Presbyterian pioneers emigrated from Bottetourt County, Virginia, in 1779 and built their homes on a steadfast belief in an omnipresent and omnipotent God. The seed of Presbyterianism there was planted by Rev. David Rice on June 6, 1784, and the first church, a log cabin eighteen by twenty feet, was built in 1785. To commemorate God’s many providential interferences in their behalf from depredations by Indians, the settlers named their church New Providence. The present building, the fourth, was begun in 1861 and completed in 1864, marking one hundred and fifty years of uninterrupted history by 1934. Thomas Cleland, a pioneer Presbyterian preacher, served as pastor of New Providence Church from April 1, 1813, until his death on January 31, 1858, and was remembered for sterling integrity, earnest piety, sound judgment, pulpit eloquence, plain and scriptural preaching, and being mighty in the scriptures. Margaret Armstrong Cleland, his worthy companion, wife, mother, and helpmeet, was remembered as kind, attentive, plain, industrious, frugal, and pious, and as one who helped him forward in the ministry.