Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-26

at the old Pohick Church. BE was also IN the
parish as minister in the year 1885. as find
from the date Of sermon preached BY MN bui az
during his ministry. of which ! possess the
proof. How long he ministered after this l am
| unable to say. Mr.. Massey lawyer pre-
vious to his engaging in the ministry. and was
ordained by the Bishop of London for Virginia
n 1766. His sermons evince talent and are
sound in doctrine, hut like most of that day
i want evangelical life and spirit. and would
| never rouse lost sinners to sense OF their
snt He was man Of great wit an. and
OF many ct the clergy of that day.
The following account Of dispute between
himself and his vestry has been sent me to
illustrate his character: The clerk whom Mr..
Massey had selected was unacceptable to the
vestry and in order to get rid Of him they
Massey complaining. the vestry met and passed
two resolutions: First, that the minister had
the right to choose the clerk; second, that the
yestry had the right to fix his salary. In
letter to the vest1y Mr. Massey descanted on
these resolutions with severity. and thus con-
cluded: And row, gentlemen, as to the know
ing ones among you-and / admit there are
such-I would say that 'humanum est errare'
and as to the rest of you that ne sutor ultra
Mr.. Massey was born in King George
county and his mother was of the in
fiuential Alexander family The Mas
sey family was prominent in colonial
Virginia. and perhaps in another
'rambIe" the story of this family may
be taken up. The Massey family can
be traced back to Hamo de Mascie
Norman who helped William invade
England. In the English records the
| name is variously spelled Massey,
Mascie and Massey In Notions list
| of emigrants is the name Alexander
Massie. WHO sailed from Gravesend in
the ship Primrose. July q. 1875.
There is record that Massie secured
a grant of land, February %, 1863.
from Sir William Berkeley, royal
governor. The grant was for 400
acres in Accomac county and was in
consideration of Massie having
| Transported Immigrants thither 6
persons)." In 1880 Peter Massie. prob
ably a son of Alexander. obtained a
grant of $50 acres for assisting eight
cen immigrants. and in 1900 he got
800 acres for bringing over six per-
sons. >,
| The farm Bradley. before becoming
the home Of Parson Massey. was own
| ed by Edward Washington. The first
house of the. celebratedjfniniste stood
on that part of Bradley. which was
bought many years ago by Robert
| crime Haislip, and for eighteen years
treasurer Of Fairfax county. The oc-
! cupant of this part of Bradley was
i James H. Wiley, born in 1872, a
younger brother of Robert. James H.
! is known pretty much over the North
ern neck of Virginia as Capt. Jim
| Wiley and the Rambler will tell next
! Sunday of dinner which he took
| with Capt. Jim, Mrs. Wiley, Miss Het-
! tie and Percy. If the story is as good
as the dinner it ought to be a coriSer.
| The part of Bradley on which Parson
Weems built a second house. and on
which he was buried in 1914. belongs
to r. A. Jellison. and is one of the
great farms of Virginia Ae1. by the
way, this farsp Bradley oncE.belonged
| to Fielder Magruder of Prince
Georges county, Md, whose descend
ants and kindred are living all over
MARYLAND and the District of Colum-
bia. But that part of the story must
| come in another "ramble."