbaker and Rube, and other Presbyterians, having removed there from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Presbytery of Winchester at their request appointed Rev. J. M. Henry to organize a Church, which was effected July 20, 1850.
Following Mr. Henry, the services were further well sustained, chiefly by Rev. Thomas Balch, until the outbreak of the war, which scattered the Northern people and closed the Church. The building was saved from the flames of war by the intercession of Mrs. Mary Kline, one of its members.
In the fall of 1866, at the request of the people to have the services renewed by the Presbytery of Potomac, Rev. J. E. Nourse resumed preaching in the dwelling of Mrs. Rube, and in the spring which followed the building was repaired. Its grounds and the cemetery lot were the donation of Mr. Thatcher, of New Jersey. In 1875 Rev. Mr. Carmichael became the Stated Supply, and was succeeded in 1878 by Rev. Mr. F. M. Todd, the present pastor of the Manassas Church. No pastorate has existed. The population of the neighborhood has rather declined than increased, and there is apparently little, if any, of a new element to maintain Presbyterian services. Membership, 16.
Elders—John Slaught, W. S. Swayzee, J. G. Reading.
The ravages of the Civil War had caused a scattering of families, especially those that had come from the northern states. It was during this time that the Church sustained significant damage. It was only due to the efforts of Mrs. Mary A Kline that the church was not completely destroyed by fire. She managed to save both the pews and the communion service. It wasn’t, however, until the fall of 1866, at the request of the people to have the services renewed by the Presbytery of Potomac, that services were resumed. It was the Reverend J. E. Joseph Everett Nourse, who wrote the above excerpt, that pastored the Church. The people rallied to resurrect their Church from the wreckage of the burned out building. The Church seemed to have been revived and by June 14, 1873 the Alexandria Gazette reported:
“The citizens of Nokesville have been repairing and whitewashing the First Presbyterian Church and cemetery fences, adding very much to the appearance of that structure and its surroundings. A Sunday school and choir have also been organized, which promise to add greatly to the elements of religious and social order in that community, and also afford gratifying evidence of the growth of appropriate reverence for the Divine Author of all happiness. Services are held there regularly every Sunday.”
That was not to continue. As the Reverend Nourse stated above “The population of the neighborhood has rather declined than increased, and there is apparently little, if any, of a new element to maintain Presbyterian services. Membership, 16”. By 1889 most of the members had died or moved away. On December 24, 1890 it was decided by the congregation that the church be closed.
A new Presbyterian Church would occupy the vacated Church building in 1900 and be known as Whitehall Presbyterian Church. This Church also struggled with membership for the next ten years. At a meeting of the Chesapeake Presbytery in September of 1910 the church was ordered to be dissolved, with the members transferred to Greenwich Church. The unoccupied church building fell into disrepair and finally collapsed in the later 1940s.
Greenwich Presbyterian Church
15305 Vint Hill Rd, Nokesville, VA 20181
A History of the Greenwich Presbyterian Church
1810-1953 by Charles J. Gilliss
Excerpts from a pdf on the Greenwich Presbyterian Church website
Early Beginnings
Too much credit cannot be given to Mrs. Gilbert Moxley for her untiring and successful efforts to establish a Presbyterian Church in the Greenwich neighborhood, and for her nearly sixty years of unremitting labor in that Faith.
Aminta Elizabeth Moxley, wife of Gilbert Irland Moxley, was the daughter of Benjamin Douglas, and was born at Newport, near Port Tobacco, in Charles County, Maryland, on April 1, 1777. On April 22, 1802, she was married to Gilbert Irland Moxley, and came with her husband to “The Grove”, Greenwich, Virginia, where she lived until her death on December 31, 1858.
Soon after coming to Greenwich, Mrs. Moxley, herself perhaps the only Presbyterian in the neighborhood, began to hold religious services in her home, inviting in friends and neighbors. So popular became these services, that soon a small log building was erected to act as a place of worship. In 1810, a meeting took place in this little Church, in which a regular Congregation was organized, and if we are to believe certain records as found in the Library of Union Seminary, Richmond, this meeting of 1810 marks the beginning of our present Congregation in Greenwich Presbyterian Church, and comes down to us in an unbroken line, with variations of course.
By 1812, the Congregation had outgrown its place of worship, and the original log Church was torn down and its place taken by a new and larger log building, which was to serve for nearly forty-six years as a place of worship. This new log Church stood on the northwest corner of what is now the present Greenwich Church property, and at some unknown period, a well was dug close to its west wall; probably for use of the Congregation, but gradually came into use as a community affair.
