After his famed 1716 expedition to the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged settlement of Virginia's western frontier by religious dissenters such as Presbyterians, German Baptists, and Mennonites, who did not support King George III's Church of England but could serve as a buffer between settlements east of the mountains and Indians to the west. These dissenters made up the majority of the earliest settlers moving into the Dayton area. A meeting house for Scots-Irish Presbyterians was likely built in the 1740s along the northern edge of what is now Silver Lake, and the Rev. Alexander Miller, an outspoken Scots-Irish pastor, served as one of its first ministers. Miller, a Tory and staunch supporter of King George III, was removed from the pastorate by the Presbytery after parishioners objected to his pro-English views. In 1780, the church was moved farther north to its current location and by then was known as Cooks Creek Presbyterian. The old churchyard and cemetery were later covered by water when the mill dam was raised to increase water power at the nearby mill, and several accounts report that stones from the church's foundation were used to help build the dam. While most early settlers in Dayton shared dissenter views, some did not. The Episcopal Chapel of Ease, the earliest Episcopal church in this section of what was still Augusta County, was built about 1746 at the northern end of the Dayton cemetery on land given by Capt. Daniel Harrison and his wife. It was used as a meeting place until after the Revolutionary War and reportedly also by Dayton Methodists in the early 1800s. Historian John Wayland recorded that Parson Bellmain ministered there until leaving to serve as a chaplain in the Revolutionary War, and later officiated at the marriage of President James and Dolley Madison in 1794. German Baptists, or Brethren, migrated from Pennsylvania and Maryland to northern Rockingham County and, as their families grew, came farther south to the Dayton area. They often held services at Frederick Kline's home near Bowman's Mill Dam, now Silver Lake, and worshiped at Garber's Meeting House just north of Dayton. Brethren martyr John Kline recorded visits to his nephew's home and the town of Dayton. Early Mennonites in the Dayton area attended church at the Moyers Meeting House, later known as Pike Mennonite Church, and also held services in homes in the community. Oak Grove Church on the east side of Dayton and Pleasant View Church on the west side of Dayton were built in the early 1900s. During the 1800s Dayton was home to many churches, including Salem Baptist, Dunkard Brethren, Progressive Brethren, Dayton Presbyterian, Lutheran, Dayton Methodist, United Brethren, and the Christian Church, and in the early 1900s the town had six thriving churches.