for the
minister, with a glebe of two hundred and fifty acres of land, and
sometimes a few negroes, or a small stock of cattle. The salary of
sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco was, in ordinary quality, equivalent
to L80; in sweet-scented, to L160. It required the labor of twelve
negroes to produce this amount. There were in Virginia, at this time,
three Quaker congregations, and as many Presbyterian; two in Accomac
under the care of Rev. Francis Makemie; the other on Elizabeth River.

The Rev. Francis Makemie, who is styled the father of the American
Presbyterian Church, was settled in Accomac County before the year 1690,
when his name first appears upon the county records. He appears to have
been a native of the north of Ireland, being of Scotch extraction, and
one of those called Scotch-Irish. Licensed by the presbytery of Lagan in
1680, and in two or three years ordained as an evangelist for America,
he came over, and labored in Barbadoes, Maryland, and Virginia. The
first mention of his name on the records of the county court of Accomac
bears date in 1690, by which he appears to have brought suits for debts
due him in the business of merchandise. He married Naomi, eldest
daughter of William Anderson, a wealthy merchant of Accomac, and thus
acquired an independent estate. In the year 1699 he obtained from the
court of that county a certificate of qualification as a preacher under
the toleration act, the first of the kind known to be on record in
Virginia. At the same time, upon his petition, two houses belonging to
him were licensed as places of public worship.[372:A] In a letter
written in 1710 by the presbytery of Philadelphia to that of Dublin, it
is said: "In all Virginia we have one small congregation on Elizabeth
River, and some few families favoring our way in Rappahannock and York."
Two years after, the Rev. John Macky was the pastor of the Elizabeth
River congregation. It is probable that the congregations organized by
Mr. Makemie, in 1690, were not able to give him a very ample support;
but, prosperous in his worldly affairs, he appears to have contributed
liberally from his own means to the promotion of the religious interests
in which he was engaged. According to tradition, he suffered frequent
annoyances from the intolerant spirit of the times in Virginia; but he
declared that "he durst not deny preaching, and hoped he never should,
while it was wanting and desired." Beverley, in his "History of
Virgin