a solid Charles City County gentry family. Mary Stith was the daughter of
William Randolph of Turkey Island and his wife, Mary Isham.30 The Ran-
dolphs proved singular among the   first  families in their willingness to accept
clergymen as marriage partners. And William Stith seized upon the advan-
tages of the Randolph connection by marrying his cousin Judith Randolph
in 1738. Judith,   an agreeable Lady, with a very considerable Fortune,  was the
daughter of Thomas and Judith Fleming Randolph of Tuckahoe and the sister
of William Randolph.31
Stith had the great good fortune of an upbringing in a family able (even
though his father died while he was a young boy) to secure the finest education
for him. The grammar school of the College of William and Mary where his
mother served as matron provided his preparatory studies.32 Like his distant
cousins, Bartholomew and Robert Yates, he went to Oxford, matriculating at
Queen s College in 1724 at age seventeen. He was awarded the bachelor s de-
gree four years later and his M.A. followed in 1730.33 Ordination preceded his
return home the next year.34
Stith waited five years before entering the ranks of Virginia s parish parsons.
In the interim as master of the William and Mary grammar school, he put boys
through their paces in Latin and Greek.35 Then, in 1735, he exchanged school-
mastering for the rectorship of Henrico Parish situated on the north side of
the James River near present-day Richmond. Predominant among Henrico s
families were none other than the Randolphs Turkey Island, the original
family seat, was located within the parish precincts. Perhaps he delayed taking
a parish until he was able to take the right parish.36
Two churches and a chapel demanded his constant attention and defined
the round of his parish duties. He was a dutiful parson, a   doer  as well as
a thinker. Yet he found time as well to inspect the manuscripts and books
that came to hand; during this period in Henrico Parish, Stith wrote his pio-
neering history of Virginia s early years. What his parishioners made of their
scholar-parson is not known; perhaps some took pride in his learning, others
may have been indifferent or unaware, and it would be surprising if there were
not some scoffers.
What is most unlikely, however, is that any of his contemporaries would
have described Stith as an   ivory-tower  pedant or otherworldly dreamer. Not
only did they encounter him in his pastoral rounds, but they would also
have heard about his decidedly this-worldly land deals. The Randolph family
connection provided the opening to what became extensive land acquisition.
.
168 parsons