The story of St. John's Episcopal Church begins well before the building of the church in 1741. In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshall of Virginia, pushed up the James River from the original settlement at Jamestown and founded Henriousin honor of Prince Henry, eldest son of James I. Accompanying Thomas Dale on this expedition was the Rev. Alexander Whitaker.
Together they decided that the building of a church would take precedent over other buildings and so the first church in Henricus was laid near the site of the present Dutch Gap Canal
The Reverend Mr. Alexander Whitaker was appointed director for this first Henricopolis church. Rev. Whitaker gained fame as the minister who baptized Pocahontas giving her the Christian name of Rebecca and who in 1613 or 1614 married her to John Rolfe. John and Rebecca Rolfe continued to be members of Henrico Parish Church. Tragedy befell Rev. Whitaker in 1617 and he was drowned in the James River. His associate William Wickham held the Parish Church together awaiting the arrival from England of the Reverend Thomas Bargrave in 1619.
When some fifteen years later in 1634, Virginia colony was divided into shires in the English fashion, Henricus was shortened to Henrico and included present Chesterfield, Powhatan and Goochland Counties. Consistent with the lack of separation of church and state, parish lines for the church were the same as the shire boundaries. .
In 1622, a great Indian uprising forced the fledgling colonies to retreat to the safety of Jamestown and although Henrico Parish continued to exist the annuals are confused and fragmentary. More complete record-keeping began again in 1730.The first vestry books were primarily concerning civil matters such as land boundaries and disposition of the poor as the Parish was the still the civil government. By now, the 3rd or 4th church building had been built on a plantation known as Curles some 20 miles East of the present city of Richmond. The only relic of that church still surviving is the bowl of the baptismal fond in use today at St. John's.
In 1737 the first mention is made in the vestry records concerning the building of the present church - the 4th or 5th Henrico Parish Church. The minutes record that the new church was to be 60ft long and 25 wide and was to be a "moddle"; of Curles Church. It wasn't until 1740 when William Byrd II granted the vestry two city lots in the new city of Richmond that construction could begin however. Not only did Byrd grant the land, he also gave the timber running to Shockoe Creek for the boards and the scrap wood to fire the bricks for the foundations. Richard Randolph, Gentlemen, was to be the builder. It is believed that the church was completed June 10, 1741.
The present transept is the original church and lies exactly on East-West compass points. The ceiling was 14 feet high, about a foot and a-half lower than the present cornice. The Chancel or altar area was in the Eastern end for the ecclesiastical reason of commemorating the sun rising in the East. The pulpit and sounding board stood there. Pews lined both sides of the single aisle and faced toward the altar. These were tall box pews which were used commonly in colonial churches to preserve the little heat generated by small braziers or hot bricks brought by the parishioners during the winter months. At the Western end was gallery lighted by two small windows. Access to the gallery was by means of a small wrought iron staircase on the north side. A robing closet was on the South wall.
The first addition was made to the nave of the church in1772 or 1773 when the vestry approved an enlargement to be 40ft wide and 40 ft. deep with a gallery running on three sides. This necessitated moving the chancel and pulpit to the southern wall as the orientation of the church had been moved to the South. It was shortly after this addition was completed that the storm of the Revolution was to come to St. John's.
The Reverend Miles Selden was appointed the minister in1752 and oversaw the 1772 addition. Now, Reverend Selden was appointed the chaplain of the 2nd Virginia Convention, the 1st Virginia Convention having been held in Williamsburg in 1774. He invited the delegates to meet in Henrico Parish Church well away from the auspices of Royal Governor Dunsmore. The Convention convened here on March 20, 1775.
The President of the Convention was Peyton Randolph. Patrick Henry was the delegate from Hanover County. Other notable delegates were Thomas Jefferson from Albemarle County, George Washington from Fairfax County, Benjamin Harrison for Charles City, Thomas Mann Randolph of Goochland, Richard Blandof Prince George, Richard Henry Lee of Westmereland and Francis Lightfoot Lee of Richmond. There were approximately120 delegates to the Convention. The debate centered upon bringing Virginia into a state of readiness to oppose the tyrant King George III. Patrick Henry argued the need for a regulated militia. Much debate raged over this matters as not all members of the Convention were as distrustful of the King s motives as Patrick Henry. Finally, on March 23,1775 Patrick Henry rose to deliver the speech that has lived on as the most famous cry for freedom in the world . . . Give me liberty or give me death!
He stood, according to tradition, near the present Eastern corner of the transept and the nave. The convention voted on a close vote to support Mr. Patrick Henry and thus, Virginia determined to resist any further encroachments upon their civil rights by King George III.
The Third Virginia Convention was held here on July 17,1775 to organize the troops and the war effort of Virginia. It acknowledged the debt to Mr. Patrick Henry whose wisdom had already begun the arming of the colony. George Washington of Fairfax had been appointed head of the American Army. Patrick Henry was named the first Governor of Virginia.
The Revolutionary War was not to leave Henrico Parish Church unscathed . In January, 1781 the traitor Benedict Arnold by now a General in the British Army, quartered his troops in the church as he conquered the defenseless city. On Easter Monday in 1785 repairs were undertaken by Edmund Randolph and it is recorded that the Rev. Miles Selden died in that year. Rev. John Buchanan was chosen to replace Miles Selden.
Reverend Buchanan presided over a declining church and we have no vestry records for great periods of time until 1812.