This he declined, expressing his preference for some token that he might transmit to his children, and the testimonial took the form of a piece of plate.[5] John Tayloe III donated to the parish a communion service of silver, which Bishop William Meade, in his work on the old Churches of Virginia, says had been purchased by Col. Tayloe at a sale of the effects of the Lunenburg Parish Church/Farnham Church in Richmond County, Virginia, to prevent its desecration for secular use.[6]