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Quoting from Ball's Northwestern Indiana:
"Among the religious denominations the Baptists
made the first start in White county, commencing
evangelistic work in 1834; the pioneer preachers were
Elders Rees, Corbin and Miner."
The pioneer Baptist ministers in La Porte county
were Elders Phineas Colver, who organized Stillwell
church; T. Spaulding, Alexander Hastings, Benjamin
Sawin, Charles Harding, Augustus Bolles and Sam-
uel W. Ford.
Rolling Prairie church was organized in 1836. La
Porte church was organized in 1838, and its earlier
pastors were Elders Charles Harding, Silas Tucker,
E. W. Hamlin, Morgan Edwards, S. C. Chandler and
Gibbon Williams. Valparaiso church, organized in
1837, had as its earlier pastors Elders A. French, H.
S. Orton, W. T. Bly, A. Nickerson, Harry Smith, G.
T. Brayton, Jireh D. Cole, J. M. Maxwell, M. T.
Lamb and Otis Saxton. The Rev. T. H. Ball ob-
serves that "the Baptists do not seem to have held
their ground north of the Kankakee river; nineteen
churches have been organized in La Porte county;
only four of these are now living."
In 1845 the Northern Association was divided; the
record runs thus: "It was decided that we divide the
Association, making the old Michigan road, running
north and south, the division line; the west part of
which retains the name of Northern and the east part
that of Elkhart river." Before a great while the
South Bend church came back to the Northern Asso-
ciation; and in 1868, when the Fort Wayne Associa-
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tion was formed, some of the churches of the Elkhart
River Association went into that organization, and
the rest came back into the Northern, including Elk-
hart, Goshen and Mishawaka. The Northern is now
one of the strong Associations of the State, having a
membership (1905) of 2,817; three churches have
over 300 members, and one has over 400. Most of
the churches contribute to all denominational benev-
olences. The newer churches as Hammond, Indiana
Harbor and Michigan City, bid fair to take a front
rank in the association for they are in localities which
already contain large populations.
The La Porte church has the honor of leading in
the establishment of a Baptist summer resort--Pine
Lake Assembly.
A long list of very efficient ministers belongs to
this Association. It will be possible to speak of only
some of these, others can be only mentioned for lack
of data relating to their lives and labors.
The Rev. J. M. Whitehead was born in Wayne
County, Indiana, in 1823; he united with the La Porte
church in 1839, being baptized by Elder A. Hastings.
He was licensed to preach in 1844, and ordained in 1844
--Revs. S. G. Hunt and T. L. Hunt being ordained at
the same time. He lived nearly twenty-nine years in
La Porte county, and was constantly engaged in
pastoral and evangelistic work. He was pastor for
several years in Elkhart county and one year in Shelby
county. He enlisted as chaplain in the Fifteenth In-
diana Infantry in the war of 1861-65. He was dis-
tinguished for bravery and efficiency and was awarded
