David C. Babcock

David Cladwell Babcock was born in September 12, 1854 in New Hampshire to Seventh Day baptist parents. He was devoted to the teachings of the sabbath and eventually qualified to minister through consistency and hard work at the Battle Creek College .He married Anna Davis  in 1875 with whom they had three children. Elder Babcock served in Maryland, Ohio and was the president of West Virginia Conference for six years.  He and his family arrived at British Guiana in February of 1900 to begin ministering as asked of them by the Mission Board. The year after their arrival, his wife passed on leaving him to continue with the work and remarrying after a year of his wife’s death who also passed soon afterwards. He married again in 1903 and after two years he was sent together with his wife to the ” white man’s grave’ as west coast of Africa was dubbed then. He worked there until 1914 when the GC asked him to open missionary work in Nigeria.

David Babcock, far right, and his family on the road.

Babcock and his family left Freetown on the 14th of February 1914 and arrived at the port of Lagos on 7th March the same year. He went north interior into Yorubaland where the Chief of Ibadan invited him to start missionary work at Erunmu. He left Erunmu after establishing the work there and went on to Illorin where  because of the predominant Muslim faith, he moved on to Sao and established a village school immediately at his arrival. Sao quickly became a mother church and the gospel spread from it to neighbouring towns such as Ipoti where Babcock ministered and baptized about 78 souls on his arrival there.