During the Athens church’s morning worship service on Jul. 3, 1882, the congregation received two surprises – a new name and a gift from Philadelphia.
After the singing and a prayer, the minister, the Rev. Benjamin Brunning, stepped down from the pulpit and told the congregation
“that it was the wish of himself and some others to give a definite and specific name to this Church, changing it from that of ‘The 1st Universalist Church at Athens Pa.’ to that of ‘The Church of the Universal Brotherhood’ of the same place.”
A motion was made and seconded, and the new name was approved by the congregation. After the vote, Brunning
“brought forth and presented to the church a very beautiful silver communion service set of a tankard, two goblets and two plates accompanied by a very fine table cloth, large and small napkins from the members of the Church of Messiah of Philadelphia, Pa.”
Rev. Brunning, who was also the Acting Clerk at this time, wrote in the record book:
“This was a great surprise to many of our friends, although a few had been counseled with in relation to the name, which was original by the pastor, and the only one of that name in our denomination, so far as is now known.”
It’s not clear whether the “great surprise” was the proposed name change or the gift from Philadelphia, but the above record entry seems to suggest that it was the former. If so, it appears that the members of the Church of the Messiah knew more about the upcoming name change than most of the members of the Athens church did. The card accompanying the gift, which was dated Jun. 23, 1882, read:
“The Church of the Messiah Philadelphia sends greeting to their brethren of the Church of the Universal Brotherhood, Athens, Penna., and begs them to accept in token of fraternal love, of a communion service.”
Brunning noted:
“This present is evidently due to the efforts of Bro. Geo. C. Thomas of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., a member of the Church of the Messiah.”
George Clifford Thomas (1817-1907), a native of Philadelphia, had a relatively short career in finance, during which he apparently made enough money to retire in his 40s. He married in 1863 and built a spacious home in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1869. His occupation in 1880, according to the census, was “gentleman.”
In addition to his various roles in the Church of the Messiah, Thomas was active in the larger denomination. He served as the Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Universalist Convention from 1876 to 1903, and as a trustee of the Universalist General Convention from 1880 to 1891. In his will he left a bequest of $10,000 – about $300,000 in 2022 dollars – to the Church of the Restoration (now UUs of Mt. Airy, a PUC member congregation).
Thomas bequeathed his mansion and property, known as “Clifford Park,” to the city of Philadelphia. Today Clifford Park and the Thomas Mansion are part of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.
The Athens church’s name was officially changed to “Church of the Universal Brotherhood” by permission of County Court on Apr. 1, 1907, according to longtime church clerk Herbert Campbell. But that name does not appear in the church record book after 1903, except in a historical context. The congregation was generally known as the Universalist Church of Athens.
We still have the tankard and two goblets from the Church of the Messiah.