The year 1718 marks an epoch in the history of America because in that year a band of sturdy Ulster men turned their faces and fortunes towards the new world. This early and most important organized company of emigrants to leave Ireland in the eighteenth century sailed from Lough Foyle and consisted of about 100 families.
Lough Foyle in Ireland.
These people founded a colony in New Hampshire which became famous in the history of America. The emigrants were of as much importance to America as were those of Plymouth, and from them are descended equally if not more distinguished men.
Belfast Lough.
In 1727, 3,000 people sailed for the North American colonies from Belfast Lough. The following year, ships took 1,000 more, and in the next three years as many as 4,200. The tidings of the success of the New Hampshire colonists and of those who preceded them to other parts of America drew between the years 1720 and 1742 over 3,000 emigrants annually from Ulster alone. This enormous emigration, for the period, was stimulated by the rich resources and grand opportunities offered in a new country on the one hand, and on the other by the land laws and the restrictions placed on Irish industries.
Banbridge, County Down, Ireland
In 1736 a number of families emigrated from Banbridge, County Down, and the neighborhood; amongst them were members of the Glass, MacDowell, Magill, Mulholland, Linn, and other families. These people settled in the Shenandoah Valley on the banks of Opequan, Virginia. In the beautiful valley of Shenandoah, three miles south of Winchester, Virginia, you will find the ruins of the old Opequan Presbyterian Church, destroyed in the Civil War.
From the Donegal (Pennsylvania) Presbytery, as early as 1736, the Presbyterian settlers received attention, as they were visited by missionaries and ministers from that Presbytery, making it the earliest preaching place in the valley. The first pastor was John Hodge, who may justly be esteemed the founder of the church, as he gave five acres of land for the church site and graveyard. Mr. Hodge, with many of his large family, is buried there, as well as Samuel Glass, the emigrant from Banbridge. Samuel Glass, the leader of the Banbridge emigrants, took up his residence at the head spring of the Opequan, after many wanderings through the then almost pathless woods, naming the homestead Greenwood, from the grand old forest which covered, for the most part, the 16,000 acres of land which he had purchased. His son David settled lower down the river, at a place named Cherry Mead, and Robert, another son, took up his abode at Long Meadows. James Vance, a son-in-law of Samuel Glass, resided in the same neighborhood. Another son-in-law named Becket, lived between the Glass estate and North Mountain.
Samuel Glass died at an advanced age, honored and respected by all the settlers over a large portion of the state; he had centered in his person many good characteristics—courage, thrift, and perseverance. In the cemetery, near the old homestead, stands a monument to Samuel Glass and his wife, erected by his descendants. It is an obelisk, executed in limestone, standing on a pedestal, all over ten feet in height. On the south side is inscribed: To the Memory of SAMUEL GLASS and his wife, MARY GAMBLE, emigrants from Banbridge, County Down, Ireland, A. D. 1736.
Source: IRISH SETTLERS ON THE OPEQUAN. Compiled from an Article by “Iveagh,” in the Belfast Witness in Ireland; and Marmion’s Maritime Ports of Ireland; Foot’s Sketches of 1 Virginia, second edition; Gordon’s History of Ireland.
wow! Thanks for your comments. Jeannette
What an interesting article, Jeannette! My ancestors were among those who settled on the Opequon (most frequently spelled quon in my sources), as on the photo. My first ancestor in the Valley was William Hoge/Hogue who had immigrated to the Colonies in 1682 from Scotland, first settling in Perth Amboy, N.J. He served as a member of the House of Deputies of the New Jersey Assembly in 1688 before removing to the Christiana Hundred (now Delaware) bordering Pennsylvania. From there, he moved to the Opequon area. It was his grandson John Hoge (not Hodge) who was the first minister of the Opequon church, famous for its early beginnings. My researches indicate William gave the land for the church, which makes sense, because his grandson would have been quite a young man.. Grandson John was in the first graduating class of Nassau Hall (now Princeton University, originally a Presbyterian school), because, as you know, the Presbyterians believed in educating their ministers!