SLIPPERY ROCK - David Armstrong farmed land north of Slippery Rock and lived a tragic life, outliving two wives and two children.

Eli Cooper, born around 1830, possibly worked as postmaster in Slippery Rock Township, an unusual choice since his father was a farmer.

Fannie Porter married late at age 33 or 34, becoming the third wife of Samuel Williams, the first pastor of Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock. Her picture is the only one that has been found of the 29 charter members of the church.

In the past few years, these three people have become more than founding members to Ken Harris, mayor of Slippery Rock. They and the remaining 26 charter members have almost become family as the project he started for his church has become a personal and passionate pursuit.

Harris has learned much about Armstrong, Porter and other members of the founding group but others remain a mystery.

Cooper, for example, was disciplined for among other things, "ante nuptual fornication," or fooling around with a young woman before marriage, and later leaving the church. What happened after that still has Harris guessing.

"I'd love to know more about him," he said.

There is no record of Cooper signing up to fight in the Civil War or joining another church nearby. His name is listed as a postmaster in Butler County, but Harris isn't sure if it's the same person.

Almost two years after he took on the task of researching the church history for a 150th celebration, Harris is still trying to answer these and other questions about the founders.

Center Presbyterian was built in 1855 but the founders began organizing at least a year before that. Harris has also been researching the pastors, all 15 of them, with considerably more information on them existing in the church records.

For the founders, Harris has been all over the county and beyond to find out about their lives. He has done research from home on the Internet and traveled to the Butler County library and courthouse, Beaver County Courthouse, Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, the Columbiana County Courthouse in Ohio, and various cemeteries.

Harris has also talked to a few surviving relatives and others in the area that have knowledge about the founders.

"This has become a bit of an obsession," he said.

He's always open to meeting someone else who knows about the church history and wants to share it.

There are five founding members Harris admits to knowing very little about - Eli Cooper, Elizabeth Jane Cooper, Mary Seth, Elizabeth Smith and Elizabeth Tharp.

Harris has demographic information about other members but no personal details. And still others are documented well in the church records, but parts of their lives are missing.

When finished with his research, Harris hopes to publish it - at least for the church's history if not for the community as well. The work has kept him interested and busy for years and he hopes others can benefit from the results.

His interest in the pastors of the church actually predates his work for the 150th celebration. In 2000, he began researching Samuel Williams, the original pastor of Center Presbyterian.

Harris found that sometime around 1869, Williams lost two wives within two years. That's when record keeping became a bit sketchy at the church, however, mainly because Williams was the record keeper.

"Sam was overwhelmed," said Harris.

Anyone with information about the church or its founders can contact Harris at 724-794-6353.