JAMES FENDALL PARKINSON

Mrs. Hemans, in her poem, ''The Homes of England," says

 

"The stately homes of England,

How beautiful they stand,

Amidst their tall ancestral trees. O'er all the pleasant land !"

 

Virginia, in so many ways like England, has many such homes, and "Oak Spring," in New Kent County, since Revolutionary days the home of the Parkinson family, recalls the poet's lines. The place took its name from a splendid oak which shades a generous spring. The house, which was built before the Revolutionary War, stands on a slight elevation, and not far away are numerous poplar trees. In all these years many stories of romance and adventure have gathered around this Virginia country home. During the Revolutionary War two sons of the family were at home on furlough when suddenly numerous "red coats" appeared, who demanded the keys of the smoke house. Down from the "long room" the soldier boys came, and, with sticks as their only weapons, arrested the British soldiers. At "Oak Spring" James Fendall Parkinson was born May 9, 1814. Here he spent his life and here he died. He was the third son of Joseph and Ellie Parkinson. His mother was left a widow at the early age of thirty, but she managed her plantation with such remarkable ability that she succeeded in giving her children a good education. Upon a horse of pony build, she rode over the place from day to day giving directions as to how the work of the farm was to be done. Her son James, after having attended preparatory schools near home, entered the Virginia Baptist Seminary, now known as Richmond College. Here he gave his especial attention to mathematics and surveying, though the classics were not neglected, as he desired to fit himself for the position of county surveyor. This position, his father, a graduate of William and Mary College, had filled. For some years after leaving the College, Mr. Parkinson was a most successful teacher, and the accurate county surveyor. He was noted for his strict sense of honor and possessed in the highest degree the confidence of all classes of people.

 

 At a camp-meeting held at Emmaus Baptist Church, New Kent County, when Elders John Kerr and J. B. Jeter were the chief preachers, Mr. Parkinson made a profession of his faith in Christ, and was baptized into the fellowship of this church. While a consistent member of the church from the time of his baptism onward, it was some years before he gave himself to the gospel ministry. When this step had been taken his first pastorate was at North Run Church, near Richmond. Later he became the pastor of Emmaus, his mother church, but the greater, and what he considered the most useful, part of his ministry was given to Black Creek Church, in Hanover County, and to Hopewell Church, in New Kent County. These two churches, the former twelve miles and the latter eight miles from his home (New Kent and Hanover are adjoining counties), he served for almost a quarter of a century, and at the time of his death there were not more than two or three persons in either church who had not been received or baptized by him. With loyal devotion the welfare of these churches was among his last thoughts. As a preacher, he was earnest, pointed, practical. He preached Christ crucified, and his hearers always felt that the truth he proclaimed was very precious to his own soul. As a winner of souls he was successful in a high degree, and as a pastor he was faithful and devoted. He was a most useful man in his community, loved and trusted by all who knew him, and his advice was sought by those who were troubled or in perplexity. He was the peacemaker of the community, and on his own plantation had the affection of his slaves, to whom he was kind and generous.

 

In 1840, Mr. Parkinson was married to Miss Hannah Williams, daughter of Mr. Jesse Williams, of Richmond, Va. Her death, on the fourteenth anniversary of their marriage, left him with six little children. In 1857, he was married to Miss Maria Louise Cocke, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Cocke, of King William County. The only child of this second marriage was a daughter. The period of the Civil War and the Reconstruction days that followed was a peculiarly trying time to the section of Virginia where Mr. Parkinson lived, and he did not escape the stress and strain of those awful years. His sons went forth with their country's army, one of them serving all through the War as a scout under General J. E. B. Stuart. Mr. Parkinson rendered most valuable service to his community by teaching his neighbors' sons, who otherwise would have been deprived of school advantages, for it is too true that letters no less than laws suffer when war appears; inter arma silent leges. When the cruel conflict was over "Oak Spring," along with other Virginia homes, was in a devastated condition, but Mr. Parkinson, with brave and dauntless heart, set out, aided by his sons, to cultivate his farm, guiding with his own hands, when it was necessary, the plow. This severe manual labor, to which he was not accustomed, doubtless shortened his days. Mr. Parkinson was by inclination and habit a student rather than a farmer. His leisure moments found him holding converse with the great spirits of the world through their writings. It was the normal thing to see him with a book in his hand. Yet when the necessity came upon him he kept up his farm, and gave especial care to his apple orchard. As his sons grew up he sought to see them well started in life. For one he accepted a place in a Richmond tobacco warehouse. After a week or so, however, the youth returned, having ridden home on a passing wagon. He said that he could not stand the confusion of the city, and that he would choose the country even if it meant poverty. As the position offered was too good an opportunity to be lost, Mr. Parkinson sent another son to take it, and he is now one of Richmond's most prosperous citizens.

