​Pioneering Ulster Presbyterian cleric Rev William Tennent commemorated with Ulster History Circle blue plaque

His cousin James Logan was an agent of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, and the Tennents were granted land on arrival in America Later, the Rev Tennent built a log cabin twenty feet long in which he tutored future church ministers who served the growing number of congregations in the frontier colonies.

The 'Log College' foundation was described as a most important event in colonial American Presbyterianism.

Inspired by his example, his students supported founding of the College of New Jersey, which became the forerunner of Princeton College in New Jersey, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States.

William Tennent was born in Scotland in 1673 and graduated as a minister from Edinburgh University.

He moved to Ulster in the Plantation years as chaplain to the Hamilton family, who had considerable land and influence. Advised by their Lurgan relative James Logan to emigrate to Pennsylvania, William and his family travelled with the first major exodus of Ulster Presbyterians in 1718.

Logan gave them land and money for a house at Neshaminy, Bucks county, 20 miles north of Philadelphia. Tennent later built a wooden school to educate his sons and others.

According to a monument on the site of 'Log College' in Pennsylvania, more than 60 schools and colleges owe their existence, directly or indirectly, to Tennent’s example.

He had four sons who were ministers and leaders of what became known as the 'Great Awakening', a revival of religious life and evangelical belief among colonial Protestants in America.

Wendy Wirsch, president of the William Tennent House Association in Warminster, Pennsylvania, describes William Tennent as an igniter of revival fire and father of education. "Founders of the College of New Jersey did not approve of the Tennents’ emphasis on personal piety and religious experience, favouring an education in liberal arts and sciences.

But 'Log College' graduates, including two of Tennent’s sons, strongly supported the Princeton institution and later became trustees. That university owes much gratitude for the spiritual and practical help they gave the College of New Jersey in formative years."

Irish Presbyterian moderator Rev Dr Richard Murray acknowledged the Ulster History Circle for recognising the place of Vinecash church in a significant historical transatlantic context. "William Tennent was a champion of orthodoxy, a fervent evangelist and respected teacher.

Much can come from small beginnings, and like many Presbyterians, he played a significant part in the life of pre-revolutionary America and contributed to the ultimate founding of the United States.”

William Tennent died on May 6, 1746. He is regarded as a pathfinder for the Presbyterianism and for education in America.

Nancy J. Taylor, of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, says: “Rev William Tennent was a significant figure in American Presbyterianism. At a time when the American colonies lacked an established higher-education institution for training Presbyterian ministers, Tennent took it upon himself to fill that need."

Chris Spurr, Ulster History Circle chairman, says: “William Tennent emigrated to America in 1718 and from the wooden walls of his ‘Log College’, founded almost 300 years ago in Warminster, Pennsylvania, future colleges and universities grew across the United States.

The Ulster History Circle is delighted to commemorate this distinguished religious leader and educator with a blue plaque at Vinecash Presbyterian church, 5, Battlehill Road, Portadown."

* Presbyterian USA, main Presbyterian denomination in the United States, was founded by the Rev Francis Makemie, from Ramelton in Co Donegal.