Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-09-24
"The People of Potomoke in Virginia.
BY ]. r. GRAHAM, D. D

:
Philadelphia for September 18th, 17l9
Opp. 81, So, there is Minute which
has given no little perplexity to the
historians of the Church. The Min
ute reads;
The Synod having reed letter from
the people of Potomoke in Virginia, re-
questing the Synod's care and diligence
to provide them an able Gospel Minister
to settle among them, it was appointed
that Rev. Mr.. Daniel McGill sh'd go and
preach to that people, in order to settle
ment upon mutual agreement, etc.
When the Synod convened the next
year, September 22d, 1920,
Mr.. McGill reported to the Synod,
that according to last years appoint
ment he went to Potomoke in Va. and
after some months continuance there
put the people into chHrch 0rder.'
There was also a letter presented to
Synod from
''Me congregation Of Potomoke in Va.
Maniresting their hearty APP
proval of Mr.. McGill'S whole conduct
among them, and desiring his settling
with them as their Minister.
"The affair of Potomoke" received a
considerable measure Of attention dur
ing the sessions of that Synod but
was finally referred to the Commits
sioner of Bills and Oyertwes, whose
report, if any was made, is not record
ed and from that date, September
23d, 1920, the name PotomOke drops
entirely out of our ecclesiastical rec,
ords.
The question to which these minutes
have given rise is as to the location O
this "Potomoke in Virginia. - And
this question is the more perplexing IN
asmuch as the most diligent search has
failed to find even the name anywhere
else than in the minutes just quotec
of these two successive meetings oftht
Old Synod of Philadelphia. Yet the
discovery of its location is matter o
very great interest to the student o
the early history of the Presbyterian
Church in this country. For if th'
statement of Mr.. McGill that he "pu
the people into Church order, anC
the subsequent reference to it as "th'
coaqrcqation Of Potomoke,' are to bo
understood, as we interpret them, that
Church was organized there ther
we have here an explicit account o
the organization of the second Pre8Jy
tcy5an Church planted IN Virginia
Before this date we have an account o
only cone small congregation Oh the
Elizabeth River, and "a few familie
favoring our way on the Rappahan
mock and, York" (See Letter, p. 20.
While in the whole Colony there wa
not a single resident Presbyterian
minister. ('Letter," p. 54)
No wonder, then, that the historian
of the Church have sought very earn
estly for some clue that would enable
them to determine the locality in ques
ton. Webster fixes upon Bladens
burg, Nd. but as the record is exphc
it in placing it in Virginia, we mus
dismiss this solution as altogether un
warranted. Foote, in his "Sketche
of Virginia" "supposes' it to hav
been in Fauquier or Loudon County
or somewhere east of the Blue Ridge.
Gillett (vol. !, p. l07 positively as
serts, but without assigning his author
itv, that it was "near the present towl
of Martinsburg, W. Va. But mos
confess their inability to discover an.
clue whatever to the probable location
Of the place; and some, in despair owe
their fruitless efforts, declare tha
every trace of evidence as to its loca
ton is lost, and the place must now re
main forever unknown.
But matter of so much historica
interest ought not to be summarll
dismissed. In my recent search int
the early history of Presbyterianisr
in the Lower Shenandoah Valley, som
facts have come to my knowledg
which suggest the possibility OF sti
reaching a solution of this perplexin
question.
One very suggestive fact is, tha
while "Potomoke in Virginia" disaI
pears from the records of the Syno
after 1920, the expression, "the peOpl
of Virgins" frequently appears in tn
records for l722, % and p and tn
minutes concerning these people com
in naturally as the continuance Of tn
minutes concerning "the people Of p
tomokein Virginia, making the col
clusion almost irresistible that the tw
expressions refer to the same peOpl
In 1874 the whole affair touching the'
people was referred by the Synod
the Presbytery of New Castle. BIZ
the expectation which this referenc
ouol-ans-fhat fhe records of tn: