Death and Alleged Burial at Elk Run Church

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Keith Randolph

Reverend James Keith died in Prince William County^[1] sometime in the winter of 1752 or early spring of 1753. His death must have occurred before the end of May 1953 since John Neavill's suit against Keith in the Prince William County Court was dismissed 31 May 1753 with the remark, “the defendant being dead”^[2], but there is no known documentation of James Keith’s place or date of death^[3].

There is likewise no documentation for the death of Mary Isham Randolph Keith. She must have died some time after August 24, 1772, the date she appeared in Fauquier County Court where she signed the agreement that her son Thomas Randolph had paid "the sum of one hundred fifty pounds Current Money of Virginia" towards the payment of her debts and confirmed that he would "support and maintain the said Mary Isham Keith in a decent and Genteel Manner"^[4].

"Tradition has it," as H. C. groom put it in 1930^[5], that Rev. James Keith is buried at Elk Run Church. And the allegation that Reverend James Keith and Mary Isham Randolph Keith are buried or "said to be buried" under the chancel of old Elk Run Church continues to this day on many online genealogy websites^[6] and at least one genealogy blog^[7]. Given that Elk Run Church was the designated Hamilton Parish church, and that Rev. James Keith was its first permanent minister^[8], such a burial does not seem implausible.

The originally-designated Elk Run Church was a wooden Chapel and was eventually replaced by a brick cruciform structure built in the 1750s. That brick structure was the subject of a site preservation project (1999-2006) during which the Church's foundation was fully exposed. A mini-museum, built on the re-excavated foundation, was completed in 2010 for display of historical documents and artifacts found in the archaeological dig that was part of the preservation activity^[9]. The Archaeology Summary Report contains this statement: “A large depression was exposed in the eastern arm of the cross, most likely the chancel area where the altar was located. The depression, which extended well down into the subsoil and was filled with rubble from the collapse of the church, may have been caused when a tree growing in the interior of the abandoned church tipped over. The depression could also have been caused when potential looters attempted to dig into the altar area of the abandoned church to explore for valuables associated with burials"^[10] -- expected to be found perhaps, given the "tradition" of Keith's burial. The Archaeology Summary Report makes no mention of human remains being found in the course of excavating the structure^[11].

Elk Run Dig Site 1999-2006

SOURCES

1. ↑ Because Fauquier County was not established until 1759, it is not accurate to say that James Keith “died in Fauquier County” in 1752 or 1753.
2. ↑ Prince William County Minute Book, 1752–1753, p. 146.
3. ↑ Keith’s will was proved in June 1753 at the Prince William County court (Prince William County Minute Book, 1752–1753, pp. 25, 163), but the will itself does not appear in extant Prince William County will books.
4. ↑ Fauquier County Deed Book 5, 1772-1774, p.212.
5. ↑ H. C. Groom in his address at Hamilton Parish's 200th anniversary celebration (Journal of the 135th Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia, 1930: 78).
6. ↑ E.g., RootsWeb (“Descendants of James (Rev) Keith,” “Keith resources”), Geneanet (“Rev. James (1): Family tree by Brynjulf Langballe”), Find a Grave (“Mary Isham Randolph Keith”), Geni (“Rev. James Keith”), Genealogy.com (“Martha K-Dane – User Trees”), to name a few.
7. ↑ Hard Honesty (http://rdhardesty.blogspot.com/search?q=james+keith)
8. ↑ There is no vestry record of the early Hamilton Parish (Bishop William Meade, Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1891), Vol II: 216), and in default of a vestry record, we are deprived of a primary source for reference to Rev. Mr. James Keith as the “first permanent minister” of Hamilton Parish.
9. ↑ See photos and history of the site and Museum at https://elkrunchurchhistoricsite.org/.
10. ↑ https://elkrunchurchhistoricsite.org/archeology/
11. ↑ The Report does make clear, however, that burial sites were found in the cemetery area adjoining the structure, and that "one grave shaft, containing skeletal remains in an excellent state of preservation, was exposed. The grave and skeletal remains were oriented east/west in the manner of Anglican burials during the 18th century."(https://elkrunchurchhistoricsite.org/archeology/)