This blog site is intended to serve the congregation of The First Universalist Church as a source of information, communication and entertainment. It also is to introduce the wider community to our fellowship, and vice versa. Many of you are well acquainted with “blogging,” but for those who aren’t the blogging platform enables visitors to participate in discussions by posting “comments.” To read the comments of others and to leave your comment, simply click on the grey link that mentions “comments” under the title of each article, or “post.” That’s the hard part. From there on, it’s easy!
This site is just beginning; it will build and become more useful with time, cooperation and participation. The 21st Century is our third. Let’s make the most of it!
on Oct 6th, 2008 at 9:53 am
See? It’s so easy even a Unitarian Universalist can do it!
on Oct 7th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I’m so excited to see Camp Hill Church enter into the world of cyber space techonology! Many people have first found out about Our Home Universalist Unitarian church through our website. It is an excellent beginning.
Bravo!
on Oct 17th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I really like how you have mapped out this website. It is crisp, clean, easy to read, easy to find information, and it feels welcoming. Thankyou for putting yourselves on the cyber map, it will serve you well. Blessings, (Rev.) Fred
on Oct 25th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I have always been told that either my Grandfather john
Micajah Harper or my great Grandfather George Martin Harper
was a charter member of the Camp Hill Universalist Church.
Can you confirm or deny this????
Thanks for any help with this.
Jimmy Harper
on Oct 27th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I am a descendant of Lydia Harper who married John Johnson Slaughter. She was the daughter of George Harper and Lydia Saxon Harper. If you know about the Harper family, you know there are a lot of Georges and Johns. If you could give me some dates on these, I might be able to help you more, but this I do know. George Martin Slaughter married Elizabeth Bowden in Monroe County, GA. His family lives in a small community in Tallapoosa County, AL, known as Harper’s Hill. There was a Universalist Church there, and both this George and Elizabeth are buried in the cemetery where the church once stood.
Also there was a George Harper who belonged to the Universalist Church in Camp Hill but the name is only George Harper. I think this would probably be in the 1848-1900 period, because my great grandfather’s name is below his and that was his period of belonging. J.P.M. Harper also belonged to our church, and there is a window in his honor.
If I can help you anymore, email me.
on Dec 11th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I was a student at Lyman Ward Military Academy from 1976-1982. I remembered on Sunday mornings the cadet corps would gather into formation, marched off the campus along Highway 150 to the Universalist Church for Church service. As a young teenager who had recently lost his father in a car accident while he was on his mission of visiting members of his Charge. Going to church was very difficult for that young teenager for I was use to seeing and hearing my father in the pulpit. However, I did find peace and solace while attending the cadet services at the Universalist Church. Thank You.
on Jan 13th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hello,
It’s wonderful to see your lovely website. I’m a member of Outlaw’s Bridge Universalist Church in Duplin County NC with roots going back to early Universalism in Lenoir County and Duplin County.
In the back of my mind, I remember some young people from Camp Hill attending church youth camp at Shelter Neck near Burgaw NC when Rev. Leonard Prater was minister either at Camp Hill or perhaps when he and Mrs. Prater were at Outlaw’s Bridge. Are any of these young people still living and connected with the present Universalist Church? The names have evaded me but seems Dunahoo may have been one of the family names.
Prater was our minister in the Kinston (NC) Universalist Church and at Outlaw’s Bridge Universalist Church near Seven Springs NC.
Carol
on Jan 24th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
My great, greatgrandfather was Micajah Harper born about 1828 and killed in action at Shiloh in April 1862. He was in
Co A 25th Alabama Infantry. He was from Covington County
Alabama. His wife was Margaret Catherine Gillis. Daughter,
Missouri Callie Harper, was my great grandmother, born 1859.
Do you know anything of these Harpers?
on Apr 15th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Mrs. Barbara ,
Thanks for meeting with Dennis and I. We enjoyed it. It really means alot to us for you to take the time to talk to us about Our family and their roles in the Church.
Sue Trimble
on Jul 19th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
My great grandfather was William Clayton Harper (1854-1931). He is buried at Harper’s Hill Cemetery. He furnished the land for the universalist church that still stands there. His father was James Pitt Milner Harper (1829-1909) who has a window in his honor at the Camp Hill church. My grandfather was William Micajah Harper (1889-1965) who was educated at Lyman Ward School and who is buried in the Carrville Cemetery in Tallassee, Alabama. My father was Henry Owen Harper (1917-2000) who was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives representing Tallapoosa County for three terms in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
We know that the church at Harper’s Hill was in existence around 1912 or 1913 due to a photograph we have of our family members standing in front of the church. The existing Harper family has taken care of the old church and cemetery for many years, but the old church has been vandalized and is going to be demolished due to it’s being unstable and unsafe.
I would like to know if anyone in the church at Camp Hill could find out any information about the Harper’s Hill church? Such as when it was organized.
on Sep 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am
My ancestors Samuel Henderson and his wife Sarah and their children were members of the church in the 19th century. Are there any records to show whether they were unitarians before they came to AL?
on Nov 11th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I believe my grandmother was a member of your church. I’m almost sure my great-grandparents were members. My grandmother’s name was Stella Elvira Heard Langley. My great-grandfather was Isaac Heard. I don’t know his wife’s name, but I believe she was a Slaughter. My grandmother had two sisters who lived in Camp Hill, Alice Shepard and Dona White, and a brother in Alexander City, a dentist, Dr. Coley Heard. If anyone has any information about my grandmother’s family I would love to hear from him. Thank you! Tom Langley.