Welcome to the Charles Parish Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution!
Charles Parish Chapter is named for Charles River Shire, one of the eight original shires of Virginia formed in 1634. The shire was located southeast of Jamestown Settlement (1607) on the Virginia Penisula, near the York and Poquoson Rivers and their tributaries. The parish became part of York county by mandate of Charles I of England in March 1642/43.
First named New Pocoson [sic] Parish or New Poquoson Parish (1642/43), some sources say that the name may have been changed to New Towson Parish about 1650, and was then renamed Charles Parish before July 8, 1702. So it remained until the close of Charles Parish registers in 1789.
The Register of Charles Parish, York County, Virginia, contains some of the oldest colonial Virginia church records in existence today. Some Charles Parish Chapter members can find baptism, marriage, and burial records of their ancestors in the Charles Parish Register.
The monument shown (right) marks the former location of Charles Parish Church, and remnants of the church's foundation remain there to be seen. Along Yorktown Road, in the Tabb area of York County just east of the interesection of Pleasant Dale Lane, can also be found an old cemetery, shaded by old trees and containing tombstones of early settlers of the area.