The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 6

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

As Robert Cummins left and Carl Olsen joined the Cincinnati fold, the country was in the depths of a deep depression. War clouds were on the distant horizon and spiritual leadership was of the utmost importance.

Carl Harold Olson

Carl Olson was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1905. He graduated from Tufts College and came to Cincinnati in 1933 after serving as a minister in Kent, Ohio. He served for six years and was very active in the city social service community. He volunteered for the Community Chest. He was chairman of the Church and Social Work division of the Council of Social Service Agencies. He was a member of the management board for the Eastern Hills YMCA. He was also a member and officer in a number of Universalist state and national organizations.

Reverend Olson detailed a typical week in 1936 as representative of his ministry. He delivered one Sunday sermon, two radio addresses and one church school lesson. He attended four to five committee and organizational meetings, made seven pastoral calls and attended five conferences. In addition, there were an inestimable number of phone calls, letters, bulletins and incidental tasks.

While in our city, he helped organize the 110th anniversary celebration of the founding of our church. There was a full week of activities, articles were written for the local papers and the church history was much revered.

Olson left Cincinnati in 1939 to become minister of the Church of the Redeemer in Minneapolis, which later became the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis. He stayed there until retirement in 1963 and passed away two years later.

Ralph Pierre Boyd

Succeeding Carl Olsen on January 5, 1940, was Reverend Ralph Boyd. He came to our church from Alabama but his roots were in Akron, Ohio. He attended a Universalist Church there and eventually trained for the ministry with encouragement from his local minister. Boyd’s stay in Cincinnati was brief. He had a strong desire to serve as a chaplain in the U. S. Army and made application. He was accepted for duty and requested that he be given a one-year leave from our church to serve in the army. That request was denied and he left in July 1941. War intervened and he remained in the chaplain corps until the end of the war.

Attempts to discern where Boyd served have been fruitless. It is known that in 1943 it was arranged between BBC and WCPO that he do a live broadcast back to Cincinnati to report on the war. The broadcast originated in England. Boyd left the service with a rank of major. It is known that he served a Universalist Church in Nashua, New Hampshire from 1947 to 1950. He died in 1979 and is buried in St. Augustine, Florida.

Kenneth Revilo Hutchinson

Reverend Kenneth Hutchinson at age 32 took the lead of our flock on December 14, 1941. This had to be a difficult installation coming exactly one week after Pearl Harbor. He came to the church from one in Dexter, Maine. He had received a strong recommendation from Robert Cummins for whom he served as assistant minister at Throop Church in Pasadena.

Hutchinson served the Essex Street congregation for a little over two years, through the worst of the world war. A number of our congregation joined the armed services and worried families had to be at the top of his priorities.

Reverend Hutchinson moved on to a new ministry Brattleboro, Vermont in January of 1944 and eventually served three more congregations before retiring from the Universalist Church of Verduga Hills, La Crescenta, California. He died in California in 2005.

George H. Thorburn

George Thorburn came to the First Society in February 1944 from Arlington, Virginia. He was serving with the Universalist Institute for International Relations. He had experienced two ministries during his career but also had held several administrative positions with the national church. Thorburn attempted to increase participation and membership in the church by utilizing a Five-Year Plan devised by national superintendent Robert Cummins. That plan included five goals. 1) Rededication to the Moral, Ethical and Spiritual Tenets of the Faith; 2) Enlistment Through the Whole Life of the Church which included missionary work and recruitment of new members; 3) Stewardship in support of the church budget and contributions to the United Appeal; 4) Outreach which was interpreted by our church as leaving the Walnut Hills site; 5) Crusade toward understanding Universalism. As early as 1947, Thorburn was expressing dismay that the church had made so little progress in achieving these goals.

The other major undertaking of Thorburn during these years was merging the congregation of City Temple with our church. He worked closely with Reverend Harry G. Hill to bring the two congregations together, a challenging task in that City Temple was a liberal local church unaffiliated with any national church.

Unfortunately, both tasks were left somewhat unfinished as Thorburn became seriously ill and passed away on June 25, 1949. His death must have been unexpected as he had outlined all his plans for the rest of 1949 at the June Board of Trustees meeting. He is the only minister of our church to die while serving the church.

Jack T. Akin

It took 11 months to replace Reverend Thorburn with Reverend Jack Akin. The new minister had come from a far different background than his predecessors with the First Society. He was trained in Alabama as a Baptist minister and had served for six years at the First Baptist Church of Monroe, North Carolina and at a Baptist Church in Campbellsburg, Kentucky.

Akin’s biggest challenge was guiding the church through its recent merger with the City Temple. He worked with the retired minister of that church, Harry G. Hill, to create a smooth transition for both churches. However, his stay with the church was brief. After 1 1/2 years, he resigned and moved back to Alabama. He passed away in 1982 in Broward County, Florida.

February 2023.

[Part 1] – [Part 2] – [Part 3] – [Part 4] – [Part 5]

The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 5

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

As we continue our review of our past ministers, be reminded that near the turn of the century, led by minister Ulysses Milburn, our congregation had moved into a beautiful new facility in Walnut Hills. Milburn resigned near the completion of the church building and was quickly replaced by Reverend Harry Blackford.

Harry Blackford

Blackford was born in 1866 in the small Preble County town of Eldorado. His father was a Universalist minister and Eldorado, despite its size of only 350 residents, was a hotbed of Universalist activity. It had even hosted a state convention. After his ordination in 1892, Blackford served in Monson, Massachusetts and from there came to Cincinnati. He served only two years and while in Cincinnati enrolled in medical school. He did so to better care for his invalid wife, Lida. Upon completion of his medical studies, he took up his second career but lived only until 1908 when he died at the age 41. Ironically, his invalid wife outlived him by 30 years, passing away in 1938.

Samuel Gilbert Ayres

Samuel Ayres came to our church at age 33. He had one previous pastorate in a small town in western New York. He stayed in our pulpit for six years. During that time, the church was settling into its new Walnut Hills home. A report from Reverend Ayres in January of 1905 iterates a familiar theme—financial difficulty and lack of attendance by the membership but the congregation seemed to be settling into its new neighborhood.

Ayres left Cincinnati in 1909 to serve ten years in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It is at this time that he took on the role for which he is most remembered. He was named Superintendent of the Universalist Mission in Yokahama, Japan. He and his wife, Minnie, ran the mission for six years, offering refuge for orphans and girls destined to service in the Geisha industry. Mrs. Ayres described their activities as more service and social relations to the Japanese population. In a monthly newsletter, Ayres described their efforts in trying to establish friendships with the people despite the closed nature of Japanese society. In 1923, Yokahama was hit with a 7.9 earthquake that did massive damage to the city and the mission. Much of the Ayres’ effort in their last two years was spent helping to rebuild both. Upon their return to the U. S., Rev. and Mrs. Ayres spent three years promoting the mission and traveling extensively to tell the story.

