Jack Bingen Copet

Freewill Baptist History in Wisconsin Jack Bingen Copet

My journey into the Freewill Baptist history of Wisconsin was one that went hand in hand with my late friends, Elizabeth "Libbie" Faulkner Nolan and Robert "Bob" Schuster. The three of us were so passionate in discovering and preserving the heritage of this denomination in Wisconsin. Libbie was 102 and a direct descendant of Rev. Rufus Cheney. Bob was a local historian fascinated about Fairwater, Wisconsin and the Freewill Baptist church of that town. I am a direct descendant of Rev. Comfort B. Waller. This northern movement ceased to exist with the merger with Northern Baptist in 1911. Our challenge was to see the history of this movement now be lost.