rejected, the vestry "not being acquainted with him," and resolving to receive no minister "without a trial first had." For more than two years the parish was vacant, and then, in 1752, the Rev. John Jones was inducted on the recommendation of Governor Dinwiddle.
But we have anticipated the course of events. It is probable that on the day, in 1746, that vestrymen were elected, delegates, or "burgesses," to represent Augusta county in the colonial assembly were also elected. We find no trace of such election, however, in our local archives or elsewhere. The county was duly represented in the "House of Burgesses," nevertheless, and from several acts found in Hening's Statutes at Large, it appears that the county was required to pay the "wages" of her representatives. The name and fame of one of our earliest burgesses have been perpetuated by a stone erected in the glebe burying ground. We give a literal copy of the inscription:
HERE LY,S THE INTER,D BODY OF COL JOHN WILLSON WHO DEPARTED THIS LIF. IN THE-YARE-OF OUR LORD 1773 IN-THE 72- YR-OF HIS EAG HAVING SERVD HIS COUNTY-27-YA-REPRESENTETIVE-IN THE HONOURABLE-HOUS-OF BURJESIS. IN VIRGINIA &c
Colonel Willson is not to be held responsible for the illiteracy and mistakes of the stone-cutter. We presume there is no mistake as to the date of his death, and the statement that he served twenty-seven years as a member of the House of Burgesses. He must, therefore, have been elected in 1746, and have served, upon repeated elections, continuously till his death.
R. A. Brock, Esq., Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, has furnished to us the following partial list of delegates from Augusta in the House of Burgesses:
1751—John Willson and John Madison.
1752—John Willson and John Madison.
1757—John Willson and Gabriel Jones.
1758—John Willson and Gabriel Jones.
1759—John Willson and Israel Christian.
1761—John Willson and Israel Christian.
