Truro Parish was the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Anglican church in colonial Virginia with jurisdiction originally over all of Fairfax County. The parish had its central church at the Truro Church and the parish was named for the parish in

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. The parish was created on November 1, 1732 from Hamilton Parish. It was divided twice: in 1748, Cameron Parish was formed and in 1764 Fairfax Parish was created. After 1765, Truro Parish covered southern Fairfax County until disestablishment ended the parish system by 1786.

The parish in colonial Virginia

The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church was the established religion of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

from 1619 - 1776.Parish in Colonial Virginia ''Encyclopedia Virginia''. Accessed on July 8, 2012
/ref> Each parish in the colony was ministered to by a single minister and governed by a

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 ...

usually composed of 12 local men of wealth and standing in the community. Parishes were created by acts of the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

and the upper house of the legislature, the Governor's Council.

Formation of the parish

Truro Parish was created by the General Assembly of Virginia on November 1, 1732 when Hamilton Parish was divided along the Occoquan River and Bull Run. It included what is, at present, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties, and the independent cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church. The parish was named after

, England. Truro Parish initially covered all of the land north of those rivers up to the Potomac, and westward all the way to the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

at Ashby's Gap. The parish originally contained three churches: Occoquan (the parish seat), William Gunnell's, and a chapel "above Goose Creek". The exact locations of the second two are unknown, but the Occoquan church was later known as

Pohick Church Pohick Church, previously known as Pohick Episcopal Church, is an Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal church in the community of Lorton, Virginia, Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Often called the "Moth ...

, which still stands. In 1733, work was started on a new church "near Michael Reagan's"; this was at the site of the present-day Falls Church. In 1742, Fairfax County was created out of Prince William and the boundaries of Truro Parish were adjusted to conform to the boundary between the civil counties. On June 11, 1749, the parish was divided in two, with the newly formed Cameron Parish constituting the portion north and west of Difficult Run and Popes Head Run.

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

, author of the Virginia Articles that presaged the

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

, was elected to the

that year. In 1753, the first church service at the new town of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

was recorded.

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

was appointed to the Truro Parish vestry on October 25, 1762. His father, Augustine Washington, had served on the vestry for a few years, starting in 1735. Truro Parish was further split on February 1, 1765. The new boundary was just south of Washington's estate, and the northern portion became Fairfax Parish, with The Falls Church as its seat. Parishioners of Truro, however, complained that the division was far more favorable to Fairfax Parish, and succeeded in having a new border drawn through Washington's estate, such that Washington was deemed to reside in Truro and he was elected to that vestry. Drawn over today's civil boundaries, Truro Parish's final incarnation would include the Southern and Southwestern part of Fairfax County.

Places of worship

Within the parish, at formation, there were three churches: Occoquan (now known as

), William Gunnells, and a chapel "above Goose Creek." The Goose Creek chapel would later become part of Cameron Parish. In 1766, a new church was established "on the middle ridge near Ox Road", the present site of Jerusalem Baptist Church off

Virginia State Route 123 State Route 123 (SR 123) or Virginia State Route 123 (VA 123) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Virginia, U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Woodbridge, Virginia, Woodbridge north to th ...

. The Truro Parish vestry contracted Edward Payne to build this new church and it became known as "Payne's Church". Other church buildings were constructed including replacements for The Falls Church (started in 1763, while it was still part of Truro Parish) and the current Pohick Church in 1767.

References

{{reflist, 2 Episcopal Church in Virginia Colonial United States (British) Colony of Virginia

The parish in colonial Virginia

Formation of the parish

Places of worship

See also

References