e occasion of building the tower is found in the extract following,
made from the same source, and bearing date February 6, 1761:

"Whereas the late Mr. Andrew Kennedy, did by his last will and
testament, devise to the parish of Elizabeth City, forty pounds
sterling, to purchase a bell for the church of the said parish,
provided the vestry, and churchwardens of the said parish,
shall undertake to build a belfry for the same in twelve months
after the said Alexander Kennedy's death; and this vestry,
willing to embrace the said gift, have accordingly resolved,"
&c.

Now arises a question of some interest. The will of Nicholas Baker, made
December 21, 1667, makes mention of "ye _new_ church of Kighotan." Was
there an _old_ church of Kighotan? One older than this? We answer, yes!
And now for the writer's reasons for arriving at this conclusion. From
the old record of wills, deeds, &c., in the County Court office, and to
which I have had access freely, through the politeness and kindness of
Samuel Howard, Esq., the gentlemanly clerk of the court, I copy the
following:

"In the name of God, Amen. I, Robert Brough, clerke of
Kigquotan, in the county of Elizabeth Citty, being sicke and
weake in body, but in perfect sense and memory, praised bee God
for itt, this seven and twentyeth day of Aprill, in the yeare
of our Lord God 1667, for the quieting of my conscience, desire
to settle that estate it has pleased God to lend mee, in manner
and forme following;--And first of all, I commend my soul into
the hands of ye Almighty God my Maker, and my Saviour and
Redeemer Christ Jesus, being confident through his meritts and
blood shedd for mee, to be an inheritor with Him, His saints
and angells of everlasting life. And my body unto ye earthe
from whence it came, there to receive decent burial in _the old
parish church of Kigquotan_ aforesaid," &c.

"The _old_ parish church of Kigquotan," and "ye _new_ church of
Kighotan," cannot be one and the same. We are then led to inquire,
_where_ was the old parish church of Kigquotan, and _when_ was it
probably built? The last branch of this question, we prefer answering
first. By reference to the administration of Sir Thomas Yeardley (not
Sir George Yeardley), we find that, in 1621, among several other
Colonial enactments, provision is made for the _erection_ of a "_house
of worship, and