 

This record of Mr. Parkinson's life sufficiently shows the spirit of the man, and makes any attempt to further set forth his character unnecessary. Yet one other statement about him, at once interesting and inspiring, should be made. As a boy he is said to have had a most violent temper, but before his riper years were past he had come to have such complete control over himself in this regard that those who did not know him in his younger days little dreamed of the fire that once was quick to burst forth. Yet he had not lost spirit, for upon occasion he could be most positive and emphatic. His life was his best preparation for death, yet during his last illness he gave most emphatic evidence of his firm trust in his Redeemer, and of his entire resignation to God's will. On September 6, 1880, he fell on sleep. His wife followed him to the grave February 5, 1893, and her body sleeps beneath the sod in the beautiful Hollins cemetery

 

- Virginia Baptist Ministers. 3rd series- George Braxton Taylor, 1912

"Peculiarities to Which a People Cling with so Much Tenacity"- New Kent - 1867

Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch

Pleasant and Practical- New Kent and Charles City- Wheat and Corn- Waste Land- Deer, Foxes, and Minks- The People- Employments and Amusements of Ladies and Gentlemen- The Kitchen and the Cow-pen- German Settlers- York River Railroad- Destruction and Renovation of Churches- Old St. Peters, &c.

Banks of the Chickahominy,
New Kent county, Va.,
June 3, 1867. 

We have at last a project of easy communication with our neighboring county Charles City, from which we are separated by the Chickahominy, a stream historical since the days of Captain John Smith, and still more noted since the great American war. In these parts it is a much more important affair than it is in your vicinity. There yon call it a swamp; here it is a bona fide river, and at tunes so wide and deep as to he impassable to those acquainted with its fords. The recent action of the courts of New Kent and Charles City for the restoration of the bridges destroyed during the war gives much satisfaction to numerous persons whom the calls of business and social life require to pass from one to the other of these counties.

If the Dispatch will use its influence to get us a mail from Richmond to New Kent Courthouse direct the public hereabout, will be greatly obliged, the circulation of the paper somewhat increased, perhaps, and news letters from this county will be more frequent. Though within twenty-five miles of the metropolis, there is for here no regular communication by public carriers of any sort. As you have not heard from this vicinity for a long time, it may please you to learn how folks are getting along. The wheat promises well: but the people having little or no money last fall to buy seed, the quantity that was put in the ground was small. On the low grounds of the James in Charles City the prospect, though far short of that which prevailed in years past, is good for the times. There is one party in that region of country who has 800 acres, and another who has 900 acres, nearly ready for the sickle. The stalks are as high as the heads of either of the proprietors of the Dispatch, and stand so closely together, that if they were to throw there hats upon their heads (I mean upon the heads of the wheat) they (the hats) would he sustained. When Mr. Jack Baker stopped one day on the upper James to examine a wheat- field of this sort, the little horse from which he had dismounted, while browzing (sic) about, disappeared from the sight of his master. "Boys," exclaimed Mr. Baker to the gentlemen with whom he was travelling, "do help me to catch my horse, for if he gets into this wheat-field I shall not find him till after harvest." He would have been exposed to the same risk among these fields in Charles City at this time. In some of these cases this year a single farmer may send to the Richmond mills twelve or fifteen thousand bushels of wheat; and this will be something that has not taken place for a long time. 

In this county the reduction of labor necessitates the neglect of a considerable part of the land, which is now lying out enjoying such a Sabbath as it never had in former days. Of course the swamps will extend their area, and the old field pines will rapidly take possession. The width of unoccupied land being so much increased, the hounds having been dispersed or destroyed, and the gentlemen having much less time to hunt, the deer and foxes begin to multiply; the latter take great liberties; they are sometimes seen playing in the fields in the day, and at night they are distinctly heard barking near the houses, or more quietly creeping up to the premises; they make fearful havoc among the fowls. The minks are equally troublesome, or more so; and one of them will in a single night destroy more hopes and prospects of income from eggs and chickens than were ever contained in the brain of that farmer's milk-maid in the fable, the toss of whose head brought all her future glory to the ground. 

The corn has a tolerably good stand. On the low grounds it is greatly overrun with grass, the frequent rains of late having made it impossible to weed it. As soon as the earth becomes dry much that is now almost out of sight will be reclaimed. But with all this work, and the replanting that is necessary, and the wheat harvest pressing, the people will be very busy, and the despondent will be discouraged. 

