Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Capers, Rev. T. Stacy October 1, 1888 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sharon Russell slmacruss88@comcast.net August 1, 2025, 4:15 pm Source: History of Blair County, PA, Vol. II, 1931 Author: Tarring Davis REVEREND T. STACY CAPERS was born in Arcadia, Louisiana, October 1, 1888. He was the older child of Martha Caroline (Underwood) and Burnside Capers. His father was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, Superintendent of the Sunday School, and for a number of years, president of the First National Bank of Arcadia. He had one own sister, Ruth, married to Carl Goff, of Eldorado, Arkansas; three half-brothers, Dr. R. L. Capers, of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; William Kenneth Capers, of Chicago, and Burnside Capers, of Bellefonte Academy; four half-sisters, Clara Yarborough, who died in infancy; Eula Maude, married to Reginald Hightower, of Arcadia; Lenoir Capers, of State College, Pennsylvania, and Helen Capers, of Chicago. Mr. Capers received his early education in the public schools of Newman, Georgia, where he made his home after the death of his mother. Here he resided in the home of relatives, Dr. and Mrs. James Stacy. Mr. Capers was a namesake of the Reverend Dr. Stacy and it was under the influence of this Presbyterian divine that he felt the call to the ministry. Dr. and Mrs. Stacy were like parents to him and made provision for his education both at home and abroad. After finishing the public school he was graduated from the Donald Fraser Preparatory School of Atlanta. He matriculated at the University of Georgia where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, Inter-Society Debater and a winner of the University loving cup in his class oratorical contest. The following year, together with his sister, he was sent to Macon, Georgia, and was transferred to Mercer University, while his sister attended Wesleyan College. At Mercer, he represented his literary society as debater and was a member of the official staff of the college newspaper as business manager of "The Orange and Black." After he received his bachelor degree from Mercer University he took post graduate work at Grove City College, Princeton University and summer school work at the University of Paris. In September, 1913, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary where he was a member of the Friars Club. He was graduated from the seminary in 1916, at which time he was awarded an honorary fellowship which provided expenses for a year of study abroad. The war prevented him from taking advantage of this opportunity, but after the war Mr. Capers spent some time in travel and study in Europe and the Holy Land. During this trip he visited the Continent and the British Isles as well as Egypt and also attended the Passion Play at Ober Ammergau. For the past ten years, Mr. Capers has been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Hollidaysburg, the historic old church which is the mother of Presbyterianism in the Juniata Valley. He was called to this church when he was acting as assistant to Dr. Maitland Alexander, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Pittsburgh, where he had served for three years. Under his pastorate the membership of the Hollidaysburg Church has grown from 311, in 1921, to more than 450. Just recently it celebrated a threefold anniversary of the life and work of the church and Sunday School by the completion of a $40,000 improvement program and the dedication of a new pipe organ with tower bells and memorial harp. The only other church with which he has been identified as minister was the Community Church, at Maywood, New Jersey. June 22, 1911, Mr. Capers was united in marriage to Miss Annie Keene Hedges, of Savannah, Georgia. She was a daughter of Annie Willingham Malone and James Keene Hedges, formerly of Decatur, Alabama. Their family consists of three boys: T. Stacy Capers, Jr., a student at Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania; Fred Wallace, a student at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and Keene Hedges, a pupil in the Hollidaysburg Public School; and two girls, Ruthane and Martha Caroline, also pupils in the Hollidaysburg schools. In the Presbytery of Huntingdon, Mr. Capers has served for a number of years as a member of the Program and Field Activities Committee, first in the position of Every Member Canvas Director and second as Director of Missionary Education. He has also served the Presbytery in the capacity of Moderator during the church year of 1929 and 1930. He has been active in the work of the Synod of Pennsylvania, having been a member of the Executive Commission for two years and, for the past three years, a member of its council in which he is now serving as chairman of the Finance Committee of the Synod. This file has been created by a form at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pafiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb