Clara Celestia Hale was born on May 31, 1850, in
Fitchville, Ohio. She married Israel Babcock in 1865.[1] Formerly members of the
Methodist Church,[2] the Babcocks joined the Stone-Campbell Movement in 1880 at the Sterling Christian Church in
Sterling, Illinois.[1]
Babcock was also active in local temperance movements and served as a leader in the WCTU, becoming president of the Whiteside County union in
Whiteside, Illinois, in 1887.[1]
Following a speaking engagement that was likely on behalf of the WCTU at an
Erie, Illinois, church in 1888,[2][3] the congregation urged Babcock to be their minister.
She was ordained by Andrew Scott of the Sterling Christian Church in 1889.[4][5] Babcock participated in twenty-eight annual revivals[5] and served as a pastor at churches throughout Illinois, Iowa, and North Dakota.[1]
^
abcdPereira, Mary Ellen Lantzer. "Babcock, Clara Celestia Hale (1850-1924)". In Foster, Douglas A. The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. p. 54.
ISBN9780802838988.
^Zuber, Glenn Michael. "Women Missionary and Temperance Organizers Become 'Disciples of Christ' Ministers, 1888-1908". In Casey, Michael W., Douglas A. Foster. The Stone-Campbell Movement: An International Religious Tradition. University of Tennessee Press, 2002. p. 300-301.
ISBN1572331798.
^Long, Loretta M.. "Christian Church/Disciples of Christ Tradition and Women". In Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether. Encyclopedia of Women and Religion and North America. Indiana University Press, 2006. pp. 296-307.
ISBN0253346851.
^
abHull, Debra B. Christian Church Women: Shapers of a Movement. St Louis, Chalice Press, 1994. p. 29-30.
ISBN978-0827204638
^"The Palm Bearers (Obituaries)". Christian Evangelist. December 31, 1925.
OCLC9162697.