By Abigail Sholes '23
Title: H. Stover Kulp Family Papers, 1911-2016
ID: MSS/MSS-0021
Primary Creator: Kulp, Harold Stover (1894-1964)
Other Creators: Kulp, Christina Masterton (1896-1952), Kulp, Mary Ann Moyer (1932-2021), Kulp, Neta Ruth Royer (1896-1924)
Extent: 6.58 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 08/16/2021
Subjects: Church of the Brethren, Ekklesiyar ’Yanuwa a Nigeria, Missionaries, Nigeria
Harold Stover Kulp (1894-1964) was born to Aaron and Naomi Kulp on a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Named after the Stovers, a Brethren missionary couple in India, Kulp was from a young age involved in the Church of the Brethren and its overseas missions. In 1909, Kulp graduated from East Coventry High School before enrolling in the West Chester State Normal School in 1910. Two years later, at age seventeen, Kulp graduated with honors before taking a job at the Carter Junior Republic school, an institution for boys on probation from juvenile court. At nineteen, Kulp joined the ministry at his church, the Coventry Congregation. He attended Juniata College and graduated in 1918, where he gained an interest in missionary work and met his first wife, Neta Ruth Royer (b. 1896), also a Juniata College graduate. By 1920, he received his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1921, Kulp married Neta Ruth Royer. In 1922, the Church of the Brethren sent Kulp and Albert D. Helser to Garkida, Nigeria to begin missionary work. In 1924, Ruth passed away in Nigeria along with their infant son, Harold Stover Kulp Jr. In 1926, Kulp married Christina Masterton (1896-1952), a missionary from Scotland. Between 1930-1931, Kulp would continue his studies at the Kennedy School of Missions and Hartford Seminary. Christina and Stover had two children, Philip and Naomi Kulp. Their son, Dr. Philip Masterton Kulp (1929-1994), became a missionary to Nigeria and was a Professor of Sociology at Shippensburg University. The mission Stover Kulp co-founded in Nigeria quickly grew into a congregation of more than 10,000. He helped translate the Scriptures and introduced literacy to Nigerian adults and children. He assisted in the improvement of education, medical care, agricultural development, and national independence in the country. After spending the majority of his life in Nigeria, Stover returned to the United States in 1964 to retire but passed away in the same year. Kulp is buried in Coventry, Pennsylvania. Philip Kulp’s wife, Mary Ann Moyer Kulp (later Payne) (1932-2021) published a biography of Kulp, in 1968, titled No Longer Strangers.
Neta Ruth Royer Kulp (1896-1924) was born to Galen and Annie Royer in Morris, Illinois. She attended and graduated from high school in Elgin, Illinois in 1914 before enrolling in Wheaton College. After a year there, Ruth Royer transferred to Juniata College in 1916 with the goal of attending a Brethren school in preparation for missionary work. Upon graduation in 1918, she continued her studies at Juniata for several months to meet the requirements for medical school. In 1919, she enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania medical school, however by 1920 she chose not to continue with her studies. In 1921, Ruth Royer married H. Stover Kulp in Huntington, Pennsylvania. Near the end of 1922, the Kulps left the United States to begin their missionary journey, with Ruth Kulp staying in London for a year to attend Livingstone College. There, she enrolled in tropical medicine courses to prepare herself to care for various illnesses in Nigeria. Finally, in October 1923, Kulp reunited with her husband in Nigeria to begin missionary work. In Nigeria, she studied the Bura language, taught classes at the local school, and aided in medical work. In 1924, Kulp contracted severe dysentery and went into early labor. Her child, Harold Stover Kulp Jr., passed away soon after birth. Kulp passed away from her illness soon after and was buried in a cemetery for Brethren missionaries in Nigeria. After her death, the Ruth Royer Kulp Memorial Hospital was dedicated in her name.
