Clara Babcock
Clara Celestia Hale Babcock was one of the first women preachers to be ordained within the Restoration Movement, and was a leader within the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.Biography
Clara Celestia Hale was born on May 31, 1850 in Fitchville, Ohio. She married Israel Babcock in 1865. Formerly members of the Methodist Church, the Babcocks joined the Stone-Campbell Movement in 1880 at the Sterling Christian Church in Sterling, Illinois.
Babcock was also active in local temperance movements and served as a leader in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, becoming president of the Whiteside County union in Whiteside, Illinois in 1887.
Following a speaking engagement that was likely on behalf of the WCTU at an Erie, Illinois church in 1888, the congregation urged Babcock to be their minister.
She was ordained by Andrew Scott of the Sterling Christian Church in 1889. Babcock participated in twenty-eight annual revivals and served as a pastor at churches throughout Illinois, Iowa, and North Dakota.
Prior to her death in 1924, Babcock served as a pastor in Savanna, Illinois.
