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. ? (414) I HE
Holmes Presbi
In lACortham
While Accomack can boast of having been the
home of Rev. Francis Makemie and still retains
his ashes, Northampton county, its neighbor on
the south, is not without evidences of having a
few of the Presbyterian faith -n the earlier years
In fact, as early as 1655 Rev. Francis Doughty,
a non-conformist from Staten Island, located
m t 1m AAlinf ir on /I urno fit a ininiaf aw aP fU a nnwioli
iu iuc tuuiiij auu ?* ao iuc uiiiiiotui ui iuc pai iou
of Hungars, following the death of Rev. Thomas
Iligbee, until about 1661. He was of the Dutch
Reformed Church, which is really Presbyterian,
and the fact that he was permitted to preach
here so many years shows that the people of
Northampton leaned that way. This was thirty
years before Rev. Francis Makemie had his
preaching place near the present site of Onancock.
The names of Scott, Goffigon, Douglass, Anderson,
Brown, Drummond, Poulson, etc., and
the names of Harmon, Hack, Hagcman, etc.,
show that there was always a good sprinkling
of people of both Scotch and Dutch extraction
in this section, all of whom brought with them
something of the faith of their fathers.
W ith the dis-establishment of the Episcopal
Chureh both the Methodist and Bautist estab
lished Churches in the upper and lower parts
of the couuty, but it was not untd 1841) that any
known elfort was made to establish any Church
of the Presbyterian faith here. Then it was
that liev. Natnamel Clark Lock was sent by
llanover Presbytery to supply a mission of that
church in the liayview section, evidently at the
request of certain earnest and faithful adherents,
in 184o he was sent back by the same Presbytery
to serve the held and a church site was obtained,
and on January 2, 1846, the trustees
gave out the contract for the church building.
Holmes church was the name given to it, and
the frames were cut in Norfolk and brought
over the bay, and the same frames are still in
the present church building, though there has
been some little change in the interior. In May
of that year the church was dedicated, Rev. J.
D. Mitchell and Rev. Stephen Taylor officiating.
On Thursday, August 13th following, Holmes
Presbyterian church was organized with nine
members. Revs. Joseph C. Styles and Nathaniel
Clark Lock officiating. Rev. Mr. Lock left in
the fall of that year and was succeeded by Rev.
llenj. F. Peters. The latter was succeeded in
1849 by Rev. Robert Gray for a short time, and
Mr. John Atkinson, a licentiate, served it for
two years.
Rev. Isaac Oliver Sloan, a licentiate from the
rresoytery or rnnaaeipma, Degan nis wora in
this church November 6, 1852. He was a convert
under the preaching of Rev. Mr. Lock and
one of the charter members and one of the first
elders. He remained a year and a half and
added ten members to the communion. In April
1857 Rev. Edward H. Compston was called to
the joint pastorate of Holmes church in this
county and Makemie church in Drummondtown
and remained two years. He was succeeded by
Rev. James Dunlap Thomas, who served the
churches till the fall of 1861, but left then to
attend the meeting of the Synod and could not
return till after the war ended.
. In January, 1874, Rev. Henry M. Anderson
was installed as pastor by a commission conciatin
ct nf T?nva P TT T? nnrl an/1 Mnon^nr AT
UlOVlUg VTA. TUt W AJl, *?V/UU (A11 V4 A 1 A?A
Woods. He served the church several years and
was succeeded by Rev. Robt. D. Stimson, of
Concord Presbytery, N. C., who labored here
for fourteen years, leaving in 1891 for the South.
He was an earnest and faithful servant of his
"Master and built the church up greatly. On
/
PBBSBYTBRIAN OF THE S
jterian Church
ip/on County
May 4, 1879, he organized the Bellehaven church
with twenty members and preached there regularly.
He aLso had a chapel in the lower section
of the county. The church in Cape Charles
city was organized on December 14, 1890, by a,
nAiiimiaoinn l?oo4 T T r? >->
^wuiiiii^oiuu xiurn -uaob xxauuvui JL lCoUJ LCI j . UUI1sisting
of Revs. "W. S. Lacy and R. D. Stimson,
with fourteen members, eight of them transferred
from Holmes church. Rev. Mr. Stimson
married Miss Scott, of this county. lie died
best year and leaves a son who is now about to
enter the ministry.
Rev. William C. Lindsay became the pastor
of Holmes church in 1892 and remained till 1895.
He began preaching in the Christian Association
hall in Eastville in the fall of 1892. Rev.
A. S. Venable became the pastor on November
15, 1895, and was installed May 10th of the
following year and continued as such until June
1, 1907. Under his pastorate the cnurch building
in Cape Charles city was erected and in
1902 was dedicated On the 22d dav nf Sentem
ber, 1904, the Eastville church was organized
with 12 members, 10 of them from Holmes
church. Rev. W. C. Flournoy, the present pastor,
was called as pastor of Holmes church in
1908, and has continued since to serve that
church faithfully, also serving as supply of the
Eastville church.
The first elders were Isaac Oliver Sloan and
Robert A. Young, the former entering the ministry
later on as, stated above. The late Dr.
