In an earlier post about Sheshequin Universalist Society member O. H. P. Kinney, I noted that Kinney had turned to spiritualism later in life.  A disproportionate number of spiritualists in the nineteenth century were former Universalists, including a sizable number of Universalist ministers.  One Universalist minister who later became famous as a spiritualist served the … Continue reading Rev. James Martin Peebles, Universalist Turned Spiritualist

The village of Waverly, N. Y., across the state line from Sayre, Pa., was apparently a hot-bed of suffragist activity in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  In a previous post on this site, I wrote about O. H. P. Kinney, a Sheshequin Universalist Society member who had moved to Waverly and who advocated for … Continue reading Amazilla Horton Kinney on Woman’s Suffrage, 1915

The presidential election of 1880 was the closest, in terms of the popular vote, of any in U. S. history.  Republican James Garfield won the electoral college decisively, but his margin of victory in the popular vote was less than 2,000. Sheshequin Universalist Society member O. H. P. Kinney, a. k. a., “Peter Klaus,” wrote … Continue reading “Peter Klaus” on the Election of 1880

In 1867 New York State held a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of examining the existing constitution and proposing changes.  Sheshequin Universalist Society member O. H. P. Kinney, well-known in Tioga County, N. Y., as the editor of the Waverly Advocate, was selected as that county’s delegate to the convention. Kinney was an avid proponent … Continue reading O. H. P. Kinney on Women’s Suffrage, 1867

As noted in my last blog, Sheshequin Universalist Society member O. H. P. Kinney was a regular contributor to the Elmira Sunday Telegram in the early 1880s.  His weekly “Short Sunday Sermons” were published under the pen name “Peter Klaus.” One of his more trenchant sermons about orthodox Christian doctrine appeared in the Aug. 15, … Continue reading What Is Heaven?

In the early 1880s, the Elmira Sunday Telegram featured a regular column entitled “Our Short Sunday Sermon” by “Peter Klaus.”  The “sermons” offered a liberal religious perspective – usually critical, sometimes to the point of ridicule – on orthodox Christian doctrines. The original Peter Klaus was a character in a German legend who was the … Continue reading Who Was “Peter Klaus”?

Children do not always adopt the faith of their parents, even when the parent is a minister. After he was converted to Universalism by Noah Murray in 1793, the Rev. Moses Park began preaching universal salvation to his Baptist congregation.  Sheshequin Universalist Society member W. H. H. Gore recalled: “[Park’s] congregation approved of the new … Continue reading Far from the Tree

Julia Kinney Scott was the most famous Universalist poet from Bradford County, but there were a few other local Universalists who were known for their writing.  One of them was Asenath Woodburn Davies. Asenath Woodburn was born in 1803 in Cherry Valley, N. Y.  Her family moved to Wysox about 1808, then to Sheshequin in … Continue reading Asenath Davies, Universalist Hymn Writer

The Universalists’ belief that God would not condemn any of his children to endless suffering was viewed as heresy by their more orthodox Christian neighbors in the nineteenth century.  Many people thought that Universalists, fearing no divine punishment after death, would feel free to indulge in all sorts of licentiousness.  These people apparently only understood … Continue reading The Carrot, Not the Stick

In my last post I wrote about a scrapbook at the Tioga Point Museum which, I concluded, had come from the home of church member Ida Corbin.  The clipping that called my attention to this scrapbook was about a talk given to the young people’s organization at the Athens church by “Miss Maysie Green” in … Continue reading Dr. Mary Wolcott Green