SURVIVING GRAVESTONES AT
TRINITY CHURCH,
PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIAFrom the Inventory of Marshall Wingfield Butt
With Added Material By Dean Burgess: Trinity Church Historian
Portsmouth, Virginia 2000.Continuation.
This is a Georgia Granite Church Yard Cross, most often
called a Celtic Cross. When Christianity was first brought to
the north and west of the British Isles, the Celts were reluctant
to take on the new religion and abandon sun worship which was
represented by a great circle of the sun. The wily Christian
missionaries resolved this problem by hanging a circle on the
front of the cross.This Celtic cross is presented by the Neely Family
(through Mrs. Chas. R. Grandy) Trinity Sunday -
June 12th, 1938.Inscription on East Side: "To the Glory of God, and in
Memory of the First Vestry of Portsmouth Parish Virginia
1761.Thomas Grimes, John Tatem, John Ferebee, Richard Carney,
George Veale, James Ives, Giles Randolph, Wm. Crawford,
Thomas Creech, Jeremiah Creech, Hohn Herbert, Thomas
Veale.Inscription on West Side: "This Cross was erected by the family of Robert Johnson Neely 1879 - 1937 who was a Vestryman and Warden of Trinity Church Portsmouth Parish for 26 years."
The Neely family produced well-known missionaries to Japan and the family gave its house on the North Street side of Orange Row to the parish. It was used as a home for the curate until it was sold in the 1980s.
Some of the people buried in this yard were slave holders. We know John Thompson used slave labor in his brickyard, and in the auction of Bernard Magnien's substantial estate mention is made of "several valuable slaves," but most of the people buried here ran small businesses or were "mariners," having little use for the institution of slavery.
Some of those, however, did participate in "indentured" slavery. This predated the form of slavery we think of in Virginia in the nineteenth century. It is the ancient practice of selling both European and African children and young adults into servitude for a fixed period of time with a contractual obligation to educate them, usually in a trade. The following example of an indenture is signed by Thomas Grimes, in his official capacity as church warden of Portsmouth Parish. You can read the terms of the contract. After age 21 little Jack Sparrow would be one of the many "free blacks" who made Portsmouth their home. By the 1840s there was a large Sparrow family listed among "free blacks" in the town and a street near the shipyard was called Sparrow Lane. I like to think these are the descendants of Jack Sparrow, who learned well "the mystery of a seaman." From the Rev. Dr. Wingfield's description of the early church we know three pews in Trinity were painted black in this period for the African Americans in the congregation.
Page 63 example of indenture document
[64] While a warden at Trinity in 1761, John Tatem took possession of 175 acres on the east side of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River as a glebe for the parish. A glebe is a farm operated for the support of the clergy and the first two rectors lived on the glebe. The land was originally purchased by Col. William Crawford in 1734 from John and Courtney Abbit.
The Carney family remained large land holders in what is now Churchland until late in the twentieth century.
Thomas and George Veale were both among the nine Trustees of the new town of Portsmouth designated in the act forming the town. After Crawford's death most of the remaining lots in the town came to them, and so they are listed as the sellers of most of the town properties.
Charles Ives is listed on Back Creek Square and is probably a relative of James.
One of the Randolphs is noted on stone 52.
William Crawford is, of course, the founder of the town. Portsmouth was laid out on what was his plantation. He lived on Water Row near the corner of Crawford and High Streets. He had property as far away as the Pasquotank River in North Carolina and did a large business with England in tobacco, as you can see by this bill of lading signed by him. He was a colonel in the Virginia Militia before the town was laid out. His overseer's house is the only surviving manor house in Hampton Roads urban core. It is the handsome Georgian mansion on Swimming Point Walk, owned by Crawford as early as 1735 and now owned by Robert and Anna Reed, faithful members of this parish.
[65] You may be surprised to note that few of the first vestry remain in Portsmouth, but it is not so much a mystery when you realize some of them were Tories and lost their land in the American Revolution.
Erected by
William Morris
in memory of his wife
ISABELL MORRIS
a native of England
who died on the
27th day of September 1827
aged 26 years.
Grigsby in foreground and McPherson in background
"In Memory of the Rev. Benjamin Grigsby, who was born in the County of Orange, Va., in September 1770, and died in the borough of Norfolk, on the 6th of October 1810. He was the first pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, and in the faithful discharge of the duties of his calling, fell a martyr to the yellow fever." (On the West Side of Benjamin Grigsby monument is also inscribed the following: "And in memory of his youngest daughter Mary Elizabeth, born April 11, 1810, died June 17, 1813."
After the American Revolution the Episcopal Church, seen as the continuation of the state church, the Church of England, by most people, fell on hard times and a Presbyterian congregation began using the sanctuary. When they offered to buy the church, the Episcopalians refused and went about reforming the congregation as part of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. The Presbyterian congregation which Rev. Grigsby had started at Trinity became First Presbyterian and built their church on the other side of Court Street, where it still stands.
[66] STONE 120
"In memory of Hugh McPherson, son of John and Effie McPherson. Born in Kippochan in the County of Argyle, Scotland, March 2, 1756. Died in Norfolk, Feby 20, 1808." On the west side of the Hugh McPherson monument is also inscribed: "In memory of Lilias Blair, his wife. Born in Scotland 1744. Died in Norfolk Nov. 3, 1822."
He was also a Presbyterian minister. There has been a cordial relationship between Trinity Church and First Presbyterian which now spans more than two hundred years.
STONE 121
"In memory of Capt. Samuel Fowler of Salisbury, Massachusetts, who departed this life in Portsmouth, July 31st 1814, aged 50 years.
We know he lived in Gosport because his property, and that of Mordecai Cooke are noted as the boundaries of a piece of property purchased by Elizabeth Young. That property is described as two lots in Gosport near the Navy Yard, formerly occupied as a marine hospital and bounded on the south by Captain Fowler's land.
STONE 122
A foot stone marked "S. T."
"In memory of Margaret Davis. Born March 23, 1771. Died Dec. 30, 1880."
In 1771 there is a mariner [67] named Samuel Davis living on Edinburgh Square.
"Here are deposited the remains of Bernard Magnien, a native of Luneville, in France, who died Nov. 1st, 1819. Aged 65 years. And Margaret his wife, a native of Port le None in Ireland, who died Febry 5th, 1817, aged 70 years. Erected by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. In memory of Col. Bernard Magnien of Luneville, France, who 'quitted his Native Country along with the gallant LaFayette to aid our Country in the accomplishment of her Independence.' He settled in Portsmouth and was a worthy citizen, one of the first borough magistrates and Col. of the Militia of Norfolk and Portsmouth. He died Nov. 1st, 1819, and is buried here.
Magnien is said to have been aide de camp to LaFayette during the American Revolution. After the war he again volunteered and served as an officer in the War of 1812. His obituary says he was in the 7th Virginia regiment in that war. He left "several houses in Portsmouth and Gosport, 60 acres around his [68] mansion house and another 100 acres within a mile of Portsmouth and another 50 acres a mile and a half from the city on the "old Western Branch Road." Foreman says he died without heirs. He founded a Masonic Lodge particularly for expatriate Frenchmen on Middle Street on Bloomsbery Square.
"Sacred to the memory of Mary Hodges, the affectionate wife of Joel Hodges, who departed this life Dec. 20th, 1806, AE 35 years, 2 months & 20 days. Tho great is the loss that I sustain, I hope in Heaven, to meet again."
The Hodges, like the Wilsons and the Parkers are heavy on the land, but I can say that the earliest of the name to settle in Portsmouth was the blacksmith Ferebee Hodges who held shop on Water Row in 1759.
"In memory of Richard Smith who departed this life August 27th, 1802, aged 16 years."
"Here lies the remains of Hannah Anthony, wife of John Anthony, who departed this life November 1774, aged 25 years."
Part of the charm of this grave is that it is completely hidden. I tell you how to find it earlier. Unfortunately I could find nothing about the Anthony family.
By chance Foreman, in telling us where people lived in the town in the 1820s, tells us who the man was who buried all the people. He says that "on a hill" about where the Professional Building now stands on Washington Street, that would be Dinwiddie Square, "lived a man named Cofun who was Sexton at Trinity and general grave digger."
Many graves have been lost over the years. Among them is James Gaskin's, the town silversmith who lived and worked on the North Street side of [69] Elizabeth Row on what is now called Hunters Lane, but was then Gaskins Lane. He was a Revolutionary War veteran. We know he was buried at Trinity because his wife tells us so on her gravestone at Cedar Grove. I will end this narrative with his maker's mark.
