St. James' Episcopal Church Portsmouth VA

St. James Episcopal Church welcomes you!

Founded in 1890, St. James is a vital part of the Portsmouth community. We invite you to come worship and serve with us!

Sunday service at 10:30 a.m.

St. James is located at 928 Effingham Street in downtown Portsmouth.

 

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The traveler who leaves Norfolk by way of the tunnel to Portsmouth, Virginia, which was established by an act of the General Assembly in 1752 must pause at the “Stop Sign” before he/she turns right on Effingham Street which takes him/her to the United States Naval Hospital, one of the most famous in the world and built on the site of old Fort Nelson in 1827.

The traveler must pause before turning left on Effingham Street, which will take him/her to the United States Naval Shipyard, where great ships have been built since 1767.

If while standing at that “Stop Sign”. one should look across Effingham Street, he/she would see a cross on the steeple of a small Gothic building and wonder how this church came to occupy such a valuable site—the crossroads of Interstate 264 and Effingham Street –the thoroughfare provided by the U. S. government for its men and materials.

If the tourist crossed over and went into the church one would find to the right of the nave or “peoples’ part of the church, and on its east end a large stained glass window dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Virginia Page. It was Mrs. Page who requested that her priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Norfolk, The Rev. Dr. George Freeman Bragg conduct services for a group who lived in Portsmouth in 1890. Dr. Bragg writes that “as a mere boy, he had been sent from his church, St. James in Baltimore to serve as Priest at Grace Church in Norfolk, and that he started the group in Portsmouth just before he moved back to Baltimore in 1891.”

Mr. Bragg further wrote, “the very year we left Virginia for Maryland, seeing a splendid opportunity for a new work in Portsmouth, we were bold enough to invite Mr. Joseph Bryan of Richmond, one of the finest types of men, ever active in every phase of colored work and a rich man, soliciting him to build the church outright as a memorial to his family.” Mr. Bryan wrote under the date of June 7, 1891, saying the request was a tempting one, and the investment would no doubt reap a rich reward; but he had too many requests that he had to decline this one.

Names of the other members of the founding group seem to be known but to God, but there were others for a Mr. Perdue states in his book that a person born in 1852 said, “Mr. Friend, Pastor done christen me; I tended to be a Episcopal but I ne’er did. Dat day and time de colored people didn’t have no church so dey always went to the white church and dar was a place saved for dem.” The record of Trinity Church Portsmouth in December 1826, carries a notice that Pews 40 and 41 were to be rented for “blacks.” Furthermore, an order from General B. F. Butler, Headquarters 18th Army Corps, Fortress issued December 23, 1863 directed that the pews of Trinity Church are all free to the Negro soldiers.

The long nurturing relationship between St James and Trinity is attested by these minutes from the records of Trinity: “Contributions were made by the Women’s Auxiliary to the negro Episcopalians in this city amounting to $23.00 in 1896; and in 1899, the Vestry voted to give $10.00 for a chancel window and donated the Bible, formerly used in Trinity, which was replaced by the Woodley Memorial bible.” Four places housed the early St. James group with the first being an “Odd Fellows Hall in 1893. Later that same year, worshippers met in a blacksmith shop on Glasgow Street. The third location was a barber shop on London Street near Green Street.

During the time period beginning around 1912, St. James Church took on new life and steps were taken to secure a site large enough for a Church, Parish House and Rectory. The opportunity came to purchase a new site for its fourth location on High Street near Chestnut Street for $7,000.00. These buildings were eventually rented and finally sold for $12,000 enabling the congregation to meet its then current indebtedness with a sufficient balance with which to begin a new church plant. Members worshipped in a Methodist church facility on County Street for approximately eighteen months.

From 1906, on the corner of Effingham and Bart Streets, there stood the J. E. Johnson Grocery, Tobacco and Wine Store which Mr. Johnson ran until the pressure for prohibition forced him to sell the store. The members of St. James bought this building and converted it into a chapel and in 1924 having built a new church facility on this location, moved into it for its Christmas service that year and continues therein to this present day.

The property of the church included a well- equipped Parish House, a modern eight room rental building, and a spacious well- furnished rectory. The church parish facilities served as a widely used community center for Portsmouth’s African American community with a gymnasium, classrooms, play areas, and departmentalized Sunday School rooms.

In 1917, after having been served by various local clergy and ministerial students from the Bishop Payne Divinity School in Petersburg, Virginia, including its first full time Vicar, The Rev. S. A. Morgan (1912-1915), The Reverend Meade B. Birchette, then a student at the Payne Divinity School, conducted his first service for St. James on Easter Sunday. He continued to serve twice a month until his graduation in June, whereupon he was called to become Vicar of St. James and served until his death in 1944.

Father Birchette’s wife, the former Charlotte Baylies Russell), a graduate of Oberlin College and the youngest daughter of Archdeacon James Solomon Russell, founder of St. Paul’s College brought to the church and City a cultural inspiration as she taught in the kindergarten housed in the St. James Parish House.

When people of color were not allowed to use the Public Library in Portsmouth, church members and others organized a library for African Americans in Portsmouth at St. James (1937-1941), until one was built at 804 South Street.

The parish hall slipped into disrepair and decay following many years of wide use by dancing teens and varied church and community youth and adult social activities.

On January 10, 1982 the congregation celebrated a cornerstone laying ceremony for its new Parish Hall. The day was so cold that the stone had to be placed at the foot of the altar in the sanctuary until weather permitted its proper installation. Despite hardships and challenges, a mortgage burning and procession with room by room blessing to the new Parish Hall took place on September 25, 1985 in a Jubilee Eucharist presided over by The Right Rev. C. Charles Vache, 7th Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

Following her death in 2005, the Parish Hall was named the “Alice P. Bell Fellowship Hall” in honor of the generous benevolence and service of this devoted church member and leader. Continuing its tradition of community outreach and service, and in cooperation with local homeless service providers; for more than a quarter of a century, St. James has hosted a monthly meal for its homeless neighbors on the third Sundays following its worship services.

Clergy who have served St. James Church following The Rev. Mr. Birchette have included:

The Rev. Dr. Hubert A. Parish (1944)

The Rev. E. Deedom Alston (1944-1951)

The Rev. Charles E. Taylor (1952-1956)

The Rev. George B. D. Dayson (1957-1962)

The Rev. Clyde E. Beatty, Jr. (1962-1967)

The Rev. Junius H. Mason (1970-1981)

The Rev. Charles Kettlewell (1981-1985) (Shared Priest with Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Portsmouth)

The Rev. Richard O. Bridgeford (1985-1986) Interim

The Rev. Donald M. Lutas (1986 -1991)

The Rev. Claude Turner (1991-1992) Interim

The Rev. Jesse L. London (1993-1997)

The Rev. Dr. Joseph N. Green (1997-2001) Interim

The Rev. Dr. John O. Agbaje (2001 -2013)

The Rev. Canon Frederick Walker (2014 –) (Beginning as a shared Priest with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Suffolk)

St. James is proud to be the home parish for three of its sons who entered the Episcopal Priesthood: The Rev. Father Ned Kidd, The Reverend Father Edward Rodman and The Reverend Father Arcelous Elliot, Jr.

Compiled by Margaret J. Bond (1907-1990) With 2019 revisions by John G. Hatcher, Jr