Samuel returned to the pulpit in 1930, serving several New England congregations. He died in 1955.

Anthony Bevis Beresford

Beresford succeeded Samuel Ayres to the pulpit. He had served the previous ten years as minister in Baltimore, Maryland. He was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1866, the son of immigrants from Bohemia. His father ran a butcher shop.

Beresford remained in our pulpit for 11 years, at the time the longest serving minister in the church’s history. His sermons were regularly reprinted in Cincinnati newspapers and are readily available at the public library website. Prior to WW I, he was a staunch supporter of President Wilson’s attempts to keep us out of war. Once we entered the war, his sermons often focused on the catastrophic loss of life and how it conflicted with our church’s view of a universal brotherhood of man. During the war, he served on the Patriotic Board of Instruction in Cincinnati. Both his sons served in the war and one was wounded in France.

After leaving Cincinnati in 1920, he returned to the Detroit area, serving the church in Farmington, Michigan. He later returned to Cincinnati as minister at the Mohawk Presbyterian Church. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at his son’s home in 1940. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Harold Guy Don Scott

Reverend Scott began service to our church at age 27 in 1920. He came from St. Johnsbury, Vermont. He had been ordained as a Unitarian minister in Old Town, Maine. Scott’s tenure at the Essex Street Church was brief, staying but one year in the pulpit. Evidently questioning his path, he left the ministry to work for the A. Nash Company, a clothing manufacturer in the city. Its owner, Arthur Nash, was a former minister who had left that profession, strongly protesting the hypocrisy of organized religion. Nash did, however, accept an invitation to speak at our church in support of Reverend Beresford’s concern over the loss of life in WW I. Nash went on to become a highly successful businessman while basing his management strictly on the tenets of the Golden Rule. His is a fascinating story but, unfortunately, beyond the scope of this discussion.

Reverend Scott returned to the ministry in 1926 and went on to serve 11 different churches and also served as a sociology professor at Colorado State University. He died in 1965.

John Edwin Price

John Price was ordained at age 23 and served his first church in 1917 in Winthrop, New York. He came to the Queen City in 1922 and ministered for five years. He felt his greatest accomplishment was establishing a nondenominational education program that offered course work free of charge. In reminiscing about his term in Cincinnati, he remembered when “parents were presenting their babes to be dedicated to the pursuance of Christian truth; when older ones took their stand for Christ and the larger faith; when different couples had sought the church’s blessing on the sacred union of their hearts and when we stood about a then lonely, now sacred plot of ground repeating the affirmations of faith which alone are sufficient in such an hour.”

Price left the ministry in 1927 when he was offered the opportunity to edit a new periodical being started by local business man Arthur Nash. This is the same Arthur Nash who spoke at our church during WW I and hired Price’s predecessor at the church. Nash obviously had a close relationship with our church although it is unknown if he was a member. Perhaps further research could discover the depth of that relationship. Price continued as a highly successful editor for the remainder of his work life eventually serving as editor in chief at the Maywood Syndicate Publishing House in New York. He died in Sydney Center, New York in 1973.

Robert Cummins

Robert Cummins was one of the most successful of all the ministers who have served our church. He was raised in Sidney, Ohio, graduated from Miami University in 1919 and then served several years as a missionary in Bangkok, Thailand. After returning to the U.S., he was ordained in 1926 and accepted a ministry that had him serving three churches in Milford, Newtown and Montgomery. He then took the pastorate in our church in 1928 at the age of 31. He served four years here and then moved on to Throop Universalist Church in Pasadena, California. His term here was spent mostly during the early stages of the Great Depression and financial challenges of maintaining a church occupied many of his efforts along with supporting many members who found themselves suddenly in dire need.

After five years in Pasadena, Cummins was chosen as the General Superintendent of the Universalist Church of America, a position he held for 16 years. During that period, he attempted on numerous occasions for the Universalist Church to be accepted into the Federal Council of Christian Churches. His efforts always were turned away by the council and this led him to first explore the idea of a merger with Unitarianism. His first mention of this came as early as the mid-1940s and Cummins was always one of the leaders who finally forged the merger of the two churches.

Cummins service as superintendent ended after 16 years when he accepted the challenge of working for the U.S. Department of State, heading the International Cooperation Administration during the Eisenhower administration. He finished his career in religious leadership by serving as President of the Maine Universalist Association. He passed away in 1982 in Brunswick, Maine. His son, John, became a highly respected UU minister, serving a church in Minneapolis, Minnesota for much of his adult life.

January 2023.

[Part 1] – [Part 2] – [Part 3] – [Part 4] – [Part 6]

The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 4

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

Through the twenty years between 1880 and 1900, the church had a series of ministers who stayed for short periods and moved on. This time period was very difficult for the members, as they faced a number of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

William Henry Ryder

William Henry Ryder took the pulpit at age 40 on September 1, 1882. He had previously served 10 years as minister in Malden, Massachusetts, and several years in Watertown, Wisconsin. He was born in Elyria, Ohio, breaking the mold of our ministers being natives of the Northeast. Ryder’s stay in Cincinnati was brief, lasting 13 months. The church was in turmoil as was the city. Cincinnati was known as one of the most corrupt cities in the nation. Also, the industrialization of the city had created an environment of air pollution where visibility was lost in a sea of smog. Those who could afford it were migrating from the central city to the surrounding hills to escape the blight. The church was in financial difficulty and talk of abandoning our Plum Street church had begun.

While Reverend Ryder’s stay in our fold was brief, there are several points that should be emphasized regarding him. First, another William Henry Ryder was a minister in the Universalist Church and was one of its most respected preachers. Our Reverend Ryder was in no way related to the former Reverend Ryder and the two should not be confused. Secondly, three of Ryder’s children went on to great fame in other fields. One son, Jack, was the second football coach for Ohio State University, compiling a .500 record over four years of coaching. After leaving Ohio State, he became a sports writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer and his bylines are frequently quoted in the early history of the Cincinnati Reds. A second son, Arthur, became well-known as the translator of the Bhagavad Gita. He was recognized at the time as the foremost expert in Sanskrit. One of his students at the University of California was J. Robert Oppenheimer, the developer of the atomic bomb. A third son, Charles, became a doctor and one of the leading experts in the treatment of tuberculosis while running a sanitarium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

As for Reverend Ryder, after leaving Cincinnati he joined the faculty of Andover College where he taught Greek and New Testament Interpretation. He served as a teacher there until his death in 1918.

Elmer Pember

Elmer Pember was born in Illinois and graduated from Tufts College. He served two ministerial duties in Massachusetts and New York before accepting the calling in Cincinnati in June 1884. Pember stayed with the church for three years. It was a turbulent time. The congregation was looking to flee downtown for the surrounding hills. The church’s financial troubles continued. Two months before Pember’s arrival, the city witnessed one of the worst urban riots in the history of the country. Over 40 died and hundreds were wounded and injured as the populace protested the corruption at city hall and in the courts. The center of the rioting was but a few blocks from the church.

