In 1705 he was moderator of the first presbytery in America, numbering six ministers.

At the end of twelve years the number of ministers, including accessions from New England, had grown to seventeen.

But it was not until 1718 that this migration began in earnest.

As early as 1725 James Logan, the Scotch-Irish-Quaker governor of Pennsylvania, speaking in the spirit of prophecy, declares that "it looks as if Ireland were to send all her inhabitants hither; if they continue to come they will make themselves proprietors of the province." It was a broad-spread, rich alluvium superimposed upon earlier strata of immigration, out of which was to spring the sturdy growth of American Presbyterianism, as well as of other Christian organizations.

But by 1730 it was only the turbid and feculent flood that was visible to most observers; the healthful and fruitful growth was yet to come.[122:1] The colony of Georgia makes its appearance among the thirteen British colonies in America, in 1733, as one born out of due time.