Sketches of Virginia

The Vance Family of Opequon and the Holston River Valley

Members of the Vance family appear among the early settlers and public figures of several Virginia frontier communities during the eighteenth century. James Vance was established at Opequon by the 1730s and married into the Glass family, while David Vance participated in the organization of Frederick County government. Later, John and Joseph Vance appear among the Presbyterian settlers of the Holston River valley. The surviving account does not establish the precise relationship among these different Vance families.

The Glass Family of the Opequon Settlement

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 Hoge Family of Virginia

The Hoge family was among the early Presbyterian families associated with the Opequon settlement in the northern Shenandoah Valley. William Hoge, a native of Paisley, Scotland, came to America as a young man and eventually settled with his family in Virginia about 1735. From this early household descended several families prominent in the religious and civic history of Frederick County and elsewhere in Virginia. The following account brings together the Hoge family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship.