[The following is a sermon given by K. Replogle at UUCAS on Feb. 4, 2018.] Two Centuries of Women Ministers in Athens and Sheshequin At our General Assembly last year, the Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray was elected President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (the UUA). She is the first woman to lead our denomination in … Continue reading Two Centuries of Women Ministers in Athens and Sheshequin

Like the Rev. Noah Murray, Joseph Kinney – one of Murray’s first converts in Sheshequin – also had a descendant who became a Universalist minister – two, in fact. They were a grandson, Joseph Kinney, and a great-great-granddaughter, Alice Kinney Tripp. The Rev. Joseph Kinney, the oldest son of Charles Kinney and his wife Amanda … Continue reading Two Kinney Ministers

I recently stumbled upon a reference to Noah Murray and Moses Park in an 1830 issue of the Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate. The Magazine and Advocate was a weekly Universalist newspaper published in Utica, N. Y. Murray and his convert Park were the first Universalist preachers in Bradford County. A “J. T. Parker” of … Continue reading Dashed Hopes

The Rev. Irene Earll, a fourth-generation Universalist, served the Athens Universalist Church from 1892 to 1893. She was a native of Syracuse, N. Y., and an 1890 graduate of Cornell University. She was ordained in 1891 and served a Universalist congregation in Webster, N. Y., before coming to Athens. Earll was called to Athens in … Continue reading The Rev. Irene Earll Addresses the Slackers

In the 1800’s, local associations of Universalist congregations were responsible for fellowshipping and ordaining ministers, and for addressing complaints about inappropriate behavior by clergy. For the latter function, each association had a “Committee on Discipline.” Complaints were pretty rare, but there was one case in Bradford county in the early 1840’s. I found this story … Continue reading The Protracted Trial of Br. Cheney

The Universalist Register, first published in 1836, was an annual directory of the Universalist denomination.  While most early Universalist periodicals were relatively short-lived, the Register lasted over eighty years. The Register was the brainchild of a minister with ties to the Sheshequin congregation – the Rev. George Sanderson.  Sanderson was born into a prominent Boston … Continue reading The Universalist Register

After the Rev. John Murray, often called the founder of Universalism in America, the Rev. Hosea Ballou (1771-1852) is probably the second most famous and influential early Universalist minister. Hosea Ballou’s father, the Rev. Maturin Ballou (1722-c.1804), was a Calvinist Baptist preacher.  Calvinists believed that human beings were predestined by God to go either to … Continue reading The Famous Ballou Family in Bradford County

Last month I wrote about a namesake of the Rev. Myra Kingsbury. The Rev. Noah Murray, the first Universalist preacher in Bradford county, also had a namesake – a great-grandson who followed in his footsteps as a Universalist preacher. Noah Murray’s daughter Sylvia married Lemuel Gaylord in 1791. In 1814 the Gaylords moved to Hamilton … Continue reading Noah Murray’s Namesake

In the 1800’s it was common for people to name their children after famous people, friends, and neighbors, in addition to family members. Sheshequin Universalist Society member W. H. H. Gore, born in 1835, was named after military hero and future (1840) president William Henry Harrison. Orrin Day Kinney, a grandson of Joseph Kinney, was … Continue reading Namesakes