The Preston family was among the early Scotch-Irish families associated with the settlement of the central Shenandoah Valley. John Preston, a shipmaster from Dublin, Ireland, came to Virginia with Colonel James Patton and lived for a time at Spring Hill before establishing a home near Staunton. Through his children and grandchildren, the family became connected with the Breckenridge, Brown, McDowell, Smith, and Howard families and produced descendants prominent in religion, law, politics, and western migration.
The following account brings together the Preston family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship.
John Preston
John Preston was a shipmaster from Dublin, Ireland. His business affairs in Ireland were unsuccessful, and Foote associates some of his difficulties with his Presbyterian religious opinions.
Preston married a sister of Colonel James Patton of Donegal, thereby joining two families that would become important in the settlement of western Virginia.
John Preston and his family emigrated with Colonel Patton and initially lived for a time at Spring Hill, an estate later associated with the Presbyterian minister and noted orator Dr. James Waddell.
About 1743, Preston purchased land near Staunton and established his family there. The property was later occupied by General Baldwin.
John Preston died not long after settling near Staunton. He left a widow and five children. All of the children except the youngest had been born in Ireland.
He was buried near Staunton, but no monument marked his grave.
Foote noted the wide range of occupations pursued by Preston’s descendants, who included farmers in the mountain regions as well as ministers, lawyers, and governors.
Children of John Preston
John Preston had five children identified in Foote’s account, although the given names of several daughters are not supplied.
The Breckenridge Branch
The eldest daughter of John Preston, whose given name is not provided, married Robert Breckenridge of Botetourt.
Their descendants included members of the prominent Breckenridge family, among them the nineteenth-century Presbyterian ministers Robert Breckenridge and John Breckenridge.
This marriage connected the Preston family with another lineage that became influential in the religious and public life of Virginia and Kentucky.
Margaret Preston Brown
Margaret Preston, the second daughter of John Preston, was born in Ireland in 1730.
She married Rev. John Brown, who became the first regular pastor of the New Providence and Timber Ridge Presbyterian congregations.
Foote described Margaret as a woman of strong intellect, cultivated mind, and considerable energy. Before John Preston’s death, he reportedly expressed particular satisfaction that an orthodox Presbyterian minister had become connected with his family through Margaret’s marriage.
The descendants of John and Margaret Brown became especially prominent in Kentucky, where branches of the family played significant roles in the political, religious, and civic development of the state.
William Preston
William Preston, identified as the third child of John Preston, remained in Virginia and became the father of a large and influential family.
Among his children was Sarah Preston, a granddaughter of the immigrant John Preston.
Sarah married James McDowell, thereby joining the Preston and McDowell families. Their descendants included James McDowell, who later served as governor of Virginia.
The marriage provides an important genealogical connection between two early families of the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia.
The Smith Branch
A fourth daughter of John Preston, whose given name is not supplied in Foote’s account, married Francis Smith.
The surviving account provides little additional information concerning this branch.
The Howard Branch
A fifth child of John Preston, whose given name is also not provided, married John Howard.
This branch became numerous, and many of its descendants migrated into Kentucky and the southwestern states.
The Howard marriage therefore represents another example of the westward movement of descendants from the original Preston family established in Virginia.
Genealogical Notes
Foote identifies five children of John Preston but provides the given names of only Margaret and William in the account summarized here.
The eldest daughter married Robert Breckenridge of Botetourt, the fourth daughter married Francis Smith, and the fifth child married John Howard. Their given names should not be supplied without evidence from another source.
The marriage of William Preston’s daughter Sarah Preston to James McDowell connects the Preston family directly with the McDowell family of Timber Ridge and with the later Virginia governor James McDowell.
The Preston family’s associations with Spring Hill and Staunton place the immigrant generation primarily in the central Shenandoah Valley, while later branches spread into Botetourt County, Kentucky, and the southwestern states.
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 9 August 2026.