As early as 1782 supplies were sent to Shenandoah County by Hanover Presbytery in response to requests for ordained ministers. The early work secured to center in Powell’s Fort Valley. Work was revived in the county when Rev. W. H. Foote moved to a teaching place in Woodstock Academy in 1822. Beginning with six Presbyterians preaching services were developed in Strasburg and Woodstock. By 1824 the Union Church was organized with the membership equally divided between the two places. Two years later, on December 3, 1826 Strasburg elected its own elder and was considered an independent church. On May 16, 1830 a brick church, their first, was dedicated. It was remodeled about 1876. And in 1928 Sunday school rooms, a fellowship hall and kitchen were added to bring the facilities up to date and adequate to serve the congregation.

A short account of the circumstances & previous steps which led to the formation of the Union Church of Shenandoah, may be both pleasing & useful. If God shall prosper his begun work, it will be pleasing to future pastors & people to know the small beginnings of a church in Shenandoah, & the various steps which God in his Providence blessed & the various means he smiled upon in bringing “light out of darkness visible’: & also, if the work all & come to nothing, it is proper that it may be known that there was once a light in Shenandoah.

I began preaching regularly in Woodstock & Strasburg, June 1822, & at the same time began teaching an Academy in Woodstock.

My preachings for one year were, two sabbath’s in a month in Woodstock & one in Strasburg & one in Cedar Creek & Opecon congregations. The last was given up at the expiration of one year to Dr. Chapman, & the Sabbath usually given in different parts of the county, where a congregation could be collected to hear English preaching.

Upon my first coming to the county there was but one professing Christian of the English Presbyterian Church, in Woodstock: there were two in Strasburg, (one of whom soon died) & three scattered ones in the county. Of the last three, however, I for some time knew nothing.

My services in Woodstock were, on the Sabbath, two sermons & a bible class. The bible class after two years was discontinued. A course of lectures was commenced, & is yet continued on Wednesday evening, the subject of which is the New Testament, beginning with the gospel according to Matthew- then the Acts of the apostles-then the Epistles, chapter by chapter in succession, generally one chapter every evening.

At the commencement of my preaching in Strasburg, I had two sermons on the Sabbath, but after a little time that arrangement was altered & I began holding one service on the Saturday evening & one on sabbeth morning. The evening service being a lecture on the same plan with the lectures in Woodstock, beginning with the gospel according to Matthew.

At first my congregations in the county were small. During the first year they greatly increased, so as to be quite large in all my places of preaching.

I found prevailing a most g__oss inception of religion & its ordinances, being for a time frequently called upon to baptize children, either to prevent sickness, or make them die easy. The sacrament of the supper I found was generally much misunderstood.

In April 1823, I attended a meeting of the Presbytery in Leesburg. My brethren gave in many interesting accounts of their congregations. I returned with the determination of raising the standard of Christ yet more publickly than ever. After much deliberations, I appointed the third Sabbath in May (18th) for the administration of the Lords supper in Woodstock, not knowing whether more than one besides my own family would sit down. Making that observation to the people, I invited those (if there were any) who might feel it their duty to profess faith in Christ, to meet me at my house on a particular evening. On that evening, five persons came; one the person alluded to above, one a member of the German Presby Church, & three who had never professed religion.

On the day appointed, 13 persons sat down to the table. Of these, two were previously members of the Presby Church, & had lately removed into the county, & a number from abroad. During the summer, a number of children were baptized in Woodstock, & one grown person who had been admitted to the table without baptism, by mistake.

This was the first public administration of the supper, after the manner of the Presby Church, ever known in the county.

On the second sabbath of June (8th) the supper was administered in Strasburg, the first English Presby administration ever known there. Some new communicants were admitted, & a number from abroad sat down with us. The baptism of one adult preceded, & the baptism of a number, both of adults & children, succeeded. As yet no church was formed, nor, indeed, was it known there would be.

In October (5th) the supper was again administered in Woodstock. Previously lengthy instructions on the nature & design of the Lords supper; & on experimental religion, were given in the Academy, in the evenings of the fortnight preceeding. Seven new communicants came forward.

At the spring meeting of Presbytery, held in Culpepper 1824, permission being granted to form a church in this county, the following paper was circulated & signed.

On the second Sabbath of May (16th) the supper was administered in Woodstock, after much previous preparation & instruction. On the Saturday evening preceding, Mr. Philip C. Jones was ordained an elder in the Presby Church-a very solemn occasion. On the Sabbath seventeen members communed.

On the first Sabbath in June (6th) the sacrament was administered in Strasburg-On the Saturday preceding, Mr. John Russell was ordained an elder in the Presby Church. On Sabbath fourteen members communed, besides some from other churches.

Thus the little church has commenced. Scattered indeed over a populous county, but united, we trust, to Christ the living _lead. May God bless it, & increase its numbers , & its graces, & to his name be praise.

Drawn up by order of session-by (signed) Wm Henry Foote

States preacher in Shen. Sept 28th, 1824

It should be observed, that divine services have generally been performed in the German Churches, in the places in which I have preached. The difficulties encountered are not fully recorded, & scarcely mentioned. In the general, they were such as must every where be encountered in building up the church of Christ.

The preached gospel has been the visible means of building up the cause of Christ in this county, pro____ its effects slowly, but surely. This little handful is the fruits of more than two years labour. May future pastors be more encouraged, & blessed more abundantly.

Inserted by order of session

 

Source: Microfilm Reel VW 38. Morton Library, Union-PSCE, 3401 Brook Rd., Richmond, VA 23227-4597. The following information is a small portion of the microfilm reel starting in 1824 through 1847.

Copied 8/2002 by Edith Cooper Shaver

Records of Winchester Presbytery Synod of Virginia
Official Records and Relevant Historical Material of the Presbytery And Her Constituent Churches
Under Auspices of History Committee, Synod of Virginia
Harold McKnight Wilson - Editor

Strasburg Presbyterian Church
Strasburg, Shenandoah County, Virginia

---

Return to Shenandoah County GenWeb Project

Created April 26 2006
© 1998 - 2025