Pember was active in the national church serving at a number of state conventions and was also active in the Universalist Missionary Board. After leaving Cincinnati, he ministered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and Bangor, Maine. He retired there and became a farmer and raised Ayrshire pure bred cattle. He died in Bangor in 1914.

Elbert Watson Whitney

Pastor Whitney was born in New Hampshire, earned his Divinity Degree from Tufts College and served in Peabody, Massachusetts, and Brattleboro, Vermont, before coming to Cincinnati in 1887. During his three-year tenure, he oversaw the move from the Plum Street facility to a rented church in Peebles Corners on McMillan near Gilbert. A search of that area shows no signs of a church so it must have been torn down long ago.

From Cincinnati, he moved on to Milford, Massachusetts and finally to Taunton, Massachusetts, where he served the longest ministerial term in that church’s history. He also became Vice President of the Universalist Historical Society. He died in Nelson, New Hampshire, in 1932.

Harry Lee Canfield

Henry Canfield was born in Ohio, the son of a Universalist minister. He was ordained in 1888 and came to Cincinnati in 1891. Little is recorded of Canfield’s term in Ohio but one of the hallmarks of his career was his teaming with his wife, Mary Grace. Henry stayed in Cincinnati for three years and then he and his wife became active in the formation of the Young People’s Christian Union. The Universalist Church had started this organization to serve members under the age of 35. Canfield became the organization’s first national secretary and Mary Grace headed its Junior Union. Henry went back to the pulpit in the early 1900’s and eventually served as a minister in a number of North Carolina towns under the auspices of the National Missionary Association.

Mary Grace went on to become a historian, writer and photographer. She wrote a book detailing Lafayette’s visit to Vermont during his 50th anniversary tour in 1826. She was active in women’s suffrage and after the passage of the women’s voting rights amendment turned her energies to the League of Women Voters. During her travels she took numerous photographs which now are in the collection of the Vermont Historical Society, the Andover/Harvard Collection and the University of North Carolina library. Reverend Canfield died in 1942 and Mary Grace in 1946.

Ulysses Sumner Milburn

Ulysses Milburn came to Cincinnati as the right man for the right time. He was born on a farm east of Columbus, earned his divinity degree at St. Lawrence College and preached at London, Ohio, and Baltimore, Maryland, from which he came to Cincinnati. While in Baltimore, he served as the assistant to Royal Pullman who was instrumental in originating the Mother’s Day ceremony.

Milburn came to Cincinnati when the First Society was contemplating building a new church. He was the driving force necessary to see the completion of that goal. He stayed four years from May 1894 to August 1898. The church building on Essex in Walnut Hills was nearing completion and Milburn felt his work in Cincinnati was done. He went on to serve churches in New York, Kansas City and Massachusetts.

Milburn also was a world traveler, often lecturing at church and community events about those experiences. In addition, he was recognized as the owner of one of the largest collections of items related to Nathaniel Hawthorne. These included books, manuscripts, letters and photos related to the author. Milburn donated these to St. Lawrence where they still are considered a primary resource for Hawthorne studies.

It is rare that we can hear the words of a man who served our church well over a hundred years ago. However, in a letter dated May 26, 1938, Milburn sent the following letter to our church when it celebrated its 111th birthday. He wrote:

If I were an old man I presume I would reminisce; of course, I am not! (Ed. He was 72 years of age) But if I were, I would recall my coming to Cincinnati from Baltimore in April, 1894; the installation and reception, the Rev. J. Frank Thompson of Akron preaching the sermon at the former and Mrs. Charles H. Stevens presiding at the latter. Our services were held in a little rented building on McMillan Street west of Gilbert Avenue. Even before the reception a committee had been appointed to find a site for a new church, consisting of George C. James, Charles H. Stephens and A. P. Henkel. D. F. Saunders was President of the Board of Trustees, John D. S. Stevens, Clerk and George L. Utter, Treasurer.

The whole tone of preaching has fortunately changed since those far-off days. Then, theology was the dominant note. I happened by some chance, to be able to have a large space in the public press nearly every Monday. The Rev. G. R. Robbins of the Lincoln Park Baptist Church preached on “The Back Door to Hell”. In two weeks, the sermon was on “Is There a Back Door to Hell?” which was published almost in full. We are grateful that today hearts are fed with something better than the dry husks of creeds, however important correct thinking may be.

Go on to greater things! With Browning “Greet the future with cheer.” Your church beseeches “that ye be not soon shaken in your mind” but that you be steadfast, unmovable in your faith in God and in his laws which govern the spiritual world with infinite wisdom. It also tells you to “keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life”—a life of service, of love, of happiness, of devotion and prayer.

God bless you, everyone. Faithfully and affectionately, your former pastor, U. S. Milburn

Reverend Milburn died in 1956 at the age of 90.

December, 2022.

[Part 1] – [Part 2] – [Part 3] – [Part 5] – [Part 6]

 

The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 3

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

The early ministers in our church were nearly all raised and trained in the East and eventually found their way to Cincinnati as prominent members of the Universalist pastorate. That pattern continued for the most part into the latter half of the 19th century.

Gerherdus Langdon Demarest

From 1861 to 1864, the church existed without a permanent minister. Visiting preachers, members of the church,, and Isaac Williamson provided sermons for Sunday services. After these three years, the membership hired Gerherdus Demarest as its minister. Demarest was born in New York City in 1816. After high school graduation he went to work with Harper’s publishing and while there was credited with settling the contract which led to the publishing of William Wadsworth Longfellow’s poems in their highly popular Harper’s Weekly. After 15 years with the firm, he relocated to Cincinnati to open his own publishing house. Already a declared Universalist, he became active in the First Universalist Church and served on its board while training for the ministry. He was hired as minister in 1864 but served only one year. Severe financial difficulties continued to plague the church and that may have caused him to lose a vote of the congregation to grant a second year. The vote was 37-28. Demarest returned to New York City assuming a pastorate of the large church there.

In 1875, he was selected to serve as Secretary to the General Assembly. This duty not only required him to organize the annual meeting but to supervise and attend all state general assemblies. This was an impossible task as many of the assemblies were held during the same time period hundreds of miles apart. Demarest did his best over the course of the next 30 years, retiring at age 88. It was estimated that he had traveled close to 250,000 miles during those thirty years. He also frequently served as a guest minister, delivering 250 sermons and also edited the “Sunday School Helper,” a national church publication. Demarest died at age 92 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. His son, Clarence, served as his assistant and for five years held the office of clerk of our Board of Trustees.