INDEX
A
Abbit, Courtney 64
Abbit, John 64
Adams, Elizabeth M. 29
African Americans 62
Aicheson, Rebecca 55
Aitcheson, Mary 55
Aitcheson, William 55
American Revolution. See American Revolution
Anderson, Elizabeth 59
Anthony, Hannah 68
Anthony, John 68
architect 60
Argyle Square 46
Ashton, John Q 9
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities 67B
Back Creek Square 19, 64
Bain, Ann (Doggett) (McRea) 27
Bain, Ann (McRea) 26
baker 18, 38, 58
Ballard, Ann 20
Barron, James (Commodore) 13, 14, 58
Bartle, Rees 59, 60
bell 7
Benson, Robert 58
Berry, Ann 47, 48
Berry, Nathaniel 47, 48
Bicentennial of the Revolution 14
Bingham, Hugh 48
Bingham, John 48, 49
Blackwater 52
Blair, Lilias 66
Bloomsbery Square 68
boatswain 41
boot and shoe making 48
Boushell, John (Jr.) 52
Boushell, Lois 52
Boushell, William 52
Bowers, Thomas (Capt.) 39
Bowness, George 19
Braidfoot, John 7
brickyard 62
Bristol Square 59
British in the Revolution 9, 31, 34
Broun, Elizabeth 24
Broun, John 24
Broun, William 24
Brown, Elizabeth 24
Brown, Henry 26
Brown, John 24
Brown, William 24
Butler, Jane 11
Butt, Marshall W. 3, 11C
captain 13, 21, 24, 27, 29, 32, 39, 40 41, 42, 48, 51, 55. 66
Caribbean 27
Carney, Richard 62
Celtic Cross 62
channel, the 43
Charlottes-Villa 58
Cherub (ship) 41
Chesapeak (ship) 13
Clagett, Edith 38
Clinch, Bartholomew 37
Cofun, ? 68
Cogdell,Emma A. 48
Colston, Ann 10
Commodore Theater 14
Concord (ship) 39
Cook, Margaret (Kearnes) 50
Cook, Mordicae 31, 50, 66
Cottage, The 20
Cottle, Mary 39
Cottle, William 39
County of Argyle, Scotland 66
County of Orange, Va. 65
Court House Square 18, 38
Cox, Harrett W. 51
Cox, James 51
Cox, Mrs. H. 51
Crab Creek 37, 43, 46, 70
Craford, William (Col). See Crawford, William (Col)
Craigdallie, Hannet 37
Craigdallie,Hugh(Dr.) 37
Craigdallie, Mary 37
Crawford, William (Col) 11, 62, 64
Creech, Jeremiah 62 Creech, Thomas 62
Cross, David 6D
Daughters of the American Revolution 7
Davis, Margaret 66
Davis, Samuel 67
Decator, Stephen (Commodore) 13
Decker, Catherine 60
Decker, Joseph 60
Decker, Miriam Maria 60
Dickinson, Thomas Bowers (Capt.) 39
Dickson, Angelina M. 43
Dickson, Hannah 42
Dickson, Henry 42
Dickson, Henry (Capt.) 42
Dickson, Jack (Capt.) 41
Dickson, John 41, 43
Dickson, John Frederic 43
Dickson, John Predien 41
Dickson, Sarah 41, 43
Dickson, William 39, 41, 43
Dickson, William Henry 41, 43
Dickson's Wharf 43
Dinwiddie Square 68
distillery 20
District of Columbia 44
doctors 8, 15, 20, 37
Doggett, Ann 27
Doggett, William (Capt.) 27
Dominica 59
drawbridge over the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth 60
dueling 13, 60
Duval (Major) 44
Duval, Eliza 44
Duval, Lucy 44E
Edinburgh Square 67
Elizabeth Row 14, 17, 69
Emmerson, Arthur (Rev.) 14
Emmerson, John Cloyd 11
Emmerson Papers 11, 20
Episcopal Church 65
Essex (ship) 13, 41
Estill, Barnes Clagett 38
Estill, Edith (Clagett) 38
Estill, Reverdy (Rev.) 38
Etheridge, Amos 3, 55
Etheridge, Hannah 3
Etheridge, Powers 3
Ewing, Elizabeth 18
Ewing, Janet 18
Ewing, John 18F
Ferebee, John 62
ferry 20
Ferry Square 70
fire 43, 58
Fort Nelson 40
foundry 37
Fowler, Samuel (Capt.) 66G
