The influence of the Camden Baptist church had a great bearing upon the lives of the early settlers of the township. It is still regarded as the mother church of the community and supplies a need throughout a wide area.
On the 22nd day of August, 1835, a little group of men and women met in a log school house three-fourths of a mile north of Camden center for the purpose of establishing a church. Only two years before, had the first settlers penetrated the forest and cleared away enough land to make the first settlement in Camden township.
These early pioneers had built homes and even a schoolhouse, using it for holding prayer-meetings, afterwards holding a Sunday School for the dozen or more children who attended. One of the prominent men of the group, Harrison Hurd, lost a little child in the spring of ‘35. He sent to Avon for Rev. Levi Mack, a Baptist minister to preach the funeral sermon. He came, and a few months later returned on August 22 and organized a Baptist Church with the following members: William Cook, Mr. and Mrs. ________,Mrs. Margaret Morgan and Mrs. Huldah Spencer. Brother Hurd was appointed deacon, Brother Cook, clerk and Brother Hovey delegate to the Huron association to be held in LaGrange in September.
They were naturally, too poor and few in number to support regular preaching, but as usual, they held their prayer service and Sunday School every Sunday. The membership increased to ten when Mr. and Mrs. Gideon Waugh and Mrs. Maria Cook joined them.
On Sunday, October 12, Elder Mack visited them again and delivered their first sermon and led them in their first communion.
The memory of this meeting lingered until January of the next year when Elder Burrows met with them for a service.
In March, 1838, the first baptism ceremony was observed at the banks of the little stream. Miss Mary Allen was the candidate, Elder Brown in charge.
In September, 1838, Camden Church, consisting of 21 members, joined with the churches of Elyria, LaGrange, Henrietta, Birmingham, Huron, Pittsfield, Sullivan, Brownhelm, Huntington, Grafton, Litchfield, Carlisle, Jackson and Amherst in forming the Lorain association. Solicitors were appointed in each church to take collections and pledges for carrying on its work. With us, the responsibility was placed upon Gideon Waugh. This fund was used to support missionaries in return for which they received occasional visits and reports by the missionaries themselves.
In the fall of 1839, three families came who added much to the little church. Mr. Hiram Allen helped out greatly, especially in the singing and later was appointed deacon. Ira Hill and Rev. Amos Crocker both brought with them, large families. The latter had no house in readiness, but Sister Hill kindly admitted him to her home. The church employed him to preach, agreeing to pay him $100 a year, one third in money and the remainder in labor and produce at cash prices. Having now a pastor, the people, the set to work cutting trees and rolling together logs until soon the preacher had as good a house as any of his parish. During his stay of two years, two people were dropped from the church books due to misconduct. Brother Samuel Morgan joined the church, becoming the third deacon and a Sunday School superintendent for the following twenty years. In March, 1841, a useful brother, Ezra Allen was taken by death leaving his wife and little son. In the fall of that same year, Elder Crocker closed his labors at Camden and was replaced first by a young brother named Angel, and later by Elder Wadsworth. The next minister was the aged Elder Abbot, who although too feeble to do much pastoral work, moved into town with his daughter and proved very helpful. In August of that year, Elder Solomon Dimmock was employed to share the work with the aged brother.
In 1843 Elder L. Waugh came into the church and immediately took charge of it, working at the same time on his farm. In November of that year, Dr. Wm. Grout and wife entered the church. Soon after his coming, they held services half the time at the West schoolhouse near his home. Elder Waugh took charge of the church at this time for about two years until in 1845 Elder Freeman became pastor. In 1846 Brother Low was ordained and served for a short time as the pastor, followed by Elder Whitman. These men held strict order in the church and between 1843 and 1849, the membership was reduced from 91 to 64.
In spite of the discouragements, in the year 1847 they undertook the task of building a church, and on the 26th day of June, 1849, Elder Wadsworth preached the dedicatory sermon and the following two days the Association met there for their eleventh anniversary.
