Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-22

In April. 1905, the Rambler wrote a
Sc ries of stories about Pohick Church.
Gunston Hall and other historic places
in that part of Fairfax, and from one
Of those stories he takes the follow
ing:
There were two Pohick churches, and this has
led to much misunderstanding in the minds of
| those persons who have written of Pohck.
Pohick Church the first in Truro parish,
which had been carved out of Detingen parish,
which had been carved out Of Hamilton parish,
wherein preached for long time the Rev. Mr..
Keith, grandfather of Chief Justice John Mar
shall. Truro parish was created in 1882. the
year of Washington's birth. A frame church
was erected on high land near Pohick creek.
In 1865. that church showing symptoms of de-
cay, the question of rebuilding or removal
removal to n more central site. George Mason
of Gunston Hall opposed removal, Washington
prepared map of the neighbOrhood, showing
The houses of the members of the congregation
and pointed out as the central location that
which the present church occupies. Construc-
ton of the new church was begun in 176S and
the last payment made to the builder, Daniel
French, in 1772. The congregation moved into
the new church in 1873 and the first list Of
church follows: George Washington, George
Mason, Daniel McCarty, Alexander Henderson,
Thomas n. Elzey, Thomas Withers Golfer. Pater
(Cockburn), William Triplett, William Payne
IT,; John Barry. John Gunnell and Thomas
vestry book of the new Pohick. which was for
many years thought lost but which Mr.
Slaughter. the Virginian historian, found in
ciety.
How the Rambler got that informa-
ton he does not clearly remember,
but he believes that some of the facts
were taken from Bishop Meade's His
tory of Old Churches and Families in
Virginia" which was published in
1857; by talking with the Rev. Ever
we hay hox
ing succeeded the Rev. Henry F..
Klowman, in 1897, and from the old
sexton, whose picture he made, but
whose name he has forgotten. He
believes that. some of that informa-
ton was also obtained from the Rev.
Samuel A. Wallis, who took charge of
the delapidated church in 1881 and
worked for many years in the cause
of it's restoration and the upbuilding
of the congregation. Further along in
the story the Rambler wrote: mo
vestige of the first Pohick Church re-
mains. Lewis Chapel Stands on the
site"
The granite monument marking the
site of the first Pohick Church was
placed in the cemetery of Lewis Chapel
mainly through the efforts of Corbin
Thompson, who has, on Occoquan
creek, one of the fine farms of Vir-
ginia. who has long been a Pohick
vestrymen, whose ancestors lived in
that neighborhood before the Ameri-
can revolution, who is patient COL
lector of Washingtoniana and who
has made a careful examination of
all testimony and data bearing on the
subject of the site of the original Po-
hick Church.
In trying to hunt down the story
of the venerable Methodist preacher
Lewis, whose name was given to the
little chapel at the crossroads the
Rambler has turned the pages of all
the works he could find on early
Methodism in Virginia, but he came
upon no reference to Lewis. He who
is called the Father of Methodism"
in the Gunston neck of Virginia was
Thomas Bates, an early owner of the