This is the third of six blog posts about Universalist ministers who are buried in Bradford County. Myra Kingsbury (1847-1898) Myra Kingsbury was born on Dec. 5, 1847, in Sheshequin, the second of three daughters of Lemuel and Sally Osborn Kingsbury. Her father was the youngest child of Sheshequin Universalist stalwart Joseph Kingsbury, and the … Continue reading Universalist Ministers’ Graves Part 3: Myra Kingsbury
This is the second of six blog posts about Universalist ministers who are buried in Bradford County. Schuyler Jerome Gibson (1816-1864) Schuyler J. Gibson was born in 1816 in Norwich, N. Y. He attended an orthodox Christian church, but came to believe in universal salvation through his own study of the Bible. He reportedly argued … Continue reading Universalist Ministers’ Graves Part 2: Schuyler Gibson
This is the first of six blog posts about Universalist ministers who are buried in Bradford County. Noah Murray (1747-1811) Noah Murray was born in Connecticut in 1747. He began preaching in Massachusetts as a Baptist but had embraced the doctrine of universal salvation by 1784. He was one of only about fifteen Universalist preachers … Continue reading Universalist Ministers’ Graves Part 1: Noah Murray
[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