In 1811, Mrs. Moxley lost her husband and was left a widow with four little daughters, which she could be seen dutifully leading to Church each Sabbath. Her entire life was devoted to the Presbyterian Cause, and when she passed away on December 31, 1858, she had lived to see the completion of the new Brick Church, and was laid to rest in the shadow of its walls, in the first grave to be made in the Church Yard.
The Church is Built
In 1833, Charles Green, an Englishman from Shropshire, came to Savannah, Georgia, where in time he established himself in business and became quite prosperous. That he was interested in Presbyterianism is shown by his attendance at the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah. Having a sister living in the Greenwich neighborhood, he used to visit her at times, and eventually become so fond of this part of the country that he purchased land here which he named “The Lawn”, and to which he added further tracts from time to time until he had 470 acres, on which he raised English sheep. He also married at Greenwich as his second wife, Lucy Irland Hunton, a daughter of Thomas L. Hunton, and a granddaughter of Mrs. Gilbert Moxley, who had started Presbyterianism at Greenwich.
Both Mr. Green and his wife became very much interested in the efforts of the Presbyterians of Greenwich, and to further their cause, purchased for their use, three acres of land, adjoining the site of the Log Church, and set about getting funds for the erection of a large Brick Church. Mrs. Green raised considerable of the funds necessary; a Mr. Wright of Savannah contributed generously, and Mr. Green made up the balance; the sum required being between $3,000.00 and $4,000.00. In 1854, the Congregation met to see the start of the foundation of the new Church, bringing with them picnic lunches. Mr. Spillman was the contractor and religious services were held in the open air by a Rev. Mr. Weems. By 1858, the new Church was completed and ready for occupancy, and the Congregation moved from the little old log building which had served their purpose for 46 years. However, in 1859, Dr. Moxley wrote to Mr. Green in Savannah, advising him that the walls of the new Church were beginning to bulge; that the steeple needed further bracing and that the roof was sagging and leaked badly.
Mr. Green replied under date of March 7, 1859, and requested that the contractor be required to brace the walls with three tie rods; to build brick foundation pillars under the floor, placing octagonal columns on them to the gallery and further columns to the base of the steeple; also to rebuild the roof in such manner that the arched ceiling could be used instead of a flat ceiling, and proper braces installed. All of these alterations were made, as may be noted in the Church today. He also notified Dr. Moxley, that matting for the Church was being shipped from Liverpool on the ship “Ann E. Hooper,” bound for Baltimore.
That Mr. Green gave a deed for the original three acres of land on which the Brick Church was built, there is not the slightest doubt, even though no record of the deed can be found. The surmise is that the book in which it was recorded, was one of those destroyed when Federal troops burned the Clerk’s Office at the Brentsville Court House in the early sixties. Proof that such a deed was given is shown by the fact that when the Northern troops attempted to seize the newly built Church for use as a hospital, Mr. Green objected strongly, stating that the deed therefore contained a draw-back clause, to the effect that the property should return to the heirs if it ceased to be used for religious purposes, which, said he, “would make it English property, as I am an Englishman.” The Church was not molested, which is the only instance of its kind that is known in this part of the country.
The log building (no longer used as a Church), was, however, seized at this time and used as a hospital by the Northern troops, and about the end of the war was burned, whether accidentally or otherwise, it is not known.
On October 11, 1856, Thomas L. Fitzhugh, Michael House and B. D. G. Moxley, Trustees, purchased for Greenwich Church, from James H. Moore and Harriet C. Moore his wife, for $55.00, a tract of land estimated to be between one and two acres, and described as follows: “bounded by the Greenwich Church lot on the West and three other public roads on the other three sides.” In other words, this was a narrow strip of land directly in front of and extending clear across the entire front of the Church lot, and its purchase would seem to have been extremely important. The Log Church stood in the north-west corner of this strip. Today, the Leach home is in the northeast corner, and as this belongs to “The Lawn”, a part of one of the roads probably originally ran between it and the Church property. For further details regarding sale of the Moore tract, see Liber 24, folio 295 of the Land Records of Prince William County, Va.
It will be noted that Thomas L. Fitzhugh and B. D. G. Moxley had both been ordained Elders under date of June 15, 1856. Michael House had been ordained as an Elder before October 11, 1856; the exact date not known. All of these men must have been very prominent in church affairs, for they were all Trustees on date October 11, 1856, and all are mentioned as the Elders in charge of the newly created Greenwich Presbyterian Church on its separation from the Warrenton Presbyterian Church, October 18, 1867.