But I do not think there are many of this class. Those who have been wont to abuse the people of Eastern Virginia as a lazy set may now discover that the wealth and leisure which once enabled them to cultivate their minds, and acquire those social refinements that were, and still are and long will be, their striking characteristic, did not extinguish their more hardy and vigorous qualities. They have adapted themselves to their new and laborious duties with wonderful diligence and cheerfulness. An elegant lady tells you that she has tried white labor, and is heartily sick of it; but away who goes, with a smile, to the kitchen or the cow-pen; and If you be her guest, will entertain you in the meanwhile by sending you to the spring for a pail of water to let you see how it feels just for a joke, and reward you for your toil by feasting you afterwards on some of her own handiwork. A colonel or captain whom you may happen to visit apologizes to you at the table with assumed gravity, and regrets that under the new order of things he is compelled to ask you to sit down with the cook and the washerwoman; and these ladies in turn inform you with a quick retort and hearty laugh, that you are eating with the ostler and bootblack. If they bring you buttermilk in a gourd instead of a goblet, (that was carried off, we will not say whither; for who knows!) or help you to ice cream with a wooden spoon; you are entertained with lively chat, and not with the long, dolorous strain of "what the Yankees took from us," of which everybody is heartily tired. Some persons fear that our women will lose their delicacy, and our old Virginia homes will be less hospitable and open to company; but it is not easy to destroy peculiarities to which a people cling with so much tenacity, and to which they find stronger reasons everyday to be more attached than ever. But before I leave this subject I must tell you about the horse carts. Did you ever ride in one? They are just better than one of your four-muled street wagons, which, with their intolerable din, are among the greatest nuisances of Richmond. The horse-cart  a vehicle without springs  is the equipage of Eastern Virginia; our carriages and buggies are not. And now, Messrs. Editors, when you travel into this county be careful how you pass the people who ride in horse-carts. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have seen fine carriages; but comparisons are odious; only remember the words of Solomon: "I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth"; and again he says, "The thing that hath been is that which shall be." 

Last year there came down some German people to this county to cut timber to make casks for a lager-beer establishment in Washington. A leading man of this class has bought a fine farm on the Williamsburg road, on which stands a very handsome residence, well known to those who pass that way. Others are looking for land, and some have, I hear, made purchases. The gentleman to whom I first alluded, says that where one German goes others are sure to follow. He predicts a considerable emigration of his people to this country; and the citizens here are so favorably impressed with their political views, and their general conduct, as to look with considerable favor upon the movement. Everything connected with the improvement of the country will he helped forward by the opening of the York River railroad, on which regular trains for freight and passengers are soon to run to the White House.

In respect to churches, this peninsula suffered greatly during the war. Rev. George W. Nolley has devoted himself this year with great energy and perseverance to the collection of funds to restore several Methodist churches on his circuit, and has met with considerable success in the cities which he has visited. Emmaus, the Baptist church, escaped destruction. This congregation has for its pastor Rev. Mr. Wallace, formerly of Richmond, a zealous and laborious minister. At old St. Peter's  the Episcopal church near the White House, so famous as the place where General Washington was married to the widow Custis- there has not been a sermon since the war. The building, by the ravages of war and relic-hunters, is reduced to a mere shell, and the congregation, greatly reduced by death and removals, is without a minister, it will, however, be opened for divine service on the fifth Sabbath in this month, when a sermon is to be preached by the Rev. Dr. Wade, of Charles City. A new church of the same denomination, some miles nearer Richmond, and not far from Bottom's bridge, is standing and in good repair, but most of the people who once worshipped(sic) there have left the neighborhood, and several of the places where they once lived in peace and plenty are indicated only by chimneys standing silent and desolate. Olivet, the Presbyterian church; six or eight miles above New Kent Courthouse, is uninjured. The building is fresh and neat, the yard handsomely laid off and planted with shade trees, and well enclosed, with a brick walk from the gate of the yard to the door of the house. Within, it is well carpeted, and so furnished as to make it altogether one of the most attractive country churches anywhere to be found in the State. Its preservation through the war was a marvel, and, under Providence, due to the earnest intercessions of some persons living near it, one of them a highly respectable colored man. It has lately had for its minister Rev. P. Fletcher, whose removal was deeply regretted; and until it secures another pastor is supplied by clergymen from Richmond. The congregation is a good one, and increasing, and the Sabbath school very regular at all seasons, and useful. 

J.B.J.