Singleton United Methodist Church and its cemetery can be found at 5869 Ware Neck Road (Rt 623), Schley, Virginia
Gravestone inscriptions are documented in More Cemeteries of Gloucester County, Virginia by Harry R. Jordan (1996). (Click on the link, find the “Tombstone Record” section, and scroll through the inner window until you find “Singleton”.) The book is for sale at the Gloucester Museum of History and available in the Gloucester Public Library.
Jordan's book introduces Singleton United Methodist Church with this historical note:
“Probably named after the landowner who gave property for establishment of the church, Singleton appears to have been organized in 1844. For a while the members met in the open, but later a log cabin was erected. Still later the log cabin was replaced with a small wooden structure which served until 1875 when a new building was constructed on the original site. In the intervening years since, many modifications and additions have been made to make the church what it is today.”
It was brothers Robert and Isaac Singleton, sons of Robert and Elizabeth Singleton of Kingston Parish, who began the Singleton family presence in Ware Neck. The Singleton family, headed by immigrant Henry Singleton, were in Kingston Parish near present-day Mathews Courthouse as early as 1667. A couple of generations passed before Robert and Elizabeth Singleton owned land around what is now Winter Haven in Mathews County. The elder Robert's will was proved in March 1725 and it named his children: Robert, Joshua, Susanna (m. Thomas Smither), Mary (m. George Foster), Averilla, and Isaac (ca. 1717-1805).
Robert's youngest son, Isaac Singleton, seems to be the Singleton who first arrived in the Schley area of Ware Neck and acquired much of the land there. Isaac married Rebecca Robins, daughter of William and Elizabeth Coleman Robins, in 1737. They purchased land on the Ware River side of Ware Neck, approximately what we now call Schley, from Thomas Booth in 1784. Isaac's children were William, Isaac, Thomas, Elizabeth (m. John Ransone), Jane (m. James Tatum), Joshua (1745-1833), and John (m. Joicey Ransone). In 1805, Isaac's holdings were split among his heirs, and his oldest son William Singleton became owner of the western part including the land where the church now stands. Thomas, Jane, and John, received the other land, west to east, to the area of Jarvis Point and Beulah Baptist Church.
Robert's oldest son, Robert, had by 1805 acquired North River waterfront between Belleville Creek and Davis Creek from James Morris. This property, called “Bloomsbury,” encompassed properties later named “Ditchley” and “Oak Hall”. His land was left to his son, Richard (1784-1853). In 1829, upon the death of Richard's cousin William, who was Isaac's oldest son, Richard added to his land holdings by acquiring part of William's land on the Ware River side.
Richard Singleton is believed to have provided the land for Singleton Chapel by 1844 from the tract he acquired from William. Richard died in 1853, and his widow Dorothy retained the remainder of his property until her death in 1867. Dorothy seems to be the last Singleton owning a major tract of land in the area.
The gravestone with the oldest date of death for a burial in this cemetery is that of Gilderoy Lewis Williams (1822-1891). His burial was followed by the burial of John R. Singleton (1846-1892). John Randolph Singleton was the son of John F. Singleton (b. 1819) and Elizabeth S. “Eliza” Minor (b. 1815), who married in 1842.
John R. Singleton and his wife Mary Frances Hibble Singleton (1850-1929) married on August 6, 1873, and are buried on the west side of Singleton Church. Two of their children, Ruby Adair Singleton (1882-1958) and Clyde Dawson Singleton (1886-1971), are buried there, too.
No connection has been proven between John F. Singleton and the earlier Singleton families of the neighborhood, but there surely is a connection. Isaac had a son John who married Joyce “Joicey”Ransone. Allegedly that John and Joicey had a son, John Foster Singleton, who might be the John F. Singleton of this story. John and Joicey may also be the parents of Jane Bates Singleton who married G. R. C. Jarvis, who were the parents of Lelia Webb Jarvis who, with her husband, George Washington Robins, Jr., is buried in Singleton Cemetery.
Sources:
“Landholdings in Ware Neck”, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Virginia Historical Society, January 1952;Gloucester County Clerk's Office and federal census records;
The Singletons on the web site of Singleton United Methodist Church.
There are entries for most graves in Singleton United Methodist Church Cemetery at Find A Grave. At this site, you can find individual gravestone photographs, epitaph transcriptions, and family connections.