Rev. John W. R. Pugh (he usually signed himself Bro. Jno. W. Pugh), came to Warrenton in 1852, probably about the time the Presbyterian Church of that place was destroyed by a tornado. He was installed November 17, 1855, which was the same year the corner stone of the new Warrenton Church was laid. He therefore saw the erection of the two Presbyterian Churches under his care; the one at Warrenton 1855-1856 and the one at Greenwich 1854-1858.
On October 18, 1867, when the Congregation of the Greenwich Church was granted permission by Rappahannock Presbytery to become a separate and independent Church, Mr. Pugh continued to act as their Pastor, in addition to being the Pastor of the Warrenton Church, until the date of his resignation on September 27, 1868.
The Church Building Itself
Our history would hardly be complete without some thing regarding the interior and exterior of Greenwich Church
On some very early date, probably soon after completion of the new Church in 1858, a pipe organ was placed in the arched space directly back of the pulpit. Being before the days of electricity in the community, this organ had to be pumped by hand, and Elder George Wood recounts how this used to be his job when a boy. Considerable trouble was experienced by mice building nests in the organ, and soon after 1900, when a part of the ceiling fell, the organ was totally ruined. The ceiling was soon replaced with a metal one, and on November 22, 1903, the Session Instructed the Ladies’ Aid Society (forerunner of the Woman’s Auxiliary), to purchase a new reed organ; the old organ to be taken in as $50.00 credit on same. This reed organ was used until about 1949, when its place was taken by the Hammond Electric Organ, gift of the Ellis Family.
Originally at the extreme front edge of the platform, and directly in front of the pulpit; used to be a low solid fence, back of which the Choir sat. This fence was removed early in the nineteen hundreds, and the Choir was placed in the south-east corner where the electric organ is today.
All that can be gathered about the original pulpit was that it was massive and beautiful. Why it should have been removed, we have no idea. The Session under date of October 22, 1909, extended their thanks to a Mr. Kronk for the gift of a pulpit and a reading stand. This is the pulpit in use today; the reading stand is now doing duty in the Hall.
On July 2, 1910, the Session extended thanks to Miss Mabel Wagner for her gift of two marble tablets containing the Ten Commandments. These are now on the wall, in the arch-way originally occupied by the pipe organ.
There are three marble tablets in the south end of the Church; that in the left corner being in memory of Lucy Irland (Hunton), second wife of Charles Green, and a member of the Congregation until her death in 1867. The tablet in the right corner is in memory of Charles Green, and a tablet on the west wall and near the south corner, is in mernory of Jane Alexander Milligan, founder of the Ringwood Academy. A small bronze tablet, in the center and just below the Ten Commandments, is in memory of Aminta Elizabeth Fisher, third wife of Charles Green, and donor of the Moxley Memorial Manse in 1906.
On the outer rail of the balcony and facing the pulpit, used to be an extrernely large circular gilt clock, which now seems to have disappeared. This clock had not run for years.
It is natural that at the building of the present Church, an opening should be made to the public roads, both on the East and the West, for hauling needed materials for construction. To the North, directly in front of the building, was a narrow strip of land, owned by James H. Moore, and while this was soon purchased by the Church in 1856, it was at the beginning not feasible to make an entrance to the north. For many years, the side entrances were used exclusively for carriages and horses, and on each side of the Church yard proper, were erected stiles modeled after doorways in England, for use of those alighting for services. A careful study of some of the large oak trees nearby, will disclose iron rings, almost grown over by the bark, to which horses used to be hitched. These picturesque old stiles still remain as they were.
On August 2, 1908, it was ordered that a new fence be erected around the Church Yard. This would indicate that there had been a previous one but evidently the Iron fence of today was
erected in 1908. It used to be customary to have “clean up day” once a year and at that time, some of the men would repaint the fence.
It was possibly about 1908, that complaint was made that the public were making a thoroughfare through the east and west gates; also that it was not possible to keep stray cows and horses out. Accordingly, both gates were permanently closed up, and a new gate was opened directly in front of the Church, which could be closed with an iron gate at will.
In 1952 a beautiful stone entrance was erected by Mr. and Mrs. John Ellis as a memorial to their only son Gordon, who gave his life in World War 11.
In the same year damage caused by termites led to an extensive repair and renovation program in the church building. The entire floor, which had been of wide pine boards, had to be removed, and new joists were laid. Most of the wainscoating had to be replaced. While the floor was removed, an automatic furnace was installed Then new oak flooring was laid on a substantial sub-floor. A center aisle replaced the old double aisles which led directly from each door to the front of the church. The church was lightened by changing the pews and wainscoating from mahogany to ivory in color. The pulpit furniture was refinished and in some cases replaced. Carpeting and choir curtains, given by The Women of the Church, completed the redecoration. The result is a place of quiet reverence and radiant beauty.