Welcome to Our Historic Hanover History Website !

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Hanover County VA History & Resources

SECTION 2: REFERENCES
St.Paul's Vestry Book/Ancestry.com
Rootsweb-Hanover County Site
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SECTION 3
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SECTION 4
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Today In History - See What Happened !

Event: Hanover Heritage Day is May 28, 2005 at Hanover County Courthouse, Hanover VA.

Welcome! You are invited to take a trip into the distant past traveling by horse & carriage through roads no longer traveled, or currently paved & re-routed & sometimes developed over entirely but visible to those "in the know" whose lifetimes have been spent in the finding and research to be passed down to our generation. Let's start with the formation of this county, shall we....

Time Frame: 1634 - 1654

There were eight (8) original divisions of land called Shires which were divided into Parishes by the Colonial Virginia Government as set forth by the King of England and governed by appointed gentlemen landowners who met in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Shires, the eight divisions, were divided into Counties which were then divided in Parishes. The Shire we eventually came from was called "Blissland"  or "Blisland" & also identified as the Charles River/York shire. In 1654, New Kent County created from this shire had grown too large for its Parish identification of St. Peter's parish.

What is a Parish? Answer: A division of SETTLED land - a population set apart and named to legally identify Taxpayers for the King. These Parishioners were required to build, pay for, and maintain & attend their parish church, the minister, his servants, his house, his garden, the poorhouse, the clerks & church personnel & any other expense that arose. A Parish was required to have two churches & their congregations to support ONE minister (pastor/rector) who served both churches. During this time period for St. Paul's Parish a record of accounts was kept, the Vestry met regularly & the minister was paid 16,000 pounds of tobacco receipts plus the above mentioned amenities. 

Time Frame: 1654 - 2005 Parish & County Divisions

By 1679, St. Peter's parish was too large to be only New Kent County & was divided as follows becoming known as St. Paul's parish: 1691 King & Queen County, 1701 - 1702 King William County, 1720 - 1721 Hanover County. By 1704, Hanover County became solely associated as St. Paul's parish.

Divisions of Hanover continued: 1742 Louisa County.

Divisions of St. Paul's parish: 1727 St. Martin's - western Hanover; 1923 Ashland; and 1952 Old Church eastern end of Hanover actually the oldest part of St. Paul's known as the Lower church dating from 1679.

In 2004, St. Paul's parish celebrated the 300th Anniversary of it's creation from 1704, when the entire Hanover County area was known as St. Paul's Parish. Today, only the middle section of Hanover retains that identification. Only three parish churches existed in 1704, all were wood: the Lower church in Old Church (2 wooden buildings no longer exist); Fork Church, (wood building no longer exists); & a small chapel located near MeChumps creek (16?? - 173?) (no longer exists). Fork built a brick church as did Old Church (Immanuel Episcopal) and the parishioners boarded up the 1701 chapel and built in 1729 a much larger wood church they called the new Upper Church which came to be known as Merrie Oaks or Slash Church. Slash, still standing and in use survives as the oldest wooden church (un-enlarged or remodeled) in Virginia, recently celebrating it's 275th anniversary 2004. Jump to Links for the history of each of these churches.

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