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. 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 == References ==