Everett Levi Rexford

After rejecting Demarest, the church was quick to hire a new minister, Everett Rexford. He had just graduated from St. Lawrence University and this was to be his first assignment. It was a difficult task as the church was still reeling from financial instability and many discussions were held about permanently closing the church. Rexford was born in Harmony, New York in 1842 and was the son of a Freewill Baptist minister. He served for four years in the Cincinnati pulpit, then left to serve in Columbus. He became involved with Buchtel College, a Universalist training school in Akron, first serving on their board of trustees and later as the college president. He was considered to be a leader of the liberal wing of the national church and wrote and spoke extensively. He delivered an address at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago entitled, “The Intrinsic Worth of Man.” He also served churches in San Francisco, Detroit, Akron and Roxbury, Massachusetts. He died at age 81 in Columbus.

Willard Spaulding

Willard Spaulding assumed the pulpit on January 30, 1870. He was born in Lempster, New Hampshire, a small town that produced no less than nine Universalist ministers. He had served in six New England towns before moving to Cincinnati. After two years in the Queen City, he retired at age fifty to his farm in New Hampshire. While here, he accomplished several important objectives. He increased the rate of pew rentals and at the same time convinced additional members to commit to new rentals. Within a year, the church had achieved solvency and with a small surplus purchased a new $700 organ. The church also hosted the Universalist national convention in the summer of 1870.

During his retirement, Spaulding frequently substituted for other ministers. He also ran as a candidate for the Labor Party for U.S. Congress, polling 13% of the vote. He had always been a strong abolitionist and was an outspoken proponent of temperance and labor reform. He also fought for the relief of the families of Civil War soldiers at a rally on their behalf. He opened the rally with a donation of $100 of his own money. By the end of the rally, over $5,000 had been raised. Spaulding died in West Peabody, Massachusetts, in 1892.

John Greenleaf Adams

When Adams took the pulpit of our Cincinnati church in 1873, he had already experienced forty years of Universalist ministry. He was born in New Hampshire in 1810 and was ordained in 1833. His pastorates prior to Cincinnati were spent entirely in New England.

Adams was well known as an author of biographies, hymnals and books on Universalist theology, among them The Christian’s Triumph Including Happy Death Scenes. In 1870 he participated in the installation service of Phoebe Hanaford, sharing the pulpit with the first female Universalist minister, Olympia Brown. During the early days of his tenure with us, the church discussed enlarging the Plum Street church or perhaps building a new edifice. However, difficult times befell the congregation as yet another financial panic had sent the country’s economy reeling. As a result, they often could not meet the payment of Reverend Adams’ salary. Eventually, he announced in 1876 that he was retiring and moving back to Massachusetts. However, there are records that he took a new ministry in Melrose, Massachusetts and served there until his death in 1887. After his retirement it took the church over a year to repay the past-due salaries they owed him.

James Murray Bailey

James Bailey assumed the pulpit of our Cincinnati church in January of 1877. He was 37 years old and the son of a Vermont Universalist minister. He had previously served in Troy, New York; Titusville, Pennsylvania; and Peoria, Illinois. Reverend Bailey had served in the artillery during the Civil War and was severely wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor. His injuries caused him to permanently lose the use of his right hand.

During his term in Cincinnati, the congregation gave up on pew rentals as its major source of funding and adopted a system of member subscriptions, a plan similar to the pledge systems used today. After a year and a half serving as minister, Bailey resigned his position stating that there was no way the church could afford a full-time minister. He also complained of ill-health and the need to leave the ministry for a time in order to recoup his health. He left the church in August of 1878. Bailey never returned to the ministry, training instead as a mining engineer and pursuing that career for the remainder of his life. He died in San Francisco in 1921.

Upon his leave, Bailey’s sister Emma replaced her brother in the pulpit for the next ten Sundays. She went on to a long career as a Universalist minister and wrote a book, Happy Day, about her experiences.

James H. Hartley

James Hartley was ordained as a Universalist minister in 1877. He first served in Newburyport, Massachusetts and then began his ministry in Cincinnati in January of 1879. He stayed only slightly more than a year. Nothing is known of his life after he left Cincinnati.

Sumner Ellis

Sumner Ellis was a leading light of Universalism who had established a respected reputation in the pulpit. He had trained under Levi Ballou, the son of Hosea. He served churches in Boston, Salem, and Lynn, Massachusetts; Newark; and Milwaukee; and he came to Cincinnati from serving in Chicago. He agreed to only a six-month contract and during that time spent a great amount of it out of the city. He had also signed a contract to write a biography of Universalist minister Edwin Chapin. To add to his load, he was also grieving deeply for the recent death of his wife, Mary. It would seem that the experienced Ellis was brought to Cincinnati to help revive the church but not to commit to long term service.

Ellis stayed for his six months, then went about the task of writing the Chapin biography. He remarried to a widow, Addie Hall, and the two went on an extended tour of Europe. Unfortunately, on his return to the United States, he contracted typhoid fever and died in 1886.

November 2022.

[Part 1] – [Part 2] – [Part 4] – [Part 5] – [Part 6]

The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 2

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

As described in Part 1 of this series, our church was twenty years into its existence when Abel Thomas resigned to escape the negative effects on his health presented by the Cincinnati environment. During those twenty years five ministers had served the church, all for short terms. In two cases, the ministers stated they would stay until a replacement could be found as soon as possible. Yet, the church seems to have flourished. Two new churches had been built to accommodate growing membership. What would the future hold for the First Universalist Society of Cincinnati and who would be the next to lead them?

Henry Jewell

In Henry Jewell, the Society found another strong leader. Jewell was 35 years old when he took the Cincinnati pulpit in 1847. He had already served four New England Universalist churches when he left Great Falls, New Hampshire, for the Queen City. He was very familiar with the city as he was a close friend of John Gurley.

During his term, a terrible cholera epidemic hit the city and thousands fled to escape the ravages of the disease. Jewell stayed, however, and served the spiritual needs of those who were sick and the survivors of the dead. Jewell also wrote a biography of Enoch Pingree who had founded a second Universalist Church in the city. Pingree had passed away from consumption in 1849 at the age of 32. During his stay in Cincinnati, Jewell also preached the funeral of Griffin Yeatman, one of the founding fathers of the church and the owner of the first tavern in Cincinnati.

Jewell witnessed challenging financial difficulties in the church when many members failed to pay their pew rentals, a major source of income for the church. This was to continue for the next 30 years until pew rentals were abandoned. Nonetheless, plans were started under Jewell to build yet another new church.

Jewell submitted his resignation in May 1851. He subsequently served congregations in Canton, Merrimac, Lynn and Hardwick, Massachusetts; Terre Haute, Indiana; Manchester, Iowa; and Rome, Bristol and Nunda, New York. He died while stricken in the pulpit of Merrimac church at age 72.

George Washington Quinby

Reverend Quinby accepted the call to Cincinnati after having served four churches in Maine and one in Massachusetts during his 14 years as a Universalist minister. He was 41 years of age when he answered the call and was partially lured to the city by his interest in the Universalist newspaper, Star in the West. This interest resulted in his eventual purchase of the paper from John Gurley.

One of his first actions as pastor was to convince the trustees to pass a requirement that every member be required to attend communion services unless absolutely unable to do so. He also was in the pulpit while the Plum Street Church was under construction. The trustees had sold the Walnut Street church and built the new church in what appeared to be a financially necessary downsizing. Quinby filled the pulpit for three years but remained in Cincinnati for another five years to run the newspaper. He served on the Board of Trustees after his resignation.

Quinby was a prolific writer and was especially remembered for The Gallows, the Prison and the Poorhouse, which was a scathing attack on capital punishment. This book was written while he was in the Cincinnati pulpit. Eventually, Quinby returned to New England where he entered the publishing business full-time, heading several newspapers there.

Quinby and his wife, Cordelia, were instrumental in contributing to the abolition of the death penalty in Maine. Cordelia was very active in the Universalist women’s organization, and after her husband’s death became active in the national women’s rights movement. She was considered to be a close friend of Susan B. Anthony.

Isaac Dowd Williamson

No other minister had as long an association with our church than did Isaac Williamson. He was born in Vermont in 1807 and studied for the pulpit after reading the works of Hosea Ballou. Prior to coming to Cincinnati, he had served 11 different churches in 8 states. Williamson suffered from a severe case of asthma and his frequent moves were often dictated by the need to find a healthier environment. He came to Cincinnati first to serve as a stand-in for Abel Thomas during his leave of absence but was not hired as the full-time minister until 1854. He arrived just as the Plum Street church was completed and delivered its inaugural sermon on September 24, 1854. During his three years as minister, the church also voted to offer eucharist services the first Sundays of March, June, September and December. During his tenure, severe financial problems continued to plague the church. These difficulties persisted for decades beyond his ministry. They were caused primarily by several catastrophic plunges in the national economy which greatly decreased the church’s sources of income.

Williamson was a prolific writer. His book Endless Misery Examined and Refuted sold 25,000 copies. He also authored Philosophy of Universalism, at the time considered the best explanation of that theology ever written. Like so many of his predecessors, he also edited the Star in the West and ended up buying the paper from Quinby. Williamson asked to be relieved of his ministry in 1857 primarily due to his ill health. These problems sent him many times into the deep South to seek relief. It resulted in him taking a very unpopular stance with his fellow Universalists as he opposed the immediate abolition of slavery. While he felt that slavery was a great national problem, he did not think that slaves were equipped to live independently and that abolition would be a national disaster.

Williamson also was a national officer with the International Order of Odd Fellows. On a trip to England for the IOOF, he served as the ship’s minister and preached sermons with a Universalist theme. One of the attendees was Washington Irving who praised the sermons and expressed that he was in total agreement with Universalist thought.

While Williamson left the church ministry, he remained active in other ways. He served several terms on the Board of Trustees and substituted for absent ministers into the 1870’s. At one point, he was asked to serve again as the church minister but agreed only to provide Sunday sermons and serve no other ministerial functions. Williamson died of dropsy in Cincinnati in 1876. His funeral was conducted at the Plum Street church and he is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.

George Truesdale Flanders

George Flanders was born in Vermont and followed the path of many of the Universalist ministers of his day. He studied divinity at Newberry Seminary and then embarked on a ministerial career that took him to thirteen pulpits in seven states. His appointment to the Cincinnati ministry was his fifth assignment. He served the church during difficult times from 1857 to 1861. The economic crash of 1857 cut deeply into church finances and the threat of civil war and the resolution of the slavery issue hung as a dark cloud over the country. That Civil War ended up costing Flanders a son, George, an army private who died in 1862 at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Flanders eventually left the Cincinnati church with the knowledge that it was very difficult for the congregation to pay his salary. Towards the end of his life, Flanders wrote his autobiography, Life’s Problems, Here and Hereafter. The book was highly popular and originally was published anonymously. However, a second edition was soon published under his name. An edition was also published in England with great success. Perhaps the closing words of that book could stand as an indication of the Universalist faith of his day. “I am at rest. My faith has made me whole. The incidents of this mortal life have for me no terror. Old age has no terror. Death has no terror. I now know that the present, every moment of it, is under the superintendence of an all-wise Father, even in the minutest particular; and the future stretches out into inconceivable realms of light and joy. I can confidently say with the old patriarch, —‘Even though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him’”. Flanders died in Tryon, North Carolina, in 1897 at the age of 77.

October 2022.

[Part 1] – [Part 3] – [Part 4] – [Part 5] – [Part 6]

The Stories of 42 Ministers Who Have Served Our Church

Part 1

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

Over the next few months, this column will attempt to provide a history of the individuals who have served as ministers to our church. Over the course of nearly 200 years of existence, this includes many individuals, forty-two to be exact. While some may find these mini biographies to be of little interest, it is hoped that it will provide a resource to the history of Universalism itself. Some very prominent Universalists have served our congregation and in many ways the story of our journey reflects the story of Universalism. Especially in the early history of our religion, ministers moved often and during their careers served many congregations. Thus, there is an intertwining connectedness between different churches that are often great distances apart. So, let us take a look this month at those ministers who served us so well in our early years.

Josiah Crosby Waldo

After a year of using lay ministers, our church hired its first full time minister in 1828, Josiah Waldo. Waldo was 24 years old when he accepted the call. He had been raised in a farm family in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. His parents claimed Presbyterianism as its faith but Waldo rejected that faith when the family minister told him that his deceased mother would be denied salvation because of her lack of support of the church. He became committed to the concept of universal salvation and sought the guidance of Hosea Ballou, the foremost leader of the Universalist Church of the time. After these studies, Waldo served two years in the ministry and then moved to Cincinnati where he founded a Universalist newspaper, the Sentinel and Star. He also served many other congregations as a circuit rider where he claimed to have increased attendance in numerous far-flung communities from 200 to 2,000.

In 1831, Waldo married Elmina, the daughter of Hosea Ballou. The couple had five children. One became a well-respected newspaper editor and another a banker. The Waldos left Cincinnati in 1832, moving back to the Northeast. This was a path followed by many of his successors to the Cincinnati pulpit. He served Universalists in Lynn, Arlington and Quincy, Massachusetts, Troy, New York, and finally New London, Connecticut. Waldo passed away in 1890 in New London.

George Rogers

The church replaced Waldo with itinerant and lay ministers for several years but in 1836 hired George Rogers, aged 31, as its minister with the understanding that he would step aside as soon as a replacement could be found. Rogers was born in England, but after his parents came to the United States, he was orphaned at an early age. He spent most of his childhood under the care of his grandparents or in orphanages. He became committed to a career in the ministry at an early age and adopted Universalism after a meeting with Reverend Abel Thomas (see below). He made it known that his real love was riding the circuit and preaching whenever and wherever people would listen.

