On Sunday, September 30, Emmanuel and Chatham Hall will celebrate, at Emmanuel, the bicentennial of the birth of the man who revived the almost-extinguished Episcopal faith in the area and served as trustee of Chatham Hall (then the Chatham Female Episcopal Institute) and as Danville and Pittsylvania County’s first superintendent of schools,
The fete honoring the Reverend Dr. G.W. Dame (1812-1895) will include Chatham Hall’s 28-voice St. Mary’s Choir, overseen by Choir Director David Grimes; as well as an “antique” service of worship from the 1789 Book of Common Prayer, used in Dame’s day.
The Reverend James Mathieson will lead the worship service. He’ll also share his thoughts on the Rev. Dr. Dame’s contributions, as will Chatham Hall Rector Dr. Gary Fountain.
During and after the Revolution, when Southside residents rejected British rule they also turned their backs on the Church of England. Membership in the Anglican Communion dropped to nearly zero in and around Chatham and Danville; and there it stayed until Dame came to town.
Dame, 28 in 1840, and soon-to-be an ordained Episcopal priest, arrived in Danville to head the Danville Female Academy. He was eventually appointed as the first post-Revolution Episcopal rector of Camden Parish, comprised of Patrick, Henry, Franklin and Pittsylvania Counties. When he arrived, he found eight Episcopalians in the parish.
In 1840 Chatham, still known as Competition, had a population of about 200. Two were Episcopalians. Dame rode in from Danville two Sundays a month, setting up in a tavern then on the street, and later in the court building to preach the Gospel.
Gradually his Chatham following grew and the first Emmanuel Church, a white frame structure, was built in 1844 on its present Main Street lot purchased for $220.
During the Civil War, The Reverend Dame served as Chaplain in Danville for both Confederate Army personnel and Federal POWs. He personally prepared wooden markers for the graves of prisoners who died in Danville’s wartime prisons, preserving the identity of hundreds of soldiers’ remains.
When the free public school system was established in Virginia in 1870, Dame was appointed superintendent of schools for Pittsylvania County, including Danville. Beginning with the school’s inception in 1894, he served as trustee of the school that would become Chatham Hall.
According to his biographical sketch, a twenty-something G.W. Dame had studied the Bible on his own but felt uncomfortable with any churches he had attended. He was discussing this discomfort and explaining his personal beliefs to a woman at a public gathering. After hearing his thoughts, the woman responded that he was decidedly an Episcopalian.
He looked into the tenets of the church and agreed. He was baptized in Lynchburg in 1836. He wanted to become a priest, but that required extensive study and he was married and poor. Working days running a boarding school and studying Hebrew, Greek and theology at night, he completed the required education. He was ordained deacon of the church in 1840 and as priest in 1841. He received his Doctor of Divinity in 1891. On Christmas Eve, 1895, the Rev. Dr. Dame died. He is buried in Danville’s Green Hill Cemetery.
Particularly looking forward to Sunday’s celebration, because of his ties to both celebrating institutions, is the Reverend Dr. John Ruef. John served Chatham Hall as chaplain from 1985 to 1993, and Emmanuel as both priest and rector off and on from 1986 to 2009.