St. James' Parish is a historic church located on Solomons Island Road in the hamlet of Tracys Landing,

Anne Arundel County, Maryland Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, Mar ...

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History

In 1692, St. James' Parish, Old Herring Creeke, was officially established when the

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, acting on the orders of Sir

Lionel Copley Sir Lionel Copley (1648 – September 12, 1693) was the 1st Royal Governor of Maryland from 1692 through his death in 1693. He was the first official royal governor appointed by the British crown after the colony was removed from the propriet ...

, Royal Governor of Maryland, enacted the Act of Establishment. That Act divided the Province of Maryland into 30 Anglican parishes. There were, however, people worshiping in the area before that time. The exact location of that church is unknown. In 1695, the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

ordered a church built on the present site in Lothian. In 1698, St. James' Parish opened the first parochial lending library of the American parishes of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. The Rev. Dr.

Thomas Bray Thomas Bray (1656 or 165815 February 1730) was an English clergyman and abolitionist who helped formally establish the Church of England in Maryland, as well as the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and USPG, Society for the Pr ...

donated 118 books for the library that year. The Reverend Henry Hall was called as the first rector, and remained at St. James' until his death in 1722. When the old church became inadequate for the parish's needs in 1763, the vestry ordered that a new church be built. It was completed in 1765, and continues to serve the congregation today. However, the politically connected curate appointed in 1768, Rev. Bennet Allen, caused a scandal by refusing to live in the parish and instead proposing to rent out the glebe and combine the salary (which he insisted insufficient even for his bar tab) with that of another parish (at first St. Anne' Church, then even further away

All Saints Church (Frederick, Maryland) All Saints Church, or All Saints Episcopal Church, founded in 1742, is a historic Episcopal church now located at 106 West Church Street in the Historic District of Frederick, Maryland. It is the seat of All Saints Parish, Diocese of Maryland, w ...

). The next incumbent, Rev. Walter Magowan, installed later that year, was a friend of

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and served until 1784. In 1792, his successor and the seventh rector of St. James', the Rev. Dr.

Thomas John Claggett Thomas John Claggett (October 2, 1743 – August 2, 1816) was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the recently established (1780) Diocese of Maryland. Early ...

, resigned to become the first Bishop of Maryland. Rt.Rev. Claggett was the first

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bishop to be consecrated on American soil. The parish founded several chapels: St. Mark's Chapel at

Friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

, consecrated in 1850 and sold in 1915; The Chapel of St. James the Less in Owensville in 1853 (now Christ Church, West River); St. James' Chapel in Tracys Landing in 1876; and St. Mark's Chapel built in 1924. The church was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972. The property includes a cemetery which includes what is believed to be the oldest dated grave in the state (1655).

Gallery

Image:St. James Parish Episcopal Church, Solomons Island Road (State Route 2), Tracys Landing vicinity (Anne Arundel County, Maryland).jpg, St. James Parish Episcopal Church in 1936 Image:St. James' Parish Marker, Lothian, Maryland Mar 10.JPG, St. James' Parish Historic Marker, March 2010 Image:St. James' Parish, Lothian, Maryland Belfry Detail Mar 10.JPG, St. James' Parish Belfry Detail, March 2010

References

External links

*
St. James Parish Episcopal Church, Solomons Island Road (State Route 2), Tracys Landing vicinity, Anne Arundel, MD
at the

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Church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James' Parish, Lothian, Maryland Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Episcopal church buildings in Maryland Churches completed in 1765 18th-century Episcopal church buildings Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Anne Arundel County, Maryland Brick buildings and structures in Maryland

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links