Gardiner, John 49
Gardiner, Joseph 49
Gardiner, Mary 49
Garond, John 45
[74] Gaskins, James 68
Gaskins Lane 69
Glebe 7, 64
Goffigan, Elizabeth (Hansford) 7
Goffigan, Laban 7
Goffigan, Mary 6
Gosport 10, 20, 23, 37, 41, 43, 66, 67, 70
Gosport Bridge 43
Gosport Yard 14, 41, 55, 58. See also Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth
Grandy, Mrs. Charles R. 62
Gray, E. (Congressman) 50
Gray, Eliza 31
Gray, Margaret (Cook) (Kearnes) 50
Great Bridge 52
Green Sea 52
Grice, Anthony B. 52
Grice, Charles 52
Grice, Francis 50
Grice, George W. 52
Grice, Isaac 52
Grice, Joseph 52
Grice, Mary 52
Grigsby, Benjamin (Rev.) 65
Grigsby, Mary Elizabeth 65
Grimes, Thomas 62 grocer 48H
Hampton Row 20
Hampton, Virginia 14
Hansford, Elizabeth 7
Harbor Towers 20
Harvard University 16
Herbert, John 62
Hill House 38
Hill, John Thompson 38
Hill, Thomas M. 39
Hodges, Ferebee 68
Hodges, Joel 68
Hodges, Mary 68
Homes Hole, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts 39
Hope, George J. S. B. 13
Howland, Jethro (Capt.) 48
Hunter, Sarah 20
Hunters Lane 69I
impressing seamen 13
indentured slavery 62
Ives, Charles 64
Ives, James 62
J Jackson, Andrew 58
Japan 62 joiner 18
Jones, Elizabeth 59
Jones, Hebee 31
Jones, John 59
Jones, Samuel 59
Jones, Samuel B. 59K
Kearnes, John 50
Kearnes, Margaret 50
Ked,John 46
Key, John 52
Kid, John 46
Kid, Mary 46, 53L
La Florestine (ship) 45
LaFayette 67
Lawrence, J. H. 55
Leckie, Alexander 60
Leckie, Robert 60
LeConte, John (Capt.) 55
LeConte, Mary A. H. 55
Leigh, Sarah Hunter 20
Leigh, William (Dr.) 20
Lello, Sus. & John 25
Leopard (ship) 13
Linlithgow, N. Britain 38
Linscott, Edward 41
List of Tithables 20
Livingston, Margaret 23
Livingston, Martha 23
Livingston, Samuel 22, 23
London Square 35
Loudoun County 59
Luke, Isaac 17, 22
Luke, John 22
Luke, Rachel 22
The Luke-Morris House 17
Luneville, France 67M
Magnien, Bernard 62, 67
Magnien, Margaret 67
Manhattan (ship) 55
map of graves 4, 5, 34, 35, 53, 56, 57
Marblehead, Massachusetts 15
Margate in Kent 59
Marine Corps 51
marine hospital 66
mariner 26, 37, 38
Market House 43
Market Square 20
Mason, J. R. (Lieut.) 59
Masonic order 10, 68
Maupin, Ann Ballard 20
Maupin, George Washington (Dr.) 20, 48
Maupin, Sarah Eliza Ann 20
McFarland, Ann (Taylor) (Roberts) 53
McFarland, William Hamilton 53
McPherson, Effie 66
McPherson, Hugh 66
McPherson, John 66
McPherson, Lilias (Blair) 66
McRea, Ann 26, 29
McRea, Indiana B. 29
McRea, James Berhead 29
McRea, John (Capt.) 26, 27, 44
McRea, John W. (Capt.) 29
merchant 10, 19, 55
Methodism 17, 18
Middlesex Square 55
Miller, Elizabeth 19
Miller, Francis 55
Miller, James 19
molasses 41
Monumental Methodist Church 18
Morgan, L. (Capt.) 40
Morgan, Rebecca 40
Morris, Isabell 65
Morris, William 65
Moulson, Abigail 49
Moulson, Edward 43, 50
Murdaugh, William H. 9
mystery of a seaman 62N
Nansemond Count 37
Nantucket, Mass 32
Naylor, John L. 44
Naylor, Lettice Margaret 44
Neely, Robert Johnson 62
New York 60
Newport, Kentucky 38
Newtown 10
Norfolk County 26, 52
Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth 14
Norfolk War 40
North Harbor 20O
