BLACK WATER MONTHLY MEETING

(also called Surry, Burley and Gravelly Run Monthly Meeting before 1800, also Sussex and Upper Monthly Meeting; in latter days called Seacock Monthly Meeting)
Established: 1737 as Pagan Creek; continued after 1752 under above name. Surviving records begin 1752.
Divided: 1800 into Black Water Monthly Meeting and the Upper (Gravelly-Run Burley) Monthly Meeting.
Discontinued: 1807
Counties within bounds of this Monthly Meeting: (1752-1807) Isle of Wight, Brunswick, Surry, Sussex, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Amelia, Mecklenburg and parts of Southampton.
Particular Meetings: Pagan Creek, Isle of Wight Co.; Black Creek (Sedley), Southampton Co.; Black Water, Surry Co.; Burley (or Hunnicuttfs), Prince George Co.; Gravelly Run (or Butler's), Dinwiddie Co.; Seacock, Sussex Co.; Brunswick (or Ward's), Brunswick Co.; Stanton, Sussex Co.; Surry, Surry Co.; William Butler's, Dinwiddie Co.; Pattisoas, Amelia Co.; Sears' (or Stony Creek), Dinwiddie Co.; Langley's (or Burlington), Dinwiddie Co.; Bott's, Amelia Co.; Watkins', Sussex Co.; Ladd's, Mecklenburg Co.

   This is one of the mystery meetings of early America. It seems to have been the same, or closely allied with the organized Pagan Creek Monthly Meeting of 1738, which sends its roots back to the very beginning of the organized existence of the Society of Friends in the Virginia colony. Old Surry Monthly Meeting (1702) was a sister meeting to those original monthly meetings of Curles, Chuckatuck, Warwick York, Nansemond and Pagan Creek. ExactLy when these meet­ings were organized and by whom we do not know. It is therefore to be deplored that the records of its earliest days have long since disappeared,for we would particularly Like to know more of its origin. We must be content, as it is, to build a little flesh about the bare bones of the few facts that have been left to us out of the remote past.

  In the letter written by George Fox from Elizabeth River in 1672 (see Yearly Meeting Sketch) he mentions by name several men, all of whom were Quakers of Nansemond, Norfolk and Isle of Wight Counties, with the exception of John Fowler whose name no where appears in the histories of these counties or the records of the meetings in these counties. At a much later date we find many Fowlers who were members of the Surry Black Water Monthly Meeting and who lived in what is now Dinwiddie County. So it would seem that this John FowLer lived further inland and up the James River and perhaps represented the community of Quakers in Surry and Sussex and Prince George Counties. Fox's suggestion that his house, as a meeting place, might be "too farre off" at least shows that he was remote from the other Friends about the mouths of Nansemond and Elizabeth Rivers.

  The earliest civil record we have of the presence of Friends in Surry County, Virginia, is from a Militia List of 1687 which names the following as being Quakers and available as "horse soldiers" and "foot soldiers". The first group is: William Seward, Tho: Partridge, William Bartlet and Jrio: Barnes. The second group is: Thos: Wolves, George Morrell and Robert Lacy. At any rate we know it as a fact that Quakers were in Surry and Sussex Counties before 1687 and that Surry was an organized monthly meeting in 1702.

  The country which lay directly across the James River from the settlement of Jamestown and under the protection of its fortifications was naturally among the first to be settled in the new colony. Capt. John Smith built a fort here in 1608 or 1609, and in 1651 was begun a brick house which still stands and is known as the oldest in Virginia. From the earliest written records we find evidence that white men claimed this crossriver country. One of the earl­iest known settlements of Quakers in Virginia (1672) was at Green Spring which lay just across the river from Old Surry County. So we can safely assume that some few Quakers were among the settlers on the other side of the River.

  The oldest surviving record of the Virginia Yearly Meeting is dated 1702 and among the monthly meetings listed is found "Surry Monthly Meeting". The representatives for this year from this monthly meeting are Samuel Cornwall (or Cornwell) and John Tuck (or Tooke).

