Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. from about 1795
   Founding or opening · New Hope A school begins to be kept at New Hope church

   Thompson urged the congregation to take up schooling, and after his time the church generally kept a school for many years. His successor James H. Bowman is said to have taught school there while supplying the pulpit.

3. between 1795 and 1799
   Construction or physical change · New Hope New Hope builds a parsonage with a farm on the church tract

   At William F. Thompson's urging the congregation built a parsonage where William C. Claytor later lived and laid off much of Gilbert Strayhorn's two-hundred-acre gift as a farm to go with it.

4. November 18, 1795
   Appointment, election or service · New Hope Orange Presbytery holds its earliest recorded meeting at New Hope

   The oldest surviving Orange Presbytery minutes record a meeting at New Hope church, the first after Concord Presbytery was set off. James Bowman was moderator, William McGee was ordained with William F. Thompson, John Gillispie was licensed, and two candidates, Robert Foster and Robert Tate, sat part of their trials.

5. November 18, 1795
   Appointment, election or service · New Hope William F. Thompson is ordained at New Hope as its first pastor

   Thompson, said to be a native of Connecticut, was ordained at New Hope and apparently installed as its pastor at the same meeting, the first pastor the church had. Earlier ministers had served it as supplies alongside the Hawfields and Eno.

6. September 20, 1799
   Property or economic transaction · New Hope William F. Thompson deeds a hundred acres of New Hope church land to John Strayhorn

   As he was leaving, Thompson sold about a hundred acres of the church tract to Gilbert Strayhorn's son John, stating that Gilbert had conveyed the land to him. No such conveyance was ever seen or recorded, and Craig judged the deed a forgery; the land left the church's hands.

7. November 12, 1799
   Closing or ending · Cross Roads church William F. Thompson resigns as pastor of New Hope

   Thompson gave up the charge at a called meeting of Orange Presbytery at Cross Roads church and left the presbytery's bounds. In April 1802 the presbytery suspended him from the ministry for false charges he had made against it.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.