The first funeral in the new church was that of Deacon Ira Hill, one of the most useful and valued members.
A.J. Ellis, N. Hudson, D. Loomis, S. Goodin and Elder Waugh were the ministers in the following decade. Fifty-three new members were added to the church but some were excluded and twelve times it ranks were thinned by death. Just as these prosperous ten years were drawing to a close, fire destroyed the church but at the next covenant meeting, held in the school house, they decided to rebuild and the days of other years repeated themselves. It was built by the same man and after the same general plan as before. This time Revered Whitman preached at the dedication.
In 1845 at the residence of Sister Hoyle, the ladies’ benevolent society was formed choosing Mrs. Amy Morgan as its first president and this faction has continued to the present.
Rev. E. C. Farley preached for the first three years in the new building, and Rev. Leet the next four. It was at this time that the choir, under the leadership of Brother Moses Holcomb welcomed instrumental music into the services. After a time, as the result of a revival, thirty-four were added to the church.
In 1867 Rev. A. Heath took charge for two years and again served for two more in 1873-74. During his absence, the pulpit was occupied the first year by Rev. J. Wright, followed by Rev. J. B. Sutton.
In 1875 Rev. J. M. David became pastor for the next two year. Forty more were added to the church. From January 1877 to December 1880, Rev. J. H. Smith took charge.
During the next few years the pastors were Rev. Hall, S. Early, M. W. Foshay, E. A. Relyea and Rev. S. O. Christian who organized an active B.Y.P.U. Many of these young people are still members of the church.
In 1893, Brother C. W. Robinson and wife were removed from the church. They were most efficient workers and the former had been the Sunday School Superintendent for many years.
In the next decade the church prospered under the guidance of Rev. Willard, Rev. Phelps, Rev. J. L. Cook and Rev. Ernest Graves. Following Rev. Phelps’ pastorate, the church was without a pastor, so Rev. S. Early and Charles Metcalf served the people as best they could.
When Rev. Graves was called to another location, Rev. H. B. Hemmerly took up the work. After he left, B. D. Addis soon came to minister, followed by Rev. V. E. Davis, Rev. G. L. Winters and Rev. G. Wiggins. After this brother left, Rev. Cooper from the Lorain Rescue Mission, assisted in services until Rev. Meeke was called to the field. At the end of his labors Rev. Cooper again faithfully served.
At the end of about two years a regular pastor was secured in the person of Rev. Jack Jones. The Women’s Foreign Missionary Society was organized under his direction.
Ill health forced Rev. Jones to resign. After his death, Rev. W. H. Schweinfurth accepted a call to Camden. During his ministry, the church joined the Ohio Union of Regular Baptist Churches. After five years, he left for Findlay, Ohio.
In September, 1933, Rev. Thomas Short began his work at the little church. A new constitution was adopted in April 1934 and the following year from August 22 to 25 the Camden Baptist Church celebrated its centennial, holding special meetings and services on those dates. During Rev. Short’s stay a regular young people’s Bible Class was organized and met mid-weekly for study. As many as thirty young people were reported to have attended the meetings during the first year. These meetings were discontinued during the summer months.
Rev. Short resigned in the fall of 1936 and Rev. H. K. Finley of Elyria, kindly assisted in the pulpit until February 7, 1937 when Rev. C. C. Clawson of Corsica, Pa., began his services there. Until this date Mrs. Mary Morgan met with the young people as their instructor and kept up the interest. Rev. Clawson gladly took this responsibility when he arrived.
After two weeks of meetings conducted by Earl W. Braun, Rev. Clawson announced that he had accepted a call to MacDonald, Ohio.
Rev. Finley again supplied and soon Rev. W. F. Dissette came way from Pendleton, Oregon, to minister to the Camden people, beginning his work on April 3, 1938. He is now the pastor and is teaching the young people’s Sunday school class as well as their Bible study every Tuesday evening.