Christina Masterton Kulp (1896-1952) was born to Philip and Robina Masterton in Peeblesshire, Scotland. She attended the Women’s Missionary College for some time prior to serving the Livingstonia mission of the United Free Church of Scotland. In October 1922, Christina Masterton was stationed in Nyasaland, where she was in charge of a girls’ boarding school and assisted in the supervision of mission schools. Later, she was reassigned to Northern Rhodesia, where she worked at another girls’ school and as a supervisor to several village schools in the surrounding district. By 1925, Masterton was furloughed for a time to enroll in language courses at the University of London at the request of her mission board. She met Harold Stover Kulp while they were both living in the accommodations provided by the Foreign Missions Club in London, and the pair married in December 1926. In early 1927, the pair set up a mission station in Dille, Nigeria. Together, they worked to establish the church, increase access to education, medical work, and made translations between English and local languages. The Kulps had two children: Philip in 1929 and Naomi in 1932. Balancing the household and missionary work, Christina Kulp worked primarily with women in the expanding mission. Religious education, practical skills, and the care of orphans were some of her responsibilities. Although she continued missionary work, her health began to decline in the late 1940s until she had her first near-fatal heart attack in 1951, with another one occurring about a year later in 1952. In November of 1952, Christina Masterton Kulp passed away in her home in Nigeria.
Philip Masterton Kulp (1929-1994) was born to Harold Stover and Christina Kulp in Lassa, Nigeria. The child of an American missionary and a Scottish missionary, Kulp spent his early years in Nigeria and his teenage years at a boarding school in Jos. He graduated from Juniata College in 1952 before gaining a Master’s of Divinity from the Gettysburg Theological Seminary in 1958. Kulp would continue his studies with a Master’s in Education from Shippensburg University in 1962 and a Doctorate of Philosophy from American University in 1975. Highly involved in the church, he served as pastor to the Thurmont and Ridge Churches of the Brethren. Philip Kulp married Mary Ann Moyer in 1953, and they had four children: Naomi, Chrissy, Tanya, and Diana. From 1954-1956, Kulp taught at Fairfield High School. Between 1958-1965, Kulp followed in his parents’ footsteps as a missionary to Nigeria, serving as teacher and principal to the Waka Secondary School. In 1960, the Kulps’ daughter, Naomi, passed away in Nigeria. Upon returning to the United States, Kulp took a position as a professor at Shippensburg University, where he taught criminology, anthropology, African history, and sociology from 1965-1992. In 1979, Philip and Mary Ann Moyer Kulp divorced. Philip Kulp married Betty Riner (1927-2010) in 1988. After retiring in 1992, Kulp and his wife moved to Nosara, Costa Rica, where he would pass away from a heart attack in 1994.
Mary Ann Moyer Kulp Payne (1932-2021) was born to Amos and Helen Moyer in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Graduating from Waynesboro High School in 1950, Payne enrolled at Juniata College in Huntington, Pennsylvania. Continuing her studies, she attended the Michael Reese Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois. In 1953, Mary Ann Moyer married Philip Kulp and they had four children: Naomi, Chrissy, Tanya, and Diana. The couple traveled to Nigeria to serve as missionaries from 1958-1965. With a background in nursing, Payne served as a nurse, the first supervisor to the school dispensary, and additionally as an English language and literature teacher at the Waka Secondary School. Upon returning to the United States, Payne continued her education at Shippensburg University, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Literature. In 1968, she authored a book titled No Longer Strangers, detailing the experiences of her father-in-law Harold Stover Kulp as a founding member of the Church of the Brethren mission to Nigeria. From 1969-1993, Payne taught English at Waynesboro High School. In 1979, Philip and Mary Ann Moyer Kulp divorced. In 1991, she married William Payne. During retirement, Payne traveled the world with her husband and volunteered with the Renfrew Institute in Waynesboro. She passed away in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 2021.
Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections
Acquisition Source: The family of H. Stover Kulp
Acquisition Method: Donation
Processing Information: Pre-processing completed by Erin E. Moore '23.