In Cincinnati, he helped raise $6,500 to build a church at 6th and Vine. He took over the publishing of Waldo’s Sentinel and Star but spent great amounts of time in the saddle, Bible in hand. After two years as minister, Rogers left the Cincinnati pulpit and agreed to find his own replacement. Rogers married and had one child but still traveled extensively throughout the country. It has been claimed that he preached in all but three states of the Union, North and South Carolina and Vermont. He wrote over a dozen books, continued his editing of the Sentinel and Star, wrote an autobiography and published a hymnal, many of the hymns having been written by himself. However, Rogers was a very small and not always healthy man. His whirlwind of activity took its toll and at age 41, shortly after his wife gave birth to a second child, he contracted consumption and died in 1846. He asked to be buried in the small Universalist cemetery in Delhi.

William West

Rogers kept his promise and found as his replacement William West. The new minister was a native of Ireland and came to Philadelphia after completing his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dublin. He was ordained in 1836 and came to Cincinnati to preach in 1838. He attacked his new challenge with vigor. He indicated that he had increased membership to 97 souls and more than 100 children were regular attendees in Sunday School. This increase caused the new facility at 6th and Vine to become inadequate and the congregation moved to a rented facility at the Mechanics Institute on Walnut between 3rd and 4th streets.

Unfortunately, both West and his wife grew sickly and they were granted a leave of absence to return to Ireland and rest. Upon their return, Mrs. West grew worse and died in 1839. The loss of his wife overwhelmed Reverend West; he plunged into deep grief and asked to be relieved of his position as minister. After leaving the church and his ministry, little is known of what happened to William West.

John Addison Gurley

Our church was blessed with strong leaders in its early years and John Gurley certainly fit that description. Gurley was born in 1813 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of a tavern keeper/postmaster. His mother was the aunt of the poet William Cullen Bryant. Gurley followed a path very similar to George Rogers, adopting Universalism, training for the ministry and then heading west seeing his calling as a circuit rider. He settled in Cincinnati where he also became a writer and editor of the Sentinel and Star, which he bought and then changed the name to the Star in the West. At this point, the First Universalist Society sought to hire him as a minister, but like Rogers, he accepted the position only under the condition that they find his replacement as soon as possible so he could give full attention to circuit riding. His major accomplishment with the church was heading the drive to purchase the building they were renting, razing it and building a new church on the site. This accomplished, his replacement was found and he concentrated his efforts on circuit riding and developing the very profitable paper. The Star in the West reached a point of having 10,000 subscribers.

By 1850, like Rogers, Gurley was exhausted and decided to retire from all church affairs and run his farm in Green Township. However, duty called and in 1858 he was elected to the U.S. congress. He served two terms and also took up the call to serve in the Union Army, acting as an aide-de-camp for General John C. Fremont. He also is credited with the creation of the U.S. Printing Office. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln appointed Gurley to become the first territorial governor of Arizona. His appointment, based on his strong anti-slavery beliefs, was made in hopes he would help prevent Arizona from joining the Confederacy. Sadly, as he was preparing to leave for his new position, Gurley’s appendix burst and the subsequent peritonitis led to his death at age 50. He had certainly accomplished a lot during those few short years.

Abel Charles Thomas

Replacing Gurley would be difficult but, in Abel Thomas, the church hired one of the foremost Universalists of his day. Thomas was born in Pennsylvania in 1807, the son of a doctor and grandson of a prominent Quaker minister. As a young man, he adopted Universalism as his faith of choice. Thomas’s first calling was in New York City but he soon moved to Philadelphia, where he served the First Universalist Church of Philadelphia for ten years. From there he moved on to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he took on the plight of female textile workers. He started an “improvement circle” and edited a publication of works written by some of the workers. The Lowell Offering became a well-read New England journal.

Eventually, Thomas found his way to Cincinnati and was hired as minister in 1844. Unfortunately, the Cincinnati environment worsened existing health problems and he had to ask for a leave of absence. This was granted but upon his return, the condition emerged again and it hampered his efforts to serve his church.

During his stay in Cincinnati, Thomas did contribute much to the church. He traveled extensively in the area where he acquired a great knowledge of Universalism in the West, which he shared with fellow Universalists in his extensive writings. He also emphasized the need to reach out to those less fortunate souls in the church and secured an assessment of ten cents a quarter from all members to be used to help members in need.

Finally, Thomas arranged a loan to the church from his good friend, P.T. Barnum, in order that the church might get away from a high interest mortgage on its new home. Eventually, Thomas assumed the loan himself to assist Barnum in bringing Jenny Lind on a tour of the United States.

Thomas left Cincinnati in 1847, still suffering from ill health. He returned to his old pulpit in Philadelphia and served there for six years, after which his health issues forced a permanent retirement. He remained active as a writer and stand-in minister and performed the funeral service for P.T Barnum’s wife. Thomas died in 1880.

September 2022.

[Part 2] – [Part 3] – [Part 4] – [Part 5] – [Part 6]

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

Last month we explored the Christian roots of Universalism by reviewing a sermon delivered at our Walnut Hills Church in a 1919 Sunday service. To further explore that topic, we might look at an order of service from 1943 and what better worship service to examine than that offered by our church during the Easter season. Reverend Kenneth Hutchinson offered these thoughts on the Easter season.

“Dear Friends: The greatest day in Christian history becomes perhaps more significant for us this year than ever before. We are facing a crisis, not only in the form of an international struggle, but also in a very personal sense. How the present world situation is going to affect our personal living is largely a question we are going to have to decide for ourselves.

“Whether we become bitter and cynical, or imbued with a healthy courage and strength will depend principally upon the kind of associations we seek for ourselves.

“The church, with its heritage of nearly twenty centuries of experience in facing all sorts of problems and emergencies, has much to offer in the way of personal suggestion and help for these perilous days.

“Let us make this Easter Season a time of sharing and of fellowship.”

Those associated with our church had many opportunities during Easter week to experience that sharing and fellowship. On Palm Sunday, a special worship service was offered with a sermon by Reverend Hutchinson entitled “Bear Your Own Burden”. On the evening of April 22, a Maundy Thursday service was conducted with a full communion experience. On Friday, April 23, a Union Good Friday service was offered for all the Christian churches of Walnut Hills. This event started at noon with three separate half-hour services at the Church of the Advent on Kemper Lane. The week-long observance was concluded with Sunday Easter services at our Walnut Hills sanctuary. Below is the order of service for that event.

The celebration of Easter opened with an organ recital: “Resurrection Morn,” by Edward F. Johnston.

The processional hymn saw the choir enter to a standing congregation. It was identified only as hymn #347.

