In the last note I erred in saying that the first set of Vestrymen were appointed. They were elected by the citizens. To be eligible to vote, one had to be, at minimum, a white male, and a person's vote was not secret. It was posted in a public place so everyone could see for whom you voted. A voter might have one or two opportunities in a lifetime to vote for Vestrymen. The only other office for which one could vote were the two Burgesses elected from each county. These were the legislators who sat in Williamsburg as the General Assembly.
The opening paragraph of the Saint Mark Parish Vestry Book reads:
"Persueance to An Act of the General Assembly holden at Williams Burgh the twenty-first day of May 1730 Intitaled an Act for Dividing the Parish of Saint George in the County of Spotsylvania and that all the other part of the said Parish which lies above the said bounds shall there after be Called and Known by the Name of Saint Mark and according to the said Act the free holders and house keepers of the said Parish of Saint Mark did Meet at the Church at Germanna in their said Parish on the said first day of January and there did Elect and Choose twelve of the most able and Discreet persons of their Parish to be vestry Men for their said Parish (viz) GOODRICH LIGHTFOOT, JAMES BARBER, THOMAS STANTON, HENRY FIELD, ROBERT SLAUGHTER, BENJAMIN CAVE, JOHN FINLASON, ROBERT GREEN, FRANCIS KIRTLEY, FRANCIS SLAUGHTER, SAMUEL BALL, WILLIAM PAYTON haveing taken the oaths appointed by Law and Subscribed to be Conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England Doe Act as vestry Men for the Parish of Saint Mark."
These elected Vestrymen came together on Saturday, January 9, 1730, for the first meeting. This latter date must be an "old style" date, otherwise the first meeting would have taken place before the parish was created by the Assembly. At the first meeting, all twelve of the elected Vestrymen met, which was probably the only time that occurred. One of the first items of business was to elect William Payton as " Clark of the said vestry ". For his work in doing this, he was to be allowed six hundred pounds of tobacco Convenant [?] for his Service.
The next item was to elect Robert Slaughter and Francis Slaughter, Gent., as " Church wardens for the said Parish for the Insueing Year ".
Then, William Payton, William Phillips, and John Macmath were approved to continue to be " Readers at the Several Churches and Chapels they formerly read at and that they be paid one thousand pounds of tobacco Casque and Convenuncy Each for this Insueing Year ". Signed Robert Slaughter and Francis Slaughter.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.