The First Regular Baptist Church of Findlay, though now a defunct organization, forms a part of the church history of the village. In the fall of 1854 a series of meetings were held in a schoolhouse on Chamberlin' s Hill, by Rev. G. D. Oviatt, and those who then embraced the Baptist faith attached themselves to the Baptist Society in Amanda Township, and organized a Sunday-school on the hill, of which Job Chamberlin was chosen superintendent. On the 27th of January. 1857, they withdrew from the Amanda Township society, and February 21 following, organized the First Regular Baptist Church of Findlay, with Rev. G. D. Oviatt as pastor; Samuel A. Spear and Charles Swap, deacons, and Job Chamberlin. clerk. The organizers were Samuel F. Hull, Charles Swap, Job Chamberlin Samuel A. Spear, G. D. Oviatt, Emanuel Phifer, John Bechtel, Solomon Wolf, Joel Routson, John Dyche, Charles Twining and Irvin S. Chamberlin. Job Chamberlin, Charles Swap and Samuel F. Hull were elected trustees on the date of organization. The society then embraced forty-one members, and also a good Sunday-school, with Job Chamberlin, superintendent. The meetings were held in the court house, as the society never owned a building. Soon after the Rebellion broke out the church became dismembered,

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and, though the Baptists have held occasional services in Findlay up to as late as 1877, the society has never been resuscitated.
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[From Robert C. Brown, History of Hancock County, Ohio, 1886, pp. 607-8. The document is from Google Books On-line. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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