Caroline Gwathmey Jones of King and Queen County, Va., was at once family-proud, place-proud and church-proud. She enjoyed sharing stories about the history of the Gwathmeys and the family seat, Canterbury; about her county and its long and illustrious part in the Virginia story; and about her beloved church, Bruington.
She grew up and lived long on the high banks above the Mattaponi River. She would swim in its waters on her birthday each July until age 92. She also loved horses and enjoyed riding them until age 83.
Fred Anderson
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She frequented the museum of the King and Queen Historical Society at the Courthouse and contributed items to the displays. She was an active member of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and led the women at Bruington to sponsor the panel in the Society’s mural which depicts Robert Baylor Semple, pastor of Bruington (and a great early leader among Baptists in America), as he was writing the first history of Virginia Baptists in 1810. Whenever there was a program or event at the Virginia Baptist Historical Society she could be expected to be in attendance.
She taught a Sunday school class at her church for about 50 years and for an equal period sang in the church’s choir. At one time or another, she held every office in her church’s WMU.
There was a time when she moved away from King and Queen. After graduation from Longwood College, she taught school in Alexandria. She became a Red Cross hospital recreation worker during the Second World War and worked at Walter Reed Hospital. In a newspaper interview some years ago, she told about an incident when she literally bumped into Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower at Walter Reed, sending cookies and sandwiches intended for her patients flying across the floor. The great man as well as a group of lesser officers all stooped to pick up the goodies.
She met John F. Jones while working in the hospital and the two enjoyed 62 years of married life. They maintained Canterbury, which has been in her family for nine generations.
Caroline Gwathmey Jones on a visit to the Virginia Baptist Historical Society to view an exhibit on another daughter of Bruington, Olive Bagby.
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In 1962 she was called as a substitute for a class “which had run amok” and the two-week stint stretched out for 15 or more years. In 1966 she became a school principal in her home county. Discipline was a constant duty but the tall, dignified, statuesque woman had little trouble dealing with children. She also encouraged creative additions to the local school curriculum.
Ellen P. Reed of Bruington once reflected: “Caroline has been a true Christian role model for me. Her quiet, yet positive and unwavering, Christian life and leadership characterize her personhood.”
Everyone who ever knew Caroline of Canterbury could agree.
On July 27, Caroline died at age 94. Her memorial service was held at Bruington and the downstairs of the old church house was packed. It was a mixture of folks, white and black, young and old. There were fellow teachers from her school teaching days. There were adults whom she had taught when they were young. There were farmers and businessmen and women. There was a respectful whisper of conversation among old friends; but when the service began, there was a quiet interrupted only by the ticking of the old clock on the back wall of the auditorium.
The service at the church was conducted by two ordained women ministers, Ellen Temple Gwathmey, her niece and a daughter of Bruington, and Michelle Kimlick, who with her husband, Brent, had served the church as pastors until their recent relocation to Franklin.
Michelle observed that Caroline Gwathmey Jones “lived life to its fullest, never holding back.” She recalled her first memory of the remarkable woman.
“It was from a morning walking up the hill from the parsonage with dew on the ground and I saw the streak of a black car go quickly by. One of my girls said that she thought it was the lady with the white hair. Looking back, I now realize that a lady who lived life to the fullest might also drive to the fullest.”
The Kimlick’s daughters enjoyed visiting Canterbury where its owner was willing to let them touch antiques and found pleasure in telling the story behind objects. This columnist treasures a time when Caroline and John entertained his family at lunch and Caroline shared a story out of Virginia Baptist history. It was a story associated with Robert Baylor Semple when he was pastor of Bruington in the late 1700s. It seems that his wife’s people, devout Anglicans, felt shame when their daughter, Ann, married “a poor Baptist minister.” A female relative visiting Ann Semple was shocked to see that she only had pewter and owned no silver. In pity, the relative sent Mrs. Semple three little silver teaspoons. The tiny spoons became a lesson about Baptists from long ago.
The service concluded at Canterbury. Brent Kimlick conducted the service as the ashes of Caroline Gwathmey Jones were buried just outside the fenced area of the old family cemetery.
One of the stories which Caroline liked to tell involved her ancestors’ dislike for Baptists. It comes from the time of conflict between the Anglicans of the Established Church and the emerging dissenters known as the Baptists.
It seems that Owen Gwathmey who built the original house at Canterbury and his son, Temple, disliked the troublesome dissenters so much that Temple Gwathmey refused burial in the family graveyard for a daughter who had married a Baptist minister. By the next generation the family had become solidly Baptist.
It somehow is poetic justice that the Anglicans’ dust and the ashes of the devoted Baptist woman share the same soil of Canterbury on the high bluff over the river.
In the service at Bruington, Ellen Temple Gwathmey requested that the congregation sing one of her Aunt Caroline’s favorite gospel songs. Although printed in the bulletin, the words were familiar to nearly everyone in the house. “When the darkness appears and the night draws near, and the day is past and gone, at the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand: take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.