The Episcopal Church in Rockingham County.
East side of South Main Street, at the corner of Bruce Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Church built 1868.
Original to present day owners:
Built of brick; Gothic style, rectangular plan, fronting on Main Street; entrance in tower; Cathedral windows in front and sides.
Episcopal Church in Augusta County.
Augusta County was established in 1745. The first term of the court was principally concerned with the routine of organization and the swearing in of officers.
The following year the organization of the court, the first Vestrymen of Augusta Parish were elected and representatives chosen for the House of Burgesses.
The Vestrymen elected were: Col. James Patton, Col. John Buchanan, John Madison, John Christian, Patrick Hayes, (Mr.) John Buchanan*, Robert Alexander, Thomas Gordon, James Lockhart, John Archer, John Mathews and John Smith.
The first four named were members of the court. The first Vestry meeting was held at the courthouse, April 6, 2024 and John Madison was elected Clerk. John Madison was a brother-in-law of Thomas Lewis and Gabriel Jones, and a cousin of Col. James Madison of Orange, father of the later President. His son became the distinguished Rev. James Madison, D.D., the first bishop of the Episcopal Church of Virginia.
Vacancies on the Vestry were filled by the board. The minister of the Established Church was "ex-officio" president of the board. Two members were annually appointed to the "processioning" of lands. The minister was paid a fixed salary and given a farm, or glebe and a parsonage for his use. Prior to 1784, only ministers authorized by the Established Church were permitted to perform the marriage ceremony. The register of marriages was kept by the vestry.
The first churches organized in Augusta County were those of Tinkling Spring and Old Stone Church at Fort Defiance. These were originally one congregation, and in 1739, presented a call to Rev. John Thompson of the Presbytery of Donegal.
In regard to the first church in what is now Rockingham, the old Peaked Mountain Presbyterian Church is the oldest of all the congregations. Rev. John Hindman preached there in 1742, and the congregation was organized in 1745. In 1747, he changed his church affiliations and became a Church of England minister, and in that year two chapels of the Established Church were built in present Rockingham County—one on
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the plantation of Daniel Harrison near the present town of Dayton, and the other one at Cross Keys, about 200 yards east of the old Peaked Mountain Church.
The above two chapels appear to have been the first buildings of public worship erected in Augusta County for the use of the Established Church.
In 1755, the vestry ordered that the Rev. Mr. John Jones preach at James Neeley’s on Roan Oke, at John Mathews, Sr. in Forks of James at Augusta Courthouse, at Captain Daniel Harrison’s, at any place contiguous to Mr. Madison’s, at such times as he shall think proper.
At a meeting in May 1760, the vestry unanimously agreed to erect a church at Staunton on grounds given by Beverly, April 3, 1750. A committee was appointed to contract for a brick church to be finished by December 1st, 1752. This building was finished in 1763. Prior to the completion of this church, however, according to the vestry book, 20th November 1761, Thomas Harrison’s (Harrisonburg) was designated as a place of worship.
The Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg.
As already indicated, Rockingham Parish was organized before the Revolutionary War. Its larger and more active service seems to have been in the eastern apart of the county, Port Republic, Cross Keys, &c.*
In 2850, effort was made to revive the work of the Parish and Rev. James B. Goodwyn was placed in charge as minister, and after him the Rev. John C. Wheat, Vice-Principal of the Virginia Female Institution at Staunton preached regularly in the parish at great cost of labor and inconvenience to himself.
After the close of the War Between the States in 1865, the Parish reorganized at Port Republic, the Rev. John C. Wheat still serving as minister, and on March 8th, 1866, a meeting of the members of the parish and other contributors was held in Harrisonburg with John F. Lewis, John F. Lewis, Samuel H. Lewis, Jr., Andrew Lewis, John r. Jones, William H. Effinger, Frank Boylan, Joshua Wilton, Foxall A. Dangerfield, Algernon S. Gray, Dr. George W. Kemper, Jr. and Edward S. Stevens. John F. Lewis of Port Republic and Andrew Lewis of Harrisonburg were elected wardens and William H. Effinger, Secretary and Treasurer.
The next order of business being the choice of a rector, the Rev. henry A. Wise (son of Henry A. Wise, former Governor of Virginia) was called. Mr. Wise accepted the call extended to him and was installed as rector, serving the parish until 1867, holding Sunday services alternately in Harrisonburg and at Port Republic, the service in Harrisonburg being held in Schackletts Hall and in the New School Presbyterian Church on the corner of North Main and East Elizabeth Streets. (This corner is now occupied by the U.S. Post Office and Federal Court Building).
In 1867, Mr. Wise resigned to accept a call to be rector of Christ Church, Baltimore, Maryland, and in October the Rev. Thomas Underwood Dudley, Jr. Deacon, afterwards Bishop of Kentucky, was sent by the bishop of the Diocese of Virginia, to minister during his diaconate. Services were continued in Harrisonburg and at Port Republic, being discontinued at the latter place on account of the severity of the weather, which gave two services in Harrisonburg instead.
In 1868, a vacant lot at the northeast corner of South Main and Bruce Streets was purchased, upon which the present beautiful, brick church was subsequently built and in which services have been held and the work of the church carried forward regularly since 1869.
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Mr. Dudley, having tendered his resignation, preached his last sermon on the last Sunday night in December, 1868, using the same text upon which his first sermon was based "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish:. He, too, was called to the rectorate and pulpit of Christ, Church, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Rectors serving the Parish and residing at Harrisonburg, since 1869, have been:
Alexander W. Waddell 1870-1875
David Barr 1875-1879
T.Jervis Edwards 1879-1881
O.S. Bunting 1881-1889
W.T. Roberts 1889-1892
O.M. Yerger 1893-1899
W.J. Horton 1900-1902
Robert U. Brooking 1903-1908
Dallas Tucker 1908-1909
John L. Jackson 1910
Herbert S. Osburn
Walter Williams 1919-1937
Court Records, Clerk’s Office, Rockingham County, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Houston Harrison in his Settlers by the Long Grey Trail.
Dr. J.W. Wayland in his History of Rockingham County.
January 21, 1938 Geo. W. Fetzer
Harrisonburg, VA