for Independence only 72
parishes remained, and 34 of these had been deprived of ministerial
help. Churches and chapels had gone to ruin; soldiers having turned them
into barracks or stables.

In 1778 the Rev. Mr. Dade was succeeded as Parish minister by the Rev.
Mr. West, who served for a few months, and he in turn was succeeded by
Rev. David Griffith who it is recorded exercised his ministry with
fidelity in his Parish, preaching both at Alexandria and at Falls Church
from 1780 to 1789. He had been chaplain in the 3rd Virginia Regiment
during the revolution and was to the time of his death, in 1789, a close
personal friend of Washington.

[Illustration: Mr. Geo. W. Hawxhurst]

From 1790 to 1792 Rev. Bryan Fairfax directed the affairs of Fairfax
Parish, selecting for his assistant Rev. Bernard Page. Before the
revolution, being an ardent royalist, he endeavored to dissuade from the
war with the mother country his friend George Washington whose
confidence and esteem he continued to enjoy to the last. Bryan Fairfax
was the son of William Fairfax of Belvoir. He was ordained to the
ministry in 1786 by Bishop Seabury. His title as Eighth Lord Fairfax was
confirmed to him by the English House of Lords in 1800.

The civil functions of the Vestry ceased in 1784. Thereafter, in the
struggle following the disestablishment, having to depend upon voluntary
contributions, many churches succumbed.

It was about this period, or not long after the death of Dr. Griffith in
1789, that Falls Church was abandoned as a place of worship, fell into a
state of dilapidation, and was not used for many years. Chiefly at the
expense of Henry Fairfax, grandson of Rev. Bryan Fairfax, formerly its
rector, the building was repaired and young Mr. Minor, as a lay reader,
organized a congregation of worshippers.

[Illustration: Mr. W. W. Biggs]

In 1827 Bishop Meade visited this church and the description of it in
his book "Old Families and Churches of Virginia" will be of interest.

"The exercises of the Seminary being over, I next directed my steps to
the Falls Church, so called from its vicinity to one of the falls on the
Potomac River. It is about eight miles from Alexandria, and the same
from Georgetown. It is a large oblong building, and like that near Mount
Vernon, has two rows of windows, being doubtless designed for galleries
all around, though none were ever put there. It was deserted as a house
of worship by Episcopalians about forty