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.ÿþous John Balls, Thomas Smiths, John Clarks, Thomas Edwardses, John Foxes,George Hudsons, and William Davises served in Virginia.Oxford a stronghold of Anglican tradition and orthodoxy, whose primefunction.was conceived to be the recruitment and formation of a learnedprofession, the clergy of the national religious establishment was numeri-cally favored; at least thirty-eight Virginia parsons matriculated there asagainst twenty-two at Cambridge.5 In contrast to the gentlemen-commonerswho typically resided in an Oxford college for one to two years, the great ma-jority of those who completed the B.A.degree took holy orders and enteredthe clergy ranks.Characteristically their social origins were modest, and theyincluded many sons of parish priests.6 Among Oxford colleges, Queen s (withseven), Brasenose and Oriel (with five each), and Jesus (with four) were four ofthe eleven Oxford colleges most instrumental in the preparation of Virginiaparsons.7Queen s College as a royal and religious foundation continued to fulfill itsspecial and historic mandate to raise up men for the church.Queen s alsohad an ongoing distinctive regional connection with the northern counties,especially Cumberland and Westmoreland; it brought each year to its societya considerable company of rustic youths whose worldly prospects dependedupon the academic distinction achieved during their residence. 8 This rela-tionship made Queen s a promising recruiting ground for clergy to serve over-seas.At Cambridge, Trinity College with six future parsons and St.John s withfive were responsible for half of the Virginia clergy who studied in that vener-able institution.9 Most Oxford-Cambridge students later serving in Virginiamatriculated before 1740; in subsequent decades the colony drew upon meneducated in Scotland, other American colonies, and in Virginia itself.Scottish universities rivaled England s as the alma mater of Virginia clergy-men.At least twenty-one studied at Marischall College or King s College inAberdeen; twelve attended Glasgow; seven matriculated at Edinburgh, and twoat St.Andrew s.These numbers, like those for Oxford and Cambridge, cer-tainly understate Scottish training.Extant records are even less satisfactorythan for their English counterparts, and the plethera of Campbells, Scotts,Monroes, Andrewses, Douglases, Frasers, McDonalds, McKays, Robertsons,and Stuarts defies sorting out.Moreover, as was true of James Blair, Scotsoften attended more than one university, moving from Aberdeen to Glasgowor Edinburgh.10.108 parsons
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