  Whether this Surry Monthly Meeting was organized in or before 1672 or just prior to 1702, we know that at the time of Fox's death in 1691 there were Quakers in what is now Prince George, Surry, Isle of Wight, Sussex and Southampton Counties. We also know that in the first decade of the 18th century there was a large settlement of Friends in "Southside" Virginia - as that section south of the James is called. From these early settlers came many who moved on into North Carolina and were instrumental in establishing the society in that state.

  If the original Surry Monthly Meeting ever kept any records they are lost and we find none back beyond 1752 unless we accept the reasonable theory that this is the same as Pagan Creek Monthly Meeting. From the year 1752 the monthly meeting was known only by the name of Surry­Black Water Monthly Meeting. For this reason we may never know the exact and earliest limits of this monthly meeting, its charter members, or the names and locations of its more ancient particular meetings. After the mere mention of its existence and its representatives to the yearly meeting in 1702 we do not hear of Surry Monthly Meeting until July 1705. We then read:

  "Whereas it being required of this meeting (ie: Virginia Yearly Meeting) of ye friends of Surry Meeting and ye friends of Levie Neck meeting yt they should have a meeting once in three months to consist of ye members of Chuckatuck Monthly Meeting, and ye yearly meeting taking it into consideration doth grant ye above to friends to have ye meeting above for ye term of one year, to be kept in ye Leavie Neck Meeting House and now Longer without further order".

For proof that Surry was merely another name for Black Water the following is offerred: 1759, John Cornwell produced a certificate to Henrico Monthly Meeting from "Surry Monthly Meeting': Referring to Black Water Monthly Meeting files we see this same certificate was issued by that monthly meeting. In 1770,11,21 in Western Branch Monthly Meeting records "Surry Monthly Meeting" is mentioned by name - previous to this time many references are made to "the monthly meeting held at Black Water in Surry County" and even later referred to as both Surry and Black Water, showing they are the same.

  In the year 1706 the matter was again brought before the yearly meeting and it was decided "Yt ye above sd friends belonging to ye sd meetings have a meeting once in three months". It is significant that in the original minute the phrase 'lye sd two monthly meetings" is written thus, and then the word monthly has been struck out, indicating that these meetings had been but were no longer monthly meetings. This fits in perfectly with the idea that all monthly meetings in lower Virginia were consolidated into one large monthly meeting known as Chuckatuck (or Nanse­mond) between 1702-1707.

  These early Quakers on the lower James led no easy life as can be seen from a letter to their colleagues in London, in 1702, in which they enumerate a few of their difficulties as a yearly meeting. The active and powerful opposition of the established church, not being the least. They say: (Virginia records)

"Friends doth here keep our meetings peacefully and quietly, blessed be the Lord for it, but Friends are generally fined for not bearing arms and that grand oppression of Priest's wages, though the magistrates are pretty moderate at present and truth gains ground . . . not­withstanding those wicked instruments that have sent for many lying books against Friends out of England which the priests make part of their business to incense the Government against us and truth, but we do not find that they prevail much . . ."

  Elsewhere we learn that some at this same period (1711) were imprisoned "for the testimony of a good conscience" and the yearly meeting took steps to see "that the families and affairs of such who are in prison in Hampton . . . do not suffer". At the same time the yearly meeting warned all those "who have given away their Testimony by hiring, paying or working, to make any forts, or defense against enemies do give under their hands to the monthly meeting (papers?) for the clearing of the truth". These are the ones who were complained of by Gov. Spottswood in his often quoted letter to the Lord Commissioner (1711). See "Old Churches and Families of Virginia"­Meade.