Onley, Edward (Lieut.) 60
Orange Row 62
Oxford Square 11P
pantaloons 38
Paradise Creek 43, 50
Park View 60
Parker, John H.(Lieut.) 29
Pasquotank River 64
pew rental 43
Phoebe (ship) 41
Pinkham, Ann 32
Pinkham, Elisha (Capt.) 32
Pinkham, Henry 32
Place Names of Portsmouth 11
Poplar Neck Bridge 52
Port Center 10
Port le None, Ireland 67
Porter (Commodore) 41
Portsmouth and Norfolk County Documents 38
Portsmouth Sugar House 43
Presbyterian Church 65
President (ship) 13
Prince George County, Virginia 37
Princess Anne County 52
Purcess, David 55R
Race, James 55
Randolph, Ann 31
Randolph, Charles 31
Randolph, Giles 62
Red Lion Square 20
Reed, Anna 64
Reed, Esther 58
Reed, James 58
Reed, Robert 58, 64
Reed, Washington 38
Reed, William 58
Revolutionary War 7, 13, 18, 34, 37, 40, 52, 65, 67
Reynolds, Ann J. 21
Reynolds, William (Capt.) 21
Ridley, Gerrard Benjamin 53
Ridley, John 53
Ridley, John L. 53
Ridley, Mary 53
Roberts, Ann 53, 55
Roberts, Edward 55
Roberts, Humphry 55
Robinson, Fanny 17
Robinson, Henry 17
Rowland, Ann 45, 46
Rowland, Ann (Dickson) 42
Rowland, George 42, 45, 46
Rowland, George W. 46
Rowland, George William Thomas 42
Rowland, Thomas 46
rows 11
Roxborough, Penn. 59
rum 27, 41
Ruttledge, Andrew 3
Ruttledge, Rebecca 3S
Scott, Alexander 10
Sexton at Trinity and general grave digger 68
shipyards 27
slavery 62
Smith, Charles (Rev.) 7, 10
Smith, Richard 68
Southgate, Boiling Stark 30
Southgate, Fanny Stark 30
Southgate, Sarah Eliza 30
Southside 10
Sparrow, Jack 62
Sparrow Lane 62
Sproule, Andrew 55
squares 11
St. James Square 26
Stapp, Elizabeth 8
Stark, Fanny 30
Stewart, Charles 55
Stobo, Jacob (Capt.) 13
strangers 40
sugar 41
Swift, John C. 50
Swift, Thomas 50
Swimming Point Walk 64T
tanner 19
Tatem, John 62, 64
Tayler, Zachary 58
Taylor, Alice (Smith) 7, 8
Taylor, Ann 53
Taylor, Ann (Roberts) 55
Taylor, James 7, 8
Taylor, John 55
Taylor's Wharf 55
The Luke-Morris House 17
Thompson, Ben Dale 38
Thompson, Isaac 38
Thompson, John 38, 62
Thompson, William 18, 38
Tidball, Thomas A. (Rev.) 9
Tigner, Judith 24
Tigner, William 24
Tiguer, Judith 24
Tiguer, William 24
Tithables 44. See also List of Tithables
tithe 44
tobacco 64
Treat, Lettice Margaret (Nayler) 44
Treat, Samuel 44
Trevett, Samuel Russell (M.D.) 15
trustees, of the town of Portsmouth 3, 39, 43, 55
Tuttle, Margaretta E. B. 13
V
Valpariaso 41
Veale, George 55, 62, 64
Veale, Mary 7
Veale, Thomas 11, 55, 62, 64W
War of 1812 13, 38, 40, 67
Washington Reed house 38
Water Row 27, 60
Webb, Catherine 24
Webb, Caty 24, 25
Webb, Eliza Ann H. 26
Webb, George (Capt.) 24, 25
Webb, George Y. 26
Webb, John (Capt.) 24
Webb, Mary 25
Webb, T. (Capt.) 48
West Indies 16
Western Branch Road 68
Wilkingson, Mary 37
Wilkingson, William (Col.) 37
Williams, Robert (Rev.) 17
Willoughby Spit 19
Wilson, John 35
Wilson, Mary 59
Wilson, Thomas 35
Wilson, Willis (Col.) 34
Winant, Aaron 60
Winant, Mary 60
Winant, Peter 60
Wingfield, John Henry D. (Rev.) 29, 50, 62Y
yellow fever 65
Yorktown, battle of 7
Young, Eliza 19
Young, Elizabeth 66
Young George (Rev.) 37
Young, James 20
Young, James Willoughby 19
Young, Sarah 21
Young, William 21THE END.