A Call to Worship was followed by the covenant:

We would strive to make LOVE the Doctrine of our church,
The Quest for TRUTH its Sacrament,
And HELP to others its Prayer.
We would strive to dwell together in Peace,
To seek KNOWLEDGE in perfect Freedom,
And to SERVE mankind through Fellowship:
To the end that we may GROW into Harmony with the Divine.
Thus do we now covenant anew, with each other and with our God.

A solo performance of “Angels, Roll the Rock Away,” by Thomas Scott, was offered by Mrs. Daughters.

The opening verse is: “Angels, roll the rock away; death yield up they mighty prey. See, the Savior leaves the tomb, glowing in immortal bloom.”

Next, a responsive reading entitled “The Lord Reigneth” was exchanged by the minister and the congregation.

An In Memoriam duet, “Hosanna,” by Jules Granier, was sung by Mrs. Wilber and Mr. Breeden.

The Easter Reading was then presented to the congregants by Reverend Hutchinson, followed by a pastoral prayer.

The Offertory was collected while “The Guardian Angel,” by Gabriel Pierne, was played by the organist.

The Junior Choir then sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” by Lyra Davidica, followed by the dedication of the offering.

“Open the Gates of the Temple” by Phoebe Knapp was then sung by Mr. Coburn.

A service of Christening was offered followed by a quartet rendition of “As It Began to Dawn” by Frederick Harker.

Next followed a scripture reading and the singing of Hymn # 348.

The sermon entitled “The Light Eternal” was offered by Reverend Hutchinson.

The sermon was followed by a moment of quiet meditation and prayer.

Next, a short meditation hymn was sung by the choir and congregation. The words presented in the Order of Service were:

Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of Truth thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key,
That shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit Divine.

An organ benediction was then offered by organist Kathryn Maish, followed by the Pastoral Benediction.

The organ postlude was Handel’s “Hallelujah”.

The service ended with an exchange of Easter greetings.

This was certainly a lengthy service and one dedicated to the celebration of Easter and its meaning to the Christian faith. In 1943, it was central to the Universalist faith.

 

---

Editor’s Note: Here are links to some of the music mentioned in the article.

“Resurrection Morn,” by Edward F. Johnston Organ.

“Resurrection Morn,” Sung.

“Hosanna!” by Jules Granier

“The Guardian Angel,” by Gabriel Pierne

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” by Lyra Davidica

“Open the Gates of the Temple” by Phoebe Knapp

“Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah

 

For August 2022.

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

People both within our Unitarian Universalist family and in the rest of the world often express doubt or surprise when it is mentioned that the roots of Universalism rest deeply in Christian theology. From the time of its origins until the 1960s, Christianity was the foundation of the faith. Universalism was always considered a “liberal” church partially due to its commitment to social change and certainly due to its rejection of eternal damnation. To better understand the scope of that commitment to Christian ideals, it might help to hear the words of one of our ministers as he spoke on a divisive issue of his day. The minister is Reverend A. B. Beresford, who served the church in Walnut Hills from 1909 to 1920. Excerpts of this sermon were printed in the Cincinnati Enquirer of September 8, 1919.

Rev. Beresford said:

Three articles in Christ’s program applying to modern issues are that sympathy must replace suspicion between employer and employee, there must be a new race of home owners and home lovers—not mere lodgers in flats and apartments, and there must be a new faith and practice of the value of the plain virtues-these are the life of men and nations.

In a large way, the church has not obtained leadership among the wage earners. This class of people, struggling amid the temptations and tribulations of daily necessities, feel and say ‘The church has no message for us.’ A few will admit that the church is for women and children, but not for men. A few unsparingly condemn the church because they fancy it is the friend and social adjunct of the capitalistic class and is the friend of parasites, plunderers and oppressors.

This indictment cannot be sustained in any of its counts. The Gospel is for this world. It is the best friend of the wage earner. It has a living message for the industrial crisis in the middle of which we now are. Christ had nothing to say on machine tools, factories, telephones or locomotives, but knew men in their many-sided human relationships, especially as masters and servants, that is as capital and labor.

Authorities on industrial conditions tell us there will be organized labor on the one hand and organized capital on the other. But these two giants should be friends, not enemies. Sympathy should replace suspicion. Like a ship’s crew, men and officers should be bound together in the same fate and fortune.

There must be more constant contact between employers and employees. The purpose of this contact is not to make up for small wages or insufficient pay, but to replace suspicion with sympathy, to hear grievances and right wrongs and do all things that will help business. The employers should have a sincere interest in the personal welfare of their employees, and show that interest in real ways.

The commonest sailor does not work for the captain but with the captain. So in times of peril the captain is the last to leave the ship. So men should work not for the boss but with the boss, and the boss should work with the men.

Every family has its crises but when there is love there always is an acceptable settlement of the difficulty. It can be likewise with our vast family—the working world.

In strikes those who throw the rocks and apply the torch are those who own no homes. Let there be more homes.

‘Never was there a time when the church had as great an opportunity or responsibility as the present’ said Rev. Jacob W. Kapp in a sermon on The Church For the Times at First English Lutheran Church yesterday morning.

The church must be ready now to answer the demands for an aggressive God loving and human loving organization, in the ordinary sense of the word. It does not depend on its machinery or upon its externals for its existence. God is the church’s power and wisdom.

It is true that the day of miracles is past, but, on the other hand, it is true that the church must show results that are greater than can be accomplished by ordinary human effort. The power of God must be evident in its life. This power is promised and we of the church but need to fulfill the conditions, and we are assured that the church will be a conquering, victorious power in our land.

Reverend Beresford’s solutions to the labor problems of the day were to look to the teachings of Jesus. As he explored these labor/management issues that were deeply troubling a post war nation, he saw the church and its Christian faith as the source of answers to conflict. The commitment to social change and consideration of the needs of the working class were certainly in line with the Universalist reputation as a liberal and reformist movement. However, this does beg the question, if one were to rework this sermon in the framework of the nation’s current divisive issues— Black Lives Matter, abortion, LGBTQ rights, voting rights and many more— where would the answers lie for UU’s? While many members still hold to Christian belief, is that sufficient to serve as a UU source of solutions to our troubled nation’s issues? Do the answers come from inside the hearts and minds of our membership with no foundation in theology? Do the answers lie in our Seven Principles? What holds us together as we work as a unit to contribute solutions for our nation’s problems? It sounds like a topic for a sermon.

Next month we will examine an order of service from a time when the message of Christ was a prominent feature of Sunday services.

July 2022.

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

During the 1940s, most of the church announcements were included in the Order of Service each Sunday. They were labeled as “Parish Notes”. These included future events, important news and items that we would include currently in our “Candles of Community.” Below are shared just a select few of these Parish Notes. They do yield some insight into the times in which they were offered and the history of our church.

~~ Parish Notes ~~

We are happy to announce that Miss Elizabeth Wilson who has been confined to her home for some time as the result of a street car accident is greatly improved and has returned to work.

