St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Oxford NY
34 Main Street, PO Box 72, Oxford, NY 13830

"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and reject not your mother's teaching; A graceful diadem will they be for your head; a torque for your neck."
- Proverbs 1:8-9

The first St. Paul's Church of Oxford was the first religious edifice built in Oxford, located on Fort Hill. It was a wooden structure, built in the Village, consecrated in 1816, that served the community for more than forty years. The present St. Paul's Episcopal Church, constructed of bluestone, was designed in the Gothic Revival style by architect, Henry C. Dudley. It was erected in 1857 on the East side of the Village of Oxford. It still stands proudly today, facing the beautiful Washington Park, in Chenango County, NY.

About Fr. Dave Hanselman

Fr. Dave HanselmanFr Dave was born in Newark, NY and grew up in the Finger Lakes, graduating from Waterloo Senior High School in 1987. He spent the next 4 years in the U.S. Army and then another 4 years in the Army Reserve as he worked on a bachelor's degree in Philosophy. During this time (1993), he married his wife, Sonja - a 1989 graduate of Waterloo Senior High - and joined the Episcopal Church, being married in June and baptized in August at St Paul's, Waterloo.

While his wife was establishing her career in law and financial planning, David worked in landscaping. Upon his wife's transfer to Atlanta in 1997, David began working on a PhD in Philosophy at the University of Georgia - Athens. 4 years later, when they were given the opportunity to move anywhere in the country they wanted, they chose to move back to the Waterloo/ Seneca Falls area to begin raising a family. At this time, they also found their way back to the Episcopal Church. Their first child, Sophia was born in 2003 and David discovered he'd rather be a stay at home dad than a philosopher. So, he stopped working on his dissertation - a re-evaluation of mathematics from a Hegelian perspective - and focused on being the best dad he could be.

The Spirit works its will and eventually, in early 2005, mere months before his son Noah was born, David felt the strong pull toward ordination and began the discernment process. Thus began several years of being thoroughly processed (much like his beloved liverwurst). David graduated from seminary (St Bernard's School of Theology in Rochester, NY) in May 2010, was called to serve St Ann's, Afton; St. Paul's, Oxford and Zion, Greene in Feb 2011, ordained a transitional deacon in May 2011, and ordained a priest in November 2011.