Today’s City of Virginia Beach, Virginia
Entries from 1723-1829 (Pages 242-488 in Vestry Record)
Anglicans met since the late 1630s in a church they built at Church Point on the bank of the Lynnhaven River. That location was in Lower Norfolk County (established in 1637), which was both a county and a parish. In the 1640s, the Church Point congregation sought to establish its own vestry and parish, separate from Lower Norfolk Parish. Lower Norfolk Parish was thus divided into Elizabeth River Parish and Lynnhaven Parish (which emerged from Church Point). The first vestry for Lynnhaven Parish was appointed in August 1640 and the boundaries of the new parish were formalized by the General Assembly in 1642. The statement of boundaries cited in Parish Lines Diocese of Southern Virginia is as follows:
By 1695, the boundaries of the parish were contiguous with those of Princess Anne County, which had been established in 1691 from the division of Lower Norfolk County into Princess Anne and Norfolk County.
In 1963, Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach merged to become the independent city of Virginia Beach.
The oldest church in Virginia Beach is Old Donation whose current building, a brick structure, dates to 1736. It replaced an earlier church built in 1694, which was the successor to the original church on Church Point built in 1639.
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Lynnhaven Parish
“To beginn at the first creek shooting out of Chesopeiack bay called the Little Creek including all the branches of the said creek and thence extending to the head of Lynhaven river, including all the branches of the said river, and thence to extend down to the head of Elizab: River to a creek on the northward side of the said branch called the Broad Creek, and on the southward side to a creek called the Indian creek, Provided it be not prejudiciall to the parishes of Eliz: River and Southern shoare by taking away any parte of the said parishes. ”
Old Donation Church
Sources:
A Guide to Church Records in the Library of Virginia, 2nd Edition, Richmond, Virginia: Library of Virginia, 2002.
The Colonial Vestry Book of Lynnhaven Parish, Princess Anne County, Virginia, 1723-1786, transcribed and edited by George Carrington Mason, (Newport News, Va., 1949).
Emily J. Salmon and Edward D. C. Campbell, Jr. The Hornbook of Virginia History: A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past. 4th Edition, Richmond, Virginia, Library of Virginia, 1994.
Cocke, Charles Francis. Parish Lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia. Richmond, Virginia: The Virginia State Library, 1964.
Raper, Derris L. and Constance M. Jones. A Godly Heritage, The Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, 1892-1992. Norfolk, Va.: Pictorial Heritage Pub. Co., 1992.
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Thank you to Virginia Humanities and the Diocese of Southern Virginia for supporting this project.