Vestrymen's Importance in Colonial Times
Church records assist genealogical reserch
Of these early Vestrymen, Thomas Jefferson said, "The Vestrymen are usually the most discreet farmers, so distributed through the parish that every part of it may be under the immediate eye of some one of them. They are well acquainted with the details and economy of private life, and they find sufficient inducements to execute their charge well, in their philanthropy, in the approbation of their neighbors, and the distinction which it gives them."
The above quotation reveals the difference between New England's concentrated town government and Virginia's congregational Church.
After the burning of Jamestown on September 19, 1676, Williamsburg became the seat of the Colonial government. Its population was well concentrated, and the Church had a representative body of Vestrymen presiding over gentlemen still living in their ancestral estates.
The business of these Colonial Vestrymen was to represent the congregation and ensure that the House of Burgesses enacted reasonable measures to support the Church. They were committed to overseeing and caring for the poor and empowered to make levies.
Tip: It is often essential to read the vestry records and parish registers in old church books, especially if the county records did not survive and one cannot locate the property or other information in the tax records.