Recently Mrs. E. L. Hundley received a letter from her grandson, Ben Smith, U. S. Navy, in which he said, “please thank the church for the delicious box of nuts sent to me at Christmas time. I certainly did appreciate them and enjoyed them (what I got of them), but you know I am not good at writing letters like that.

The Toberg Rest Home, where Mrs. Eunice Kavanaugh has been living, has been moved from Ingleside Street in Walnut Hills. Friends may now visit her at the new address of the home, 2713 Eden Avenue, Mt. Auburn.

The Victory Book Campaign Committee is endeavoring to secure additional books for the use of men in our armed services. Next Sunday, April 11, will be “Book Sunday.” You are asked to bring a book or books to church or leave them with the minister. These books will be collected by Boy Scout Troops for the committee.

Word has been received that Mrs. Alice Cummins, wife of our General Superintendent, is definitely better and on the road to recovery.

Lt. Richard G. White Jr., a prisoner of war, may be reached at the following address:
1st Lt. Richard G. White Jr.
American P.O.W.
Stalag Luft 3, Germany
P.O.W. 961
Via New York, New York

Robert C. Buescher, former trustee of this church, will receive his wings in the Bombardment Division of the Army Air Corps, Seymour, Indiana today. Mrs. Buescher and the family are in Seymour today for the occasion.

On January 10th, a young man weighing 7 pounds and named Larry Joseph came to Cincinnati. He is quite a lad and on January 16th took possession of 296 McGregor Avenue in Mount Auburn. We speak of that young man whose perambulator you will now see Mr. and Mrs. Bud Williams pushing. We are all happy for Bud and Mary.

Dr. Carl H. Olson formerly minister of this church has been appointed by Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey to the Minneapolis, Minnesota Municipal Housing and Redevelopment Authority. We congratulate Dr. Olson on this appointment.

Mr. Thorburn was the guest of Dr. Victor E. Reichert at the Yom Kippur services in the Rockdale Avenue Temple on Tuesday evening last. The Rev. Julius Krolfifer of St. John’s Unitarian Church was also a guest. Our best wishes are extended to Dr. Reichert and his congregation at Rockdale Temple as they enter their New Year. Certainly we extend our good wishes to Dr. Heller and the members of the Plum Street Temple.

Next Sunday the Universalist Ministers of Ohio will enter into a general exchange of pulpits under the direction of the State Board. The preacher in this church will be the Rev. Harriet E. Druley of Springfield. All know Miss Druley so we bespeak a large congregation to greet her. Mr. Thorburn will preach in Columbus.

Mr. Powel Crosley, Jr. is confined to a hospital in Miami, Florida with pneumonia. He has been quite ill and will not be able to return to Cincinnati for three weeks following his release from the hospital. The Cincinnati Reds have opened their season at Crosley Field. They have shown considerable spirit. Our best wishes to Mr. Crosley and his associates and the team for a first division finish. (Ed: The Reds did not benefit from our church’s support. They finished the 1947 season with 73 wins and 81 losses finishing in fifth place, 21 games behind the league champion Brooklyn Dodgers.)

Your attention is called to the fact that the parsonage telephone is on a party line. It is important that confidential calls and many other messages should not be phoned in. We are contemplating methods whereby this annoyance may be eliminated. It may be necessary to install an extension from the office telephone. In the meantime, may we request that appointments be made to see the minister regarding important matters pertaining to the church.

We are happy to report that the Rev. R. S. Kellerman is making progress at Christ Hospital. Mr. Kellerman injured his back while working in his chicken coop at his home in Blanchester. He is now 93 years of age.

Article date 5/23/2022.

by Mike Roberts, Church Historian

Just a bit over 30 years ago, the Eastern edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer did a feature article on Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church. Writer Beth Menge emphasized the growth of the church since the opening of its new sanctuary on Newtown Road. She began her article in the March 24, 1992 Enquirer by stating “They’re running out of chairs and parking at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church and the membership couldn’t be happier. It’s a refreshing sign that the membership decline that nearly wiped out the 165-year-old congregation is over.”

Ms. Menge relates how the congregation sold the house in Salem Acres where they had been worshiping and, after conducting services in several community locations, decided that if the congregation were to grow and prosper they had to build a new church. That decision was described by member Les Nomeland. “It was a rocky time for us. Actual membership was down to about 40 but we would only get 8 or 12 people attending a service. We would get guest speakers in and our own membership would take the pulpit occasionally.”

After the construction of the new church, membership slowly grew but Nomeland related that the membership picked up steam when Elinor Artman was hired as their new part-time minister. He noticed an important increase in the number of young families joining the church. In January 1992, 19 new people signed the membership book, bringing the total number of members to 82. As many as 63 children were regularly in attendance. Reverend Artman noted that her goal was to double the membership in another five years. She stated that a church needs a membership of from 100 to 150 to support a full-time minister. (The 1989-90 Ohio Valley UU Yearbook reports the Heritage membership as 47. First Unitarian is reported as 280 members, Northern Hills as 85 and St. John’s as 230.)

Artman stated that a sermon is offered every Sunday and also a sermon is offered to the children before they depart the sanctuary for Sunday School. She said she really did not want that added responsibility “but sitting there with 40 children staring up at me is quite a trip.”

Menge went on to mention that the church offered a Sunday School program as well as adult education and that the youth of the church were involved in district UU activities. Also, groups were offered for men, women and newcomers to the church.

When asked to describe her attachment to the new church, Connie Booth stated “To use a cliche, it was really a leap of faith—quite a big project and it’s beautiful. It’s really a lovely building.”

Writer Menge went on to explore what Unitarian Universalism is all about. “According to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, Unitarian Universalism is a liberal, creedless religion with Judeo-Christian roots. It also draws from Eastern, humanist, and other religious traditions, and encourages its members to seek religious truth out of their own reflection and experience, tolerate and respect other religious viewpoints, and affirm the worth and dignity of every person.” Reverend Artman went further in saying that “It really is a religion you must think through yourself. We draw upon all the other religions of the world in order to shape our own religion. Some people say it’s an easy religion because you can believe anything you want to. Being on the cutting edge is demanding because you’re out there saying very liberal things that are not well accepted by society.”

When asked what made the Heritage congregation special, Reverend Artman replied “I think it’s the religious community we are forming right now. It’s a birth to death kind of community. It’s the stretch of the generations to search together for the meaning of life.” Connie Booth added, “Sometimes our religion is called a religion of the head and the heart. It has to make sense to the person. I guess that for me would be being able to pursue the religious bent I need without feeling guilty about what I’m doing. I look for kernels of truth in readings and scriptures from all kinds of cultures and backgrounds, whether its Native American, Buddhist or the Bible.”

So here we are thirty years later. If an Enquirer reporter came to do an article in 2022, how would it be similar to 1992 and how would it be different?

May 2022.