The traveler
who leaves Norfolk by way of the tunnel to Portsmouth, Virginia, which was
established by an act of the General Assembly in 1752 must pause at the “Stop Sign”
before he/she turns right on Effingham Street which takes him/her to the United
States Naval Hospital, one of the most famous in the world and built on the
site of old Fort Nelson in 1827.
The traveler
must pause before turning left on Effingham Street, which will take him/her to
the United States Naval Shipyard, where great ships have been built since 1767.
If while
standing at that “Stop Sign”. one should look across Effingham Street, he/she
would see a cross on the steeple of a small Gothic building and wonder how this
church came to occupy such a valuable site—the crossroads of Interstate 264 and
Effingham Street –the thoroughfare provided by the U. S. government for its men
and materials.
If the
tourist crossed over and went into the church one would find to the right of
the nave or “peoples’ part of the church, and on its east end a large stained
glass window dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Virginia Page. It was Mrs. Page who requested that her
priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Norfolk, The Rev. Dr. George Freeman Bragg
conduct services for a group who lived in Portsmouth in 1890. Dr. Bragg writes
that “as a mere boy, he had been sent from his church, St. James in Baltimore
to serve as Priest at Grace Church in Norfolk, and that he started the group in
Portsmouth just before he moved back to Baltimore in 1891.”
Mr. Bragg
further wrote, “the very year we left Virginia for Maryland, seeing a splendid
opportunity for a new work in Portsmouth, we were bold enough to invite Mr.
Joseph Bryan of Richmond, one of the finest types of men, ever active in every
phase of colored work and a rich man, soliciting him to build the church
outright as a memorial to his family.”
Mr. Bryan wrote under the date of June 7, 1891, saying the request was a
tempting one, and the investment would no doubt reap a rich reward; but he had
too many requests that he had to decline this one.
Names of the
other members of the founding group seem to be
known but to God, but there were others for a Mr. Perdue states in his
book that a person born in 1852 said, “Mr.
Friend, Pastor done christen me; I tended to be a Episcopal but I ne’er did.
Dat day and time de colored people didn’t have no church so dey always went to
the white church and dar was a place saved for dem.”
The record
of Trinity Church Portsmouth in December 1826, carries a notice that Pews 40
and 41 were to be rented for “blacks.”
Furthermore, an order from General B. F. Butler, Headquarters 18th
Army Corps, Fortress issued December 23, 1863 directed that the pews of Trinity
Church are all free to the Negro soldiers.
The long
nurturing relationship between St James and Trinity is attested by these
minutes from the records of Trinity:
“Contributions were made by the
Women’s Auxiliary to the negro Episcopalians in this city amounting to $23.00
in 1896; and in 1899, the Vestry voted to give $10.00 for a chancel window and
donated the Bible, formerly used in Trinity, which was replaced by the Woodley
Memorial bible.”
Four places
housed the early St. James group with the first being an “Odd Fellows Hall in
1893. Later that same year, worshippers
met in a blacksmith shop on Glasgow Street.
The third location was a barber shop on London Street near Green Street.
During the
time period beginning around 1912, St. James Church took on new life and steps
were taken to secure a site large enough for a Church, Parish House and
Rectory. The opportunity came to
purchase a new site for its fourth location on High Street near Chestnut Street
for $7,000.00. These buildings were
eventually rented and finally sold for $12,000 enabling the congregation to
meet its then current indebtedness with a sufficient balance with which to
begin a new church plant. Members worshipped
in a Methodist church facility on County Street for approximately eighteen
months.
From 1906,
on the corner of Effingham and Bart Streets, there stood the J. E. Johnson
Grocery, Tobacco and Wine Store which Mr. Johnson ran until the pressure for
prohibition forced him to sell the store.
The members of St. James bought this building and converted it into a
chapel and in 1924 having built a new church facility on this location, moved
into it for its Christmas service that year and continues therein to this
present day.
The property
of the church included a well- equipped Parish House, a modern eight room
rental building, and a spacious well- furnished rectory. The church parish facilities served as a
widely used community center for Portsmouth’s African American community with a
gymnasium, classrooms, play areas, and departmentalized Sunday School rooms.
In 1917,
after having been served by various local clergy and ministerial students from
the Bishop Payne Divinity School in Petersburg, Virginia, including its first
full time Vicar, The Rev. S. A. Morgan (1912-1915), The Reverend Meade B.
Birchette, then a student at the Payne Divinity School, conducted his first
service for St. James on Easter Sunday.
He continued to serve twice a month until his graduation in June,
whereupon he was called to become Vicar of St. James and served until his death
in 1944.
Father
Birchette’s wife, the former Charlotte
Baylies Russell), a graduate of Oberlin College and the youngest daughter of
Archdeacon James Solomon Russell, founder of St. Paul’s College brought to the
church and City a cultural inspiration as she taught in the kindergarten housed
in the St. James Parish House.
When people
of color were not allowed to use the Public Library in Portsmouth, church
members and others organized a library for African Americans in Portsmouth at
St. James (1937-1941), until one was built at 804 South Street.
The parish
hall slipped into disrepair and decay following many years of wide use by
dancing teens and varied church and community youth and adult social
activities.
On January
10, 1982 the congregation celebrated a cornerstone laying ceremony for its new
Parish Hall. The day was so cold that
the stone had to be placed at the foot of the altar in the sanctuary until
weather permitted its proper installation.
Despite hardships and challenges, a mortgage burning and procession with
room by room blessing to the new Parish Hall took place on September 25, 1985
in a Jubilee Eucharist presided over by The Right Rev. C. Charles Vache, 7th
Bishop of the Diocese of Southern
Virginia.
Following
her death in 2005, the Parish Hall was named the “Alice P. Bell Fellowship Hall”
in honor of the generous benevolence and service of this devoted church member
and leader.
Continuing its
tradition of community outreach and service, and in cooperation with local
homeless service providers; for more than a quarter of a century, St. James has
hosted a monthly meal for its homeless neighbors on the third Sundays following
its worship services.
Clergy who
have served St. James Church following The Rev. Mr. Birchette have included:
The Rev. Dr. Hubert A. Parish (1944)
The Rev. E. Deedom Alston (1944-1951)
The Rev. Charles E. Taylor
(1952-1956)
The Rev. George B. D. Dayson
(1957-1962)
The Rev. Clyde E. Beatty, Jr.
(1962-1967)
The Rev. Junius H. Mason (1970-1981)
The Rev.
Charles Kettlewell (1981-1985)
(Shared Priest with
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Portsmouth)
The Rev. Richard O. Bridgeford
(1985-1986) Interim
The Rev. Donald M. Lutas (1986 -1991)
The Rev. Claude Turner (1991-1992) Interim
The Rev. Jesse L. London (1993-1997)
The Rev. Dr. Joseph N. Green
(1997-2001) Interim
The Rev. Dr. John O. Agbaje (2001
-2013)
The Rev.
Canon Frederick Walker (2014 –)
(Beginning as a shared
Priest with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Suffolk)
St. James is
proud to be the home parish for three of its sons who entered the Episcopal
Priesthood: The Rev. Father Ned Kidd, The Reverend Father Edward Rodman and The
Reverend Father Arcelous Elliot, Jr.
Compiled
by Margaret J. Bond (1907-1990)
With 2019 revisions by John G.
Hatcher, Jr
