More Fredericksville, VA, confusion!

[mama...@cs.com]

Crew & Janet,

Okay, I did "the Google" for "Fredericksville, VA" and "Fredericksville Parish Virginia."  For the first one, the city of Fredericksburg, VA, got lots of results.  Even when I asked for the ZIP Code for Fredericksville, VA.    There was a Fredericksville Parish that was originally in Louisa Co., VA, but was then in Albemarle Co. when that county was formed in 1744.  BUT, why was it called "Fredericksville Parish" if there was no town called Fredericksville?    Corn-fusing!!   

My Albemarle Co. ancestor, Reuben BURGESS, was born and married in Stafford Co., VA.  I don't know exactly when he moved to Albemarle County, VA.   So, now I'm wondering if he might have been in Fredericksville Parish.  And does "Parish" mean an actual church building, or just a certain part of a county?  

One item I found on  Rootsweb Free Pages says this about Fredericksville Parish:
    The north part of Albemarle County was Fredericksville Parish and the south part was St. Anne's Parish.

Capt. Ski (Re-Ret.)

[Janet Sisler]

This is good information to fill in a few blanks for me.
Thank you so much.
Janet Sisler

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[Marsha Ensminger]

In 1744 Virginia was still a colony, so what political organization there was probably followed the English model.  A "parish" would have been a specific area, presumably centered on a church.  Tithes would be paid to the parish an individual lived in.  One church per parish, one parish per church.  No overlapping (except in cases of non-conforming churches, which wouldn't have been "official" parishes).

Don't know how large a parish was.  One would assume that the residents should be able to reach the parish church without an onerous amount of travel, as they were probably expected to attend on a weekly basis.

"Fredericksville" parish sounds as though that was where the church was located, while "St. Anne's" sounds more like the name of the church.  But given all the places named some variant of "St. John's", I could easily be wrong and they might both have been towns.

*Marsha L. Ensminger