  In the early 1700's Surry County was then frontier country and all white inhabitants lived there in peril of their lives. Even as late as 1724, Rev. John Cargill, the Episcopal minister in Surry, spoke to his superiors of his "frontier parish". But these harassed followers of Fox had the courage of their convictions and the encouragement of their missionaries to inspire and uphold them. This was the triumphant period of Quakerism in Virginia. In the yearly meeting (1702) records the account of the visit of Thomas Tomas is given and it tells how he visited all the meetings and how he preached with such power that they set it down in their books that they believed he would "never be forgot by some . . . for the great and mighty power of God hath through him molified many stony hearts and (made) the lofty Oaks to bow and bend . . . we can truly say in the sense of God's love that at our yearly meeting the shout of a king was amongst us". Here is the spirit of a young, vigorous, evangelistic group!

  In 1717 and 1718 Benjamin Holme visited the colony and through his missionary efforts a meeting was begun "near Robert Hunnicutt's house" in Prince George County and another at the same time at "widdo Bullers (Butler's?)", "at Appomattox". In 1698/99 the missionaries Story and Gill tell us they visited at "Burleigh at the house of James Johns" where Story preached to the Indian servants, and Daniel Stanton mentions visiting at Surry and Burleigh in 1761. Burleigh Meeting, we know, was originally in the Curies Monthly Meeting and was not transferred to Black Water until later. Then there was a meeting at or near "Merchant's"Hope" wnich we know existed in the 17th century. Likewise, quite early we find a meeting called Whippanock in what is now Dinwiddie. The Black Water Monthly Meeting itself took its name from a particular meeting (i.e. Surry) in or near Surry Court House and which seems to have existed from earliest times. Black Water and Stanton meetings too may be counted among the older congregations. It should be re­membered that all these meetings, with the exception of those in the original Surry County, first belonged to the Curies Monthly Meeting, being transferred to this monthly meeting in 1752 and later.

  The above constitutes the little of what we can know for certainty of this ancient church court in its earliest days. However, from 1752 to the day the monthly meeting was laid down we need only to refer to existing records to know what transpired in detail. In the tattered and torn volume of 1752 we find the family names of the early members of the meeting. They are: Briggs, Butler, Thorp, Pretlow, Bailey, Denson, Hollowell, Sebrell, Hunnicutt, Newby, Kitchen, Watkins, Hargrave, Clary, Simmons, Peebles, Brock, Hamlin, Chappell and others. These names are singular in their similarity with the families of Pagan Creek Monthly Meeting.

  At this time (1752) it is evident from a close study of various records that Black Water Montnly Meeting (or Surry) was the same or was made up of the remnants of the ancient Pagan Creek Monthly Meeting and that part of Curies (Henrico) Monthly Meeting which lay on the south side of the James River. In its limits were the counties of Surry, Sussex, Dinwiddie, Prince George, a Dart of Southampton, a part of the Isle of Wight, a part of Amelia and Chesterfield. Later Mecklenburg and Brunswick were included. From 1752 - 1807 there were 14 or more particular meetings within these counties. In 1762 Black Water Monthly Meeting is described as being in the Black Water Quarterly Meeting (also called Western Branch or Lower QM) and its meetings were Black Water, Surry, Black Creek, Stanton's, Burley and William Butler's.

  As has been noted before, many Friends from this monthly meeting moved on at an early date into eastern North Carolina. In 1770 Pattison's particular meeting in Amelia was abandoned as all of the members once on its roster had migrated with the exception of the families of William Bott and William Reams. The Ladd, Sadler, Ward and Durham families were the leaders of the So­ciety in Mecklenburg and Brunswick counties where they were instrumental in forming new congregations

  The American Revolution brought added hardships to the usual ones. In July, 1779, provisions were made by this monthly meeting "in case any members of this meeting should be taken by force from their habitations to be carried to any distant part". The record does not state whether this anticipated violation of civil liberty ever took place, but we can at least get a glimpse of the tension and strain under which members of the Society lived. In December of the same year Robert Hunnicutt had a negro child, age six, seized by the sheriff "for payment of taxes" and "because of (his) testimony against War". During the latter Revolutionary period houses and property of Quakers were plundered, "chiefly for military requisitions" - pewter ware was almost always listed among the seized possessions as it was in great demand for bullets. Twenty Quakers are likewise recorded as having "suffered for refusing to take the Test or to contribute for the support of the War". Black Water Monthly Meeting was more persistent on the Tax and Test issue than others and consequently suffered more. The yearly meeting books describe this as being a "time of calamity and close trial".

