During the decade preceding its founding, the friendship of several local persons played an important role in making possible the constituting of Nomini Baptist Church. In an era when Baptists in Virginia generally ranked low on the social scale, some notable and influential people gave aid and encouragement to those who were willing to be "counted for God" as Baptists in Westmoreland county. Their moral and financial assistance made possible the advancement achieved in the early years of the church. The names most often appearing in this group are Hannah Ludwell Lee (daughter of Colonel Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall), Councillor Robert Carter (grandson of Robert "King" Carter), Elizabeth Steptoe, widow of Frances Tasker Carter (wife of Robert Carter), Elizabeth Steptoe, widow of Dr. George Steptoe (a "lady of first rank"), and Sarah E. Peirce (wife of Captain Joseph Peirce, donor of the land which the first Nomini Baptist Meeting House was built).
Upon being constituted as a church in 1786, the new congregation first worshiped in private residences. No primary source of records of this period are known to exist, but many references to the early days of Nomini Baptist Church are found in accounts dating to the early nineteenth century. It appears that the homes of Captain Joseph Peirce, Mr. Samuel Templeman, and Elizabeth Ransdell Steptoe served as gathering places for the rapidly-growing group of worshipers.
By the spring of 1787 more that seventy members were on the church roll and a central meeting place was much needed. To meet that need, Joseph Peirce donated the use of a parcel of land for the construction of " Nomony Meeting House". In the early days of Baptist Churches in Virginia, a definite differentiation in nomenclature was made between the congregation and the building in which the congregation worshiped. The term,"church", was reserved for referring to the members, while the building was referred to as the "Meeting House". It was not until 1840 that the minutes of the Dover Association began referring to places of assembly as "churches".
Between 1787, when the membership was under 100 persons, and 1796, when it had increased to over 400, a frame meeting house was constructed. This meeting house, which served for nearly three-quarters of a century, was located on the road between Templeman's Cross Roads and Farmer's Fork, near the top of a hill above Pantico Run. The site is approximately one and a quarter miles southwest of the present church building. Title to the land on which the meeting house was erected apparently remained with Captain Peirce at that time.
On September 20, 1799, Samuel Templeman and Edward Porter, as trustees, purchased the site on which the original church had been built. The land was bought from Ransdell Peirce and his wife Nancy, they having inherited it from Captain Joseph Peirce who had died in 1798. Deed Book 20, page 28, in the Westmoreland County Courthouse, records the transaction.
A decision was made during the middle eighteen hundreds to move to a location closer to the main highway and to the crossroads (Templemans), past which much of the area traffic flowed. Record books do not exist from 1844 through 1864 and we have no insight into the discussions which prompted the church to make the move. The ground on which today's church building is sited was given by a devoted member, and the record in Deed Book 35 at page 689 states the transaction. "In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 26 day of May 1858".
During 1858 and 1859 the building which currently serves as the sanctuary was erected on the two-acre tract of land. It was constructed of brick burned in a kiln on the grounds. Until sometime in the 1950s', the remains of this old kiln could still be detected.
The Civil-War years were exceptionally hard of both the spirit and the work of the church. From a membership of 408 persons(118 white and 290 colored) in 1859, losses due to the war deciminated the congregation. Organized church activity was crippled. The report to the Association in July 1865 listed only 59 white and 36 colored members at Nomini.
With the ending of the Civil War, church members took up the task of revitalizing the work. By 1882, recovery was evident. Although the majority of black members had been granted Letters of Demission to form Galilee Baptist Church in 1868, Nomini's membership stood at 200, with 25 baptisms reported for the year. An optimistic outlook is reflected in the decision to further expand the church property to a total of four acres.
Property acreage remained at four acres until 1932 when the Westmoreland County School Board decided to sell the school house and lot which was adjacent to the southern edge of the church property. The site was sold to Nomini in January, 1933 and was said to contain one acre, more or less, and was purchased for fifty dollars. Membership in July 1933 was "93 male and 93 female".
The next land acquisition came in February, 1954, when a committee was appointed to investigate the possible purchase of real estate bordering on the northern boundary of church property. The lot was purchased July 19, 1954. This lot was described as being "100x400 feet, plus any remaining land between the plotted south edge of the lot and church property". The purchase price was $300. Several smaller lots have been purchased over the remaining years and the total acreage today is 8.7 acres, more or less.
Records show that over the years the spelling of Nomini has been, "Nonomy","Nominy","Nonimy","Nomony","Nomony", and the present "Nomini".
The person with the longest continuous membership is Mrs. Eunice Atwell who joined the church in 1910 as Miss Eunice Settle and is still a current member. Mrs. Atwell is one of the former organists of the church and played the organ for many years. ( Mrs. Eunice Atwell pass away on Friday September 13, 2002. She was 103 years old when she passed.)
When Nomini Baptist Church was founded, members came from the length and breadth of Westmoreland County and from the border areas of King George, Richmond and Northumberland counties to worship as Baptists. Travel was slow, tiresome and possibly dangerous do to unpaved roads, exposure to the elements and lack of bridges which required fording or ferrying over the many creeks along the way. Consequently, whenever sufficient families from a particular area had joined Nomini, they looked for a way to congregate closer to home. From a natural desire for convience as well as for Christian fellowship, new churches were formed and Baptist influence spread rapidly.
(This site in the Web Ring is owned by orville ingram)
 This site is owned by orville ingram. |
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