The Glass family was among the early Scotch-Irish families who settled along Opequon Creek in Frederick County, Virginia. Samuel Glass and his wife, Mary Gamble, came from County Down, Ireland, and established their home near the head spring of the Opequon in 1736. Their descendants remained closely associated with the creek valley, establishing homes at places known as Cherry Mead and Long Meadows, while other branches spread westward beyond the Allegheny Mountains.
The following account brings together the Glass family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship.
Samuel Glass and Mary Gamble
Samuel Glass and his wife, Mary Gamble, emigrated to America from Banbridge, County Down, Ireland, when they were already advanced in years. Mary retained vivid memories of events in Ireland and was known to recount that her “two fair brothers” had perished during the Siege of Derry.
In 1736 Samuel Glass settled with his family near the head spring of Opequon Creek. He purchased approximately 1,600 acres from Joist Hite, one of the principal promoters of settlement in the northern Shenandoah Valley. The tract lay along the southern side of the stream. Glass later enlarged his holdings through several smaller purchases from Lord Fairfax.
Samuel Glass became an influential figure within the early Opequon settlement. During a period when the Presbyterian congregation had no regular minister, he assumed many of the responsibilities associated with religious and pastoral care. He visited the sick, offered counsel to neighboring families, and prayed with those who were ill or distressed.
Samuel and Mary Glass were buried in the Opequon churchyard beneath a limestone monument.
Children of Samuel Glass and Mary Gamble
Samuel and Mary Glass had at least four children identified in the surviving account: two sons, David and Robert, and two daughters whose given names are not supplied.
David Glass
David Glass established his home a short distance downstream from his father’s property. His residence was known as Cherry Mead and stood along Opequon Creek.
Robert Glass
Robert Glass settled farther down the creek at a property called Long Meadows. His residence incorporated a stockade fort, reflecting the insecurity that accompanied frontier settlement during periods of conflict.
During alarms of Indian attack, the Glass family and presumably neighboring settlers could take refuge within the fortified structure.
Long Meadows remained in the family. Robert’s son, also named Robert Glass, later occupied the property.
The Becket Family
One daughter of Samuel and Mary Glass, whose given name is not recorded in the account, married a man named Becket. The couple settled on land lying between the Glass family property and North Mountain.
The limited information preserved about this daughter makes her branch of the family more difficult to reconstruct from this source alone.
The Vance Family
Another daughter of Samuel and Mary Glass married James Vance. They established their home farther down Opequon Creek.
James Vance and his wife became the ancestors of a numerous family. Over time, many of their descendants left the Shenandoah Valley and migrated west of the Allegheny Mountains, extending this branch of the Glass family into the western frontier.
Grandchildren of Samuel and Mary Glass
Robert Glass of Long Meadows
Robert Glass, son of Robert Glass, inherited or otherwise succeeded to the family residence at Long Meadows and continued to occupy the property.
His presence there indicates that at least this branch of the Glass family remained closely tied to the original Opequon settlement into the next generation.
Rev. Joseph Glass
Rev. Joseph Glass, identified as a grandson of Samuel Glass, entered the Presbyterian ministry. The surviving account does not specify which of Samuel’s children was his parent.
Joseph Glass was remembered as a man of strong physical constitution and considerable intellectual ability. He died in 1821 while still in the active years of his life.
He married a woman belonging to another of the Scotch-Irish families of the region, although her name is not supplied in the account. She survived her husband by approximately ten years and died in 1831.
Children of Rev. Joseph Glass
The account identifies at least two daughters of Rev. Joseph Glass but does not provide their names.
His eldest daughter married a Presbyterian minister. She had died before the publication of the historical account from which this genealogy is drawn.
A second daughter remained in the family household. Following the death of her father in 1821 and her mother in 1831, she was left in charge of the household despite being in declining health herself.
Genealogical Notes
The surviving account does not provide the given names of the two daughters of Samuel and Mary Glass who married Becket and James Vance.
Rev. Joseph Glass is specifically identified as a grandson of Samuel Glass, but his parentage is not stated. He should therefore not be assigned to either David Glass, Robert Glass, or one of their sisters without additional evidence.
The account likewise omits the name of Joseph Glass’s wife and the names of his two daughters.
The properties known as Cherry Mead and Long Meadows may provide useful geographic clues for reconstructing the Glass family’s landholdings and identifying related deeds, tax records, probate records, and neighboring families in early Frederick County.
The spelling “Opecquon” appears in nineteenth-century historical sources; the stream and settlement are now generally spelled Opequon.
Source
This family genealogy was compiled from references appearing throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Foote’s scattered biographical, family, church, and settlement references have been brought together here and arranged by generation to make the genealogical relationships easier to follow.
Foote, William Henry. Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Second Series. Second edition, revised. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1856. Available online at AccessGenealogy, Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical. Accessed 7 August 2026.