  Perhaps the spirit of the times is best illustrated by the case of Jacob Cornwell whose re­quest for a certificate of removal in 1780 was refused as he had acknowledged "that he had through a sudden fright fired several guns at a priviteer which attacked a vessel he was in when at sea". Cornwell apologized but this meeting refused to accept his explanation as it was not fully satisfied with his sincerity. The Quakers made no allowances for any display of warlike spirit.

  This monthly meeting was very slow in advocating the abolition of slaves and its members were most sluggish in taking up and enforcing the recommendations of the yearly meeting on the matter. When the negro child had been seized from Robert Hunnicutt during the War, as a penalty for his refusal to support the conflict, the yearly meeting immediately took the incident as al illustration to press the point of the importance of manumitting all negroes at once. The fact that the child afterwards "suffered sorrowful neglect" while still a prisoner but added to the strength of the appeal. The yearly meeting urged that haste be made by Friends to free all their slaves, "for if they are seized as in the above case their bondage is perpetuated and be­yond the power of Friends". Those who delayed would be guilty of neglect. In 1782 it was speci­fied that slaveholders should be forbidden to act as overseers, elders or ministers; yet it took this to rouse this monthly meeting to becoming truly concerned in the issue. It appointed a committee to visit those who were masters. Some members openly defied the church courts and its injunctions and were disowned, while others gave excuses for their continued delay. In 1784 no one could be found who would serve on the visitation committee - "no Friends appear to have a Draught on their minds to visit those who hold slaves". These reluctant slaveholders had good reasons for not freeing their negroes, aside from the important economic one. John Hunnicutt felt he was not within the law and would merely be signing his property over to others; Martha Hargrave was willing but her slaves were "such who cannot support themselves"; Nicholas Jarrot was willing to let his have their freedom but he owned them through his wife who was not a Quakeress and objected; still others were bound by wills and legal restraints. Eventually in 1788 there was a firm stand taken and all Friends were allowed so many weeks to take action. At the end of this time many were disowned.

  The Friends in the upper part of Black Water Monthly Meeting had grown in such numbers and strength that in February, 1799, they began agitating for a division. A committee was chosen by the Quarterly Meeting to consider the request but quickly reported they did not see how the separation could be safely effected at this time. However, the matter was not allowed to rest and in November, 1800, the division came. The new monthly meeting became known as the Upper while this retained its old name. The meetings in the lower counties continued in Black Water Monthly Meeting while the congregations in Dinwiddie, Prince George, Brunswick and Mecklenburg were transferred.

  From this time the sessions were always held at Black Water meeting in Surry County until 1802 when they were held in the Seacock Meeting House. From this last meeting place the month­ly meeting took one of its numerous names - "Seacock Monthly Meeting".

  The westward migration began among the Quakers of this meeting about 1804 when three men Wm. and Jesse Bailey and Wm. Wren, asked and were given permission to fulfill "a prospect they had of traveling into the state of Ohio to view that part of the country". One would suspect that they were scouts, for they returned five months later and the following year William Bailey Sr. and Micajah Bailey and their families migrated to be followed soon by many others. Practically every male emigrant before he left Virginia had suffered persecution from fines and seizures, showing the immediate source of pressure that drove these men and women westward. The persecutions during and following the War of 1812 only served to hasten the exodus. By 1832 Quakerism had almost vanished from Southside Virginia.

  This monthly meeting was so depleted in 1807 that the quarterly meeting directed that it should be dissolved. Only three of its once 14 congregations remained and they were exceedingly weak. Of these, Seacock and Stanton were united to the Upper Monthly Meeting, while Black Water was transferred to the Western Branch Monthly Meeting. The Upper Monthly Meeting was given the custody of the records and the long history of this ancient monthly meeting was at an end.

 D.S.B.

William Wade Hinshaw