Mr. Wilson, in your reply to a query of Hamilton Parish, there is a Dr. T. Withers who was a witness to the destruction of the Register while at Warrenton Academy. Another researcher and I are working in the Northern Neck area trying to connect the Withers families there with one of the many lines of Withers/Weathers in Va. (1) Is there a roster of the students at Warrenton Academy that would cover the years of 1803-1804 and that may give personal information of the students? There is a Dr. Thomas Withers in Dinwiddie Co. during the mid 1800s and although it is most likely that this T. Withers is of the Stafford family, I would like to confirm. (2) John Withers (d. 1698 Stafford Co), named his mother in an earlier document as Anne, wife of Thomas Odoneal (several spellings) who d. 1687-89. In one of Sparacio's books of Stafford Co., he, in the index, shows Odonell also as O'Neal. Do you have any info on the Parson O'Neal, teacher of the Academy when T. Withers was a student there. The name evolving to O'Neal could be an important clue to researching Anne Withers Odonell's maiden name and also the first name and death date of her former husband, Withers. . Any guidance or information you can give will be greatly appreciated. Sarah Withers Keesee lydiap@salisbury.net ----Original Message----- From: Wilson, Donald L <dlwilson@pwcgov.org> To: VAPWILLI-L@rootsweb.com <VAPWILLI-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Monday, March 13, 2000 10:29 AM Subject: RE: [VAPWILLI-L] Hamilton Parish >All records of Hamilton Parish prior to 1874 are believed to be lost. > >We have a photocopy of a booklet called "Hamilton Parish, 1730-1876: an >Anniversary Discourse delivered by the Rector, Rev. John S. Lindsay, in St. >James' Church, Warrenton, Va., on the eighth Sunday after Trinity, August >6th, 1876." (Baltimore: Printing House of Sherwood & Co., 1876) 15 pp. It >states (p. 5-6) "A relic of these times [the ministry of Rev. James Keith, >ca. 1745-58]-- a prayer book of the Church of England purchased in London >for this parish and bearing upon its lid in gilt figures, the date of the >purchae -- 1749 -- was the one sacred heirloom of St. James' Church until >the 13th of Nov., 1874, when it was destroyed by fire, with the parish >register, in the burning of the Warren Green Hotel. Strange fatality -- the >mauscript records of Hamilton Parish reaching back a hundred years, telling >of the births and burials and marriages of the ancestors of many of you here >were wantonly consumed in our County Clerk's office nearly fifty years ago*, >and then, less than two years since, the book that contained the record of >like events nearer to your time and to your hearts, with the old prayer book >from the mother church ..." > >*Bishop Meade makes this statement [about the destruction of the register] >twice (chapters 55 and 56) in his "Old Churches [, Ministers and Families of >Virginia]. In chapter 56 he says the book "was torn up, page after page, by >the clerks or others, for the purpose of lighting cigars or pipes." But in >reading the minutes of the County Court of Fauquier I find it recorded that >Dr. T. Withers, being called to the stand as a witness in a case pending on >the 27th of October, 1841, testified substantially as follows: That in the >year 1803 or 1804, when a schoolboy in the Warrenton Academy, taught by >Parson O'Neal, he had often seen in the academy building the Parish >Register, and that it had then been mutilated by the boys of the school. > >"These two accounts of the destruction of the Register, apparently >contradictory, may be reconciled by the supposition that the book was badly >torn by the boys of the Academy, and then removed to the Clerk's office for >safe keeping; but as its torn and tattered appearance made the impression >that it was valueless, its leaves were devoted to the ignoble purposes >mentioned by the Bishop." > >So, according to the preceding, the colonial register (that should cover the >years 1730 to 1780+) was first mutilated at the Warrenton Academy by ca. >1804, and destroyed at the courthouse before 1841. A later register was >destroyed in the hotel fire of 1874. > >The author, above, does not distinguish between the parish register (the >list of births, marriages, and deaths) and the vestry book (the minutes of >the business meetings of the parish government). Those records were often >keep separately. The parish vestry was an arm of the colonial government >(overseeing public welfare), and it is likely that the vestry book would >have been deposited at the court house after disestablishment. (The vestry >book of Dettingen Parish, Prince William County, survived because after >disestablishment it was given to the County Overseers of the Poor who >continued to record their minutes there.) It is possible that the book >destroyed at the Fauquier County court house was the vestry book and not the >register. If so, the last record we have of the colonial register is its >presence at the Warrenton Acadamy ca. 1804. If it survived at all it would >be in tatters. By some miracle it might be in private hands. If so, it has >never come to light. > >Sincerely, > >Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian >Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC) >Prince William Public Library System >Bull Run Regional Library, 8051 Ashton Avenue >Manassas, VA 20109-2892 >(703) 792-4540 >www.pwcgov.org/library/services/relic > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Archidon2@aol.com [mailto:Archidon2@aol.com] >Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 8:16 AM >To: VAPWILLI-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [VAPWILLI-L] Hamilton Parish > > >Does anyone know where I can find records of Hamilton Parish from 1740-1770? > >Have these records been lost? > > >==== VAPWILLI Mailing List ==== > Search this list's archived messages! >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > >==== VAPWILLI Mailing List ==== >Over 6,100 Discussion Lists and More Added Daily!!! >USGenWeb and The USGenWeb Archives! >Special thanks to go to RootsWeb, your generous donations to >RootsWeb makes this all possible. Find out more! >http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html >RootsWeb Gen. Data Coop. 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