Banbridge, County Down, Ireland
In 1736, several 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 church's founder, as he gave five acres of land for the church site and graveyard. Mr. Hodge, with many of his large family, is buried there, and 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 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. 17 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 tall.
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.”
Sources: IRISH SETTLERS ON THE OPEQUAN, compiled from an Article by “Iveagh” in the Belfast Witness in Ireland; Marmion’s Maritime Ports of Ireland; Foot’s Sketches of 1 Virginia, second edition; Gordon’s History of Ireland.