George Smith, of Bayview, was elected an elder
in 1861, aud continued to serve as such till his
death some twelve or more years ago. Mr. Fred
E. Nottingham, of Norfolk, was also for some
years an elder in Holmes church, until he left
the county. The present officers of the church
1?1 J AT i T TA ATT J*
are: ruuers?iviessrs. u. uuwnes, vvoouis
Scott, Kemper Goffigon, Marion Scott, John L.
Scott and Wm. M. Upshur; deacons?W. L.
Scott and Charles D. Nottingham. Mr. Woodis
Scott was a deacon previous to being elected
elder and has been treasurer of the church for
thirty-five years.
Holmes church, being the pioneer church of
tiie Presbyterian faith in Northampton county,
has exercised a strong influence for good in the
section. The church has been built up and
strengthened in recent years and last year more
than a .score of additional members were brought
in. There is a close bond of interest between
the mother church and the churches in Cape
Charles, Eastville and Bellehaven?those blessed
ties that bind the hearts in Christian love should
ever grow and strengthen as time goes on. The
nlantiiur of Presbvterianism in our broad South
land is an interesting and inspiring history, and
the record of organizations like Holmes church
should kindle the zeal of others lest we forget
the great mission of our special branch of the
Christian Church in the world.
Besides contributing of its strength to organize
the three churches mentioned, this church has
furnished two ministers of the gospel, Rev. Isaac
Oliver Sloan, already mentioned, and Rev. Henry
C. Moore, now of Alabama. Mr. Sloan died
in Philadelphia October 27, 1899, at 70 years
~ 1 1 A. - I'tf- * 1 *
ui age, nuviug spem 111s uie in nome mission
work in the far Northwest. The church building
is a simple frame structure with stained
gla?8 windows. There is some talk of erecting
a new one. If this is done it should be a substantial
brick structure that would be more enduring
and thus more fittingly commemorate
the earnest efforts of the faithful in this county
and section.
Thomas B. Robertson.
Eastville, Va.
OUTH [ April 10, 1811
ROME VERSUS THE MARYLAND
LEGISLATURE.
Part I.
BY JUAN ORTS GONZALEZ.
My readers have already seen that neither
in the Avalon nor in the Maryland Charter was
there anything bearing on Religious Freedom
6r anything that could be attributed to Catholic
influence as such. They have seen also that
Lord Baltimore (Cecilius), who was then a most
important factor in Maryland colonial legislation,
and his secretary and constant adviser,
Rev. John Lewger, though nominally Catholic,
were both practically in truth Protestant.
I believe that my purpose has been accomplished
and that I have given conclusive evidence
that neither Lord Baltimore nor Lewger
were really Roman Catholics. Nevertheless I
shall give two additional quotations which furnish
even more forceful and striking proof of
what I have said. The first of these concerns
Lord Baltimore (Cecilius), and reads as follows,
page 455: "He assails the Pope, laughing at
his excommunications and bulls .... and it
leaves no room for debate whether "Cecilius,"
Lord Baltimore was a Roman Catholic or what
kind of a Catholic he was."
I do not believe that any statement could
prove more conclusively than the above that
i.ord Baltimore was not a Roman Catholic at all.
The second quotation concerns Lewger and is
found in an oilicial document to the Roman
catholic Congregation of the Holy Office. It
is therefore of more weight and value than the
statement of any writer, no matter how important
he may be. I shall give the words in Latin
and tianslate them as literally and accurately
vs nossihlfi. " OxLfi.irflnm T.einnnr
A'uum, olim praedicantem et ministrum, qui converse
ad fidem multum de fermento haeresis
retinuit; ea quippe dogmata adkuc tuetur, quae
catkolicorum aures merito offendit"?A certain
man named Lewger, his (Lord Baltimore's) secretary,
formerly a preacher and minister, who
though converted to the faith retained a great
deal of the leaven of heresy; he still even enforces
such dogma that the ears of Catholics
are shocked.
The document fri n. which were taken the
above words bears the date 1642 and was sent
by the high dignitaries of the Society of Jesus
to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office,
otherwise called the "Inquisition."
Now 1 beg my readers to bear in mind that
according to Hughes, the Jesuit historian, page
439, "The votes went largely as proxies into the
hands of the two men, Lewger and Calvert (Lord
Baltimore)." Therefore, if we consider the
i _ _ i /* i ?*
leauers we nna mat Dotn were Protestant
and not Catholic, a thing granted by
the most prominent Catholic writer and supported
by the most accurate facts and trustworthy
documents of that time. If we look at the first
Assemblies where the votes were taken by proxy
we find that the votes went largely into the
hands of these men nominally Catholic but
really Protestant.
There remains only the Assembly of Freemen
to be considered and we shall soon know by the
acts passed by this body whether any part of
the glory for religious freedom in Maryland belongs
to Catholics as such.
It can be said without any exaggeration and
with perfect historical accuracy even in case the
Catholics could show that the Assembly of Freemen
was made up of a Catholic majority that
a great part of the glory of that legislation belongs
to Protestantism since at the lowest estimate
eighty per cent, of those acts were suggested
by Lewger. Besides that no act passed
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